Jay Worrall books in order

The year is 1797. Napoleon Buonaparte is racking up impressive wins in the field against the enemies of revolutionary France, while on the seas England is putting up a staunch resistance. Twenty-five-year-old Charles Edgemont is second lieutenant aboard the British ship Argonaut. 

When orders come for the Argonaut to engage in an all-but-suicidal maneuver to prevent the escape of Spanish ships off the coast of Portugal, he leads his gun crews bravely—until the deaths of the captain and first lieutenant elevate him to commander.

For refusing to yield to enemy fire, Charles is permanently promoted and generously rewarded by the Admiralty, becoming wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Yet upon his return home, his newfound riches prove no help when it comes to winning the heart of Penelope Brown, who regards war as sinful and soldiers as little better than murderers. 

Changing Penelope’s mind may just be the hardest battle Charles has ever fought—at least until fresh orders send him back to sea, where he faces a formidable adversary in a series of stirring battles of will and might.

The year is 1798. The war between England and revolutionary France has reached a stalemate. With rumors swirling that the French are secretly amassing a powerful fleet, the Admiralty dispatches a group of ships under the command of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson to investigate. But after a ferocious storm blindsides the squadron, Nelson’s flagship and two other ships go missing.

Putting his career on the line by disobeying direct orders, Captain Charles Edgemont sets out in pursuit of Nelson and the French fleet on a treacherous voyage along the Tuscan coast. As tensions among the crew rise from a simmer to a boil, Edgemont makes an unexpected discovery in Naples that may compromise his mission. And when the French fleet turns up off the shores of Egypt, Edgemont is suddenly thrown into a crisis of conscience. As circumstances grow dire and require heroic action, the fate of the crucial battle effectively lies in Edgemont’s hands—as does the course of history.

The year is 1799. The year before, Napoleon Bonaparte, the newest upstart among Republican France’s generals, led a large expeditionary force across the Mediterranean to conquer Egypt, where he remains. Well enough; but why? France’s enemies are in Europe, not Africa. Egypt, the fabled land of the Pharaohs, is of no earthly use to this young Napoleon. Or is it? Could it be that Egypt is intended only as a stepping stone for an invasion of Britain’s troubled colonies in India? 

Incredible though it seems, such a threat could deprive England of the great source of its wealth and devastate her ability to continue the war against her revolutionary enemy. It has long been known to colonial powers that Egypt is a corner stone to domination of Europe and Napoleon well knows that control of the Red Sea is crucial to his plans.

Charles Edgemont, newly appointed Captain of the Frigate Cassandra, 32, is ordered on what he initially considers a fool’s errand to the foot of the Red Sea. He finds an under-strength crew on the point of mutiny, and an unresolved murder. Near the entrance to the Red Sea, Charles reports to Admiral Sir John Blankett. Blankett is openly contemptuous of any notion that the French would make any other attempt to invade the subcontinent.

Admiral Blankett is wrong.