This is vintage MacLean. This is a gripping story of modern piracy planned on such a scale that national interests are threatened. Several bullion-carrying ships have mysteriously disappeared - the latest with two secret agents aboard, planted among the crew. The Secret Service is alerted and Philip Calvert is commissioned to investigate. The trail leads Calvert to the Western Isles of Scotland, and to a mysterious vessel, moored in a bleak and misty bay. As he slips silently aboard he knows he has found the missing ship, The Nantesville. The original crew have disappeared - all but the two agents - and they are dead. Calvert's nocturnal, and nearly fatal, adventure begins to throw some light on the secret of the disappearing vessels, but questions remain, and there's more than a hint of conspiracy.