Ramage

Description for RAMAGE by Dudley Pope with a new foreword by Alexander Kent:

In Ramage, the young lieutenant and peer of the realm receives special orders direct from Nelson himself which bring news of a mission close to his own heart. In a daring foray, under the very nose of the French Mediterranean fleet, Ramage is to sail his tiny cutter close in to the Italian shore and rescue a party of stranded aristocrats from Napoleon's fast-advancing army.

This is #1 in The Lord Ramage Novels.