Plot: In 1840, America's line life is the sea, with an intense commerce. In Key West shore, two ship salvage companies dispute the wrecked vessels. The honest one belongs to the impulsive Loxi Claiborne and Capt. Phil Philpott and the other one is owned by the unscrupulous pirate King Cutler. While rescuing the crew of the ship "Julliete", wrecked on the reeves by the First Mate Mathias Widgeon, Loxi falls in love for Captain Jack Stuart. She travels to Charleston to defend Jack and convince the ship owner to give the position of captain of the new steamship of the company, manipulating the powerful shipping company lawyer Steve Tolliver (Ray Milland), who also falls in love for her. This triangle of love leads Jack Stuart to bad and fatal choices.
Alternative Plot: Along the seaboard of the American South during the 1840s, cut-throat salvagers who profit from the wrecks of transatlantic cargo ships move from exploiting shipwrecks to causing them. As the most dangerous of the salvagers, King Cutler (Raymond Massey), takes aim at the ships of the wealthy Devereaux Company, ambitious ship captain Jack Stuart (John Wayne) and company lawyer Stephen Tolliver (Ray Milland) vie for the hand of feisty Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard).
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