The year is 1896, the popular New York Junta is sending filibuster ships filled with men, arms, and supplies to Cuba. Newly promoted Captain Sydney Albert, a veteran of the last war, oversees the Navy contribution towards enforcing neutrality by coordinating with other Departments and the North Atlantic Squadron. When more is needed, he proposes an independent cruiser be sent into the Caribbean to disrupt filibusters every legitimate way. The champion is an elderly steam bark designed for conversion to a raider and young officer with troubled past and uncertain future. From late Victorian Washington, through the vibrant Newport News, a tenuous Port Royal naval station, then into the Straits of Florida, Calypso is conceived, converted and sent to sea. Within her wood-sheathed hull is old and new technology, a global crew, and Lieutenant Jacob Starke; the young commander who must adapt to a vague mission, expatriated father, formidable uncle, ambivalent British widow, ardent female reporter, and correspondent confidant. The author returns readers to late Victorian era of lightning change and an American Navy exchanging steam screw sloops for steel battleships.