The cast includes Bob Hoskins, Sadie Frost, Gemma Jones, Anna Massey, Peter McDonald, Maureen Lipman and Michele Dotrice.
Officials declare his boat unsafe for a planned voyage to the Arctic, but Jack is determined to set sail and to place a plaque there in commemoration of his seafaring hero.
With his motley crew, Captain Jack succeeds in making his voyage despite an international search for his boat by maritime authorities.
The film is based on a true life incident involving a Whitby man, Jack Lammiman, who declared that his ship was seaworthy but was being hampered from sailing by maritime rules.
During the voyage he evade an international search by the naval authorities using a number of techniques which including painting his boat a different colour.