Updated: October 07, 2025

"Seven Against the Sea" ( 1962 )

Academy Award winning dramatic actor Ernest Borgnine first appeared as Quinton McHale in an hour-long one-shot PT boat drama called "Seven Against the Sea", which aired as an episode of Alcoa Premiere in 1962, an ABC dramatic anthology also known as Fred Astaire's Premiere Theatre and hosted by Fred Astaire, who introduced television audiences to the Quinton McHale character. It is considered the pilot show for the series although it is an hour-long drama instead of a half-hour situation comedy and is starkly different in tone.

Plot:

During World War II, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale ( Borgnine ) is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat PT-73, stationed at the fictional Pacific island base of Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bomb the island, destroying the base. Only 18 of 150 naval aviators and Marines on the base survive. With Japanese patrols in the region too heavy for a Navy rescue mission, McHale and his men survive by hiding on the island. Assisted by the native tribes whom they befriend, the sailors live a pleasant island existence. After months of leisurely life, strait-laced, by-the-book Annapolis graduate Lieutenant Durham ( Ron Foster ) parachutes onto the island. His job is to assume duties as McHale's executive officer and help him get the base on Taratupa back into action.

Durham faces an uphill battle: the men have gone native. One man has started a native laundry service, and McHale operates a still, making moonshine for the men and the natives. In addition, McHale is friendly with the native chief; the two even bathe in the same room, attended to by one of the chief's wives. When Durham informs McHale of his orders, McHale refuses to follow them. It is clear that while McHale is as loyal as any American, following the devastation caused by the Japanese on the island, he is reluctant to risk losing more men. His concern now is for their survival until they can be rescued, which creates friction between Durham and McHale.

When they get word that a Marine battalion is pinned on a beach and an enemy cruiser is planning to attack the beachhead in the morning, McHale's attitude changes. McHale is ordered to use all his boats to protect the beachhead and the Marines, but he has no boats, since the Japanese sank them all. However, McHale and his men manage to capture a Japanese PT boat that arrives at the island. Surprising the men and Durham, McHale does not plan to use the boat to evacuate his men or the Marine battalion. Instead, he will attack and destroy the Japanese cruiser. He estimates that since they are on a Japanese boat, flying a Japanese flag, they can move in and torpedo the cruiser twice and send it to the bottom.

With just two torpedoes, McHale, Durham, and a crew set out in darkness aboard the acquired PT boat to find and engage the cruiser. By patrolling the only water deep enough for the cruiser to reach the beach, they spot it about two hours before dawn. McHale pilots the PT boat at maximum speed directly towards the cruiser, allowing the crew to fire both torpedoes, the second of which impacts the bow of the cruiser and causes a very large explosion, implying its destruction. The PT boat is last seen, apparently returning to Taratupa, now flying an American flag.