Detective Henry Carter's life will never be the same after a sixteen year old girl is brutally raped and murdered in the small town of Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal in Northern England. Exhaustive efforts reveal no clues, then Henry realises the murderer could have been a crewman on the ship S.S.Rangoon which was docked in Runcorn on the fateful night. With help from Scotland Yard he narrows down the search to four crewmen. Henry joins the S.S.Rangoon in Australia and sails undercover posing as a crewman. He has to deal with the rigours of life in the merchant navy and the seedy and sordid underbelly of tropical port cities. He faces many dangers as the psychopath continues to mutilate and murder at will. A cruel twist of justice sees Henry devastated. However although many years pass he remains determined to bring the killer to account. His meeting with the beautiful sea gypsy Kerstin opens lost chapters in both their lives. In his quest to track down the cruel monster he sails the islands of the Caribbean where he discovers his lost family and much more.