What happens
Four convicts escape from the French penal colony of Numea in New Caledonia and drift on a raft in the South Pacific, waiting for a ship to collect them. Dr. Dubois, a forger named Fenaro, and a thief called Parrot share the raft with a native islander whom they regard with contempt. As the days pass in a dead calm, water runs short and tensions rise between the three men. This is the Escape episode The Fourth Man, first broadcast on April 25, 1948, adapted by Irving Ravitch from a story by John Russell and starring Berry Kroeger as the doctor.
A raft in the South Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia, after an escape from the French penal colony at Numea.
Characters: Dr. Dubois, Fenaro, Parrot, Mortau, The Captain, The Fourth Man
Listen for: The doctor's cigarettes and the men's bitter arguments over the dwindling water supply, and the native's silent, steady presence at the stern.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.