|
| 
That's enough, Harker!
|
|
Reports start coming in and the picture shaping
up is not good. Seaview lies on the bottom, C Deck
flooded, transmitter out, but the intercom works. Harker
reports back that the engine room is flooded too.
Nelson
picks up the intercom: Engine room, Nelson,
report.
Silence.
Nelson: Engine room, this is
Nelson, report your condition!
There is no answer; there
will be none.
Harker walks up to Blake, the sonar operator who
was on duty when all this started: They're all
dead. They're dead. Just floating out there.
Dead. Even my buddy Pat O'Mara's
dead.
Crane: Easy
Harker.
Harker: I locked the Hatch against
him. I did it.
Nelson
barks: That's enough, Harker!
|
|
| 
O'Brien releases marker
buoy.
|
|
At this point,
Nelson orders Harker to make a list of all surviving
personnel, a necessary job with the benefit of
keeping Harker busy to get his mind off O'Mara. Crane,
orders O'brien to send up the marker buoy; he
does, and they settle in to wait.
| | | |
|
Buoy broaches surface.
|
|
Finally, with a moment to breathe, Crane realizes there's
no air circulation. Nelson instructs him to check on air
revitalization as seaman Collins sidles up to the
Admiral with some dark questions.
Collins: Give it to us straight,
sir, can we get out?
Nelson: Well, we've
got one chance. It's a pretty good one. Our position is
known, we're not far from New London. When the radio quit, the
coast guard must've started a search for us. They can't fail to
see our marker buoy.
Collins: Suppose the coast guard don't
find us?
Nelson: Suppose you're crossing a
street in Los Angeles a month from now and a car hits you? |
|
Suppose you're crossing a street in Los
Angeles
a month from now and a car hits you?
|
Crane returns with bad news: the air revitalization system is wrecked
beyond repair. Nelson grips the intercom mic and delivers the
inevitable morale-builder boat-wide: Men, we're going to
be short on air for a while, but not for long. Mr. Morton and Chief
Jones are in New London where our diving bell has just been overhauled.
As soon as they get word, they can reach us with plenty of air in
a matter of hours. You'll have all the air you need as soon as the
diving bell gets here, so just sit tight and we'll all make it.
On the
other hand, Nelson confides to Crane he guesses they have about ten hours
of air left.
| 
Morton and Jones get word of Seaview's
plight.
|
|
Meanwhile, back in New London, Commander Morton and Chief
Jones receive word of Seaview's sinking and
the crew's peril. Their first reaction is to get to Seaview
with the bell, but upon learning of the mine field, they realize they must
repair the diving bell's still
faulty guidance system first. Morton leaves
the chief
in charge and joins the
rescue |
|
The marker buoy, just retrieved.
|
flotilla and is on hand
when the marker buoy is pulled from the sea. He doesn't have good
news for Nelson, the diving bell is still out of service with no quick
fix in sight. Curly is still in New London working frantically on
the bell. Nelson, being the man he is, after grimacing and setting
his jaw, proceeds to address the crew with with the news - they will
have to conserve air, but will be OK, knowing full well this may not be
the truth. |
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