Publisher's Synopsis
Horatio Hornblower, recently knighted and settled in as squire of the village of Smallbridge, has been designated Commodore of his own squadron of ships, led by the NONSUCH and bound for the Baltic. It is 1812, and Hornblower has been ordered to do anything and everything possible, diplomatically and militarily, to protect the Baltic trade and stop the spread of Napoleon's empire into Sweden and Russia. But first he must battle the terrible Baltic weather, overcome Russian political and commercial intrigues, avoid the seductive charms of royalty as well as the deadly reach of assassins in the imperial palace, and contend with hostile armies and French privateers...
