Captain John Nelson (Hobart Bosworth) and his crew hunt whales on the high seas. The captain is an angry man, having never recovered from his wife's leaving him for another man 20 years prior. When the ship comes to port, Tom (Emory Johnson), a young man, joins the crew as a lookout. He is distraught as well, having been jilted by his fiancée.
Back on the seas, the ship's inexperienced crew mistakes the water supply as a leak and pumps it overboard. The captain rations the remaining water and stores it in his quarters. The crew mutinies.