After a disaster at sea, Captain Len Andrews and his family are picked up by a salvage vessel. The crew turn out to be ruthless criminals. While trying to escape Len is blinded and his wife is killed. Twenty years later, Len's son, Cole, has followed in his father's footsteps in the Coast Guard and is about to marry his fiance, Betty. But Cole's new superior officer, Drake, has been trying to lure Betty away from him. Len realizes Drake is the killer responsible for his wife's death years earlier and vows to get revenge.
Law of the Sea star William Farnum's career dated back to the silent era. Considered Fox's biggest male box-office draw in the 1910s, he starred in the original Hollywood versions of The Sign of the Cross (1914), A Tale of Two Cities, and Les Miserables (both 1917). He often appeared alongside his older brother, cowboy star Dustin Farnum. Co-star Rex Bell was just beginning his career. In a few years, he would find success as the star of Westerns such as Fighting Pioneers (1935) and The Idaho Kid (1936). The same year he appeared in Law of the Sea, Bell married 'It Girl' Clara Bow (they remained married until his death in 1962). Sally Blane was the younger sister of screen legend Loretta Young and appeared in classics like I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) and The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939).