Martin Eden (Glenn Ford) is a sailor whose brutal treatment at the hands of the Bligh-like skipper, Captain "Butch" Raglan (Ian MacDonald), of the "hellship" on which he is serving prompts him to bring to pubic attention , through the publication of his memoirs, the seaman's unenviable lot. The long-coming but eventual publication of the harrowing document results not only in bringing the brutal captain to justice, but also the freeing of a fellow sailor, Joe Dawson (Stuart Erwin), wrongly accused of mutiny.