The narrator recalls that he first heard this story from an inebriated friend. While his friend’s tale sounded unreliable, the teller was able to produce documentary evidence confirming the story’s events, including a diary and records from the British Colonial Office. According to these records, an English nobleman referred to as John Clayton, Lord Greystroke, was appointed to investigate the actions of another European nation illegally recruiting soldiers in Congo. John Clayton is eager to take on the assignment, but he was concerned because he recently married a woman named Alice and feared exposing her to the dangers of Africa. In 1888, the Claytons sailed to Africa and chartered a ship named the Fuwalda to take them to their destination.

While they were never seen again, the narrator recounts the events that transpired on the ship. The sailors and officers of the Fuwalda are criminals and bullies, and one day aboard the vessel, the captain tries to shoot a sailor named Black Michael because the man tripped him. John Clayton intervenes, knocking the gun out of the way so that the bullet only injures the sailor’s leg. The atmosphere on the ship turns sour, and Clayton contemplates abandoning the vessel and returning on a British ship that they see passing by.