The struggle between Great Britain and Spain for supremacy of the high seas, as seen through the eyes of a sixteenth-century teenager, Ned Hearne. Along with three friends, young Ned is swept up in one adventure after another as he accompanies the daring English mariner Francis Drake on amazing voyages of discovery across the Pacific. An eyewitness to the great naval battle between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada, Ned has firsthand views of England's rise as the world's most powerful sea-going nation.