Mickey captains a tugboat with Donald and Goofy as the crew. As Mickey is sealing the mast and dealing with an intoxicated pelican, he receives a distress signal of a sinking ship. Mickey calls the crew and has them fire up the engine. As Donald struggles with the connecting rod of one of the pistons, Goofy accidentally overloads the furnace of the ships steam engine, causing a catastrophic explosion. As Mickey and his crew are floating in the water amid the remains of the tugboat, they discover that the distress signal they heard was only part of a radio drama.