By the Mast Divided

<P>London 1793: In this first installment of the popular high-seas nautical adventure series young firebrand John Pearce on the run from the authorities is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican Tavern into brutal life aboard HMS <I>Brilliant</I> a frigate on its way to war. Shipboard life is hard brutal and dangerous—that anyone chooses it suggests that life ashore is even worse. But Pearce is not alone; he is drawn to a disparate group of men pressed alongside him who eventually form an exclusive gun crew the Pelicans with Pearce their elected leader.</P><P>The Pelicans find solidarity in facing together the cruelty of their hard-nosed captain Barclay and the daily threat of bullying flogging—even murder. The one light on the horizon is the captain's wife Emily who is also aboard and new to life at sea. During an action-packed two weeks as HMS <I>Brilliant</I> chases a French privateer across the English Channel Pearce discovers the British Navy is a world in which he can prosper and he and the Pelicans form friendships that will last a lifetime.</P>