A young British sailor signs on as the second mate for a voyage to the Cape Horn. Like most British captains, Mostyn only hires white sailors—Brits and Americans. Mostyn will bring his teenage son. The boy is frail from years of ill health, and the doctors are sure that a few months at sea will toughen him up. He won’t have any real sailing duties—only maintenance and custodial work. On the morning they’re set to sail, the crew is short one sailor. The first mate runs on shore to pick up someone, but the only volunteer is a small-statured foreigner. Mostyn begrudgingly lets him aboard, but he assigns him the menial tasks that he’d intended for his son. The young Mostyn bullies the foreigner relentlessly, egged on by the other sailors. They force him to do extra cleaning, and they barely leave him enough food at mealtimes. Even so, the foreigner works cheerfully and is kind to all—especially his adolescent tormentor. One day, a sailor goes for a swim. While he’s in the water, the other crewmen spot a shark fin. Once the man is back on board, Mostyn forbids swimming for the rest of the trip. Days later, a large fish flops onto the deck. The foreigner catches it, and he gives it to the young Mostyn for dinner. However, the boy remains hostile. During a raging storm, the second mate looks through the foreigner’s belongings and discovers that he doesn’t have the proper gear to be on the deck during such a deluge. He finds a picture of a little boy—the man’s son. Despite his lack of protection, the foreigner completes his duties. The young Mostyn gets caught in the crashing waves, and the foreigner pulls him to safety. The captain snatches up his son and slams the cabin door in the foreigner’s face. In rough waters a few weeks later, the waves sweep young Mostyn overboard. Shark fins circle his flailing frame. The foreigner jumps in and stabs the toothy fish. The boy grabs onto a buoy and makes it back aboard, but the foreigner drowns. At his memorial service, Captain Mostyn reads a short elegy and leaves the crew to lay the foreigner to rest in the waves alone. The second mate silently commends the foreigner’s heroism, and he tells his story years after his sailing career ends.