O'Toole uses hypnosis to persuade Chief Nelson to stop gambling, and then he saturates St. John with the suggestion that he's the finest lieutenant in the Navy.

The crew of the Appleby is ordered to "shape up" for the arrival of a new officer - Ensign Bender, a book-sailor from Annapolis. O'Toole thinks that Bender needs a "Navy style" initiation, so he sets out to convince the young ensign that he has contracted a strange nautical disease.