Jack London is a masterful storyteller. London spent some time living in Germany while writing The Sea Wolf. Humphrey was a gentle intellectual boy who was forced through circumstance to toughen up and become self-reliant. Humphrey was taken off a sinking ship by a cruel schooner captain. The captain takes an interest in his new cabin boy. When a woman castaway is picked up Humphrey falls in love. The two are cast off on a desert island and are forced to survive intolerable conditions.