Framed for robbery, 18th century medical student Alan Ladd is sentenced to a New South Wales penal colony. En route to the prison, Ladd is tormented by sadistic ship's captain James Mason, while Mason's beloved Patricia Medina takes a fancy to the new prisoner. Once at the colony, Ladd is befriended by governor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, since the populace is in desperate need of a qualified physician. Mason's efforts to continue persecuting Ladd are foiled when Mason is killed by a group of disgruntled aborigines. Though it sounds a lot like Captain Blood, Botany Bay was based on a novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame).