[citation needed] The plot is centred on the illegitimate son of a British naval officer helping to bring about the downfall of a German cruiser during World War I.

They have a brief affair until he has to rejoin his ship but as they part, Betty tells him they should not meet again because they are from different social classes and so a marriage would never succeed; however, he gives her a prized watch which is a family heirloom.

Shortly afterwards, the First World War begins, and at sea Rutland again encounters the much more powerful Zeithen, which it had been shadowing until a British battlecruiser HMS Leopard, can rendezvous with it so they can attack it together.

However, Rutland had succeeded in damaging Zeithen, so its captain plans to pull into an isolated anchorage at the remote Galápagos island of Resolution to repair the vessel.

From there, he picks off exposed crewmen trying to repair the punctured hull plates on Zeithen, hoping to delay it until Leopard, which is commanded by Captain Summerville, arrives.

A shore party is sent to the island and Brown is eventually hit by a German shot, from which he later dies, never learning that his actions did delay the repairs long enough for Leopard to arrive and destroy Zeithen in an exchange of fire.

The Admiralty had given some indication they would co operate, but William Fisher, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was unhappy at the thought of British sailors playing Germans in the film, thinking it would be bad for morale.

[5] In July Gaumont announced the role of the mother would be played by Betty Balfour, a silent film star who had recently made a comeback in Evergreen.