A fairly uneventful entry in this quite good series. Frederick is made commodore, equipt with very old ships and sent to scour the pirate coast of Africa. He is successful at such being rewarded by being sent to South America to fend off an anticipated Spanish flotilla convoying troops for an invasion. He is challenged to a duel, kills off the offending brigadier; then thwarts the Spanish by capturing a frigate and some smaller ships while sinking a large transport. All of the latter work done out of sight by his competent subordinates and providing the less than competent royal byblow captain the opportunity to kill himself. He does and, unfortunately, takes his ship and crew down with him. Frederick is now on his way back to Gibraltar to face new challenges. Solid naval work with good attention to detail continue to make this series fun to read. ( )