Retired foreign officer John Pauley, on a freighter headed for South America, encounters a ship that has been seized by pirates, and watches them change its name to Flying Dutchman. The Russian navy captures the pirates, but the ship suffers a second takeover. Crack journalist Manuela Alvarez and John locate the ship with its captive crew, many of whom are sick. Manuela learns the ship’s destination but must weigh writing a great story against endangering the crew, whether she should sacrifice her story for their sake, just as a woman’s sacrifice released the legendary Dutchman from sailing forever. Robert G. Morris is from Des Moines and has a Ph.D. degree in physics from Iowa State University. After teaching and doing research, he joined the U.S. foreign service in 1974 and worked on nuclear nonproliferation, science cooperation and environmental protection issues in Washington, Paris, Bonn , Buenos Aires and Madrid. He retired in 1992 and lives with his wife in Oregon.