 Fed up with the everyday grind Tired out from the summer heat Want to get away from it all? We offer you escape Escape designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure You are clinging precariously to a diving pitching longboat Lashed by mountainous seas in the middle of a hurricane and And at the helm driving you on is a man bent on revenge And willing to kill for it Tonight we escape to the open sea with an ancient tramp steamer and its fighting captain As fr buckley told it in his ironic story habit Step down, please. Thank you, sir. I mean your honor. Hello captain weatherfield You've just heard the complaining witness Have you anything to say on your own defense? Yeah uh Hit the man about a bit no doubt of that janer Thank with half chance that you've bounded his blasted head off Quiet Never order in the court Then you admit the charges captain weatherfield better hit him. Yeah, but I had stenoid in circumstances janer I'd see and what were there? He laughed at my ship at the wakelin your honor As fine a freighter has ever steamed out of here on the Liverpool run I don't quite see he stood there on the waft Squintide son of a landlubbered lawyer. He said my ship looked like an old woman With her dress on backwards her hair not combed. That's what I flattened him out I still say that's what she looks like Order why are you confounding little pipsqueak? I'll break your past Sit down captain weatherfield Let go of me. Come on. Let go of me. Let go of me. Let go of me. I said order in the court Captain weatherfield captain weatherfield this court finds you guilty of assault and batteries charged And sentences you to seven days in the no bristol city jail All right bill lock him up And that's the way it started with the captain getting seven days in the new bristol jail Yeah, but it went a whole lot further before it was over It was like a bolt of chain lightning that May take a dozen strange turns or more before it finally strikes home and uh Actually, of course The wakelin was a funny-looking old scowl She'd had 30 years in the north atlantic with never a pod being replaced so long as there was some way of patching it up Yeah, she was a regular joke of a ship that is to everybody except captain weatherfield And those of us who were officers aboard her had learned a long time before not to hint anything like that to him Now she was the queen mary and the normandy and his firstborn child all rolled up into one So you can bet your life we all kept sober faces when the captain finally came aboard at the end of the week Mr. Connolly. Yes, sir Well everything in order will we be able to sail in an hour? Yes, sir. I've been keeping her ready for the last four days just in case that will do I'm fully aware that we're four days past schedule And the reason for it will not be discussed on board. Is that clear? Yes, captain I've been badly treated in this town, mr. Connolly Thrown behind bars like some thievian docret I don't feel good about it And if it takes me the rest of my life, I'm going to even up the score Do you understand that? I uh, I think so you think so sir. Yes, sir. All right Then button up your collar and go get up ahead of steam So three days later we were plowing through a heavy sea 580 miles out on the Atlantic. The spray was freezing in the rigging We were flirting with the fringe of a northeast hurricane Blast this double blast it can't tell me when Mr. Connolly How's she looking mr. Connolly? Not so bad. We're taking the season our quarter and so far We're making only about four inches of water an hour four inches of water an hour, sir. Yes, sir. Good Then we'll take a chance on it Take a chance on what? Sir and distress message just picked it up in the wireless shack. Yeah, take a look freighter johannes out of new bristle main shaft broken auxiliaries out of commission ship and water fares latitude 46 30 longitude Let me see Yeah, yeah about 90 mile from a snob in the west. Yeah, that's right. Mr. Connolly Lay out the course What we should cite her sometime around dawn If we hold the full speed all night full speed Dead into a hurricane wire the wakelin had fall apart in two hours. I doubt it She's a good ship Lay out the course. Yeah, but the johannes is right in the main shipping lane somebody else's bound to pick her up before morning Anyway, mr. Connolly, we can hope not what do you mean? Evidently, you didn't notice her registry mr. Connolly. She's out of new bristle Well, what of it that as you may recall is the town that threw me into jail Got all the papers Like it's not my daughters up in main have probably read about it for now I'll not heaven thinking their father's a man who does nothing but go around punching people in the noggin All right, but what's it got to do with this? I'm going to be alongside the johannes before anybody else's mr. Connolly I'm going to rescue every man aboard her Then I'm going to take him back to new bristle and get a public apology out of that town And I'll see that that gets in the papers too. I've never heard of anything so crazy Never heard of mr. Connolly Lay out that course now before I get mad decide to punch somebody's blasted head off Well the little cock of the walk made good the first part of his plan all right In spite of a broken steam injector that had to be patched up with rigging wire By shortly after dawn he had us whole to half a cable length off from the johannes She was down by the stern and this didn't badly but it's still afloat The wind was howling like a banshee and the flying skume was freezing all over our decks There was no doubt with what the next part of our job was going to be a lot puffer than the first time Mr. Connolly you've got a boat crew together. Yes, sir. There'll be five seamen and a third mate I'll take charge myself leave the third mate aboard. I'll take charge myself It's my show. I'm going to ready. All right, captain. Whatever you're saying. Well, let's hold him this up Let's get this boat over the side Captain Well, he's not cracking walnuts in the tea party. Here chips. Give me that mallet Mr. Roberts. Yes, sir. You'll stay on board. Yes, sir. Keep an oil slick running Waves out there pretty high I've never seen him any higher. Well, I can't tell you, Mr. Connolly. I've got That For the seven of us who went over side in the longboat that command was the beginning of a nightmare If things had been bad up on the Wakeland's deck There were a hundred times worse down there in the very midst of that smashing that tumblin Maelstrom of water and wind A continuous driving spray was torn from the wave crests and froze solid on the gunnels and the boat seats and on our faces One man bailed constantly while the others pulled away on the oars with bleeding hands And even then we were never far from foundering Captain Weatherfield sat in the stern and shouted orders none of us could hear but we could see his face And that was enough to keep us at it With a halo of sheet glass brown his sowswester and his gray beard turned to a frozen mass of jumbled icicles He looked like neptune come to life or maybe even more like Like the devil himself It took us over two hours before we finally hauled in against the rusty side of the battered old joe hannons Smashed in his chest. Why is the captain of the ship? Then he had no business jumping first anyhow, hold him aboard. Mr. Connolly No, sir six of us others lost overboard last night. All right then back off yours You that plan I'll get a hold of that order He can't do it very well with with only one arm captain. What do you mean one arm? It broke his arm a couple of minutes ago when we bumped the side and give him a bucket at least he can bail All right, it was six hours before we finally got back aboard the wakelin But we did get back and I doubt if any other man, but captain Weatherfield could have done it True enough he fainted across the engine room hatch once we were on board, but uh I don't forget He was 72 years old He'd taken a crew of six out in an open boat in the high seas in the middle of a hurricane Rescued six more men off a sinking ship and brought the whole 12 back alive Well, one of them of course was only barely alive and that was captain Miller of the joe hannons He was still unconscious. I had him put in a bunk and hoped for the best And then I turned in to grab a few hours sleep I guess it was some time after midnight when the third mate called me I got dressed went down woke up the captain Can't sound it mr. Conley Can't the man even close his eyes bought this ship that somebody rousing him out of his bunk I'm sorry captain thought you ought to know uh Miller's conscious now wants to see you he thinks he is he's dying Dying is it? I'll see about that. Where's my pants? Here you are, sir. Thank you Yeah, might be a good thing if Miller did die According to his first mate Larson Where Larson says they uh, they had plenty of warning of this storm But Miller drove straight on into it. He was racing for port. No racing for port. Yeah bad business There'll be an inquiry on it. He'll lose his ticket when they find out It's also bad business mr. Conley when first mates talk out of turn Come on I put him in the cabin off the ward room and the third mates in there with him now How is the ship heading new south new south? Well, we're running before the wind can't do anything else I told you mr. Conley to lay a course for new bristol I know but we can't do it the main boilers out and we're on the auxiliaries May take two days to fix it Confound the luck Risk my life to rescue man tries to die on me Now that bonehead engineers let the main boiler break down. That's not his fault. It should have been replaced five years ago Five years ago. What mr. Conley five years ago, sir Good. Glad to got here, sir. I was getting worried. Yeah, it's all right, mr. Roberts Here stand back a bit all the night up. Yes There that's fine Evening captain Miller Even Captain you are in some pain. I take it Yeah, it feels like something sharp Stick in my chest Getting worse. Hmm something sharp, eh? No doubt the broken end of a rib poking into your lungs. Yeah Yeah Guess so Feels like there's a rib gone Oh Well When I make this statement The log I do figure you're getting ready to die. Is that it? Yeah Not much chance Shouldn't I finish up first? No, you shouldn't have Understand you was racing for pot drove straight into the storm. Yeah had It's my wife Our first baby Wanted to be with her. What's he saying, sir? His wife's thinking of having a baby, Roberts Statement Responsibility we'll discuss that later captain That lung gets a hole punched in it. You're done for. He's practically done for now You know, mr. Conley saw a doctor open up a man once take a broken rib out of him Think I could remember fairly well how he went about it And there ought to be some chlorophyll on board Captain captain weather you shut up, mr. Conley Uh captain miller. It's one chance to million, but you've got no chance now How about it? Anything Doesn't matter Be an inquiry boy Better to die. Well, we'll worry about that later. All right, then go find that chlorophyll, mr. Roberts Yes, sir and bring me a bar of soap. Yes, and get a couple of them little knives. Uh, whatever they call them Out of the medicine locker. Yes, sir. Right away. Uh, mr. Conley Go wake up that fast plate of his get him in here. We'll need a witness to captain miller's consent. All right, sir And mr. Conley. Yes, sir fine chips and borrows chest of tools Never can tell what you'll find when she starts to open a man up In 10 minutes, we had everything ready Larson signed a statement swearing that captain miller had agreed to it And the third mate with his face white as a sheet Stood at the head of the bunk dripping chloroform under a towel And holding it over miller's nose and mouth I held the light in one hand and kept the other on the patient's pulse while captain weatherfield rolled up his sleeves and Started in on a major operation that he thought he'd seen some doctor perform once Everything's snug and proper Has he seemed to be getting along mr. Conley? Uh, I don't know. He's still breathing. I know he's breathing man. It's his chest. I'm operating on How's his pulse pretty weak? Uh, no worse than it was Keep that chloroform dripping mr. Roberts. Yes, sir Well There's no time like the press Hold that light steady mr. Conley. Yes, sir study yourself Now let me see I think that doctor did it like like this Have used up half the chloroform captain keep it dripping Roberts Well, well now don't remember anything like that being in there Let's see now Pulse is getting pretty weak mr. Conley. Don't bother me. You've got more important things here to think about Mm-hmm That's it. Here's the end of the rib. All right Now if I can uh, just That's all right. Let it go. Don't need the knife anymore Found it Conley. Give me a little more room to work in Kevin small enough stairs. Captain his pulse has stopped. No, it hasn't mr. Conley Now Now why the devil doesn't get rid come loose when I It's no use captain. He's dead his heart stopped beating mr. Conley Don't stand there try to tell me his heart stopped when I can see it beat it right now Mr. Larson Yes, sir. Would you look at that tool chest behind you? See if you can find me a pair of pliers I doubt if there's ever been another operation like it before since By all rights captain Miller should have died 10 times over right there on the bunk Only he uh, he didn't He was unconscious for 48 hours But on the fifth day he was sitting up on a deck chair and cussing Because somebody had slung his broken rib overboard instead of saving it so he could Whittle out a letter opener We were driven 600 miles to the south before the storm blew itself out And we got the main boiler back into operation and couldn't lay a course for new bristol And three days away from port captain weatherfield called all of us officers of the wakeland together in the chat room Along with first mate larson of the johannes Gentlemen There may be some questions in your minds in regard to what this meeting is all about No doubt you're wondering even if you aren't asking am I right? Well, yes, sir We have been trying to guess then I'll tell you gentlemen I called this meeting to put a stop to certain idle rumors which I hear have been floating around Uh, just what kind of rumors captain weatherfield? Them which says that captain miller of late ship johannes Liberately drove head on into a storm while racing to make port There's no room on about that. It's what he was doing as his first mate I should know and I say he wasn't mr. Larson The way I figured it got caught by the storm without anyone in He gave orders for full speed to try to beat out of it Couple of hours later the mainshaft broke left him helpless without steer each way What happened to anybody? Maybe Only it didn't I was there captain weatherfield I know what happened and there's five of my crew left to back me up They'll back up anything you say mr. Larson. You know that Then there's nothing to talk about When the board of inquiry gets through with miller He won't command another ship as long as it lives so There's not going to be any board of inquiry Ah Maybe that's not up to you which is what we're here to decide I don't get it captain miller's a rat He was the first one to jump when we come alongside Anything that happens to him serves him right now. Why should you stick up for him? My personal opinion of the man has nothing to do with this mr. Curley I say there'll be no board of inquiry Because it suits my purposes that they'd be not and uh just what are your purposes captain I drove my ship 90 miles off a course in a hurricane risked my life in an open boat Just for one reason mr. Larson Because I knew you were registered out of new bristol. Oh So that's it. I mr. Conley. That's it I operated on a man saved his life just so he could stand up alongside of me have our pictures taken for the newspapers I get it So you don't want some messy board of inquiry throwing scandal in the story of your noble rescue on a high sea, huh? You want to be a blasted hero mr. Larson being a hero has got nothing to do with it But I am planning to get a public apology out of the town of new bristol And you or nobody else is going to do anything to stop me. Well, it's too bad You haven't got the whole say about it captain And it's too bad. You're so bullheaded sit on swear it away your captain's ticket That you forced me to teach you a lesson and just how are you aiming to do that by knocking the little Sins into your thick noggin something like this So it's a fight you left Come on captain teach me a lesson Teach you all right Get up mr. Larson. Yeah I'll Get up So you'd like to step in Well larson What about it all right All right, I'm through They're going to be a board of inquiry Now I'll back up anything you say good. What about the rest of you? Anything I say you go All right then get back on watch What do you think this is a peaceful harbor of a sunday? It was a clear sunshiny day when we steamed in a new bristol harbor and dropped anchor at the mouth of the river Captain weatherfield sent miller on a shore quarantine Insisting that his reason was not just to make sure of having a reception ready Nonetheless, he spent an hour and a half Shaving Trimming his hair and dressing up in his best shore going clothes But he had a right to strut a little at that And he'd move through a whole series of tough jobs Everyone against almost impossible odds and he'd come out on top And all because he wanted his daughters up in Maine The know he could do something once in a while besides Punch people in the noggin It was mid-afternoon by the time we finally rode a shore in the long boat And a good-sized crowd that assembled on the walk And when we got in close we could see captain miller waiting by the landing along with a Regular reception committee all dressed up in striped pants and top hats like a a bunch of foreign diplomats And the head man of the whole layout with the same judge would give him the captain seven days in jail Easy now mr. Connolly I'll hold this steady, sir. Thank you Here we are Well, that's mighty nice of you judge Not at all captain. We're the ones who are honored the whole town if we want you to know it Well, thank you judge. Captain Miller here has given us the complete story The rescue at sea the daring operation that saved his life. Yeah. Yeah. How you feeling captain Miller? A little tired right now captain I'm pretty busy Arrangement things, you know Of course You're a hero in this town captain weatherfield. There's nothing too good for you. We're proud of you I was wondering if you'd recall a little incident where we met before judge not long ago A terrible mistake. I'll never forgive myself I mean, I owe you a public apology captain weatherfield. Well, don't believe we know just what to say judge But then it all to say captain weatherfield as I said before we are the ones who are honored The whole town of new bristol and all of new indian too by Joe Once those reporters get their stories on the wire Reporters hey, well now that's going to too much trouble judge Oh captain not at all. There'll be one in an interview with you, you know We've had quite a time keeping them off this long You're a hero man. Don't you realize that I only did my duty judge The new bristol needs more men who only do their duty captain weatherfield mighty nice of you to say so When I recall the way you were treated here a few weeks ago captain Well, all I can do is to ask your forgiveness publicly Suspect that might be arranged judge. I'm not a man. They're a grudge a fact with your actions improvement, sir Them they're fellas with the cameras the reporters are there. Oh, yes. Yes indeed captain Well, of course they're photographers really they're taking them pictures to printed the newspapers are there? That's right captain They'll be seen by people all over the country Mm-hmm, I suppose we might walk over that way certainly captain weatherfield certainly anything you like Won't you join us captain miller? Thanks gentlemen You know I was just thinking if they print a picture of that ship out there nobody'll believe the story What did you say captain miller? I said they wouldn't believe it To look at that old mud scar you wouldn't think she could float in a calm sea much less I'll teach you to call my ship a mud scar A squintide son of a five-naked salamander Stop I say Stop it. Stop it Constable constable arrest that man and look him up. I'm filing a charge of assault and battery Escape produced and directed by norman mcdonnell tonight brought you habit by fr buckley adapted for radio by less crutchfield with editorial supervision by john dunkel Featured in tonight's cast were john daner as mr. mcconnelly and louis van ruten as captain weatherfield With wilms herbert as captain miller barry crowbar as the judge and bill boucher as first mate larson special music by ivan ditmar Next week you are making your painful way over the great india desert Alone and dying of thirst While behind you pursuing you are the fanatical coffees Who once bowed to you as king and now call for your life Next week we escape with roger kippling's exciting story the man who would be king Good night then until this same time next week when once again we offer you escape This is cbs the columbia broadcasting system