Plot Summary

On the latest sailing of the SS Happy Wanderer on its regular round-trip Britain-western Mediterranean itinerary, Captain Wellington Crowther is dismayed to see five new faces among the crew, he having surrounded himself with a crew of men he knows and trusts in his ten year career. A smooth trip is more important for his career on this sailing than usual as the cruise line is making the decision for the person to captain the new ship doing the high prestige Transatlantic sailings, some in authority who will use any excuse not to assign him in he being just a regular bloke. Those five are: First Officer Leonard Marjoribanks, ship's doctor Arthur Binn, ship's head cook Wilfred Haines, head barman Sam Turner, who may be the most problematic in not knowing how to make the Captain's favorite custom cocktail, the Aberdeen Angus, and the Captain's personal steward, Tom Tree. The five know the Captain will be keeping a special eye on them and that he will paint them all in the same brush if one makes a mistake to jeopardize his promotion, on which they would like to accompany him if he gets it. But the harder they try, the more they get him into a scrape. These problems are only exacerbated by issues which they themselves are facing. Haines, never having sailed, gets seasick if he can't see the water, the galley which has no windows. And two passengers traveling together, friends Gladys Trimble and Florence Castle, are on a specific mission to find Flo a husband. While fickle Flo goes through a myriad a men who she deems as that husband material, she overlooks the one who is in love with her, namely Arthur, who is too shy to let her know how he feels.—Huggo