Tom Swift & friends decide to trial an experimental airship near the New Jersey coast, and are unexpectedly swept out to sea by hurricane winds.

Unable to steer or navigate without tearing the airship apart, the hapless crew must simply let the storm take them wherever it will.

Unfortunately, the storm proves too much for the craft and Tom makes a crash landing on the uninhabited and crumbling Earthquake Island.

Both groups quickly come upon each other, and working together, they are able to survive as Tom Swift builds a spark-gap transmitter radio from salvaged parts.

In contrast, in 1912 when the RMS Titanic sank, the wireless operator transmitted their distress in both CQD and SOS formats.