The black child rescued by Russian sailors, whom they called Maksimka, having overcome the fear of white people in himself, turned out to be an unusually smart and kind little boy. The rude drunken sailor Ivan Luchkin was especially attached to the boy. Once it was Maksimka who managed to save Luchkin from foreign recruiters of labor. For resourcefulness and courage, the young hero is enlisted in the team of the corvette and becomes the cabin boy of the Russian fleet.