The Long Voyage Home

In a sultry West Indies port, Driscoll arranges to bring a boatload of local ladies aboard the Glencairn. The crew is confined to the ship by the captain, but the evening spirals into a drunken brawl as the women are sent ashore without any promised compensation. The episode highlights the crew's reckless camaraderie and the volatile orders governing a wartime voyage.

The next day the Glencairn sails to pick up its cargo for the return to England, only to discover that the cargo comprises high explosives. The crew's mutinous tension remains, but the captain quickly crushes any rebellion and the ship continues on its course. The looming danger of the cargo colors the voyage from then on.

They grow suspicious that Smitty, the aloof Englishman, might be a German spy. The crew assaults him, restrains and gag him, and forces him to yield the key to a small metal box in his bunk. The act exposes the fractures in trust aboard the ship under wartime stress.

They open the box and discover a packet of letters from Smitty's wife, revealing that Smitty has been an alcoholic and dishonorably discharged from the British Navy. The personal revelations intensify the crew's suspicion and complicate their view of him. The box becomes a focal point for the crew's need to understand who their comrade really is.

In the war zone as they near port, a German plane strafes the Glencairn, killing Smitty in a burst of machine-gun fire. The attack punctuates the peril of sea travel during World War II. The crew reels from the loss as they push toward England.

The Glencairn reaches England, and the surviving crew decide not to sign on for another voyage. They resolve to help Ole Olsen return to his family in Sweden, whom he has not seen in ten years. The decision marks a shift from self-preservation to mutual aid.

Despite their resolution, the crew is drawn to a seedy bar that recruits sailors. An agent eyes Ole as the biggest and strongest, promising opportunity, and the crew stays to drink and dance while the plan to recruit him takes shape. The night foreshadows another perilous twist in their voyage.

The agent's plan succeeds in drugging Ole's drink and shipping him aboard the Amindra. Driscoll and the rest of the drunk crew stage a rescue, but Driscoll is clubbed and left on the Amindra as the others escape. The outcome sharpens the fragility of their loyalty and safety at sea.

The crew manages to bring Ole back to the Glencairn the following morning, while Driscoll remains aboard the Amindra. Their attempt is a fragile victory that tests their resolve and complicates Ole's prospects for reunion. The incident leaves the crew with mixed feelings about their next moves.

A newspaper headline later reveals that the Amindra has been sunk in the Channel by German torpedoes, with all hands lost. The loss underscores the ever-present danger of wartime sea travel. The crew is left to grapple with the costs of the risks they've endured and the fates of those involved.