Sharkey
and Kowalski report eerie laughter.
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Voyage to the
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| The Haunted Submarine Original Airdate: November 27, 1966 |
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Kowalski and Sharkey approach Crane with an unlikely story . . . they've heard eerie laughter and moaning coming from the ventilation shafts. Shortly thereafter, a surface vessel appears on sonar, seemingly from nowhere. Crane orders Seaview to the surface, and is promptly attacked by a square-rigger firing cannon balls; he informs Nelson, who heads to the control room to find everyone seemingly frozen in time. He hears eerie laughter and goes in search of its source, and, at a bend in a corridor, encounters the shadow of a man, poised with some kind of weapon. |
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Nelson silently picks up a fire-extinguisher, and lunging around the corner, blasts the figure with foam. It turns out to be Sharkey, frozen mid-stride, wrench in hand. It's a tension-breaker even as the Admiral senses very real danger. |
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| Nelson soon hears footsteps and follows them to his cabin where he is confronted by a man who looks exactly like himself, a man dressed in the garb of an old frigate captain. When Nelson calls the control room to report an intruder, the stranger disappears and rest of the sub comes back to life. Nelson heads to the control room where, while he discusses recent events with Crane and Morton, Sharkey wanders in covered with foam. Crane and Morton are surprised and somewhat confounded. Knowing precisely how Sharkey's condition came about, Nelson struggles to contain his amusement and is not entirely successful. |
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Nelson has an inquiry about the vessel radioed back to the Institute and returns to his cabin where he's again confronted by his doppelganger, who proclaims he's Captain Shamus O'Hara Nelson, an ancestor of the Admiral. He demands Harriman join him sailing the seven seas, or he'll destroy Seaview and all aboard. |  |
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When Crane fires torpedoes into the ship, time freezes again, Shamus repeats his threat, then disappears, and the flow of time resumes. Nelson sends for all available information on Capt. Shamus O'Hara Nelson and discovers that his distant relative has a dark secret -- he was a slave trader when alive. |
| Nelson also concludes he's trying to get Nelson to replace him on his ship, where he's been doomed to sail the same sea he disgraced for eternity. When confronted with the truth, Shamus confesses and shrinks away, vanishing along with his ghostly ship. |
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Mark Says: This offers Basehart a fun dual role but it’s crippled by the bare-bones budget and a lack of imagination. The teaser promises some fun but it cries out for Captain Nelson’s ghost to do more than appear and disappear aboard Seaview, such as standing at the bow of his ghostly ship on the high seas or appearing as a giant ghostly image in front of Seaview’s observation windows. Anything to give the crafty phantom more dimension and to better illustrate his powers. Instead, it’s a very slow-moving show, designed to cut costs. |
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Mike Says: This budget-cutter is primarily known for the admittedly, very entertaining bit with Nelson, Sharkey, and the fire extinguisher. Sharkey has absolutely no clue as to how he became foam-covered, but Nelson certainly does, having been the culprit, and his struggles to contain his amusement are a delight. It's history that Basehart and Becker got along famously, and the relationship shines through in this scene. Regardless, another story in which the writer assumes that, by now, Voyage viewers will accept any outlandish premise without thought or question. Ray Didsbury and Richard Basehart consult script during filming of "The Haunted Submarine." |
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| "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" ® is a registered trademark of Irwin Allen Properties, LLC. © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. |
