The McKissacks employ a plain writing style. This method works effectively for relaying the complex detail necessary to provide readers with the history of whaling and whalers.

They describe the history in chronological order, depicting the political changes of the period and the desperate measures African Americans took in overcoming racial inequity. This book gives great insight into the complexity of whaling, racial inequality, and the means whalers found to survive from 1400 to 1900 AD. It facilitates young adults' understanding of this influential time in history.