It was an age of Empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal. Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in the August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. Per Mare -Per Terram is the Marines' motto.In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of stavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Btackwood and his men learn to obey it without question.

Douglas Reeman joined the Navy in 1941. He did convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic, and the North Sea, and later served in motor torpedo boats.As he says, 'I am always asked to account for the perennial appeal of the sea story, and its enduring interest for the people of so many nationalities and cultures. It would seem that the eternal and sometimes elusive triangle of man, ship and ocean,particularly under the stress of war, produces the best qualities of courage and compassion, irrespective of the rights and wrongs of conflict... The sea has no understanding of righteous or unjust causes. It is the common enemy, respected by all who serve on it,ignored at their peril.'Apart from the many novels he has written under his own name, he has also written more than twenty historical novels featuring Richard Bolitho, under the pseudonym of Alexander Kent.

Acknowledgements

The Old Navy

Of One Company

A Man of Authority

First to Land

Battle Fury

One of the Best

Pride

Temptation

Officers and Men

Sudden Death

A Bargain Kept

'Up the Royals!'

Remember This Day

The Colonel's Lady

Something Personal

Last Farewell

New Arrivals

Gesture of Hope

The Enemy

A Handful of Rifles

The Redoubt

A Time for Action

Epilogue