Preparation for flogging Joseph Bryan Nagle, the carpenter's mate for refusing to salute an officer.

A British captain whose career aspirations seem to have hit a sandbar finds himself on a creaky ship delivering mail in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars. Suddenly, he's got the opportunity to defend the dignity of the Empire itself, but his bark has been damaged and his crew has suffered at the hands of enemy fire. Will he turn back and lick his wounds or move forward toward glory? Based on Patrick O'Brien's novel Master and Commander, which was modeled on the Mediterranean exploits of Lord Cochrane at the turn of the 19th century.