Jack London was an American novelist, journalist and social activist. Pioneering the genre of magazine fiction and prototyping science fiction, he became one of the first writers, who gained worldwide fame and a large fortune. Partially based on the author's voyage around Cape Horn on the Dirigo in 1912, The Mutiny of the Elsinore tells the story of Mr. Pathurst who books passage on a cargo vessel sailing from Baltimore to Seattle. To his surprise, the hero becomes a witness of a mutiny that starts with the sudden death of the captain.