what is a man such as humphrey doing on a ship like the ghost? why can't he go home? where is the ghost heading?

You need to submit your questions one at a time. The narrator is more popularly known as simply as “Hump.” He joins the crew of the Ghost after being picked up as the survivor of a shipwreck. Of a higher class and far more distinctively gentlemanly in nature than Larsen, he may be viewed as the ultimate polar opposite to the Sea Wolf. Rather surprisingly, Hump admits to being viewed as a sissy at school which only serves to intensify the sadistic attitude the Captain holds him toward him. The narration of the novel is in the form of a written record; Humphrey is more than just a sissified gent; he is a sensitive author whose tale is one of romance as well the discovery of deep sources of courage and pluckiness that neither he nor Larsen expected existed beneath such a soft exterior.