Laurent van Horn is the leader of a band of Dutch refugees on a ship seeking freedom in the Carolinas, when the ship is wrecked on the coast of Cartagene, governed by Don Juan Alvardo, a Spanish ruler. Alvarado has Laurent thrown in prison, but the latter escapes, and five-years later is a pirate leader. He poses as the navigator on a ship in which Contessa Francesca, daughter of a Mexican noble, is traveling on her way to marry Alvarado, whom she has never seen. Laurent's pirates capture the ship and Francesca, in order to save another ship, gives her hand-in-marriage to Laurent, who sails her to the pirate hideout. This irks his jealous pirate comrades Anne Bonney and Captain Benjamin Black. They overpower Laurent and send Francesca to Alvarado, and then Mario du Billar, a trusted right-hand man, makes a deal to deliver Laurent to Alvarado.
Paul Henreid
as Capt. Laurent Van Horn
Maureen O'Hara
as Contessa Francesca
Walter Slezak
as Don Juan Alvarado
Binnie Barnes
as Anne Bonney
John Emery
as Mario Du Billar
Barton MacLane
as Capt. Benjamin Black
J.M. Kerrigan
as Pillery Gow
Fritz Leiber
as Bishop
Nancy Gates
as Lupita
Jack La Rue
as Lt. Escobar
Mike Mazurki
as Erik Swaine
Ian Keith
as Captain Lussan
