 The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America. Tonight's star, Ginger Rogers. Tonight's story, 700 boiled shirts. Do you know what it's like to be in love with a seafaring man? Well, if you happen to be a Cape Cod woman, you gather up your skirts and you climb up through a trapdoor to the roof. The little staff fenced in flat pace atop the cop-caped Cape Cod houses called a widow's walk. You stand up there gazing out over the dunes until your eyes burn. You say to yourself, you'll watch just a little longer, that there must be a white sail out there soon, that your father or your brother or the man you love will come home. And then, if you're lucky and you do see that sail at last, you hurry, hurry with your heart pounding down to the wharf where he'll come in. Where's your severance? Here I am, Mr. Locke. Oh, India. Greetings, little one. Let me look at you. Oh, Mr. Locke. It was such a long wait. Oh, it was no tea party, I can tell you, but I've got good news for us anyway. Not till tonight is Jeb Pollard's turn to give the welcome home for the crew and the atmosphere will be more appropriate to the teller. Oh, please, tell me now. Come on, I'll walk you to your house. Oh, your crew. Did you bring me a present? What's in your duffel bag? Still a little girl. Look, I'm afraid all that's in here is 25 shirts to be voyaged. Poor bachelor. Give them to me. I'll do them up for you. You'll do no such thing. Why, it wouldn't be proper to laugh till we're married. I suppose then it will be perfectly proper leading me, loading me down after a voyage with hundreds of shirts. You're a muteless one, aren't you? I'm the daughter and the sister of sea captains, and don't you forget it. Come on, tell me you knew. You have to wait till the night. I'm a man that likes things properly done and told. Well, I warn you, Mr. Locke, it's the very last time I'll wait for anything. Come on, little one, let's go chop-side to the widow's walk and get some fresh air. All right, but try not to make it too obvious. Pardon me? Say, we're going you to... Oh, let them go. They're not interested in crowds tonight. Excuse me? When's the wedding, Mr. Locke? Wednesday, Mrs. Baxter, and you're all invited. Come on, Ninja. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Here, let me lift you up. You'd think I hadn't managed to climb up here all by myself while you were gone. Say, did you really come up here to watch for me? Oh, Zachary, if you only knew what it's like just to wait and wait, never knowing. Well, darling, this isn't helping me to tell you. Your news? Are you going to tell me now? Look out there to the harbor. You see that schooner? Which one? The handsome one with her masts against the moon. Oh, isn't that the Bella Cadiz? The Bella Cadiz. She's going to be bound for Portugal and Africa and the West Indies with Vermont maple sugar and New Hampshire cotton cloth and sandwich glass. And she's going to carry America to the world. Oh, it's wonderful. What's that got to do with... With us? Yes. Well, Bella Cadiz and I will go out and trade for spices and sugar and... With the bell of Cadiz and you? That's my news, little one. I've signed on as the captain. Captain, your first real command. Oh, I'm so happy for you. There's only one thing wrong, India. What's that? I'm sailing Thursday morning. The day after our wedding? I'm sorry, but, well, we'll have to take our honeymoon when I come back. I'm going with you. You understand that I can't... What did you just say? I'm sailing with you. What kind of nonsense is this? Is it such nonsense? Other captains take their wives along on voyages. India, India, believe me, I'll be lonely too. Well, you don't have to be except that you were born stubborn. And brought up strict. My mother always stayed home. Or she properly belonged? Yes. And she was a lonely woman for 30 years. Finally died alone. There are 400 widows in the Cape today, and I'm not going to be one of them. I'll either be your wife with you wherever you go, or I won't marry you at all. Is that quite clear? You'll marry me and stay at home where you belong. Is that quite clear? Quite. And I'm sure you'll find someone else. Jane Lovett, perhaps, who'd adore to be your wife. Finn, waiting. Good evening, Captain Locke. India, come back, India. You're such a lovely bride. So radiant. Isn't she? Poor girl, though I feel so sorry for her. I understand he told her he wouldn't marry her at all unless she obeyed him. Oh, really? Yes, the poor innocent child is completely taken in while she's even going to see with him tomorrow morning. Beautiful ship, Mr. Locke. She's all that. Come on, let's go for it. Oh, dear, here. Let me brush you off a bit. Oh, wait. There's lint on your shoulders, and you're starving. Oh, now, now, don't. I'm all right. Come on now. Go on up the gang we had to meet. But your first command, you don't want to. Oh, stop fussing over me like a wife. Like a wife? All right. I'll be good. When we're on deck, listen, just stand there beside me and don't say anything. Oh, of course. Pension on deck. Good morning, Mr. Baxter. Welcome to the bell of Cadiz, Captain Locke and Mrs. Mrs. Locke, may I present Mr. Baxter, first officer. Ma'am. Mr. Joyce, second officer. How do you do, ma'am? Hosanore. And the ship's company. How do you do, ma'am? Ma'am, I trust we shall dispose of our cargo to our mutual profit and honor. I wish us all blue skies, fair winds and calm seas. Thank you very much, sir. And now, Mr. Baxter. If you'll await me on the quarter deck for instructions. Hosanore, please show Mrs. Locke to her quarters. Mrs. Locke. Yeah, pardon, Captain. Mrs. Locke is saving with us. That she is? Then, sir, I'm not. Mr. Orr, you signed on as Boson, agreeing to fulfill your duties. I accept. Then you'll make good your contract. My papers said nothing about a woman. Boson, I gave you your orders. Be good enough. Either carry him out or get your gear ashore. That goes for all of you. My wife stays. Now, we're going to stand here all day. Miss, wait here quarters, Mrs. Locke. As the schooner gets underway and moves off from the wharf, you stand on the deck knowing how unwelcome you are. And you watch the man you love up there on the quarter deck, seeing his ship through the treacherous channels of the bay. You catch your breath once or twice in fear, knowing that the crew is watching him too. And suddenly you know he's met his first challenge. And now you're facing the wide, wide sea. The day after day of it, the nothing to do. Last night down the rally came a tough night. Good morning. Oh, good morning. That smells rather good. What is it? Eel stew, Mrs. Eel? Oh, it's, uh, fragrant, isn't it? You're, uh, you're, uh... Oh, kind of the cookess. I, uh, I'm afraid there ain't much space in this gallery. Oh, I'm not going to interfere if that's what you're worried about. I just couldn't help being curious. You know how women are about kitchens and cooking. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Locke, my cabin boy Ceasey can no worth to me at all. So I wish it would see fit to give me a hand. Well, if you really want me to, what can I do first? Uh, this battle of potatoes. Uh, peel them? Uh, here's the knife. Put them in the pot with the stew. Here, I'll leave the lid on. All right. Last night down the rally came a tough night. So Giza with his kid... We're swaying a bit this morning, aren't we, Mr. O'Connor? Always seems I'd win here. But I mean more than usual somehow. No, I wouldn't say. Since. You're not Ceasey. Oh, certainly not. I'm not Ceasey. It's just that stew. Hey, you! Cook! Hey, boss. Left a hand here. Mr. Backes has been hurt. What are you doing here, Mrs. Locke? Well, I came down to help out. Well, you'd better leave. This man's been cut bad and he's losing a lot of blood. Better get out, ma'am, so you don't have to look. Well, I'm not afraid of a little blood here. Here, let me. Maybe I can help you. I know how to... Oh, oh, dear. Mrs. Locke. She said she swooned it away. Mrs. How y'all right? Sure, she's all right. It's Mr. Backes that I'm worried about. Break out a length of muslin. Leave her be. The days pass by and you try to forget the shame of your weakness and seasickness. And there's still nothing to do. All but there is. The captain of the Bell of Cadiz is a proper captain. And he must wear a clean white shirt every day. And you see the soiled ones piling up and you think of the job at the end of the voyage. And so... That's what he said to me! And then what... And then what did you do? You should have seen him. Oh, oh, oh. Change the subject. Mr. Captain's Mrs. Oh, good afternoon, gentlemen. Hey, ma'am. Let me help you with that basket. Oh, that's all right. I just... I just thought if none of you minded, I'd put a line here and hang out some more. Oh, gosh. This is the only sunny place there is. What? Well, how do you like that? Well, I... I don't want to chase you away. Go ahead and hang up your wash. We'll go below. It's real nice and sun-shiny. Down in a hole. Captain Locke? Yes. Steady as she goes. What is it, Bosun? A complaint from the men, sir. It's about Mrs. Locke, sir. And it's legitimate, sir. They have only so much time to themselves, and the furrowed deck is their territory. I give up. What's she done now? Well, she's been hanging her wash on the deck. Hanging her wash? I serve. All right. Send one of the men for Mrs. Locke. Have her come to the quarter deck immediately. Is there something wrong, Mr. Locke? No. No, not a thing. What took you so long? Where were you? In the cabin, sewing. Why? Sewing what? Curtains. Curtains. They're so bare. But the captain's cabin doesn't need curtains. Leave it alone. This is a sailing ship, not a Cape Cod-Cod-Hill. I know that, but I'm only trying to keep busy and be useful. I can't spend all of my time working samplers. You insisted on coming along, remember? You think I can throw that in my face now? I am only stating a fact. You've brought nothing but trouble ever since you came aboard. Let us know. What happened to you, Zachary? We've had crows before, but they weren't like this. They were so stern and cold. A trading ship is a world all its own. It's no place for a woman. I'd hoped you didn't really believe that, like the others do. Oh, no. Look. Oh, please, don't cry. Please don't cry. Listen. Listen, India, when we put in it, Lisbon, I'll find a nice place for you to stay. And the next Boston packet will pick you up and take you back home. No. No, I won't do it. Stubborn, aren't you? So are you. I wonder which one of us is more stubborn. You or me? That's simple. I am. And I'm staying aboard for the entire voyage. You are listening to the Cavalcade of America starring Ginger Rogers as India and featuring Sy Harris as Captain Zachary Locke, sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Tonight on the Cavalcade of America, Ginger Rogers is starring as India Locke, wife of a Cape Cod sea captain in the days when New England sailing vessels roamed the seven seas. What is it like to sail with your husband aboard a trading schooner? Well, you walk the deck, you sit in the cabin, and I tell you the days pass, one like the other. And at last, when it seems that the whole world is water, you sight land and suddenly you're walking with wobbly legs in the streets of a faraway port where everything is foreign and strange. And then before you've even begun to get accustomed to the sights and smells and people, your white sail schooner is moving out again into the wide sea lanes, on, on, down towards the wild western coast of Africa. And then because you're blown off your course many days. Let's try putting in a Cape San Luis, Mr. Baxter. See if we can't get some fresh water. Aye, sir. Please go ashore with you. We're only going in for water, India. There's nothing but a beach. Oh, please, please. I've got to seal the ground under my feet for just one minute. Please. Well, I don't... Thank you. May I go the way I'm dressed? But this is no social visit. Just get in the boat. Come on, Mr. Baxter. It's not wasting any more time. Don't wander away, India. Oh, don't worry. I won't. Man'll be back from the river in just a minute. As soon as we get the water, we'll go out to the ship. Oh, it won't be too soon for me. This isn't the coziest-looking place in the world. Zachary, listen. Sounds like visitors. Mr. Baxter, come on with that water. Hurry it up. Aye, sir. Zachary, there's somebody behind you. Coming through the trees. Yes. It looks like a whole tribe in full war again. Mr. Baxter, can't we get on the way? I'm going to load the cast right away, sir. We may manage if we're quiet and don't panic. India, if anything happens, I want you to stand right... Oh, I'm all right. I'm not afraid. Try to look calm. Here they come. Englishy. American, friends. Friend, trade. Captain Locke, they've got ivory. Look at that ivory. I see it. Trade cloth? Cotton cloth from America for ivory? No. No cloth. Woman. What do they want? What do they mean? Darling, I think they want me. What? No. No trade. Woman, not for sale. Two. Just your captain. Show him she's your wife. Put your arm around her. Stand close to her. Point to her. Enter yourself. Close your hand over hers. That's it. Trade. Ivory. Woman. My wife. No-cell wife. Guess there's no use, captain. They're closing in. Zack, these beads you gave me here. They're shiny and bright. Maybe if I offer them. Look! Look! American lady gives these to friends. Lady. Friend. Good. Good. That's doing it. I think maybe that's doing it. Let's see how this does. Lady has more beads on ship. Out there. Trade for ivory. We come sundown. Bring ivory, lady. Trade. Come on. Come on. They're going. That was a close one. Worth it, though, for ivory like that. Did you get a close look at it, captain? That'll be a bonus for the whole crew. Hadn't we better go back to the ship before they change their mind? They won't. You're like some kind of goddess to the Mrs. Locke. They wouldn't harm you for the world. Here they come, captain. Officer, starboard bow. What are your orders? All hands to standard attention when they board us. Some of them may be native royalty and they'd probably rile easy. Aye, sir. Where's Mrs. Locke? She must be ready to come on deck to greet them. She's ready, sir. Captain, their canoes are loaded to the gunnels with ivory. And they... Wait a minute. Captain Locke, the men in that lead canoe. What about them? Give me the glass. Wait. They can't be the same ones. They're all painted up. Paint is right. They're not a stitch of clothes on them. Mr. Bexter, see that Mrs. Locke stays below. She's not to leave her cabin. But, captain, that ceremonial paid of some kind. They think of Mrs. Locke as a goddess. They'd be insolent if she weren't here. I can't help it. We just have to do the best we can without her. But the ivory, the men want that ivory. They'll all have a share of it and it fetches the highest price. I know, but I'm sorry, Mr. Bexter. We'll have to trade here without Mrs. Locke. If we lose the ivory, well, it can't be helped. So the men didn't get their ivory and you find out why. And you feel once again you've let your husband down. But you sail on down the African coast and trade cloth for mahogany. In the West Indies you trade for palm leaf and sugar. And at last you know you're on your way home. Then suddenly a storm hits. Borson, don't need a hand here. Right, Mitchell. Mr. Orr. No time to talk now, Mrs. Locke. Everybody's got his hands full. Look out, Mr. Orr. Look out, Mr. Orr. Look out, Mr. Orr. He's out called, man. His arm's broken. Look at it. Here's him. But I don't know nothing about touch and broken bones. Oh, I do. Come on. Now, Mr. Mitchell, hold the splint in place. That's it. Well, I've finished wrapping the bandaging. Oh. There. Oh. Oh, he's coming too. Oh, watch it. Watch it now. Oh, my arm. It's all right, Mr. Orr. Mrs. Locke. Please don't move. I think the bone's in place now, but I don't want to take chances. You set the bone for me? You? I did the best I could. Mrs. Locke. Don't move. Please don't. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Locke. You're more than welcome. Mr. Orr. After the storm dies down and the days pass during the rest of the voyage, you notice that the crew seems friendlier. The ivory incident seems to be forgotten and you feel you're allowed some small place in the little world that is a sailing ship. Then it lasts. The bell of Cadiz lies at anchor in the harbor on Cape Cod. You've been away a long time and everything on the cape seems strange and somehow smaller than it was when you left. Jane Lovett's bonnets aren't any smaller, though. When you spy her coming into the Baxter's welcome party under full sail with a couple of flying jibs to boot, you suddenly realize how sunburnt you are, how dowdy and thin and unwomanly after five months at sea. And you know that if you can't have a new bonnet yourself as big and as handsome as Jane's, you'll die. You'll simply die. I can't hear a word you're saying. Let's get out of here topside. Up to the widow's walk on the roof? Why not? Come on. Let me help you up the ladder. You'll forget. I've been climbing ladders for five months. I'm pretty good at it now. I haven't forgotten. Beautiful knife. Look, Mr. Locke. How lovely the bell of Cadiz looks down there with her mask against the moon. India? Yes. You understand a little why I was so stern with you? I know just one thing. I want a new bonnet. Not that it'll help me. It'll take me a long time to get peaches and cream and plump and pretty again for you. I like you the way you are. Oh, Zachary. Next voyage, you'll be gone so long. Yes, two long years, little one. Two years. Round the Horn to San Francisco, cross to China, and then Malaya and Zanzibar. We'll be shipping furs and loading on tea and trading cotton for ginger and glass for clothes. What about ivory? This trip, you and I will take along a chest full of spare pantalons. You and I, Mr. Locke, this time you're inviting me along? India, the captain of a ship making an important voyage like this has to dress properly. It means a clean white shirt every single day. In two years, that's a... oh, Mr. Locke, that's more than 700 boiled shirts. Well, you can even set up your foolish wash boiler wherever you want. I'm a quarter-deck if it has to be. Oh, darling, how could I ever be jealous of Jane Lovett? She has a bonnet and she's plump and pretty, but I've got Captain Zachary Locke 700 boiled shirts and the best life of all, a captain's wife at sea. Thanks to Jim Girogers, Cy Harris, and the Cablecade players for tonight's story. Next week, the star of the depart Cablecade will be Douglas Fairbanks. Our play, The New Commandment, tells an exciting story of the founding of a very familiar organization of American youth. Tonight's depart Cablecade 700 boiled shirts was written by Virginia Radcliffe based on incidents in women who went to sea by Ora Hickley, late librarian of the Hyannis, Massachusetts free public library. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Voorhees. The program was directed by John Zoller. Ginger Rogers is currently starring in person in the new Broadway play Love and Let Love. This is Bill Hamilton speaking. Don't forget next week, our star, Douglas Fairbanks. The depart Cablecade of America comes to you from the Belasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the depart company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Next, it's Hollywood Theater on NBC.