The Rivals of Acadia / An Old Story of the New World

A mid-seventeenth-century New England harbor becomes the scene of rising tension when a French warship appears, prompting a former naval officer, Arthur Stanhope, to lead a handful of boats to protect the governor and rescue civilians. The narrative combines nautical action and militia mobilization with personal backstory—Stanhope bears the stigma of dismissal tied to his father's religious exile—and with social encounters that introduce rivalries and romantic complications. Through episodes of pursuit, political maneuvering, and community response, the work examines competing authorities, honor, and the fragile order of a colonial settlement under external and internal pressures.