Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger
 Bolitho and Dancer are given leave from the Gorgon after its return to Plymouth for a refit. They decide to spend this holiday at the Bolitho estate. However, soon after they arrive a taxman is killed. Because they are the only agents of the King locally, they must investigate the body and suspect that he was killed by either smugglers or wreckers. Soon after, Hugh Bolitho arrives, charged with finding and capturing whoever committed the crime, and Bolitho and Dancer are ordered temporarily under his command. With the midshipman aboard, they hunt the wreckers. They capture a vessel smuggling guns, and learn that they are connected to the shipwreckers. Trying to set a trap, they send the guns in a small convey under the command of Dancer. The convey runs into an ambush in which Dancer is captured. The smugglers release Dancer who recognizes the voice of their leader, as a local member of the landed gentry. He attempts to flee to France in a private yacht, however a lucky suggestion by Bolitho allows Hugh to catch the yacht in flight, which the Avenger captures with little resistance.