The story starts in the early summer of 1832, as thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle prepares to take a big voyage from Liverpool , England to her family's new home in Providence, Rhode Island . Her upper class upbringing and her education in the very proper Barrington School for Better Girls gives her a very sheltered and narrow view of life. Since a porter warns the other families due to travel with her against the voyage, Charlotte finds herself the only passenger – and only female – on the ship, the Seahawk . Repeatedly, people tell her she shouldn't be on the ship, but her escort, Mr. Grummage, insists.
On her first day aboard, a sailor on the ship gives her a dirk for protection; tells her of the cruel captain, and what he did to a crewman's arm after he couldn't tie a good knot. Blinded by her view of the captain as a gentleman, she disbelieves him. The captain and Charlotte become very close, and he says that if she ever sees anything suspicious, like a round-robin telling of an imminent mutiny, she must tell him.
One day she is with one of the sailors, when his needle snaps. Charlotte offers to get a new one for him from the forecastle , where the crew sleeps. While looking for the needle, she sees a pistol in the trunk, and a round robin on the table. After contemplating whether or not to tell the captain, Charlotte's fear drives her to inform him. Captain Jaggery heads off the rebellion, shooting the stowaway Cranick, who held a grudge against the captain for lashing his arm so much it had to be amputated. Charlotte is distressed as Captain Jaggery orders Zachariah, one sailor that Charlotte has very strong feelings for, whipped 50 lashes. Charlotte tries to protect Zachariah by grabbing the whip, but accidentally hits the captain's face. Jaggery is enraged and whips Zachariah mercilessly, leading to his death and funeral.
After the captain has withdrawn his protection of Charlotte, she feels compelled to replace Zachariah's place as a crew member, as she feels guilt for her naive part in revealing the crew's plans. The crew allows her to join them after she successfully climbs up and down the tallest mast, the royal yard, on the ship. To climb the ship, she must either use the ratlines or shimmy up the mainmast itself. She chooses the ratlines. While climbing down, she almost falls to her death, but she gets herself untangled. When she comes down, however, the captain is there, and Charlotte tells him she is joining the crew. Annoyed by her change of heart, he dubs her "Mister Doyle" and moves her things from her cabin to the forecastle. Captain Jaggery strikes Charlotte across the face, and she vows to reveal his cruelty to the courts after they complete their voyage and insists that her reasons are justified.
As the Seahawk enters a powerful hurricane , Charlotte falls from the ratlines and is saved by a man whom she believes is Zachariah, despite his apparent death. As she climbs back down, the crew finds the body of the first ma
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