To Glory We Steer by Alexander Kent

Portsmouth, 1782. His Britannic Majesty's frigate Phalarope is ordered to the assistance of the hard-pressed squadrons in the Caribbean. Aboard is her new commander-Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the Philarope is everything a young captain could wish for. But beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship-her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands suspected of cowardice under fire and driven to near mutiny by senseless ill treatment....