When Ralph, the new cabin boy joins the schooner ship Susan-Jane, which is carrying a cargo of gunpowder, he finds to his surprise that he has not signed up for a life as a swashbuckling pirate.
Instead of romance and adventure, he finds himself having to scrub decks and wash dishes. Worse still, any subordinance is punished harshly by the crew and the skipper.
Ralph decides to take his revenge on the Skipper and his crew, and devises an ingenious plan...
