The year is 1799. Admiral Caraccioli of Naples is about to be executed from the yard-arm of Lord Nelson's flagship in the Mediterranean. Young and in love with Caraccioli's daughter, the spirited French privateer, Raoul Yvard, and his wily sailing master, Ithuel Bolt, harass the British fleet against all odds. Yvard is captured but cunningly escapes, setting up a showdown at sea against the overwhelming forces of the Royal Navy. Originally published in 1842, The Wing-and-Wing is a captivating novel of seafaring adventure, romance, and Napoleonic history from the masterful author of The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer.  "For James Fenimore Cooper nature was not the framework, it was an essential part of existence... He loved the sea and looked on it with consummate understanding. In his sea tales the sea...is in a subtle way a factor in the problem of existence, and, for all its greatness, it is always in touch with the men, who bound on errends of war or gain, traverse its immense solitudes. His descriptions have the magisterial ampleness of gesture indicating the sweep of a vast horizon. They embrace the colors of sunset, the peace of starlight, the aspects of storm, the great loneliness of the waters, the stillness of watchful coasts, and the alert readiness which marks men who live face to face with the promise and the menace of the sea."   - Joseph Conrad