Alexander Clay is a more-than-competent first lieutenant on HMS Agrius, but his captain, Percy Follet, is a somewhat vain man who runs to angry outbursts and who gives favor to the second lieutenant, Nicholas Windham, who is also his nephew. Follet is prone to making bad choices for his ship, thinking only in the short term and not looking ahead to the possible consequences of his decisions, and he often resents Clay's superior acumen.

That sets the stage for an ongoing sequence of conflicts among the leading characters of The Captain's Nephew, the first novel in Philip K. Allan's Alexander Clay series. Given that Clay -- a self-made officer without influential connections to secure him a position in the navy -- is the eponymous hero of the series, you can guess who turns out to be right in most cases.

The book begins with a prologue, a vivid account of an officer drowning in the heat of battle. Allan paints so detailed a picture, it's hard to believe he hasn't drowned at least once or twice himself, with cannons booming overhead and debris slowly sinking beside him. Without identifying the person in question, the prologue ends, and the story skips back six months.

The novel begins in the 1790s with Agrius taking part in an assault on the French-held port of Ostand. While Follett takes the ship to join a fleet action on the other side of the harbor, Clay leads a land attack to destroy a bridge and block French reinforcements from joining the battle. His mission very nearly ends in disaster, largely because of some missteps in command by Windham, but Clay's quick thinking saves the crew -- although Windham, not Clay, gets the glory because of his uncle's favoritism.

Next, they're sent on a mission escorting a group of East India trading vessels to Madeira. Improbably, a romance blossoms between Clay and one of the passengers, but Follett steps in to scuttle Clay's efforts.

And finally, they're sent to join a British squadron based at Barbados and, en route, seize or sink a French frigate carrying troops and supplies to St. Lucia. That task won't be as easy as it sounds, with even the wind at times conspiring to delay their progress.

There's a lot going on in this book, and you come to know the characters very well by the end. Far from being purely black and white, the antagonists have shades of gray; Clay, for all his abilities as a navy officer, has a penchant of whining about his captain to anyone who will listen. Follett sometimes recognizes his own faults, and on occasion is able to make the right choice for his ship's benefit. Even Windham sometimes tries to be a good officer, despite his many failings in that regard.

Besides the main characters, readers will come to know various officers, such as 3rd Lt. John Sutton, Marine Lt. William Munro and sailing master Edward Booth, and some of the crew, among them able seamen Sean O'Malley and Adam Trevan, as well as the less experienced Joshua Rosso and Samuel Evans, both of whom joined the navy to escape a secret past.

Allan has a knack for action, and his characters feel real. Newcomers to navy lingo and seamanship will find his explanations of shipboard actions helpful, but readers more familiar with the genre shouldn't find anything too cumbersome to wade through. The Captain's Nephew is a good read, very absorbing, and it neatly sets the scene for the next book in the series. I think I'll go start it now.

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