THE BOMB VESSEL is the fourth of the chronicles which chart Nathaniel Drinkwater's stirring career in the Royal Navy - a story rich in drama and incident, impeccable in historical detail, the work of a master storyteller with salt-water in his veins. THE CORVETTE - With the French so clearly established as masters of the war upon trade, what might have seemed a routine duty quickly explodes into violent action. And Drinkwater finds himself battling with the enemy, the elements and the fiercely independent whalemasters in a three-handed struggle for mastery of those icy waters... 1805 - As a mark of special favour from the First Lord of the Admiralty, Nathaniel Drinkwater has command of the Antigone.Drinkwater is sent to patrol the Channel coast, helping the royal Navy maintain a heroic blockade of the enemy's post but the Antigone is soon needed elsewhere as everything now hinges on the confrontation that Nelson has forced off Cape Trafalgar - an epic action in which Nathaniel Drinkwater has a crucial and unexpected role.