Not many humans know. On the edges of every sea, the Ferret Rescue Service stands alongside the Coast Guard and Coastal Patrol of any country that claims an ocean shore. Just as it is the job of humans to rescue human lives at risk in storm and shipboard disaster, so it is the job of ferrets to rescue seagoing animals.

In this world of committed, courageous ferrets, Captain Bethany Ferret stands apart. A kit from humble beginnings, she rises quickly to command the swift J-boat "Resolute," once derelict, which she herself has rescued from the rocks. Bethany and her crew measure the days by storms at sea, by ships in distress and by lives saved from tempest.

When the alert siren shrieks in the midnight storm, Bethany shakes away sleep and races to the bridge. "Boa, start Engine One, start Engine Two." She does not inquire whether the Chief Engine ferret is ready for action on a quarter-minute warning. She switches to the ship's loudspeaker: "Topside crew, paws on deck. We have a vessel in distress, this is not a drill."

Engines bursting awake, searchlights blazing, crew and boat battle swells and screaming wind to reach desperate creatures in black water, the lines between life and death now drawn only by the limits of the ferrets' courage.

From ceaseless boat-drill practice to instant decisions on the broken deck of the "Deepsea Explorer, Rescue Ferrets at Sea" is a tale of the pursuit of ideals, of the value of teamwork, an action portrait of those who believe that the rescue of life is the highest calling.