Louis L'Amour's long-lost first novel, inspired by his own experiences as a merchant seaman and completed by his son, takes readers on a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas. As the shadows of World War II gather, the SS Lichenfield is westbound across the Pacific carrying eighty thousand barrels of highly explosive naphtha. The cargo alone makes the journey perilous, with the entire crew aware that one careless moment could lead to disaster. Though each has his own history, dreams and jealousies, longing and rage, the lives of the crew all are connected by a deadly web of chance and circumstance. Some are desperately fleeing the past; others chase an unknown destiny. A few are driven by the desire for adventure, while their shipmates cling to the Lichenfield as their only true home. In their hearts, these men, as well as the women and children they have left behind, carry the seeds of salvation or destruction. And all of them -- kind or cruel, strong or broken -- are bound to the fate of the vessel that carries them toward an ever-darkening horizon.