When Jack Sligo runs away from his loving Boston-Irish family, he hopes to get a summer job on a cruise ship. His dream becomes a nightmare when he meets two strangers who give him mysterious drinks in a waterfront saloon.

Jack wakes up, far at sea, shanghaied aboard the African freighter, SS Iron Prince. The ship's first call is a remote jungle port in Venezuela where there's plenty of rum, women, and thieves, but no opportunity for escape.