The Caribbean is rich with prizes. But every prize has its price.

Lieutenant Matthew Lamb has earned his place aboard the thirty-six-gun frigate Adroit. Now, as first lieutenant under the formidable Captain Slade, he must prove himself worthy of it.

Ordered from the frozen waters of Spithead to the heat of the West Indies, the Adroit enters a hunting ground alive with French privateers, Spanish shipping and the promise of prize money. It is exactly the kind of war a young naval officer dreams of.

But Lamb soon discovers that glory comes at a cost.

A desperate mission to a French-held island sends him ashore under cover of darkness to rescue a captured British agent. A squadron of heavily armed privateers tests the Adroit and her raw crew to their limits. And when a Spanish barque laden with a fortune in silver takes refuge beneath the guns of a fortified harbour, Captain Slade determines to seize her—whatever the risk.

For Lamb, it could be the prize that transforms his career.

If he lives long enough to claim it.

From cutting-out expeditions and savage close-quarters fighting to hurricanes, privateers and the brutal realities of life aboard a Royal Navy frigate, First Lieutenant is a gripping Age of Sail adventure in the tradition of C. S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian and Dudley Pope.