The story of a young adventurer, Godfrey Morgan, and his deportment instructor, Professor T. Artelett, who embark on a round-the-world ocean voyage. Their ship is wrecked and they are cast away on a remote island, where they rescue and befriend an African slave, Carefinotu.

The novel is a robinsonade—a play on Daniel Defoe's 1791 novel Robinson Crusoe.