A divided command - David Donachie

The Mediterranean is proving dangerous waters for John Pearce and his Pelicans. Having left his lover Emily, who is also the wife of his mortal enemy Ralph Barclay, Pearce is detained in Naples. When he unknowingly delivers a letter promoting the shady and incompetent Admiral Hotham, Pearce finds himself entangled in a political plot that soon puts those closest to him at peril. Emily decides that there is no future with Pearce and leaves on the merchant ship, the Sandown Castle, while Pearce conveys private letters to Horatio Nelson. Meanwhile Ralph Barclay has learned of his wife's desertion and is on his way to recapture her.