Rainsford is on his way to Rio to hunt jaguars in the Amazon. Whitney, one of the crew, and Rainsford decide to have a discussion on hunting. Whitney explains that they are approaching "Ship-Trap Island" and that sailors are very afraid and feel a cold chill run through their veins when in its midst.   Whitney decides to turn in for the night and Rainsford decides to stay up and smoke another pipe.  

Rainsford hears the sound of a gunshot 3 times. Springing onto the rail of the boat, he tries to see if he can see anything.  As he balances himself a rope knocks his pipe out of his mouth and, leaning to reach it, he bends over too far and falls in the water.

It becomes a matter of life and death and he has to keep a straight head if he is to survive.  He hears a cry of someone or something, but at least it gave him a direction to go.  After swimming a great distance, he finally hears the familiar sound of waves rushing and crashing on the rocks. 

With the small amount of energy he had left, he pulled himself onto the rocks and collapsed.  Upon waking in the afternoon, he wandered along the shore trying to find some sign of life, but all he found was what seemed to be the blood of the wounded cry he had heard from the distance.  He kept going knowing that this was evidence of some type of life and he came upon General  Zaroff's chateau.

Rainsford is on a yacht which is sailing the Caribbean Sea while he hunts and he hears tell of this island. While he is on an eerily calm sea one night and the sailors on his yacht are nervous because they know they are close they become ensnared by the island (which is really General Zaroff's trap to get ships wrecked so he has humans to hunt). Rainsford manages to stay afloat and washes up on the shores of Ship Trap Island. He immediately gets into hunter mode when he hears gun shots and he is relieved to know that there are other  on the island. He is not the least bit frightened when he comes upon the house of General Zaroff because he has no idea that soon he will become the hunted.

Rainsford is on a yacht that is cruising the Caribbean and accidentally falls overboard one night. No one can hear him above the engine, so all he can do is swim ashore to the island. This is when Rainsford hears the cries of something, but he isn't sure what it is. He finds his way to Zaroff's house after he sleeps on the beach.