The narrator, an unnamed crew member, tricks the ship's second-in-command, Mr. Strike, by wearing a black wig over his yellow hair. Mr. Strike is depicted as an old but still strong man who eventually becomes a close friend to the narrator. Their ship, the Hellroarer, is populated by a diverse, motley crew described as the "scum of the high seas". Over time, they weed out the unfit, leaving only "dominant blonds" and a host of various servitors, including Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Burmese, Hottentots, Eskimos, and Laplanders.

These remaining crew members resist a mutiny led by ten unnamed mutineers, using strange and humorous tactics such as creating stink pots out of limburger cheese and using Japanese crew members to spit tobacco juice in the eyes of the mutineers. The narrator maintains control over the crew, even beating up the Malay servitor to assert dominance, as he could find no other role for him.

Mr. Smellbare, the only blond among the mutineers, becomes the narrator's arch-enemy after a hostile exchange involving a non-existent scar on Smellbare's neck. During the mutiny, Mr. Strike kills Mr. Smellbare by tricking him into jumping overboard, and the Hellroarer blows up, killing everyone aboard.