Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Miss Agnes Moorhead in tonight's presentation
of Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light presents the first radio adaptation of one of the most amazing human
documents ever written, the personal diary of Emily Wooldridge, which she called the
wreck of the made of Athens, our star, the first lady of suspense, Miss Agnes Moorhead.
Hi, Hap. Buying a magazine, I see.
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Hmm?
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And now, Auto Light presents Emily Wooldridge's The Wreck of the Maid of Athens, starring
Miss Agnes Moorhead, hoping once again to keep you in suspense.
Eighty-four years ago tonight, they sailed from the port of London, the brigantine made
of Athens. Sixty-some days later, off the cold southern tip of South America, the ship
was afire and sinking in heavy seas. Aboard her, along with the necessary officers and
crew, was the wife of the master, Captain Richard Wooldridge. Her name was Emily, and
this is her story.
First mate's over the side, sir. He was trying to free the port lifeboats. We can't go after
him. Those boats are jammed. We'll never use them.
Very well. Tell the rest of the men to come here. We'll have to abandon ship as quickly
as possible.
Perhaps the most terrible thing of all was the fact that there wasn't room in the lifeboats
for all the men. Always in my memory will live the picture of those who fought to live
and who died so hopelessly in those cold seas.
It was a scene of fearful desolation. Great waves seemed to swallow in their troughs our
two surviving lifeboats, and when we were lifted to their crest, the sight of the burning
ship met our eyes. The gallant maid of Athens. She seemed to me the loneliest thing I'd ever
seen as we deserted her.
Looking the other way by the grace of Providence, we could see a low fringe of land on the horizon.
My husband took this to be the island of San Carlo and perhaps our salvation.
But when we arrived near the shore, we found that instead of safety, we had run on even
greater danger in the heavy surf that pounded the rocky island. To try to land through it
was a fatal risk, as was proved later, but my husband had no other choice than to order
the boats into it.
The second boat there. Turn around. Turn to shore. Keep your bows into the surf. Get
on board, sir. Don't get more inside, sir, for you'll laugh.
Except for the vision of a wave towering over us, high as a mountain and falling on us, I
have no memory of coming ashore. As though waking, no, not quite a waking, from a nightmare,
I saw a boat overturned on a tiny strip of sand. I saw my husband and the men who had
survived the landing, and I saw the bodies of those from the second boat who had not.
My husband was pulling the last of these from the anguished surf, and he was bending over
me where I lay.
Are you, are you all right, my dear?
Yes. And you?
I'm quite all right. But the poor devils in the other boat.
Oh, yes, I know.
Besides us, there are only four left now. Hayward Oaks, Robertson, Old Lawson. There
was nothing I could do to save the others.
Of course there wasn't. Everyone knows you did everything you could do.
I hope so. Can you stand up?
Yes, I think I...
Come on.
Oh, Dick, do the rest of us have a chance?
A very good chance. Come along. We'll go further up the shore and build a shut of some sort.
It's a nasty cold wind.
Hey, Captain!
Yes, Lawson?
He and the others have been talking. We'd like a word with you, if you don't mind.
Of course, of course. What is it?
We've lost a number of our chums, as you well know.
I do know, Lawson. I'm terribly sorry.
Not much good being sorry, is it? Not going to help any of the poor blokes, is it?
Well, just what do you mean, Lawson? I feel our losses greatly, if not greater than you do. Now, what do you mean?
The way we've been talking. It's easy to say how sorry you are after the damage is done, but what we want to know is why wasn't something done to prevent it from happening?
I don't think I quite understand you. Every precaution was taken in London. The cargo and the loading was well supervised. You all know that.
Then why did the ship catch fire?
I don't know.
Nobody said nothing to us about a cargo that would catch fire.
It was not a dangerous cargo, Hayward.
Then why did it catch fire?
I've told you I don't know. Under given circumstances, the most peaceful voyage can go wrong.
What circumstances, Captain?
It's only decent to place the blame when you've lost as many chums as we have. The fine lot they were.
Now listen to me, men. Talked like this won't do any good. I'll admit we've had more than our share of bad luck.
We will say aye to that.
But we six were spared. And if we are to survive, we've got to work together.
And it won't be any more than survival on this filthy island. We haven't got food stores for a week and I'll wait till it doesn't see a ship once a year.
Well, we won't wait to be found by a ship.
Now the mainland of South America is a bit more than 300 miles west. I have the navigational instruments to get us there, if we can repair the boat.
Well, maybe it's not so bad as you thought it was, Lawson.
It's bad enough. We'll have to be lucky to live to tell of it.
It won't be easy, but it is possible. And I can't stress the importance of speed strongly enough. There are two reasons. One is scarcity of food, the other is more important.
We're approaching the storm season in these latitudes and when it arrives the gales are almost constant.
Aye, and we're living our share of bad fortune. It's a fact.
We shall be all right if we work quickly. If we can repair the boat in, say, four days and launch it without accident, I have every confidence that we'll be on our way to safety and home.
Darkness fell as Lawson and the others buried the dead. A thick fog settled on the island, and in spite of exhaustion, the dampness and cold made sleep out of the question.
We spent the night huddled over fires, one for the crew and one for my husband and me.
We were separated from the men by only a few paces, and although nothing further was said, there was a tension between the two groups.
The next morning my husband set the men to work on the boat where her planks had been battered on the rocks, and he set out to search the island, hoping to find a beach better suited to launching through the surf.
No sooner had he disappeared than Lawson, a sullen, unpleasant man from the start of the voyage, walked toward me, and behind I could see the other men leaving their work to follow him.
I trust you spent the night counting your blessings, Mrs. Woolridge.
Why, I'm thankful to be alive as we all should be.
And did you give a thought to the poor boys what went down? And then we buried?
Of course. My husband told you men to repair the boat. Why aren't you doing it?
We want you to hear what we have to say.
What do you want with me? What is it?
The day you stepped aboard in London, I said there was going to be trouble. I told the boys, the ones that's dead and gone now. A woman at sea is a deadly thing. I told them.
We didn't half believe him then, but we do now.
But you can't believe it. There's no truth in it. It's only a superstition.
I am one with some meaning behind it. Do you know the history of the Maid of Athens?
Who did you meet?
Well, I do. Forty-two voices she had. Forty-two, not a sea she hadn't crossed, through fair weather and foul. And she'd never carried a woman until you came aboard.
Well, what do you say to that?
What is it? It doesn't mean anything.
It does. We've got more proof on our side than you have on yours. We saw the ship go down.
It isn't proof.
Listen to this. I've sailed for thirty-two years, with good fortune all the way. That is, until this trip.
How do you answer that?
There is no answer.
But then you admit you're the cause of the trouble.
I do not! You're acting like children.
Children, you say? You should be speaking of the poor fatherless children of them that went down, made orphans by a fire that nobody can explain. Maybe you can.
Well, now, the rest of you, the rest of you, listen to me. There's no one to blame. When you're carrying cotton, and if it gets damp, sometimes the weight of it causes pressure and friction and fires start. It's happened before.
When?
I don't know, but it does happen. My husband told me it did.
Any of you chums ever hear of anything like that, a fire starting because cotton is wet?
In twelve years at sea, I never did.
It happened because a woman at sea is a deadly thing.
You've caused it. There's no doubt of it.
That's not true.
Can you prove that it's not?
Well, one needs facts to disprove something, and you accuse me without facts.
What you mean is you can't prove we're wrong. But we take that as your confession. Hey, lads?
It is not! It is not! I have nothing to confess.
You brought us this trouble, and we all know it. There's nothing you can say to change our minds. And that goes for what you might say for your husband, too.
Good day, Mrs. Woolbridge. Come on, lads.
Quite obviously, there was an unspoken threat in their words.
And although I hoped that I'd maintain my composure in front of them, I was frightened.
Considering the problems already weighing upon my husband, it was my play to keep this fear to myself.
But when he returned, my will weakened, and I told him about it.
My dear, you mustn't let it trouble you. As you told them, they are like children.
What they think today will be forgotten tomorrow.
But I can't forget their faces. They hated me.
Oh, no, no. They only thought that they did.
Well, they must have something to hate because of the situation we're in. Remember, before it was me they blamed?
I suppose you're right. I suppose I'm silly to be frightened, but... Oh, please, Dick, don't leave me alone with them again.
I hope I won't have to. But if I do mind to have courage and know that although they are simple in their logic,
they are good semen and they are very important to us.
His words did give me courage. The men were important to him as semen.
When he said that, I realized that he was more important to them because he was the only one who could set us on a course that would take us to safety.
He was the only one who could navigate. With his importance to them, surely the men would do nothing to me.
That is what I hopefully thought. But I could not forget the expressions of hate on the faces of the four men as I stood before them.
Auto Light is bringing you Miss Agnes Moorhead in Emily Wooldridge's The Wreck of the Maid of Athens, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Say, Hap, if a reader asked for a sports magazine, would he let the man substitute detective stories?
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Yes, friends. Be sure you get what's best for your auto light equipped car. See your car dealer or your dealer handling auto light original service parts.
And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light.
And now, auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Miss Agnes Moorhead, in Elliot Lewis's production of Emily Woodridge's The Wreck of the Maid of Athens.
A true story, well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Thinking back to my meeting with Lawson and the men, it was impossible for me to understand how they could be so blind.
But when one remembers the witchcraft trials in Salem and the burning of witches in Europe, then one realizes that humans have often used demons and superstitions when no reasonable cause for a situation can be found.
As the work on the boat continued, it became my responsibility to add to our meager larder.
With some rough hooks fashioned by my husband and some stout cordage secured to the rocks I fished.
Although I checked these set lines often, even at night when sleep was impossible, the results were disappointing.
I thought it possible that the attitudes of the men would soften toward me because of my efforts to better conditions, but there were no indications that this change was taking place, only dark, accusing looks.
One, Hayward, the youngest of them, seemed less hateful than the others. He averted his eyes when I looked at him.
That evening of the second day, Lawson paid a visit on my husband. A visit that made my fears all the more real.
Top of the evening to you, Captain.
Thank you, Lawson.
Mrs. Woodridge.
Good, good evening.
Though the top of the evening ain't worth anything on this rotten, wet island, I hope you don't mind my coming, sir.
Of course not, Lawson. What is it?
Are you satisfied with the way the work is going, sir?
Yes, I am more than satisfied. To be quite honest, considering the mood you men were in the day we arrived, I expected trouble. I'm thankful there hasn't been any.
Ah, a bit upset we were losing all those chums. But it's survival of the fittest, I suppose. When do you think we'll be ready to leave?
I should say it will depend on the surf. The boat should be fit day after tomorrow. If the surf is heavy, we won't be able to launch safely here and we'll have to move to the other beach. That'll take a day.
The fourth day, then?
Yes, I should say so, barring any trouble, that is.
Ah, yes, sir. Now, I wouldn't want you to think that I'm expecting anything bad to happen, sir. It was the boys that asked me to talk to you about this.
About what?
The way they feel, sir. Well, we're all in this together, everybody equal, taking the same chances.
Yes, that's right.
Going through that surf and trying to make the crossing to the mainland, anything might happen to any one of us.
Yes, that's true, too.
Well, what the boys mean, sir, is that right now everybody's not quite equal. That's because you're the only one who can keep us on course once we start.
I suppose I am, yes.
Yes. Well, now, I repeat, we aren't looking for anything bad to happen, but suppose it did to you.
Then where would the rest of us be, what with 300 miles of ocean to cross and none of us knowing how to keep us on a course?
I see. You want me to teach you navigation?
No.
Not just me, sir. All of us.
No, don't do it.
What's come over you, my dear?
Well, they're up to something.
I don't know what's upset you, Mrs. Woolridge. We're thinking of you, too. We the Captain wouldn't want you to drift about until you die the first in case something happens to him.
Right, sir?
That's quite right. But I'll tell you what upset Mrs. Woolridge. Perhaps we can straighten it out.
You told her she was to blame for our misfortune, merely because she was a board. It was a ridiculous thing for you to say, and it frightened her.
Well, some of the chums got to talking about it, and I got a bit excited.
It wasn't the other men. It was you.
I only said what they told me to, Mrs. Woolridge, and I'm sorry that I did. None of us...
Has there been any more conversation about it?
Oh, no, sir, no. The only thing they talk about now is getting home. I don't suppose we're much for brains, sir, but do you think we could learn navigation?
Oh, yes. At least enough to reach the coast. Then one could feel his way until he reached a port. We'll have the first lesson tonight.
Thank you, sir. The boys will be pleased to hear this.
I'll be with you in a moment, sir.
Night, Mrs. Woolridge.
Oh, please, Dick. Please don't teach them. If you do, you won't be important to them any longer. They'll be in control. I know that that's what they want. They're evil men, Dick, capable of anything. What have they left us here?
Oh, Emily, stop it. Stop it. In a situation like this, we must be realistic. It's for the good of all that the men should learn to navigate.
My husband returned an hour later, quite pleased with the spirit of the men and the progress they had made during their first lesson.
I tried to match his confidence with my own, but the next day that became impossible. There was no mistaking the hate for me and the faces of the men when my husband was not present.
But he had no chance to realize this because the expressions changed when he appeared. The men took on a rough good humor and an enthusiasm for their work and the future that completely beguiled him.
At times I doubted my reason, but at others I was sure that I didn't imagine this purposeful change of attitude.
Then during the afternoon, I was able to speak with Hayward, the one I hoped felt less strongly toward me. He was on his way to the spring that supplied our water when I was able to meet him alone.
Mrs. Waldridge, what are you doing here?
I wanted to talk to you.
I don't want to talk to you. I've got nothing to say.
Why did Lawson lie to my husband and me?
I don't know what you mean.
He told us last night that you men didn't blame me for what happened.
Well, we don't.
That you realize how ridiculous the things were that you said to me the first day. That I was the cause.
That's right.
Then why do you hate me?
Hate you? We don't, Mrs. Waldridge.
The expressions on your faces when my husband isn't there couldn't mean anything else. What is it? What are you thinking?
You must be mistaken, Mrs. Waldridge. All we talk about is getting home.
That's what Lawson told you to say if you had to talk to me, isn't it?
I don't know what you mean.
He said the same thing last night in the same words. But he was lying, wasn't he, just like you are.
You've got no reason to say that, Mrs. Waldridge. I don't know what we'd want to lie about.
About what your plans are.
Plans? Why don't we get home as quick as we can? Isn't that what you plan?
You're lying to me.
But, Mrs. Waldridge, why should you say that?
That's not what you're thinking. What are your plans?
What I told you. To go home.
You're lying to me. I can tell from your face.
It's been a trying experience, Mrs. Waldridge. Perhaps your mind is playing tricks.
I don't know what else could upset you like this.
Final repairs on the boat were completed that day, and all of the next was consumed in moving it to the safer beach.
The surf was not as high as the shore was protected by a curve of reef from which I cast my set lines.
The crashing waves caused terrible currents, and the frightening prospect of maneuvering a boat through them was real enough to keep my mind clear of my other fears, which seem to have no basis at the moment.
At nightfall, I was huddled close to our fire as my husband awoke from a short nap.
Oh. Oh. How long have I slept?
No more than an hour.
Seemed like days. I will sleep days once I get into a bed again. What a luxury that'll be, eh?
Oh, I hope everything will be all right tomorrow, with the crossing.
No reason it shouldn't be. A start boat and we're worth the prevailing winds.
You don't have to make it sound easy for me, you know. Just tell me if there's a good chance of reaching safety.
There's a very good chance, Emily. And I must say that I'm happy to see your mood improved. Morale will be most important when we're at sea.
I'll help the best I can.
I know you will, my dear.
Oh, cut!
Ah!
Oh, oh, Lawson, yes, yes, yes. What is it?
I hope you don't mind. The boys are a bit uneasy tonight. They asked me to come.
What is wrong?
Nothing special, sir. They wonder if you could tell them where we'll land. Roughly, that is. They wanted me to ask if you'd talk to them for a bit.
I suppose they are uneasy. Yes, I'll have a word with them.
Oh, they'd like that, sir. You know, myself, I'm not troubled. I'd say it's in the lap of the gods.
So, while you go to see them, I think I'll have a look at the beach again, see how the surf is running.
I think that'd be a good idea. Let me know how the currents are crossing, will you?
Aye, sir.
Well, I'll be back in a few minutes.
No, no, don't leave me.
Only a few moments, Emily, dear. Now, you try to rest.
All right, Mrs. Woodridge.
What are you going to do?
Nothing, Mrs. Woodridge, but you are. Time to tend your set lines out on the surf.
I think I'll go with you in case you have an accident on those slippery rocks in the dark.
No, I'm going to do it in the morning.
You've done it before at night. You've killed enough men and now it's an eye for an eye.
I haven't killed anybody. You're insane. My husband.
You'll kill him if you call for him. The boys are ready to take care of him if you do. We don't need him anymore.
Oh, I knew. I knew. I knew.
It's all up to you, Mrs. Woodridge. Ain't fair of you to risk us all when a slip of the reef will save us.
I won't shout.
Come along then. We've seen what a woman at sea brings about, but it won't happen again in the small boat.
Do you have to do this? Won't you admit that you're wrong, that superstitions are basis, and that you've nothing to fear about my going with you?
We've seen what happens, and what you see is proof. We'll talk no more about it.
No, no, no, you can't do this.
Hey, you're a moron. You can't do it. Let her go.
Let me go.
You're a moron. You can't do it.
You're a moron. You can't do it. Let her go.
Let me go.
It's all right, darling. Everything's all right.
But thank heaven the other men were more human than Lawson.
They let him lead them into the night, but they couldn't justify murder, and told me what he planned to do.
After three weeks, the five survivors of the Maid of Athens reached the port of Stanley in the Falklands.
As Emily Woodridge stated it in her chronicle, in time to hear of the death of Charles Dickens, a sorrowful landfall after all our trials.
Suspense presented by Auto Light. Tonight's star, Miss Agnes Moorhead.
This is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Auto Light, the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
In 28 plants from coast to coast, Auto Light makes over 400 products for cars, trucks, tractors, planes, boats, and industry.
These products include bumpers, die castings, industrial thermometers and batteries, such as the famous Auto Light Staple,
ignition engineered Auto Light spark plugs, both standard and resistor types, voltage regulators, wire and battery cable, Auto Light bullseye sealed beam units,
and Auto Light original service parts for all Auto Light electrical systems.
Auto Light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry.
So, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light.
Next week, we bring to life one of the most famous detectives in literature as we dramatize E.C. Bentley's classic novel of deduction,
Trent's last case, our star, Mr. Ronald Coleman. That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, the music composed by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
Emily Woodridge's The Wreck of the Maid of Athens was adapted for Suspense by Gil Dowd.
The overnight story Joseph Kearns was heard as Captain Woodridge and Ben Wright as Lawson,
featured in the cast were Larry Thor, Richard Peel, and Jack Crouchon.
Agnes Moorhead may soon be seen in the Universal International Picture magnificent obsession.
And remember, next week, Mr. Ronald Coleman in Trent's Last Case.
You can buy Auto Light original service parts, Auto Light standard or resistor type spark plugs,
and Auto Light stay full batteries at your neighborhood Auto Light dealer.
Good night.
This is the CBS Radio Network.