A disgraced sea captain signs on as a crewman on a cargo ship. He discovers that the vessel is captained by the very man who stole his ship, a sadistic brute who also took the former captain's wife and daughter. The ship's crew is composed mostly of sailors who were shanghai'ed aboard and are kept in line by the brutal captain and his even more fearsome first mate. The captain and one of his fellow crewmen--who has fallen in love with the man's daughter, who now belongs to the brutal captain--try to unite the crew to end the brutal reign of the captain and his henchman.—[email protected]
Plot summary from the AFI catalog:"Captain Swope of the Golden Bough is dreaded by all seamen because of the cruelty with which he and Fitzgibbons, his first mate, treat their crews. When his ship berths at San Francisco, Newman, whose wife and daughter were kidnapped by Swope years before and who was framed for murder, inquires about the captain at The Knitting Swede's, a lodging house for sailors. Along with Newman, young John Shreve enlists on the vessel to be near Mary, believed to be the captain's daughter but in reality Newman's child. With a shanghaied crew, the ship leaves port. Swope recognizes Newman and has him put in irons. The crew mutinies, and Newman is released by Shreve and Mary, who, Newman learns, is his daughter. In a confrontation with Swope, Newman gets his revenge and Mary finds happiness with John."
