Among the few passengers is the alluring Nita Paxton, a cabaret artist whom Joe takes a liking to the minute he boards the ship.

Before the ship lands in its first port on the cruise, Dawson is murdered, and Joe gets rid of the body by feeding it to the fish, to avoid being blamed for his death.

Waiting for Joe in his cabin are Bergstrom and the impostor, who hold him at gun point, demanding he give them his ID and papers.

Still, when they hear on the radio that planes are sent out to rescue them, Bergstrom makes Joe fall hard into a deep hole in the deck.

Joe goes to Galveston, Texas, to collect his identification which he has sent in advance by mail, but finds that Nita has already been there in his place and fetched the papers.

Joe climbs into the apartment through a window, and in self-defence manages to shoot and kill the impostor just as Bergstrom gets his hands on the papers.