When the Japanese invade Singapore, Captain Ivan Lyon formerly of the Gordon Highlanders and currently working for the SOE flees to Sumatra with civilian evacuees. On the way Lyon meets with Bill Reynolds, the captain of the battered old Japanese fishing boat the Kofuku Maru and they sail to Ceylon. Returning to Australia, Lyon wanting to come up with a way hit back at the Japanese who have captured his wife and son, concocts a plan to attack enemy shipping in Singapore harbour. Meanwhile, the newly formed Z Special Force conducts a special operation to test techniques that could be utilised against Japanese shipping. Led by Captain Sam Carey and Lieutenant Ted Carse the commandos paddle in canoes into Townsville harbour, planting explosives on the docked vessels. Lyon now with proof of the effectiveness of this method meets with Colonel Mott of the SRD to help promote his plan codenamed Operation Jaywick. Initially Lyon and Mott receive resistance from their superior officers but eventually are given the greenlight to launch the attack using the Kofuku Maru, now renamed the MV Krait. Lyon enlists Carse and two other officers, Donald Davidison and Bob Page to lead the mission. Along with the fishing boats crew, Lyon's batman, a cook and a radio operator, Davidson also selects five navy commandos to conduct the actual canoe operations. The Krait leaves Exmouth Gulf on its long journey to Singapore when it immediately broke down, after returning to Exmouth Gulf and a patch up repair Lyon's force eventually begins its long and hazardous journey.