"Wolf" Larsen, fearsome master of the hellship Ghost , attempts in vain to attract Lorna Marsh, a prostitute in a Japanese port of call. Lorna, having first turned down the offer to ship on Larsen's sealer, comes aboard when Allen Rand, with whom she is infatuated, is shanghaied along with two or three sailors who are taken from the crew of a steamer belonging to Wolf's brother, "Death." Scorned by Wolf as a helpless weakling, Rand is made assistant to Mugridge, the cook. Later Larsen promotes Rand to first mate for saving his life when the crew makes an unsuccessful attempt at mutiny. After Wolf has made a particularly large catch of seals off the Aleutians, he determines to seduce Lorna forcibly, knocks out Rand, and is about to succeed when Death overtakes his ship. Lorna and Rand escape in a sealing boat while Mugridge avenges a previous mutilation deliberately caused by Wolf by blinding him with a hot poker. After days adrift, the lovers sight the Ghost , ravaged by Death. Wolf, still alive but badly injured, tries to prevent Lorna and Rand from taking supplies and leaving by casting off their boat. But Wolf knows he is dying, and he gives Lorna and Rand directions to the nearest land before he succumbs.