The Sea Chase

I remember when it began,

and where:

Sydney, Australia...

... the day Hitler rejected our ultimatum

to stay out of Poland.

I remember the ancient German freighter,

brooding at her moorings...

... coal bunkers and provision rooms

more than half empty...

... with the unsafe waters of two oceans

between her and home.

It wasn 't as though her rusty carcass

was worth much...

... or her men unexpendable.

She was an old lady

of the ocean backstreets...

... who should have drowned herself

gracefully long before.

So this is the story

of a German tramp steamer...

... and a salute to a man for whom

the sea was a changeless way of life.

The story of a ship and a man...

... who became so much

a part of one another...

... that his heart was her power...

... his breath, her life...

... his stubbornness,

the steel of her sides.

I am Jeff Napier,

and I knew them both...

... back in the days before the world

took notice of them.

Before there was a story.

Her crew was of no credit

to any sea or land.

Their captain realized that, of course.

In later years, I sometimes

blamed myself...

... for making a challenge

of his problems.

But then, I knew that wasn 't

the force that drove him.

I knew it was something much deeper.

Not loyalty, which is what one may owe

to others, but integrity.

A man 's supreme obligation to himself.

That was a recording of Berlin 's reaction

to Herr Hitler's defiant rejection of...

Turn off that wireless!

On the well deck! Get back to work!

- Jeff.

- Karl.

- Good to see you again.

- Good to see you too.

Let's go up to my quarters.

- Make yourself at home, Jeff.

- Thanks.

From the heavy cruiser von Moltke

to the tramp steamer Ergenstrasse.

How's your father?

I heard he was made vice admiral.

Oh, he's as fit as a youngster.

Bellowing for a sea command.

I'm afraid he's slated for a desk

at the admiralty this war.

- And there's going to be war, Karl.

- There is.

And I'm slated for internment,

is that what you're trying to say?

Well, that's one thing.

I see you still carry

the old imperial flag.

I do.

Quite different from the one astern.

You won't get an argument

out of me on that.

Look, I'm Number One

of the Rockhampton.

We received orders this morning

to make ready to sail.

- On a war footing?

- Yes.

Within the week,

we'll be fighting Nazism.

Now, you've been fighting it since its

inception, and there are plenty like you.

Karl, before this thing breaks,

why don't you establish yourself as...

A traitor?

They took away my command.

Would you take away my homeland?

Sorry.

Well, don't think

I haven't considered it.

But the Rockhampton,

a crack vessel of the Royal Navy...

...certainly isn't wasting

its executive officer...

...to make a survey of the harmless old

Ergenstrasse, without cargo or coal...

...unable to sail.

No. It's Elsa.

- Elsa who?

- Elsa Keller.

I met her in Hamburg.

She's waiting in the car.

- I'd like you to meet her, Karl.

- Gladly.

Didn't I read sometime back

you were engaged to a girl in England?

And I suppose there will be

the deuce to pay when I get back...

...but it'll have to be.

And this isn't just another girl

in Australia?

I'm gonna marry her.

Let's don't keep her waiting.

I still keep something

for special occasions.

Good. Don't bother

to come any further.

Thank you.

You sent for me, sir?

Go over to our consulate fast.

Clear us for Yokohama just as we are.

Yokohama?

We can't make Yokohama, sir.

Go to our consulate.

Get into plain clothes.

With news the way it is,

I want no brawls.

Aye, aye, sir.

That's all right, Brounck. That's fine.

- Karl.

- Come in, come in.

Putting a chill on this.

Elsa, this is Captain Karl Ehrlich.

Karl, Miss Keller.

Miss Keller.

Haven't we met before?

I can't quite recall, but the navy

seems to be mixed up in it somehow.

No.

- He wouldn't have forgotten you.

- But I was in the navy.

- Won't you sit down.

- Thank you.

I recall now.

I was on the Riviera

when I heard the captain was...

Relieved of his command.

Yes.

He spoke out quite boldly

against the new regime.

Until now, I didn't know

what happened to you, captain.

They didn't shoot me.

You know, my friendship with Karl

is a family matter...

...dating back a generation.

- Champagne, or should I freshen this?

- No, that'll do fine, thanks.

I have to report every four hours

to headquarters.

- Is there a phone aboard?

- Not aboard the ship.

- There's one on the next wharf.

- That'll do fine.

Do you mind if Elsa waits here

till I get back?

- Delighted.

- Well, don't be too delighted.

- I'll show you to the gangway.

- That's all right, I know the way.

It's as Jeff said.

I've known him since he was a boy,

which he still is, in some ways.

I don't know your entire history,

but I know enough.

So one of two things:

When he returns, either you tell him in

front of me or I tell him in front of you.

- Tell him what?

- About the Monte Carlo affair.

Jack Cavanaugh never knew

any attractive woman slightly.

There was the famous, or infamous,

cruise with Billy Norton.

Or the fact that Eric Carson shot himself

20 minutes before he was to marry you.

Merely gossip, captain.

Did you ever see a man

with his brains blown out?

You don't come into this one way

or the other, except for plain meddling.

Keep out of it.

There's a third alternate.

You can leave, never see Jeff again.

Just fade out with no explanation.

I'm not going to forget this.

No matter how long it takes,

I shall pay you back.

You have nothing now...

...but when I'm finished,

you won't even have this!

To what I promise you!

- Mr. Bachman.

- Yes, sir?

- What have you there?

- Explosives, sir.

- Explosives?

- Yes, sir.

Mr. Kirchner told me to plant them.

I was just coming to report.

They thought up a new one.

Crews of foreign ships are to be

medically examined before a clearance.

Our consul passed orders for us to

scuttle the minute we get news of war.

Take that stuff back

to the chief engineer.

- And don't go by the gangway.

- Yes, sir.

Get out of that shore gear,

get ready for sea.

I believe you're aware of my status

in Naval Intelligence.

I took the opportunity to ask the consul

to wireless home for further orders.

Possibly to fly me home.

Mr. Kirchner, we have not abandoned

this ship yet.

- Stemme.

- Sir.

You will go to the consul at once.

Pay him my respects

and inform him personally...

...that the weather forecast

for tonight is heavy fog.

Tell him I'll attempt to get out of Sydney

harbor tonight on my own responsibility...

...and shall so log it for his protection.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- Hurry it up.

- Yes, sir.

Your orders come through,

you'll be relieved of duty.

- Otherwise, you sail.

- We haven't a chance of getting out.

- You'll have to scuttle.

- You're mistaken, Mr. Kirchner.

That British officer

is in your quarters, sir.

Well. What happened?

- A little accident.

- What sort of an accident?

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