THE STORY: As commented on by Richard Watts, Jr., “… it all begins quietly in a vein of somewhat satirical comedy. An American sailing vessel has come upon a Spanish Ship in trouble. The captain wants to be of help to the ship on which all the officers but one have died, apparently of the plague. Captain Delano and Mate Perkins are pretty lofty, though, about the incompetence of the Spaniards, and they discuss it scornfully, noting the superiority of liberty-loving Americans. The captain is also urbanely tolerant of slavery. On the slave ship, they encounter a touching sight, despite the horrors of the plague. The ailing Spaniard in command is being tenderly cared for by a gentle and loyal slave. But things aren’t what they seem, though it is against the rules of reviewing a suspense drama, I fear, to suggest that this sweet Uncle Tom will bear watching. Anyway, it all ends in an uproar of gunplay and slaughter that the most experienced expert in frank melodrama could well envy."
Winner of the 1965 Obie Award for Best American Play.
“…a harrowing and action-filled suspense melodrama of exploding power.” —New York Post.
