Out of Time — Patrick G. Cox

Out of time is a story about three young men dragged by a freak accident from the early nineteenth century into the high tech world of the twenty-third. They are transported through time from the gundeck of the 74 gun ship of the line HMS Spartan and into the hangar decks of the huge new starship NECS Vanguard. They must now come to terms not only with the change of time, but with the gap in their understanding of the universe, science and technology - and do this in the midst of a power struggle between those who seek to take over the governments of the free world and those in the political process who through their own corruption and self interest seek to allow this - and those who must prevent it. The Fleet of starships and its dedicated crews must fight to save the freedom of their peoples - and of the aliens enslaved in the service of the plotters. The three are both a target for corrupt bureaucrats and scientists and a key factor in the frustration of these plans. Harry Heron, Ferghal O'Connor and Danny Gunn are taken out of their time and plunged head first into another where they find they have as much to contribute as they have to learn.