"Act of Piracy"

(Original air date 11/29/74)

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Steve is caught in a diplomatic incident while on a scientific
assignment in the Caribbean Sea

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Story: David Ketchum & Bruce Shelby

Teleplay:Peter Allan Fields

Director: Christian I. Nyby II


Onboard the US fishing boat Unesco floating in the neutral waters of the Caribbean Sea Steve helps a group of scientists assigned to place sensors on the ocean floor while in Washington, Oscar learns of negotiations going sour between the US and the Santa Ventura governments. <> Despite Steve’s assurance that the boat is within safe limits, Oscar urges him and the crew to weigh anchor to avoid a diplomatic incident. Steve sets no store by Oscar’s warning, considering it a bit premature to curtail their mission, but does promise to keep anchor until his arrival.

           

The crew preps Steve for his underwater journey in a bathysphere that has been secretly tampered with. Halfway down the diving bell takes on water but luckily Steve’s special bionic skills enable him to patch the hole. Soon, the cable stops, jostling the passenger.

           

On the surface the main crew made up of Dr. Louis Craig (Stephen McNally), Jed Hall (Hagan Beggs) and the lovely Sharon Ellis (Lenore Kasdorf) are taken prisoner by the Santa Ventura coast guard under the charges of espionage and violation of their territorial waters.

After brutally severing the cable holding the bathysphere, sending it crashing onto the ocean floor and knocking Steve unconscious, they move on with their demands.

           

General Fernando Ferraga (Carlos Romero) threatens to cold-bloodedly execute Jed should the doctor and his assistant refuse to sign an admission of guilt.

     

Steve slowly regains consciousness just as the oxygen level runs low. He swings an oxygen tanks on his back and breaks out of his cage to swim up to the surface where he finds the boat gone. With bionic swiftness he swim back to shore.

           

While Dr. Craig and Sharon are taken to their confinement, Jed plots the last details of his scheme to overthrow the Santa Ventura government with the General who assures him that second half money will be deposited in a Swiss bank account once they get Dr. Craig’s public statement to plotting against their government.

Steve reaches the dock where the Unesco is moored. After subduing the guard he finds a young revolutionary, Julio (Frank Ramirez) looting the boat for food and medicine. Together they evade security by posing as guard and prisoner and take off in a jeep.

           

Julio offers to take Steve to General Ferrara’s hacienda where his friends are being held. Once the location is known, Steve drives Julio back to his hideout and hands him a message to transmit to Oscar in exchange for his silence and firearms.

Sharon strongly suspects that she and Dr. Craig will meet a similar fate as Steve did in the hands of those mercenaries. She also regrets not having professed her love for Steve when she had the chance.

At that moment Jed is shoved into the room, pretending to having been granted permission to visit with them to express his utmost gratitude for saving his life. He stresses the fact that Ferraga won’t stop until he wrings a full confession out of them, which they are unwilling to provide.

           

Jed is shocked to see Steve alive and well when he shows up at the house to plan their escape. After giving Steve directions to where D. Craig and Sharon are being held, he hurries to warn Lieutenant Morales (Jorge Cervera Jr) who dismisses his outlandish story.

     

Steve finds Sharon and Dr. Craig and after swearing them to secrecy for what they’re about to witness, he breaks the steel bars on the window and all three burst into the Lieutenant’s office to use him as a decoy to flee the compound.

           

With a gun on his back Lieutenant Morales attempt to convince the young guard to grant them access to the boat. When the request is denied, Steve jumps on the man to disarm him to allow the others to reach the boat.

           

Jed plays dumb until they reach the Unesco and sounds the alarm. Gunfire ensues, ending with Jed getting shot.

When all the guards are disarmed, Dr. Craig and Sharon jump on the boat while Steve dives underwater to disable General Ferrara’s yacht by bending the propelling blade, hoping to stall them while Oscar and his delegation catch up with them.

           

Undeterred, Ferrara and his men board a small motorboat to go after the Unesco. As they catch up with it, Steve fashions a spear and swims up to Ferrara’s craft to punch a hole the shell.

           

The boat rapidly takes on water, thus forcing them to evacuate in an inflated canoe under applauses from Marine men gathered to witness Steve’s feat.

           

Once Ferrara and is men are handed over to the authorities Oscar informs Dr. Craig that the US government will cover the cost of his lost.

Amazed is he to find that Sharon and Steve are still on a second name basis after a week and seriously wonders if his friend is losing his touch with women. Steve proves him wrong by leaving the deck with Sharon on his arm.

           

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