冒险始于1906年的旧金山,文学评论家汉弗莱在萨克拉门托渡轮。此后不久,在大雾中轮船与一货运船舶相撞。汉弗莱在水中漂流,半死不活最后被帆船“鬼”救起。 这个猎人“鬼”听令于拉森,拉森将太平洋航行看作最喜欢的狩猎场,他是残酷的队长,没有任何同情心,他愤怒地拒绝把汉弗莱救上岸。为了生存,汉弗莱必须尽快适应航海世界无情而粗暴的法则。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.