Hornet is forced to engage in a desperate battle with a powerful privateer mounting heavier guns and has an almost impenetrable hull. The Dolphin was built in Bermuda of wood as hard as mahogany, so hard in fact that Hornet's six-pound balls do little damage. Only by wit and skill does Lieutenant Isaac Donland, Hornet's captain, manage to escape Dolphin's trap. It becomes very clear that Hornet can not take the privateer alone so he seeks out Stinger and Jacket. He discovers the wreckage of Jacket and her survivors but because of the privateer, he is forced to abandon the survivors. The Rescue is a tale of privateers, bravery and of fierce sea battles. It is a story set during the closing years of the American Revolution when wealthy bankers acquire letters of marquee and built ships for the sole purpose of capturing British merchant vessels and selling their cargoes. The Rescue is the seventh novel in the Donland series.