What happens
Christopher Warner brings a live bushmaster snake aboard a ship bound for New York, carrying it in a locked chest in Captain Wood's cabin on behalf of a museum. After a rough sea, the chest is found smashed and the snake is missing somewhere on board. Captain Wood, Chief Steward Mr. Bowman and Christopher organise searches of the ship while trying to avoid a panic among the passengers and crew, and the search tightens over several nights. Jack Kelly stars in this episode of the CBS anthology series Suspense, first broadcast on January 6, 1957, and this guide covers only the early part of the story.
A passenger ship sailing from Venezuela toward New York, in the Caribbean.
Characters: Christopher Warner, Captain Wood, Mr. Bowman, Mother Willis
Listen for: The tense searches of the ship and the steward's quiet encounter with the snake in the galley.
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.