Sea Wife 1957

Michael Cannon returns to London after the Second World War, placing adverts in the personal columns to try to reunite with Sea Wife, a long-lost acquaintance. He publishes under the name ‘Biscuit’, Richard Burton. Before long, a letter arrives summoning him to the Ely Retreat and Mental Home, where he meets an ill man nicknamed Bulldog, Basil Sydney who urges him to abandon the search. A series of flashbacks reveals the backstory that ties these memories together.

In 1942, as Singapore braces for invasion, crowds rush aboard a ship seeking escape, and Biscuit reencounters Bulldog. The ship’s black purser, later known as Number Four, is pressed to eject passengers from a cabin reserved for him, but when he discovers it houses hungry children and nuns, he relents. The nun with her back to him is Sister Therese, who will be remembered as Sea Wife, Joan Collins. The vessel is soon torpedoed by a submarine, casting Biscuit, Sea Wife, Bulldog, and Number Four onto a small life-raft. Number Four knows Sea Wife is a nun and pleads for secrecy, a request that becomes harder to keep as tensions rise. It also becomes clear that Bulldog harbors racism and distrust toward Number Four.

Their voyage continues after a tense encounter with a Japanese submarine; its captain reluctantly provides food and water when Number Four negotiates with him in Japanese. The quartet eventually reaches a deserted island. Number Four discovers a machete and uses it to construct a sturdier raft from tropical timber, a feat that reassures him but deepens Bulldog’s suspicion when Number Four insists on keeping the machete for himself. Meanwhile, Biscuit falls in love with Sea Wife; she is tempted, but she resists his romantic advances without offering an explanation.

As they prepare to leave, Bulldog crafts a cruel ruse. He tricks Number Four into searching for his missing machete and then casts off, leaving him behind. Biscuit tries to intervene, but Bulldog knocks him unconscious with an oar. Number Four attempts to swim to the raft but is killed by a shark. Days pass and the remaining three are rescued by a passing ship; Biscuit is taken to a hospital for a long recovery, and by the time he is discharged, Sea Wife has already gone. The flashback ends, returning to Bulldog’s hospital room in London, where he tells Biscuit that Sea Wife died on the rescue ship. Heartbroken, Biscuit wanders from the grounds, passing two nuns; Sea Wife is among them, watching him leave in silence.