A young English naval lieutenant wants to prove that the fastest way to get to India from London is via the Mediterranean and Suez, rather than the long sea route around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, which takes six months. Together with his friend, the French explorer and naturalist Martial de Sassenage, Thomas Waghorn leaves London in October 1829 with the aim of reaching Bombay in India within three months. The owner of a shipping company fears for the future of his company if the two adventurers succeed and sends his agents to delay them en route.