The story of a boy coming to teenage years, one who has known complete happiness growing up on the family estate in Hampshire, not far from Portsmouth where the great naval warships berth. This idyllic life is shattered by events where he finds himself in the Caribbean seas and all the dangers that can bring when you are on board one of England's biggest warships. Nothing ever prepared him for seeing slave ships and markets where some human life has no meaning apart from profit. Matthew will meet people who will help him and become friends, as well as those who would kill him and throw his body into the sea without a second thought.