The Night of the Watery Death - Recap

In San Francisco, Jim rides to the Mermaid Tavern and examines a key that he received with a mermaid on it. They key opens the door and the agent steps inside. A woman is posing as a mermaid behind the bar and Jim asks the bartender for the Marquis de La Mer. The bartender tells him to take a seat and Jim obliges. The Marquis’s voice emerges from a pufferfish hanging from the ceiling, apologizing for the short notice. Jim points out that the note said the meeting was in the interests of national security and suggests they knock off the game. The Marquis agrees and the mermaid at the bar shoots Jim with a dart.



When Jim wakes up, he finds himself in a deck chair aboard a ship, the Lady Luck. A woman checks herself in her compact mirror and then claims that Jim charmed her and then fell asleep. Jim takes the compact from her and asks how he got aboard the ship, but is interrupted when they spot a dragon-like figure approaching the ship. The woman runs off as the dragon strikes the ship and destroys it, throwing Jim into the water... still holding the compact.

The next day, Jim meets with Lt. Keighley at the Wanderer, but the lieutenant is skeptical of Jim’s story of mermaids, pufferfish, and dragons. As Keighley leaves, Jim reminds him that the Navy’s most valuable officer, Admiral Farragut, will be in San Francisco aboard the U.S. Navy’s best ship, the U.S.S. Virginia. Keighley doesn’t see the connection, but Jim points out that no one drowned due to a fluke… and the Virginia will be loaded with high explosives.

As Keighley arrives, Artie arrives and informs his partner that no one on the Lady Luck say anything, and he’s had no luck finding the Mermaid Tavern. He figures the “dragon” was some kind of sophisticated bomb that swims, disguised as a dragon, and slams the compact down on the table in frustration. As they discuss the case, Artie notices that the pattern of jewels on the compact form the shape of a sea serpent. As they prepare to go, Artie tosses Jim a magnetic silver dollar and explains that it’s sensitive to heat. Five seconds of exposure to anything over 100 degrees and it explodes.



That night, Jim and Artie check jewelry stores for any information on the compact. They have no luck but find a sea-going pawnshop. The agents go inside and the owner, Captain Pratt, comes out and greets them. They show him the compact and he immediately offers $5,000. Jim asks for triple and Pratt immediately meets the offer. When Jim demands an explanation, Pratt explains that he knows a collector and they ask for a meeting. The owner directs them to the Mermaid Tavern on Grant St. at two bells and they leave. Once they’re gone, Pratt turns to a mask on the wall and someone who watched the entire exchange from behind it.

The agents enter to the Mermaid Tavern. The bartender is a different man and King Neptune sits behind the bar rather than a mermaid. They sit down and wait for someone to contact them, and Neptune throws his trident at them. He narrowly misses and Jim shoots him. Artie jumps the bartender while Jim takes out a couple of sailors. Once the fight is over, the two agents go back to see Pratt. The door is locked and Jim has Artie stay outside while he goes in. The same man from earlier watches Jim through the mask as he makes his way to the back room. Pratt is there, hung up by the neck. A trapdoor opens beneath Jim, dropping him into a pit. Several more sailors jump him and Jim takes them out, but the Marquis knocks him out from behind.



After ten minutes go by, Artie enters the pawnshop and goes to the back room. There’s no sign of Jim or Pratt. The agent goes back to the Mermaid Tavern only to discover that it has been replaced b a dress shop.

Jim wakes up tied down to a bed and finds, Dominique, the woman from the ship, mopping his brow. She kisses Jim, and he tells her that he doesn’t have the compact. Dominique tells him that she works for the Marquis, the ruling sovereign of the country of La Mer. When Jim says he’s never heard of it, Dominique informs him that the world will soon tremble at its name. The Marquis comes into the bedroom with two of his men. He sends Dominique away as Jim tells him that he doesn’t have the compact. The Marquis dismisses the compact as a cheap piece of jewelry, but Jim doesn’t buy it. After pouring himself a drink, the Marquis activates a trigger raising the bed to an angle. Jim figures that the Marquis engineered the entire thing so he would see the dragon and provide an expert witness to its existence. However, the Marquis didn’t anticipate Jim taking the compact with him. Jim is confident that the Marquis plans to target the Virginia at midnight when it enters San Francisco Bay. The Marquis promises that Jim will die, and that Artie must have the compact and they’ll kill him to get it. Dominique returns and whispers something to the Marquis, who says that he has business to tend to.



The next day, Artie meets with Keighley at the Wanderer, but the lieutenant still doesn’t believe the story. Artie tells him to keep Farragut off the Virginia while he goes to find Jim.

The Marquis returns to see Jim and explain that he plans to create the first entirely water-based country, La Mer. If the U.S. doesn’t turn over the Pacific to him, the Marquis will use his sea dragons to sink anything afloat. Jim offers to negotiate with Grant, but La Mer refuses until he demonstrates his power by sinking the Virginia. As the Marquis and Dominique leave, the Marquis activates a set of glowing bars around the doorway. He explains that it’s a disintegrating force field and demonstrates its effectiveness using a chair. Once he’s alone, Jim uses a sleeve knife to start cutting himself free

Artie walks down the streets near the Mermaid Tavern. When two of the Marquis’ men follow him, Artie ducks into an alleyway and quickly disguises himself as a Swedish sailor to evade them. He walks past Dominique, who recognizes him despite the disguise. The men go after Artie as he enters the pawnshop, only to discover a different owner. The two sailors come in and hold Artie at gunpoint.



Jim frees himself and throws the knife through the forcefield, hitting the deactivation switch. The guards outside hear the field shut down and run in, and Jim ambushes them. When they charge him, he activates the forcefield and they’re disintegrated. He gets downstairs and knocks out two more guards. However, when he runs for the door he finds an armed Marquis waiting for him with his men. They take him to an underground workshop near Fisherman’s Point where a dragon bomb is suspended. The Marquis explains that his bombs can find the Virginia wherever it may be, but refuses to explain how. Once he removes the U.S. as a threat, half the Pacific will be his and then he can clear the other half. Then the Marquis can control shipping and set whatever fees and tariffs that he wants.

Dominique and her men bring in Artie and force him to turn over the compact. Once the Marquis has it, his men tie Jim and Artie to posts and the agents watch as the dragon bomb is taken out. As they watch, Jim explains to his partner that the Marquis has a steering device. They figure that the compact is a homing device, and they wonder if Dominique can get aboard the Virginia to plant the device.



Keighley is informed that a woman has come aboard with a message from Jim West. The lieutenant agrees to see her.

Once the guards finish their preparations and leave, Jim activates his boot knife.

Dominique tells Keighley that Jim wants him to bring the Virginia to Fisherman’s Point for safety. She bursts into tears as she claims that the Marquis is her uncle and she had no idea what he was up to. Dominique escaped while Jim stayed behind. Once Keighley leaves to check the ship, Dominique gets rid of the onion she has been using to fake tears and then uses the compact to check her makeup.

Jim cuts Artie free and his partner unties him. As they approach the door, Artie steps on a board that triggers the force field and notifies the guards outside. One comes in and the agents fake being tied up, lure him close, and knock him out. They then lure the other guard in, knock him down, and get out as the guard steps on the trigger board and traps himself. Artie goes to the Virginia to find Dominique and the homing device while Jim goes back to get the dragon. The Marquis and two of his men intercept Jim and cut off his escape with another force field. The villain assures Jim that he wants him kept alive to act as chief negotiator and takes him back to the workshop.



Keighley and Dominique meet with Farragut, who agrees to reroute to Fisherman’s Point. However, as Dominique checks her makeup, Keighley notices the compact and realizes its significance. When he tries to place her under arrest, Dominique draws a gun. Artie storms in and Dominique gets the drop on him before he realizes that she’s there.

The Marquis spots the approaching Virginia via a prototype periscope and boasts of how he will ultimately control all shipping. He has his men load the floating bomb, a “torpedo,” with explosives and explains to Jim that Dominique convinced Keighley to reroute the Virginia. The Marquis is confident that Dominique will outsmart Artie. He arms the torpedo and has his men lower the torpedo into the water. As it heads toward the Virginia, Jim attacks the sailors. One of them knocks Jim onto the trigger board, activating the force field. The Marquis charges at him with a pike and Jim knocks him into the force field, killing him.

Jim dives out the window and swims after the torpedo. Meanwhile, Dominique hears it approaching and bids Artie and Keighley farewell, covering her escape with a smoke pellet.

Jim grabs the torpedo and attaches Artie’s exploding silver dollar to the dragon’s head. Onboard the Virginia, Artie destroys the compact and the transmitter inside. Jim swims away from the torpedo and the silver dollar explodes due to the heat from the fire jets, destroying the torpedo just in time.



Later at the Wanderer, Jim reads a newspaper article praising Artie’s efforts in diving off a pier and capturing Dominique. Artie is suffering from a cold and has his feet in a basin of hot water. He is more interested in presenting a paper to a scientific society about the torpedo, the weapon of the future. Jim apologizes and says that he has a date. Once he goes, Artie rehearses his speech about using aerial bombs to stop torpedoes and inadvertently sets off a smoke pellet in his hot water.



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