| Director | Joseph Kane |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 92 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $1.2 million |
| Box office | $1.3 million |
In 1883, the Boston company that owns the merchant sailing ship Gerrymander gives her captain, Captain Boll, six months to show a profit in the Netherlands East Indies. Facing both pirates and a Dutch trade exclusion policy preventing foreigners from carrying goods between ports, Boll looks to make a profit another way. On Java, an Indonesian, whose life Boll once saved, tells Boll that native divers salvaged a fortune in diamonds from the sunken ship Pieterzoon. He sends Boll to a Chinese junk captain with a captive, the woman Kim Kim, a dancer at the sultan's palace before the Chinese enslaved her; she knows the diamonds' location.
Boll violates Dutch anti-slavery laws by buying Kim Kim and smuggling her aboard Gerrymander. Flint, the ship's first mate, finds out why Boll purchased her and threatens to turn the captain over to the Dutch if not given half the diamonds.
Pulo Besar, a notorious pirate posing as the naturalized Dutch citizen "Saint" Ebenezer, becomes aware that Kim Kim is aboard Gerrymander. He informs the Dutch authorities, and they search the ship but do not find her (she is hiding on deck inside a half-filled water cask). The ship's crew find her there, and Boll insists that they treat her as a passenger. Later, he must fight one of the crew to protect her honor.
Boll constantly questions Kim Kim about the diamonds. This angers her until he confides that he hopes one day to own his own ship; she tells him that the diamonds are on the island of the fire god, Vishnu. Meanwhile, Flint incites the Gerrymanders crew against Boll, claiming that Kim Kims presence aboard has made their captain unbalanced. When the mutinous crew confronts Boll, he offers them Flint's half of the fortune, if they leave him in command. They agree, the mutiny ends, and Flint is imprisoned. Gerrymander immediately sets sail in search of Vishnu's island. Boll and Kim Kim become romantically involved during the voyage, but she harbors a fear that Vishnu will become angry if Boll attempts to take the diamonds.
The pirates attack and seize Gerrymander, taking the ship and her crew to Besar's island, where he maintains a palace, servants, and a small army. To get Kim Kim to reveal the diamonds' location, he has her lashed, while also showing her that her mother is his longtime prisoner for the same reason; she has been permanently broken and driven insane. Loyal to Boll, Kim Kim refuses to say anything. Besar instead threatens to kill the captain, and she agrees to cooperate to save Boll's life. Flint, Wilson, and another sailor from Gerrymander offer to cooperate.
Besar, his pirates, Kim Kim, Flint, and Wilson set sail for Vishnu's island. Meanwhile, Gerrymanders crew escape and set Boll free. They take back control of their ship and set out in pursuit. To keep from losing Besar's ship during a moonless night, Boll and two of his men row ahead in a black sail-equipped longboat, sending back shrouded signals to Gerrymander. Wilson jumps overboard and swims to Boll's longboat after overhearing where the pirates are heading. His information allows Boll and his crew to identify Vishnus island as Krakatoa.
Besars ship and Gerrymander approach Krakatoa, finding its volcano in the early stages of erupting. Gerrymanders men and Besars pirates head ashore to be the first to reach the diamonds in Vishnu's temple near the smoking volcano's rim. Boll spots Kim Kim on the shore below, and the eruption becomes more destructive, followed by heavy lava flows. He and his crew decide it is too dangerous to continue; they instead rescue Kim Kim and hurriedly up anchor and head out to sea. Besar and some of his pirates reach the temple but are killed by the worsening eruption; below, the remaining pirate crew quickly set sail. Boll knows the island's destruction will generate huge tsunami waves, so he orders his crew to set a sea anchor after they turn Gerrymander toward the now exploding Krakatoa. The ship successfully rides out a series of very large waves, while the pirates try to outrun them, which capsizes their ship and drowns them all.
While the eruption destroyed Krakatoa, ending any hope of recovering the diamonds, Boll tells his crew that there is a 100,000-guilder bounty on Besar, which they will earn by handing over Besar's island to the Dutch. In his capacity as captain of the ship, Boll marries himself to Kim Kim on Gerrymanders quarterdeck while his crew looks on.