Sail a Crooked Ship plot
A rather bungling ex-Navy officer Gilbert Barrows (Robert Wagner) tries to impress Elinor Harrison (Dolores Hart), his boss's daughter. He ignores his order to disapprove of some ships. To prove that the ships are still quite seaworthy, he wants to have one ship refurbished to be able to use it again for transport services. He accidentally mistakes petty thief Bugsy F. Foglemeyer (Ernie Kovacs) for a shipbuilder and hands the project over to him. Bugsy sees his chance to use the ship as a means of escape after a bank robbery. When Gilbert and Elinor check out the ship, Bugsy takes them as hostages. On their way to New York, they face heavy fires such as seasickness, fire and even a tornado.