Seaview snags a derelect mine in Submarine Sunk Here.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Classic Episode
"Submarine Sunk Here"



"Submarine Sunk Here" writer William Tunberg had other TV credits such as Screen Director's Playhouse and The Wild Wild West.  Movie credits include Garden of Evil (which he co-wrote oddly enough with Freddie Frieberger, final season producer/butcher of both Star Trek and Space 1999.)  He also adapted the classic Disney dog movie, Old Yeller from Fred Gipson's novel of the same name.  The episode is one of Season One's best, and the only Voyage episode Tunberg wrote. Right off the bat, we learn that Curly and Mr. Morton are in New London, finishing up repairs and updates on Seaview's diving bell.    
Paul Comi as Bishop, Carl Reindel as Evans.  Derrik Lewis as O'Brien looks on as  in the background, Robert Doyle as Blake is about to be fatally disracted from sonar.
Bishop and Evans about to tangle as O'Brien looks on.

 

Robert Doyle as Blake gets dangerously distracted by the tussle between Bishop and Evans.
Blake Distracted 


But the episode really begins with the confrontation between seaman Evans and Lieutenant Bishop.  It is never explained why Bishop is a tight-ass, but tight-ass he is and bad timing being what it is, Evans has just learned his pregnant wife is having serious medical problems.  He desperately wants reassurance of emergency leave which Bishop is unwilling to even consider until they reach port, just a few hours away.  The end product is a fist fight, one of those pivotal events in life which changes everything in seconds, like being in an car wreck.  The fracas results in seaman Blake, Seaview's on-duty sonar operator, being distracted for several minutes, long enough for the submarine to  wander into a derelict mine field.

  Occupied in the nose, Nelson sights the mines and desperately orders all-stop.  A cable has become fowled in the forward floodlight housing, and the mini-sub is sent out to cut it free.  She works her way forward and severs the cable.  
 
Yes, in all likelihood, theres trouble ahead.

The mine, once freed rises, collides with another and causes a domino-effect series of explosions.  Caught in the middle of it 200 miles out of New London, Seaview suffers damage, takes on water, and begins to head, out of control, for the bottom .  Pandemonium breaks out as the crew desperately seek to save their sub and themselves.   Seaview on the way to the bottom.

Nelson helps save those that can be saved.
Nelson hauls soaked crew from below.

  Nelson helps haul crew out from below, but as water continues to rise, must order seaman Harker to dog the hatch in spite of the fact that Harker's buddy O'Mara is still down there.  Harker dogs the hatch.

Eddie Ryder as Harker is thrust into dark thouhts and darker mood by events of the day.
Harker, overwhelmed by what he's had to do.

Harker: I couldn't hold him, sir.  I just couldn't hold him.  He's still down there.
Nelson: Dog the hatch.
Harker: He's still alive down there.
Nelson: Dog the hatch.  That's an order.
After Seaview hits bottom, Nelson says: Doc, you can open your suit bag, that is if we still have one.   Then he turns to Harker and says: Go aft and see if there's any way to reach the auxiliary ballast tanks.
Harker is in shock: I left him there.  I just couldn't hold him.  I hadda leave him.  I left him.  I couldn't . .  I couldn't hold him.  I tried to hold him -- I couldn't.

Harker's stunned expression and tone of voice make it clear that he's horrified at his own actions, a state of mind which will build until his anger is unleashed on duty-derelict sonar operator Blake, whom Harker comes to blame for the misery and death around him, especially the death of O'Mara. 



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