Lowry's first novel follows Dana Hilliot, a young Englishman who signs on as a deckhand on a steamer bound for the Far East. He is eager to prove himself and shake off his sheltered background, but he feels like an outsider among the crew and is troubled by doubts about his courage and his future. The book draws on Lowry's own voyage as a young man and uses a lively, fragmented style full of sailors' talk and inner thoughts. It is an early sign of the intense, autobiographical voice he later brought to greater heights.