An odd group of people find themselves aboard the Ghost, a sealing schooner captained by the hard taskmaster, Wolf Larson. George Leach is the on the run from the police as is Ruth Webster who has escaped from a women's penitentiary. Also aboard is a young writer, Humphrey van Weyden. He and Webster were fished out of the sea and Larson refuses to put them ashore. Larson is a cruel brute who will have his sailors beaten for the smallest infraction. The three try to escape but without success.—garykmcd