One of the most thrilling novels of the sea to have been written, Let Not the Deep tells the story of a tumultuous night in the storm-ravaged seas off the Scilly Isles.

The freighter Caledonia is carrying not just a cargo of steel plate, but also a group of schoolboy passengers on an educational trip. When she suffers an engine breakdown in a terrifying hurricane, the cargo is bound to shift, and the need for rescue is all the more urgent since one of the boys is the son of the Prime Minster.

To the volunteers on the Maeve Corrigan, the Scillies Lifeboat, it makes no difference at all that the eyes of the world's news media are following their every movement.

Their sole aim, along with the RAF helicopter crew scrambled to the stricken vessel, is to save lives.

It falls to John Nichols to command the Caledonia in this horrifying crisis. With the cargo shifting, the Caledonia foundering and the storm exploding around him, the night is very long indeed.

Let Not the Deep is a story of cowardice and courage, of deeply felt emotion and powerfully realized drama.