The World's End of the title is Tierra del Fuego, the small collection of islands at the bottom of South America. Biggles and the team are sent there to find some gold hidden during the First World War; their cover whilst searching for the gold is a search for two missing English botanists. It is a sign of their skill (or Capt John's predictability?) that they manage to achieve both missions.

The gold was taken from an English merchant ship by the German warship Dresden. Their captain, hid the gold in the islands of Tierra del Fuego before the ship was destroyed at Juan Fernandez, in the Pacific.

Von Stalhein, the old rival, has a small role in this book, providing the tip-off that leads Colonel Raymond on the trail to the gold.