Code of the Sea on AllMovie

The story to this sea melodrama was written by Byron Morgan. Morgan was best known for the fast-paced auto tales he wrote for Wallace Reid, so this was quite a departure for him. When Bruce McDow (Rod LaRocque) refuses to go aloft to fix a rigging during a storm, and he is branded a coward. McDow believes his lack of courage is hereditary because many years before his father had taken his lightship into harbor during a storm instead of aiding a passenger liner; as a result, the liner wrecked. Because of this, Captain Hayden (George Fawcett) hates the name McDow. Hayden's daughter, Jenny (Jacqueline Logan), however, has faith in Bruce. She helps him get a job as mate on a lightship and once again a storm blows. Captain Hayden loses a propeller while bringing his ship in. Jenny, meanwhile, has come to meet him in a yacht which goes on the rocks. Both Bruce and Hayden get the wire from the yacht, and Hayden tells Bruce to save Jenny. Bruce sets out in a launch and he reaches the boat. Everyone is saved except him when the boat goes down. He is washed ashore clinging to a spar, and that's how Jenny finds him the next day. His bravery proven, Bruce is hailed as a hero.