Harvey Cheyne is the over-indulged son of a millionaire.

When he falls overboard from an ocean liner he is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman and, initially against his will, joins the crew of the We're Here for a summer.

Through the medium of an exciting adventure story, Captains Courageous (1897) deals with a boy who, like Mowgli in The Jungle Book, is thrown into an entirely alien environment.The introduction to this edition examines its place among other maritime novels and among Kipling's own work, and explanatory notes clarify the seafaring terms and historical and geographical references.