HMS Expedient Ali Shaw as a bandsman in the

as a bandsman in the Royal Marines and bound for the Falklands

facing overwhelming forces and the very real prospect of defeat

Dark Water is already popular

I've had an extraordinary life

Nicky Duthie awakes

HMS Expedient Ali Shaw as a bandsman in the1786: Captain William Rennie is on the beach and on half pay when he's given a prime commission: HMS Expedient is a 36 gun frigate; she is to be sent to the South Seas on a scientific expedition. For Lieutenant James Hayter, in Dorsetshire, whose career had barely begun when the peace came, his own commission in Expedient out of the blue is equally surprising and exciting. But for these two sea officers there is something odd and disturbing about the