: A hunting schooner, led by a smart cruel captain, picks up a writer drowning after a shipwreck. The hero goes through a series of trials, tempering his spirit, but without losing humanity along the way.
The literary critic Gumfrey van Weyden (a novel written on his behalf) is shipwrecked on his way to San Francisco. The sinking ship is picked up by the Phantom ship bound for Japan to hunt seals.
In front of Gumfrey, the navigator dies: before sailing, he wrapped up a lot, they could not bring him to his senses. The captain of the ship, Wolf Larsen, is left without an assistant. He orders the body of the deceased to be thrown overboard. He prefers to replace the words from the Bible necessary for burial with the phrase: “And the remains will be lowered into the water.”
The captain's face gives the impression of "terrible, crushing mental or spiritual strength." He invites van Weyden, a pampered gentleman living at the expense of his family, to become a young man. Watching the reprisal of the captain with a young youth George Lich, who refused to go to the rank of sailor, Humphrey, not used to brute force, obeys Larsen.
Van Weyden gets the nickname Hump and works in a galley with Coca Thomas Magridge. The coke who had previously fawned on Humphrey is now rude and cruel.For their mistakes or disobedience, the entire crew is beaten by Larsen, and Humphrey also gets it.
Soon, van Weyden reveals the captain from the other side: Larsen reads books - he is engaged in self-education. Between them often there are conversations about the law, ethics and immortality of the soul, in which Humphrey believes, but which Larsen denies. The latter considers life a struggle, "the strong eat the weak in order to maintain their strength."
For Larsen's special attention to Humphrey, the cook is even more angry. He constantly sharpens a knife in the galley on the young, trying to intimidate van Weyden. He confesses to Larsen that he is afraid, to which the captain remarks with a sneer: “How so ... because you will live forever? You are a god, but you cannot kill a god. ” Then Humphrey lends a knife to the sailor and also begins to pointedly sharpen it. Magridge offers the world and since then behaves with a critic even more servile than with a captain.
In the presence of van Weyden, the captain and the new navigator beat the proud sailor Johnson for his straightforwardness and unwillingness to obey Larsen's brutal whims. Leach bandages Johnson's wounds and, at all, calls Wolf a murderer and a coward. The crew is afraid of his courage, Humphrey admired the Lich.
Soon the navigator disappears at night. Humphrey sees Larsen with a bloodied face from behind the side of the ship. He goes to the tank where the sailors sleep to find the culprit. Suddenly they attack Larsen. After numerous beatings, he manages to escape from the sailors.
Captain appoints Humphrey as the navigator. Now everyone should call him Mr. Van Weyden. He successfully uses the advice of sailors.
Relations between Lich and Larsen are exacerbating more and more. The captain considers Humphrey a coward: his morality is on the side of the noble Johnson and Leach, but instead of helping them kill Larsen, he remains on the sidelines.
Boats from the "Ghost" go to sea. The weather changes dramatically and a storm breaks out. Thanks to the naval mastery of Wolf Larsen, it is possible to save and return almost all boats to the ship.
Suddenly Leach and Johnson disappear. Larsen wants to find them, but instead of the fugitives, the crew notices a boat with five passengers. Among them is a woman.
Suddenly, Johnson and Lich are noticed at sea. The defeated van Weyden promises Larsen to kill him if the captain again begins to torture the sailors. Wolf Larsen promises not to touch them with a finger. The weather is getting worse, the captain is playing with them, while Leach and Johnson are desperately fighting the elements. Finally, they are turned over by a wave.
The rescued woman earns her living herself, which delights Larsen. Humphrey recognizes the writer Maud Brewster in her, she also guesses that Van Weyden is a critic who flatteringly reviewed her works.
Magars becomes the new victim of Larsen. Coca is tied to a rope and dipped into the sea. A shark bites off his foot. Maud accuses Gumfrey of inaction: he did not even try to prevent the mockery of the cook. But the navigator explains that in this floating world there is no right to survive, no need to argue with the monster captain.
Mod - "fragile, ethereal creation, slim, with flexible movements." She has the correct oval of her face, brown hair and expressive brown eyes.Watching her conversation with the captain, Humphrey captures the warm gleam in Larsen's eyes. Now Van Weyden understands how Miss Brewster is dear to him.
The “Ghost” meets at sea with “Macedonia” - the ship of Wolf’s brother, Death-Larsen. The brother maneuvers and leaves the Ghost hunters without prey. Larsen implements a cunning revenge plan and takes his brother's sailors to his ship. "Macedonia" rushes in pursuit, but the "Ghost" is hiding in the fog.
In the evening, Humphrey sees the beating in the arms of Captain Maud. Suddenly he lets her go: Larsen has a headache. Humphrey wants to kill the captain, but Miss Brewster stops him. The two of them leave the ship at night.
In a few days, Humphrey and Maud arrive at Force Island. There are no people there, only a rookery of seals. The fugitives are huts on the island - they have to winter here, they can’t get to the shore by boat.
One morning, van Weyden discovers a Phantom near the shore. He is only a captain. Humphrey does not dare to kill Wolf: morality is stronger than him. His entire crew was enticed by Death Larsen, offering a higher fee. Soon van Weyden realizes that Larsen has become blind.
Humphrey and Maud decide to repair the broken masts to sail away from the island. But Larsen is against: he will not allow them to host on his ship. Maud and Humphrey work all day, but Wolf destroys everything during the night. They continue restoration work. The captain makes an attempt to kill Gumfrey, but Maud rescues him by hitting Larsen with a club. A seizure occurs with him, first the right side is taken away, and then the left side.
The "ghost" goes on a journey.Wolf Larsen is dying. Van Weyden sends his body to the sea with the words: "And the remains will be lowered into the water."
An American customs ship appears: Maud and Humphrey rescued. At this moment, they are explained to each other in love.
