Set in 1802 during the Peace of Amiens, Ramage and the Renegades begins while Nelson's crews are standing down and Nicholas Ramage is officially on leave. Secret Admiralty orders interrupt the respite and send HMS Calypso to inspect remote Trinidad off the coast of Brazil, where peacetime legality is less reassuring than it appears.
Ramage finds captive merchant ships, pirates and a woman passenger whose survival depends on action that cannot wait for diplomatic clarity. The novel exploits the uncertainty of the brief peace between Britain and France: war has formally stopped, but armed men, private interests and isolated settlements have not suddenly become safe. Pope gives the story the character of a maritime rescue expedition, with distance from naval bases forcing Ramage to decide what authority he can exercise and what risks he can justify on his own.
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