Before he was commodore in the US Navy, before sailing for Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin, before he fought in the Revolutionary War and escaped from the redcoat prison, Joshua Barney was a boy. And he wanted to sail.

Joshua began sailing at the age of 12 and worked his way to second mate of a cargo ship by the age of 15. When the first mate jumps ship and his captain dies, Joshua assumes command of a leaky ship and a headstrong crew.

To prove to himself, his family, and the world that he was meant to be a sailor, Joshua has to save the ship, deliver his cargo, and unite his men. Anything less would result in the end of his brief career at sea.