Twilight For The Gods: Ernest K. Gann

For the first time ever, David Bell is in love with a woman instead of a ship. He has been at sea since boyhood and is now captain of the old and leaking brigantine Cannibal. Out of his oddly assorted group of passengers, he feels drawn to Charlotte King, a beautiful young widow with a mysterious past. But he's puzzled by her determination to cross the Pacific in his ship and by her insistence that he should not call at Hawaii. Ramsey, the Cannibal's mate recalls seeing her face in a Hawaiian newspaper with screaming headlines...And then the Cannibal's leak worsens, and they must make their way - to Hawaii!