Summary

As the story opens, the young protagonist, having suddenly been given his first command of a ship, feels a stranger to the ship, to the crew, and to himself. Untested by the rigors and responsibilities of command, he wonders to himself “how far I should turn out faithful to that ideal conception of one’s own personality every man sets up for himself secretly.” He has not long to learn, for no sooner does he assume his duties as captain than he spies, one night while on watch, a young swimmer hanging onto the ship’s rope ladder. He hauls the swimmer on board, only to learn that the young man is Leggatt, the former first mate of the Sephora, who has escaped after killing a sailor in an angry outburst at the sailor’s ineptitude. His rescuer feels an immediate affinity with Leggatt, so much so that he hides him in his own cabin, at great personal risk. During his infrequent, whispered conversations with Leggatt, he learns that they both come from similar homes, have been graduated from the same naval school, and share the same values and outlook on life. Often the captain feels so great a kinship with his stowaway that he believes that they are doubles or even two halves of the same person.

In the second half of the story, the captain’s complicity in Leggatt’s escape deepens when the captain of the Sephora visits him to question him about the escaped man. In response to these questions, the young captain goes to great lengths to protect, hide, and lie about Leggatt. All this while, his officers and men are becoming distrustful of his odd, erratic, and agitated behavior, while Leggatt...