1655. Only a few months ago, Spain has ceded the island of Jamaica to England. Due to it's strategic location, the Admiralty has seen fit to establish a permanent station there.
The packet ship Hermes, a brig under the command of Captain Stephen W. Hamill, was under orders from Whitehall to deliver important mail, light cargo and passengers to the New World colonies. It's itinerary would take it from Portsmouth to Bermuda, from there to Nevis and St. Christopher Island and finally to Kingston, Jamaica.
Captain Hamill, master and commander, a competent but aging commander seeing retirement looming on the horizon, fully realizes that should he ever have any designs for advancement, he needed to command a more high profile ship, and the only way he could accomplish that would be to do anything in his power to be noticed, else he might forever be relegated to... milk runs. Determined to make a name for himself, he set out to make the journey in a record time.
The stricter discipline he has been enforcing on the journey to Bermuda hasn't gone unnoticed, and grumblings among the crew had already begun. Things took a turn for the worse when they got to Bermuda. Mail was delivered, fresh provisions were embarked... but not a man save himself made it farther inland than the docks in so doing. As anyone can imagine, that the crew should be deprived of shore time for the pride and advancement of one man did not go over too well.
After the very same scenario happened at Nevis and St. Christopher, tensions on board grew to an all time high... and this is only the beginning for...
His Majesty's Ship Hermes:
The Hermes is meant to be a fast and agile ship. It is therefore neither as heavy nor as heavily armed as the more warlike vessels in the King's service. It is equipped with 12 4-pounders arrayed on the gundeck and a number of swivel guns on the main deck.
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