As the story starts Humphrey Van Weyden is on a ferryboat traveling through the San Francisco Bay to. There is a very dense fog in the bay and they suddenly hit a larger boat. While his boat is sinking Humphrey jumps off and is rescued by a nearby ship which is full of cold-hearted pirates. Humphrey is forced to stay with them and become their cabin boy. Van Weyden quickly begins to hate the people around him especially a man named Thomas Mugridge who constantly hounds him and threatens to kill him.

Wolf Larsen is the cruel captain of the Ghost. He is the most brutal, non-caring person anybody could ever meet. He beats his crewmembers viciously anytime they do anything wrong or talk back

Japan. On the way the crewmembers begin to despise their captain more and more. One day a man named Leach tries to kill the captain but ends up killing the first mate. Wolf then asks Humphrey to become the first mate and he agrees. Wolf reads many books and is a very smart and intellectual man. He and Humphrey always talk about life and other things even though Humphrey despises him and is afraid of him.

One day a storm hits and many of the crewmembers are lost. Wolf then discovers a stray ship with four men and one woman onboard. They are made part of the crew to make up for the lost crewmembers. The woman's name is Maud Brewster, a writer whom Humphrey has read about. Humphrey falls deeply in love with Maud. One day he finds Wolf Larsen forcing himself upon her and he stabs him in the shoulder. That night he takes a hunter's boat and flees with Maud and they find an island. They build a hut there and plan to spend their winter there until one day Humphrey looks out to the shore and sees the Ghost. He finds one person on it, Wolf Larsen, who is now blind and useless. So Maud and Humphrey fix up the boat and head for Japan. On their way Wolf Larsen has several strokes and dies. A few days later a ship comes upon them and they are saved. Maud and Humphrey are so joyous that they have their first passionate kiss.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2553
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)