Rudyard Kipling's 1897 novel Captains Courageous follows the adventures and subsequent growth of the spoiled young son of a railroad tycoon. Aboard a fishing boat after being washed off his transatlantic steamship, Harvey Cheyne Jr. is unable to convince his rescuers to return him to shore. Instead the captain offers him a place in the crew and, given that he has no other choice, the boy accepts.