Whitney and Captain Nielsen are also travelling on the yacht with Sanger Rainsford when he falls overboard near Ship-Trap Island in Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game." Whitney is Rainsford's hunting partner, and the two are headed to South America for an upcoming expedition on the Amazon River. Whitney is used primarily for exposition, since his conversation with Rainsford gives the reader background information about their past. He also acts as a conscience for Rainsford.
"The best sport in the world," agreed Rainsford.
"For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar."
"Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?"
"Perhaps the jaguar does," observed Whitney.
"Bah! They've no understanding."
"Even so, I rather think they understand one thing--fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death."
Captain Nielsen does not actually appear in the story. The only mention of him comes when Whitney tells Rainsford of the captain's warning about the island.
"...Those fishy blue eyes held a look I never saw there before. All I could get out of him was `This place has an evil name among seafaring men, sir.' Then he said to me, very gravely, `Don't you feel anything?'--as if the air about us was actually poisonous.
Nielsen, like Whitney, serves merely to advance the mysterious reputation of Ship-Trap Island and to set the stage for Rainsford's later adventure on the island.
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