In Liverpool, James learns from his brother Robert that the ship Maisie Agnes has sunk. To make matters worse, the ship had been chartered by Callon, and the insurance company refuses to pay the claim because the cargo included barrels of gunpowder, which caused the disaster. Determined to take advantage of the situation, Callon forces the Onedins into bankruptcy. To settle the debt, they will have to sell the Charlotte Rhodes and Robert's shop. In response, James decides to embark on one last voyage, this time carrying a cargo of gunpowder.

Seth Burgess urgently needs crewmen for a voyage to New York and turns in desperation to Paddy West, who makes a thriving business of turning landlubber emigrants into
instant sailors, thus enabling them to evade American immgration control.