A fictional privateersman named Tom Dearborn takes part in a factual siege in the British installation at Bagaduce (now Castine), Maine, in the summer of 1779. The siege, which was a disgrace to American arms, was led by Generals Lovell and adsworth and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall. Paul Revere took part. The plot revolves ainly around the activities of a spy and general all-round blackguard named Eli oseley, and a would-be winsome but, alas, wooden wench named Betsy Morrison. Also ans included a damsel in distress who ends up with her throat cut, a faithful old idekick who loses an arm in the climactic battle, a love-starved spinster shot ""as full of holes as a pincushion"", and Dearborn's resourceful Mom, keeping the home ires burning. Some of the sea battles are fun, but while the history seems sound and convincing, the plot is neither.