The young humanist Humphrey van Weyden was traveling from San Francisco to the Pacific Ocean ; after a shipwreck he is saved by the seal-hunting boat called "Ghost".The captain Wolf Larssen of this boat is called the Sea Wolf and is very authoritarian: Humphrey doesn't feel well and wants to leave the boat in the next port,but the Sea Wolf obliged him to stay on board and to work as a member of his crew.The crew will live a great storm, some mariners begin to rebel, the Sea Wolf punished them and maintains his authority.Humphrey notices that the Sea Wolf is also a very astute and intelligent man.After some weeks the boat saves the life of the writer Maud Brewster.