Dead Reckoning - Tapa dura

After his dramatic exploits in the Atlanti and the Mediterranean, Richard Delance is posted to command the frigate Laura to service in the East Indies 'the most distance station, remote enough to be forgotten, place where fortunes were made by the fortunate, a place where many died and where others gained promotion'. The pain of separation from his young wife Fiona after three years' marriage forms the background to Delancey's further adventures.
After taking part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch Delancey becomes involved in the protection of the East India Company's China Flee which the French are seeking to intercept He is then ordered to pursue and destroy the privateer Subtile, commanded by the elusive Pierre Chatelard, before playing his part in the combined operations against the island; of Bourbon and Mauritius. It is against ar exotic setting of Oriental, customs, mangrove swamps and myriad scents that Delancey discovers his long-lost brother and. tracks down the enemy agent Fabius, first encountered as a murderer in The Fireship.
The story reaches its climax during an action off Madagascar, in which all Delancey's skills and courage are tested in a unique combat against two French frigates, before his return with honours and his reunion with Fiona after six years at sea.