1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies

Book #14 of Eric Flint's New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling alternate history series, Ring of Fire. Eddie Cantrell, now married to the king of Denmarks daughter, is sent by Admiral Simpson to the Caribbean to secure access to the most valuable commodity on that continent not the gold and silver which the Spanish treasure, but the oil which up-time machines and industry need. The admiral has also provided Eddies small task force with the new steam-powered frigates that have just come out of the navys shipyards. Even with the frigates, a giant obstacle stands in his way: the Gulf-girdling Spanish presence in the New World. So a diversion is needed, carried out by an up-time car mechanic and a down-time mercenary colonel who also happens to be the last earl of Ireland. Their mission: grab the oil fields on Trinidad, and so distract the attention of Spains New World governors.