Richard Charters is in prison on a murder charge, but while his mother begs Governor Allen to parole him, he escapes. Disguised by a beard, he turns up at the docks, looking for a boat going south. A couple of sailors send him to a local dive, where he overhears a disreputable sailor named Johnson planning to steal the treasure from a sunken ship after it is salvaged by Captain McCall. When Richard meets pretty Ann McCall, the captain's daughter, as she chases after her pet monkey, he decides to stow away on McCall's ship, where Johnson and his band of cutthroats are also on board. Once they are out at sea, Richard's hiding place is revealed when he saves Ann from an attack by Johnson. The radio man, one of Johnson's crew, intercepts a telegram warning McCall about Johnson. The crooks change the message to implicate Richard. They then decide to kill Richard by arranging a diving accident, but the attempt is unsuccessful, and when Richard recognizes Johnson as Killer Lundgren, the man who committed the murder that sent him to prison, he subdues the gang with the help of black sailor, Big Tim. Back in port, Richard thinks that he will have to turn himself in, but when the police meet the ship, they tell him that he is cleared, as they know the murderer was really Johnson. Richard is now free to return Ann's love.
