Leonid Andreyev spent most of the last decade of his life in the Finnish village Vammelsu, near the Black Rivulet, where he built for himself a villa. The village was close to the sea, and Andreyev spent many hours exploring the local seas in his yacht.

His love for the sea and understanding of it appears with particular impressiveness in The Ocean, subtitled "A Tragedy", which is permeated with the tingling saltiness of sea air.

The main character is Haggart, the captain of a pirate vessel, who despises the humble and cautious fishermen who live on the shore, and who live under the genial tyranny of the local Abbe. Haggart is determined to commence a voyage on the boundless ocean in search of new horizons.

He is to be accompanied by his lover Mariette and by the little son she has borne him.

However, just at the moment when the ship is to set out on the great adventure, an "accident' takes place. The Abbe is killed by Haggart's boatswain, old Harre. No reason is given for the murder, but Harre insinuates, and the crew seconds him, that it has been committed by Haggart's order. The captain has never given such an order, yet the listener suspects that he is responsible, indirectly, for the act of Harre, who is seen as a mere tool of Haggart's will.