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Guest Cast:

Ellen Bryce.................June Lockhart 
Walter Bryce................Edward Binns 
Jimmy Bryce.................Bob Beekman

They should never allow sailors to spend our sabbatical teaching in coeducational universities--we're much too susceptible.--Harriman Nelson

A man, woman, and boy--the Bryces--watch from their vessel as an enormous whale surfaces and submerges. The man shouts that it is getting away and they must get a harpoon into it; the boy says it's too dangerous, and the man says he will do it himself. He goes to the harpoon as the boy takes the wheel. The whale goes beneath again. They can hear its heartbeat on their equipment. As they listen, it rams their boat from below, breaking it in two.

At NIMR, Nelson and Crane are discussing their next mission. Crane feels that it could be better accomplished using one of the many better-equipped whaling vessels available, but Nelson says that Washington doesn't think the mission is a waste of their time. Dr. Bryce's arrival is announced and Nelson rises to meet him; however, it is Ellen Bryce who enters, greeting Nelson with a hug and calling him Harry. He'd forgotten that she is also Dr. Bryce--they are old friends, and he introduces her to Crane as "the prettiest marine biology student that ever disrupted my classes." She asks to speak to Nelson alone--she has something she must tell him before her husband boards--but Walter Bryce enters the room before she has a chance. When he prompts her to continue, she says only that she wished the mission could have been postponed, as Walter has just been released from the hospital.

Nelson offers his sympathy for the loss of their son, but Bryce is having none of it--he is sick of sympathy and wants to get to the matter at hand--a matter of great scientific importance, a whale bigger than any ever seen. Crane smiles and says something about Moby Dick; Bryce replies that Moby Dick was fictional--this whale is very real, and larger than the largest of the dinosaurs. Crane is skeptical and wonders if the Bryces have any pictures or ship's logs--or eyewitness accounts other than their own. Bryce is a little offended, saying that Nelson can vouch for his and his wife's scientific credentials; Nelson tells him that he must forgive Crane, that submarine commanders are a skeptical lot. Crane is still unconvinced that the Seaview is the ship for this mission, and even less convinced that the mission is one a woman should be on; Ellen Bryce assures him that she is, indeed, an integral part of the mission. Crane asks just what the mission is; Bryce replies that they plan to get an electrocardiograph of the whale's giant heart--the information could be invaluable to researchers.

In the laboratory, Nelson comments that the Bryces' equipment looks like an ordinary electrocardiograph machine; Bryce replies that it is, but that it has been modified to handle the greater electricity put out by the whale's heart. As he talks about the huge heart, Ellen says that the whale will still be there in a year--why not postpone the mission? Nelson says that, as a scientist, Bryce wouldn't want to wait another day to perform his experiment, much less another year. Bryce comments that Nelson is still a bachelor; if he was married, he'd learn...well, says Bryce, you never really do learn about women, do you?

The Seaview is running on the surface, and Morton and Crane are in the conning tower with binoculars, scanning the horizon for signs of the whale. There are none, so Crane orders a change of course and leaves Morton to continue the search. As he goes below and tells Nelson and the Bryces of the change, Nelson mentions that they will reach the spot where the Bryces' research vessel was destroyed at 1500 hours. Just then, the sonar man sees something, and soon after, Morton does as well--the largest whale Crane has ever seen. Bryce looks, but says it's not his whale--that whale is more than twice the size of the one they just saw. Bryce says that before they were attacked, he managed to attach an electrode to the whale, which is probably still sending out signals they can track.

As Nelson and Bryce enthuse about the boon this discovery could be to human heart research, Morton tells Crane he sees a whaling ship nearby. As he watches, the whalers harpoon the whale, and Crane tells Bryce that his whale may have met a similar fate. Bryce refuses to consider the possibility. Helson radios the captain of the whaling ship and learns that Bryce's whale was indeed still alive a month ago, when the whaler encountered it. The captain had wanted to go after the giant, but his crew refused--and he didn't really blame them.

Nelson and Bryce examine a map, noting where the whale has been seen. Ellen notes that whales are creatures of habit; pointedly she says that "they move in predictable patterns, just as some of us do." Nelson orders a course set to the area where the whale was last sighted; Bryce asks him if they wouldn't make better time if they ran submerged. Crane says he didn't realize they were in a race, but Nelson agrees with Bryce that a little more speed wouldn't be a bad idea. Crane orders the crew to rig for underwater running, but doesn't seem entirely happy about it. He tells Morton to go ahead at 2/3 speed, glances back at Nelson, and says "make that all ahead full."

Ellen enters the guest quarters, where Walter is working at the desk. She says that it isn't too late--they can still call off the mission, tell Nelson to turn back. She has already lost her son, and she doesn't want to lose her husband as well. She asks him to forget about the whale, but he says he can't forget--the whale killed Jimmy, and it's going to pay for that. Ellen says the whale is just a dumb creature, and that it was Walter's own fault that their son died, forcing them to approach the whale when it was was unsafe--he killed Jimmy! Walter pushes her into a wall and she collapses to the floor, crying. He looks at her. Just them, Nelson announces over the intercom that they have almost reached the spot where the whale was last sighted. Walter goes to Ellen, reaching out his hand to help her to her feet, but she refuses, rising on her own instead. She leaves and he follows.

In the control room, Nelson and Crane are looking at a map. The Bryces enter the room. The sonar man picks something up, and Nelson orders it piped over the intercom; they hear the whale's heartbeat, transmitted by the electrode. They go to the observation nose for a better view, and see the creature coming right at them. It rams the submarine head on, then leaves.

Jones and Kowalski prepare a harpoon with a nerve serum inside, to use on the whale.

The whale returns; Crane orders evasive action but it keeps after them. They fire the prepared harpoon--and it misses! The whale rams the Seaview in the side, causing a fair amount of damage; as Crane orders a retreat, the whale hits them again, and the sub sinks to the ocean floor.

In the missile room, Jones returns to the ship from outside and starts removing his diving gear. The ship is in bad shape, and he hopes that after the emergency repair crew is finished it will hold together long enough to reach the nearest shipyard. Crane orders a course set for the nearest port, then goes to look for Nelson. As he's knocking on Nelson's door, Walter Bryce passes him in the hall and tells him that Nelson is in the observation room. He's astounded to learn that Crane plans to halt the mission and return to port. Crane responds that he is the captain and it is his decision to make, and recommends that both the Bryces remain in their cabin until the ship is underway. Bryce says that his wife isn't in their cabin; when Crane asks where she is, Bryce replies "I thought I told you--in the observation room."

In the observation nose, Ellen Bryce is telling Nelson that although Walter led him to believe that this mission was solely in the interest of science, to Walter it is actually a vendetta. Nelson doesn't believe it, but says that even if it were true that Walter was interested in revenge, there is still valuable scientific information to be had. As Crane enters the room, Ellen is telling Nelson that if he doesn't stop Walter, he'll destroy everything; Nelson replies that they can still complete the experiment, that they still have harpoons and nerve serum. Crane steps up and says he's afraid not, and asks to speak to Nelson. As Ellen leaves, Crane tells Nelson that he has ordered a return to port. Nelson asks why he wasn't consulted; Crane pauses, surprised, and says that the safety of the ship is his responsibility. Nelson thinks Crane is calling him irresponsible; Crane says that's not so, but that Bryce is irresponsible, and they can't risk the ship. Nelson is disappointed--they are so close--and insists on the purity of Bryce's scientific interest in the whale. Crane, in turn, insists that Bryce has concealed his true motive. He takes a book from Nelson's desk and asks if Nelson has read it; the book is Moby Dick and of course Nelson has. Crane asks Nelson to read a passage he has marked, and as he does so, the passage seems to describe Bryce as well as Ahab.

Crane, in the control room, tells Morton they will be leaving as soon as the temporary repairs are completed.

Nelson, in his quarters, holds the book and looks thoughtful. He gets up from his desk.

In the missile room, Bryce is putting on a wetsuit; he has a harpoon. Nelson enters the room. He tries to stop Bryce from going out after the whale, saying that he has played him for a fool--that he had no intention of using the whale in heart research. As he goes to close the hatch, Bryce hits him with the butt of the harpoon gun, knocking him out. Bryce leaves the ship.

In the control room, Crane learns that the repairs are complete--as complete as they can be, at least--and orders the ship to surface. As it does, Walter Bryce watches from the ocean floor. He doesn't seem concerned, and swims away. Crane asks Morton to ask Nelson to meet him on the flying bridge; Morton finds Nelson on the floor of the missile room, just coming around. He helps him to his feet and brings him to Crane. When he sees that they are on the surface and heading to port, he orders the ship to return for Bryce. Crane says "Belay that" and takes Nelson aside--there is no guarantee that the ship could survive another submersion--but Nelson insists that they cannot let Bryce die, whose brilliant mind could save so may lives. Ellen, who has been standing outside the curtains, then enters and tells them that her husband is insane. Nelson says that he is still a human being, and Crane is soon convinced to return. They dive.

As the Seaview approaches the spot, they pick up the whale's heartbeat on sonar. It's close. They turn on the nose camera and see Walter Bryce going after the whale (that nose camera gets some great angles, by the way). They watch as Bryce harpoons the whale and is dragged behind it by the attached rope. It pulls him to the surface, and Nelson orders the Seaview to follow. On the surface, they see Bryce calling for help, but it's inevitable that he will be pulled down again when the whale sounds, and all they can do is watch as he is dragged to his death.

Nelson is in the observation room. Ellen enters, approaches him, and tells him not to blame himself. Nelson insists that he should have done something to save Walter, but Ellen says that Walter was dead before he boarded the Seaview, that it was almost as if he died the moment he saw the whale.