"Singapore 1823. The East India Company is in full pursuit of wealth and glory expanding the dominance of the United Kingdom around the world. Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles saw the potential in a tiny settlement on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and knew it would be ideal for a free port. It would soon become one of the busiest and most lucrative ports in the East India Company's portfolio, attracting merchants and pirates to its wharves. Nathaniel Hawk arrives just before Christmas in order to spend the holidays with his father, Captain Sebastian Hawk, a famous East India Company Captain. Trained to captain his own ship, Nathaniel turned away from a life at sea in order to chase a life of gambling and adventure on land. He arrives in the East India Company's latest free port intent on continuing his hedonistic pursuits. When word reaches Singapore Captain Sebastian Hawk has finally been bested in a battle at sea with a ghost ship, none is more shocked that his son. Nathaniel will look for answers in the newly built colonial houses of the rich merchants as well as the opium dens of the slums looking for answers to his father's disappearance. Only a return to sea will lead to the truth, but does he have the skill to seek out the ghost ship and learn its secrets?"--Back cover.