Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to aid his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester (Stowecroft). The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Steve Walker (Jones) gets caught in the middle of the squabble after evoking Blackbeard’s ghost.

Lieutenant Rip Crandall is hoodwinked into taking command of the “Wackiest Ship in the Navy” – a real garbage scow with a crew of misfits who don’t know a jib from a jigger. What none of them knows, including Crandall, is that this ship has a very important top-secret mission to complete in waters patrolled by the Japanese fleet. Their mission will save hundreds of allied lives – if only they can get there in one piece.