Captain Herrick is upset that his younger son wants to become a stockbroker rather than a tugboat captain. Meanwhile, his older son is on the trail of some cobalt smugglers.
Something damaged the whistle of the Cheryl Ann and it's distasteful sound has made the crew an object of fun. The captain decides it time for a replacement.
The Herricks are forced to host a wealthy man's daughter who is writing her term paper on tugboat life. Her day aboard the Cheryl Ann proves to be an eventful one.
Carl is smitten with a girl from the wealthy Van Buren family and is not focusing on his work, which could cause him to lose his job with the tugboat company.
An old friend of the Herrick's is anxious for them to meet her fiancée. The man claims to be a logger from Seattle, however, when he claims to know a lumber magnate that John Herrick made up, the tug boat skipper decides to investigate the man's background and doesn't like what he finds.
While having a suit altered, Herrick hears the tailor's assistant being dragged from the store. Later, he sees the man's ugly tie in a waste basket on a ship he will be towing out to sea. Rather than wait for his son, a police detective, Herrick decides to search the vessel for the missing man.
Captain John is about to take a trip up to Puget Sound along with his good friend Anthony. However, when Jim informs his father that he and the FBI are about to nab Anthony for racketeering, many plans are changed.
When a body washes ashore with a bullet in the skull, Captain John's first mate - an ex-con - is the main suspect. But Captain John has faith in him anyway.
A young sailor down on his luck due to a war wound finds a job with a spice importer through Capt. Foster. What Foster doesn't realize is that the spice merchant has gambling debts and has farmed his warehouse operations out to mobsters.
A floating mine is reported to be in the area at the same time that a dense fog moves in -- making for extreme danger. Additionally, bad actors plan to use the mine for their own nefarious ends.
The Herricks and Terry Van Buren rescue three travelers marooned in a dinghy. The wayfarers explain that their ship struck a rock and sank, but Captain John becomes suspicious when they can't describe the vessel they were sailing in.
When a freighter runs aground on a reef outside San Pedro killing the captain in the process, the skipper's law student daughter enlists Captain Herrick's assistance to prove him innocent of negligence.
An elderly pair of ex-cons who quietly run a gift shop are recognized by one of their past marks and exposed. Meanwhile, a young couple are swindling the waterfront community of thousands of dollars needed to build a gym for their community center.
A young soldier, recently released from the army, is convinced to join a wine importing business by his fiancée, over his mother's objections. Captain Herrick becomes suspicious and starts to dig into the background of the importer and young man's girlfriend.
Carl's duck hunting trip doesn't go well. First Terry insists that the birds are too beautiful to shoot, then a crazed old man pops up to insist that he return to the mainland. Once on shore, Carl suffers a series of accidents, which Terry believes were caused by a curse that the old man placed on her boyfriend.
Captain Herrick is hired to serve as a movie company's technical advisor. His first job is quite enjoyable - teach a pretty starlet how to look like she's piloting his vessel. His bubble is burst when he learns the actress' business manager is wanted for espionage and his client is suspected of being part of his spy ring.
A thief murders one of Captain Herrick's friends while stealing a radio. Herrick comes to the aid of the frightened accomplice when the killer tries to run him over with his speedboat. The tugboat captain finds himself in danger when the killer decides to eliminate all possible witnesses to the crime.
A year after the tragic event, a woman still blames a tugboat captain for the death of her husband when his boat blew up, killing the crew and leaving him wheelchair bound.
Captain Herrick tries to help a young Mexican boy who he found hiding in a rail yard find his uncle and deal with U.S. Immigration Department officials.
Marie Turner, a waitress at a waterfront restaurant, recognizes the robber who murdered the bartender during a robbery gone bad. After refusing to identify the killer, she attempts to go into hiding working as the housekeeper at a lighthouse but the crooks
Carl's oil shipments have been coming up short and he has been frequently mysteriously absent. Mr. Van Buren is suspicious but Terry and the Cap'n have faith in Carl.
