Tom Chatto spends sixty adventurous years at sea, beginning in Queen Victoria's merchant navy. As the twentieth century dawns the time of the great steamships is firmly under way. Newly in possession of his Master's Certificate, Tom Chatto secures a glamorous berth as second officer on a liner of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company - there he encounters a hostile face from the past.

Ironically, when the Orvega discovers a lifeboat with two corpses aboard, off Cape Horn, it is Tom's seamanship under sail that proves a potential lifesaver., The semi-derelict windjammer from which the lifeboat was launched is a danger to all shipping. In treacherous high seas Tom must not only board the old boat, but secure a line to the Orvega and get her towed out of harm's way. Many lives are at risk should his nerve or skill fail...