 This is Conrad Nagel inviting you to stay tuned for the next half hour for one of radio's outstanding dramatic productions on proudly we hail Proudly we hail and Now another proudly we hail one of radio's outstanding dramatic half hour is transcribed coast-to-coast in cooperation with this station and presented by your army and your Air Force From Radio City, New York here is your host and star on proudly we hail the distinguished star of the theater screen radio and television Conrad Nagel Hello everyone welcome again to proudly we hail a story of seafaring man a Conrad yes Can our plays a strange tale of the sea entitled the wanderer? I believe it'll make for excellent listening our first act will begin in just a moment after this short But very important message Air Force enlistments have been restricted for a long time, but they're open again now The Air Force needs specialists in radar radio weather aircraft maintenance and numerous other technical fields Yes, the Air Force can train you for one of its many technical jobs Go to the nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station have a talk with the recruiting sergeant Find out for yourself the advantages you can gain by enlisting in the Air Force today And now with your star Conrad Nagel in the role of Cole McDonald your army and your Air Force presents the proudly we hail production of the wanderer From out of the sea and from out of the men who follow it have come tales both strange and unexplainable Tales that bear a timelessness like the inevitable and constant surf that forever beats against a million miles of shore This is such a tale One you will be left to fathom the deeps of yourself. My name is Cole McDonald The sea is my mistress like all who follow her. She's my blood I follow her from ocean to ocean port to port the things that happen to a man in the following are the things that make him or break him It was on a night just such as this in a port that bore the same sounds and smells the same swirling fog The dim lights and the wetness and I'm making my way back to the ship after a glass or two that I first met the wanderer I'd beg your pardon, sir Hmm. Yeah, who is it? What do you want? I mean no harm, sir, and you're a sensible man. Who are you? My name is is Carl Your ship. She is the sparrow. Yeah, how'd you know that? I overheard you talking to the man in the bar All right, so she's the sparrow. What about it? I Would like to sell on her. I am first-class wife. I have papers here. Sorry, Manny. We got a full crew Where's your own ship? She left without me, sir. I was sick. Yeah, you mean drunk, huh? Well, maybe a little bit You know how it goes sometimes. Yeah, that's tough. Even though we could use you. I'm only the first mate captain does the hiring Oh, I see The captain of your ship Who is he captain Anders? Does he wear a beard a short man's square with small eyes pale blue a Scar running from point the job. Hey, who is he your brother? That's him. All right. No, sir. He's not my brother. I Sailed with him once the name was familiar. Well, if you know him come along back to ship with me He's a board. Maybe you find a place for you. Thank you, sir. Good night, sir Hey, hey, hey, hey, yo He was gone into the fog riddled night as suddenly as he'd come out of it a big man taller than my own six feet In the darkness, I've not been able to see his face clearly, but I felt the strength of him in the sound of his voice There was his voice that of an ordinary wiper But then the sea plays no favorites the way a man talks is of no consequence to her And I pull the collar of my P-jacket up around my throat my bow way back to ship Yes, sir Wasn't hard to tell or smell that the captain had been hard at it when he was like that a man had to steer close to the wind Keep his temper batten down Capmander's sober was a surly unfriendly, but efficient master He was a good sailor. You couldn't take that from him drunk He was loud argumentative and sulting and generally nasty There was something down deep locked within eating at the man every now and again I'd catch a glimpse of the torture in his eyes, and it was no pretty thing to see Ladies been taking to the bottle with a rather monotonous frequency They've been to my cabin mr. Maid They've been how I drink with your captain You know, that's easy Yeah, how were things the show tonight Michael we sure like all Like all nothing changes Only with you here so this down your hat We have our sailing order We're putting out from the morning. Hi. Good. Now. Well, sir my health My health my health my old mean Not so good, you know Cancer. Oh, no, no, not the kind to think Not that guy No cure either. No cure on his earth. Oh, see This poor poor any poor no cure It's dead and the sense all a man can expect Dead and the same die Why are you looking at me like that for mr. Maid night? I don't follow you too. Well, sir, you know And you know, I don't believe I I think you follow me very well Yes move on McDonald's You don't show much No, you don't show much, but I can see you know this And you think You think McDonald's Did you get the wrong for the height muscle? You don't look wrong to me. No, I didn't get drunk, sir Well, what did you do then have you a pretty good as y'all afraid not sir. Well, then why go You did not You went to show you did not on the way back to the ship. I Met a man who said he'd sailed with you. No, you don't tell me a small world Mr.. Maid and who was this fine fellow? Why didn't you bring him that boy for a drink? I don't know who he was He said his name was Carl. I think he was Danish like you. He's well what? What's the matter, sir? You Get out We were three days out when I met the wanderer again I would have forgotten him completely had it not been with the scene I had with the captain that last night in port The captain made no further mention of it. He was sober Unfriendly and withdrawn and I I was curious At that mention of a man's name and his nationality why had the captain turned into a madman with terror filled eyes why Big pardon, sir. Yeah, what is it black sir? We got a stowaway on board parliament the after-home said he wanted to see you What where is he they're bringing him up now, sir Well, of all the devil is a no no sir said he wouldn't talk to no one but you once and take over come along Stowaway as if I didn't have enough to It was the same man who'd stopped me on the docks Now in the light on the heating deck of the ship He looked like a throwback to the Viking days Unconquerable was the word that found itself through my anger. You got anything to say? I had to come aboard sir What for what's so appealing about this tub? It's where you're bound, sir Copenhagen There was no other way well maybe you'll work your way to Copenhagen like you never worked before when we get there The authorities can decide what to do with you the captain's going to love this. Yes. Yes, sir You'll love it And we got a stowaway here sir Listen you may have sailed with him, but if I were you I wouldn't say anything out of turn I don't think it'll be necessary I'll have no stowaways about my ship will put him A long time a long long time Put him in on sir what charge This cubby isn't it not much of a prison I don't mind mr. McDonald you weren't kidding when you said you knew the captain No, no, I wasn't kidding the guy. I don't like holding you like this. What would you care to tell me what it's all about? For a long time now. I have been a wanderer on the face of the earth. I have gone from port to port ship to ship always seeking always looking For one man in the haystack of the world It's been a long pill image, but now it's over. I have found He said you were a murderer. What about it? He knows the truth of that statement Why should I bother to deny it? Well, can you prove it? I won't have to Mr. McDonald sometimes words are useless Sometimes all the words have been said What lies between your captain and myself came out of words and the feelings that produced them Feelings that were too strong to die even after the words were lost echoes in the mind You didn't stow away to get to Copenhagen did you that should be obvious now, don't you think yes? What of the captain he hasn't come out of his cabin since you met he's drunk dead drunk There's no place left to hide and no place in his brain where he can go to forget you feel sorry for him No, I am driven by something strong revenge He did something to you a promise a promise that will not let me rest Once you're on the bridge, I've I've got to go we'll talk more later Maybe you'll tell me what it's all about. Thank you for your concern. Mr. McDonald We didn't talk more later as you'd expect When I got up to the bridge, I found the second was worried about the captain for the sake of the well-being at the ship I couldn't blame him. I don't like it Mac. It's getting the men on the edge. Yeah, you've got any suggestions Well, let's go in and quiet him down if you happen to be captain of the ship You want to risk a court of inquiry because he's got a belly full He's had his belly full for the past two days. Well, that's his right As long as he doesn't interfere with the running of the ship He can stay in there and drink till he turns into a rum cake for all I care if he comes out here and starts giving orders We'll have to take action otherwise I say let him bathe He can only drink so much that he'll pass out. Yeah, I don't get it The crew says he took one look at the stowaway and turned green They thought he's gonna have a fit block says he's never seen a man shrivel up with fear like that. Who is the bird anyway? I don't know Evidently, they used to know each other Take the bridge break out those hoses You want to be blown to kingdom come all hands for all hands for They go starring in the role of Cole McDonald in the proudly we hail production the wanderer will return in just a moment for the second act I have a message for the young men of America and list in the United States Air Force by doing this right now when the Air Force is expanding you have the opportunity to really get ahead The Air Force needs specialists in radar radio weather aircraft maintenance and numerous other technical fields Yes, the Air Force can train you for one of its many technical jobs Go to the nearest army and Air Force recruiting station have a talk with a recruiting sergeant and find out for yourself The advantages you can gain by enlisting in the Air Force now You are listening to proudly we hail and now with your star Conrad Nagel in the role of Cole McDonald We present the second act of the wanderer Any fire on board ship is bad Blaze on a fully loaded tankers pure hell pumps flaming terror into the heart It takes your log guts to stand on the heated deck of a monster Squirt ineffectual streams of chemicals into an inferno some men have that kind of courage others don't Mac some of the port watch are making for the boat get them back on those boats get on the hoses You've got a gun use it if you have to it's no good Mac. We got to get off She's gonna blow sure his face. Have you seen the captain? No, I think he's still in his cabin All right get back to your men keep them out of the boats. I'll get the command to abandon this ship No one leaves before that. Yeah. Yeah, what is it block? Can't hold it sir She started to move back if she reaches the cargo part hold. Yes, sir. No good All right start flooding the main hole the main to make me get at it look wait. Where's the store? I don't know sir. He I guess he's still below tell the second. He's in command till I get back I went down down into the ship and the smoke thick and oily came along choking choking me I stumbled on through its suffocating falls until I reached the cramped quarters where he'd been held Hey, hey, it's all right, man I'll have you out in a second hold on It was then I noticed the bulkhead door was swinging open I wasted precious seconds Wearing and fuming in the knowledge that I'd left the deck to come down and free a man who'd already been set free I made my way after the smoke was not so thick and climb back up onto the deck Well, I could see at a glance that we'd lost the uneven fight. We wanted to live. We had to get off the sparrow and fast Prepare to abandon ship leave the hoses Get to your boat station all hands Abandoned ship Happen where you've been where's the store? I haven't seen him. He must be no. No. He's not I just came from there How about the captain? He's still up there. Come on. We got to get to him Abandoned ship get your boats in the water. What are you waiting for? Come on captain open up or we'll break it down Come on snap out of it. He's got the screaming memies stand back That won't be necessary. Mr. McDonald you what the devil goes on here put down that gun Mr. McDonald and you sir, I think you'd better get off in a hurry. He's going to blow up any minute What are you gonna do stay here and blow up with her? I'm going to keep the captain He's mad. I'm coming in. I'm sorry, sir I've been hit before any number of times, but nothing in this world ever hit me quite so hard as his fist I was out before I hit the deck and went sprawling down the companion way Well, I came to and one of the boats the last boat to leave the ship I sat up groggily and as we pulled strongly away from the burning sparrow I saw great towers of flames shot up through the black mushrooming clouds of smoke She was a fire from deck to waterline, but my eyes were glued to the door of the captain's cabin just after the bridge I don't know what I expected to see but suddenly the door was flung open And I saw anders leap through the entrance and start for the rail But before he could reach it the wanderer came from behind and grabbed him fast for an instant or for an eternity They stood locked together the flames licking upward about them two figures struggling on the brink of danties inferno a cloud of black smoke blotted them out and Then the sparrow blew Well, you might have thought that was the end of it But that's what I thought when we were picked up two days later As for captain anders a court of inquiry handed down the verdict of death by a person unknown for reasons unknown The newspapers of course made a big play of it. It was a story to stimulate the imagination None of the crew admitted setting the stowaway free when the ship caught fire So an added touch of mystery was thrown in I was willing to leave it at that but Something within me was not Often I'd find myself going back back over the conversations I'd had with both men On the long night watch with the wind wailing its dirge through the superstructure and the ship healing over the forces of the sea I'd hear again the calm voice of the man. I called the wanderer. I'd hear captain anders shouting wildly I'd see the terror any small haunted eyes What was there about the whole thing that would not let me rest? What was there about the wanderer not like other men? It was over a year later that I found the answer in a Dublin bar quite by accident Well, hey, I'm glad I ran into you. Hey, it's been a long long time between beers Oh, you make me cry when I think of those days the great convoys the run to mormons one torpedo and And now look look at everything better to look in your beer. Yeah. Yeah, better to let the sieve in though the parts from the head You know, I hear about you. I hear about when your ship go poof. She went poof. All right Yeah, just like in the old days your captain. He go down with the ship. Yeah, yeah something like that Did you read about him too? I was more interested in cold McDonald's. I Hear some crazy story You got no place for you. You tell me Well, you You get as four more beers and I'll tell you yeah, that is good And so I told my old shipmate Willie Lin for is the whole story When I was through I was dry and I'd drain my fear before I noticed his reaction He was staring at me It was a look on his face a look of disbelief and behind that fear And the dim smoky line I noticed his knuckles were white over his clenched fists Yeah Yeah, I know it's quite a yarn, but it's true all of it you You don't understand It can't be true. I tell you You've got a snook for Willie I Just got through telling you what happened. You don't think I made it up. No, no you couldn't do that Mac Mac I knew those two men both of them your description There could be no two others just like that. Could there could there Mac? I Don't know Willie, but what about them? Who are they? I've been wondering for a long time Hey They came from my village This captain Anders with the scar His his real name was Alborg the other The other was Carl Sander. Oh, and I guess they didn't like each other very much. No, you mustn't interrupt. I must tell you this back Back when Denmark was first and paid Carl stuck at an underground group You ran arms in from England. It was very dangerous Carl had a wife Karen. She was lovely I had two children Honest Lisa Alborg he was a big man in the village captain He hated Carl because he wanted Karen for himself He informed to the Germans One one night they came The snowing and the wind crying they made everyone get up Then they brought out Carl's wife and the two children and And they shot them there in front of us, but no I'm not finished Alborg was there too The German commandant told us Alborg was the informer. He did it to show us we could not trust our own people If we could have gotten to Alborg we would have torn him to bits with our hands The Germans kept him from us Before they took him away Carl Carl you mean you mean he was there too. Yes They made him watch while they shot his family over the love Carl stood between two guards His clothes were torn He had been beaten badly But he stood like a man As long as I live I'll never forget his voice And the way he looked with his wife and children lying in the snow in front of him Well, he kept his word didn't they and who can blame him yeah But how did he keep it? How could he keep it? Oh, what do you mean? Do you think the Germans let him go? They shot him down Just like they did his wife and children But that can't be Willie. I know But I helped to bury him I Was there I Know I Didn't dream it Now tell me we are both mad Hmm Willie, you know what I think what I Think we better have a drink From out of the sea and from out of the men who follow it have come tales both strange and unexplainable Tales that bear a timelessness like the inevitable and constant surf that forever beats against a million miles of shore Star Conrad Nagel will return with a word about next week show in just a moment You Air Force veterans listening to our show when you hear the sound of planes in the air or a flight of Air Force planes Winging through the sky doesn't it make you a little bit homesick Well if it does here's some good news for you for you veterans with experience and special training are needed now You can enlist with your old grade or better Skip basic training and be assigned initially to a nearby Air Force base and this deal holds good for veterans of other branches of the Service to if they've had the kind of special training the Air Force needs if you've had training and experience in Such fields as radio radar maintenance weather armament Photography and many others you can build a fine future in our fast-growing Air Force But why not get all the facts just stop at your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting station and find out where you are needed in the world's greatest Air Force and list now It's been another program on proudly we hail present a transcribed in cooperation with this station by the United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting Service proudly we hail stars Conrad Nagel the wanderer was written by DeWitt cop The music was composed and conducted by John Guarnieri This program was produced under the supervision of Charles and Rogers production and was directed by Charles Wilkes This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and here again is your host and star Conrad Nagel we hope you'll join us next week over the same station for proudly we hail Our play takes us to the southwestern United States for a tale of three desperate men and a desert chase entitled The Desert's Edge until then. Goodbye