Under False Colours: #10 A Nathaniel Drinkwater Novel (Mariners Library Fiction Classic)

In 1809, operating under the orders of the Admiralty's Secret Department, Capt. Nathaniel Drinkwater goes ashore with the dregs of London's dockland. Disguised as a Merchant Marine shipmaster of low character, he has an encounter with a known French agent in a brothel, deliberately advertising the fact that he will shortly be carrying a cargo of military stores to Russia. The scheme is intended to flout Napoleon's Continental System and drive a wedge between the French Emperor and his new ally, Czar Alexander. But the mission is disrupted by tempestuous weather and the loss of the escort, a gun-brig commanded by Drinkwater's friend and protÂŽgÂŽ. And when Drinkwater reaches the British-occupied island of Helgoland, he resolves on an exceptionally bold course of action-one not advised by the Admiralty.