One of Rudyard Kipling's most enduringly popular works, Captains Courageous is both a stirring tale of the sea and a fable of a boy's initiation into the world of men. The boy in question is Harvey Cheyne, pampered son of an American millionaire; his initiation commences when he is saved from drowning by a New England fishing schooner and forced to prove his worth in the only way the captain and crew will accept: through the slow and arduous mastery of skills upon which common survival depends.