AllMovie

Why Sailors Go Wrong was directed by Henry "Pathe" Lehrmann, whose comedy technique hadn't changed much since his days with the Keystone studios. Sammy Cohen and Ted McNamara play a pair of silly sailors, the best friends of hero Nick Stuart. In love with wealthy Sally Phipps, Stuart has been forbidden any contract with the girl by her domineering father. Daddy ships Phipps off in the family yacht, with Cohen and McNamara at the controls, while Stuart sneaks on board. The yacht is shipwrecked on a desert island, chock-full of hungry cannibals. Stuart rescues Phipps from the natives, proving himself a worthy potential husband, while Cohen and McNamara contend with a mischievous monkey. The film's "high point" finds the two comedy-relief gobs feeding an alligator castor oil so that the huge reptile will cough up their life savings.