The Prize

Captain Okes order is deceptively straightforward, a minor detail in the grand theatre of naval warfare: "Deliver the prize to the Admiral in Antigua." But for Lieutenant Isaac Donland, freshly minted into his first independent command, the simplicity of the order was a cruel jest. The "prize" was a sieve, her timbers groaning, her pumps sputtering a losing battle against the relentless ingress of the Caribbean Sea. Each shudder felt like a death rattle beneath Donland's feet, the scent of ...