June, 1808 - and off the coast of Nicaragua Captain Horatio Hornblower has his hands full. Now, in command of HMS Lydia, a 36 gun frigate, Hornblower has instructions to form an alliance against the Spanish colonies with a mad and messianic revolutionary, El Supremo, and to find a water route across the Central American isthmus. 1808: In the South Sea sails H.M.S. LYDIA, a thirty-six-gun frigate under the command of Captain Horatio Hornblower. Having received orders to spark a rebellion in the Spanish American colonies, he must form an alliance with Don Julian Alvarado and help him rise against the Spanish monarchy; open up a route for British commerce across the isthmus between the bay of Fonseca and the river San Juan; and 'take, sink, burn or destroy' the fifty-gun NATIVIDAD. As if that wasn't enough, Hornblower must also contend with the charms of an unexpected and unwanted passenger: Lady Barbara Wellesley...