A one-volume edition of this classic sequence of sea novels set in the early nineteenth century, about a voyage from England to Australia.In Rites of Passage Edmund Talbot begins a journal to amuse his godfather, full of wit and disdain he chronicles the mounting tensions on the ancient warship, and their deadly resolution. In Close Quarters the ship is stuck in the doldrums, the passengers half-mad with fear and drink; as a ball is held, the ship begins to come apart at the seams. In Fire Down Below, the last stretch of the voyage takes place in even greater dangers. Patched up, battered by wind, storm and ice the ship is blown off course - and then a fire begins to smoulder below decks . .