Alan Ladd stars as a the son of a wealthy ship magnate who finds himself forced to sail on one of his fathers brutal ships in Two Years Before the Mast. Like the rest of the worlds land-dwellers, Charles Stewart (Ladd) knew nothing of a sailors life at sea And as the son of a very rich ship owner, he never should have. Nevertheless, after being made to sail on the S.S. Pilgrim, he soon discovers the ocean of brutality that was a sailors lot in life during the 1840s. Sickened and ultimately swayed by a sea of daily floggings, beatings and knifings, Charles must decide between silence and allegiance or mutiny against the ships heartless Captain.