Lost but Found

Black screen. quotes fade into view.

NARRATOR

(A sullen, low, deep toned voice)

In space no one can hear you scream, well it’s the same under the ocean. Down in the blue the only noise you hear are the bubbles floating through the cold, salty, dark water to the surface of the unforgiving ocean. The ocean tosses you support ship like a little toy, and you lay motion list in the water, drifting away, no more bubbles floating.

Ext. Boat. Waves crashing over the front of the boat and the back.

The year is 1942.  The H.M.S Blaney a destroyer in Her Majesty’s Navy is taking on water, off the shores of New Jersey. No one is seen on deck, and the portals are all closed. Relentless beating from the Atlantic keeps pounding the ship into submission. A clash of Iron vs. H2O, two strong forces, in the distance a wave approaches the port side, and the Blaney disappears.

Int. Store front (four friends diving store)

MITCH KENNEDY

(Behind the counter, forearms on the glass display case, a Navy blue collared shirt with the dive flag on it. A rugged face and, a scar from a marlin’s fin entrenched on the right side from the eye down to the mouth) 

It’s out there guys; it’s waiting for us to find it.

HENRY HEARTS

I don’t know Mitch, this ship went down with out a trace, and all the files on it are non-existent. All we know is that a destroyer from the Royal Navy went missing in 1942, and the families have no idea why.

Shaking his head in disagreement to Henry’s statement, Dave Longston took a steep from the corner that he was leaning on. Tall, thin, short cropped hair, an ex-navy diver now a commercial diver, Dave has been under the water for most of his life, and knows exactly what he is talking about.

DAVE LONGSTON

That’s why we must go and find it, to bring closer to the family members of those sailors. I’d want it for my family if I went missing.

HENRY HEARTS

(Slightly agitated, stress, and the feeling of being ambushed by another friend)

Dave, its not wither or not we should go, its where the hell do we start! The Atlantic Ocean is one big ass ocean. I mean we can’t just drop an anchor and take a swim! Some one could get killed if we f**k up. We need an area to search, something, anything, I don’t care, I will not go into the water without knowing a search area.

Henry is now red to the face with frustration, and fatigue. Dave and Mitch stand facing each other; the eye contact said more then actual words. Henry walked towards the door, out into the breezy day for a cigarette.     

Ext. River Pier. On the boat Treasure Shark.

The pier is a little place off the beaten path, surrounded by trees, and sand. The water silently lapping at the sand, a small metal shack stands near a wood walk way that stretches over the water to a forty foot, salvage vessel. Looking from the bow to land stands Sam Laundry. A white unbutton shirt, to match the glimmering white of the Treasure Shark, waves in the wind. On the phone holding his straw hat to his head, he speaks to an excited historian on the other end of the phone.

SAM LAUNDRY

What do you mean you found it?! (Speaking now with excitement)

HISTORIAN

I found it, I found it! It’s right off the coast!

SAM LAUNDRY

What is? Calm down Bill, I need to know what you found, and where.

(BILL) HISTORIAN

The H.M.S. Blaney. I was looking through some old reports from the search teams and a list of spots that fishing trawlers have had nets caught. And I found it! The search teams left a hole in their search patterns, and that’s the area that the trawlers have lost a lot of nets. It makes sense. The water is 100ft to the bottom, the Blaney was about 40 ft high, and the nets are dragged at about 50-60ft.

SAM LAUNDRY

(thinking to himself, now sitting in his lounged chair, picking up his Mojito, it made sense)

Ok, that sounds like the spot, where is it, and what are the GPS coordinates.

Int. Store office (four friends diving store). Night.

Sam, Bill, Henry, Dave and Mitch sit around a big oak table with a map of the Atlantic Ocean rolled out, and thumb tacks all over blue stretch of ocean. The pins mark spots that they have searched looking for the H.M.S Blaney.



SAM LAUNDRY

(smoking his English pipe, filled with Cherry tobacco)

The coordinates that you gave me lie about 20 miles off the coast, in about 100-130 feet of water, and after some rough scans, I determined that there is something big down there and its metal. There are no known wreck sites in the area. I say its worth a look. 

HENERY HEARTS

Ok? Is there any problem of getting down there, any dangers? I don’t…

Cutting HENERY off MITCH KENNEDY says

MITCH KENNEDY

What the hell do you mean any dangers? We all dive, and go where one wrong move can kill you. I agree with SAM, we should go take a look.

DAVE LONGSTON

(Sitting in a corner, reading the water charts for the proposed dive site, looks up with disturbing recollection of the spot)

We can’t go there.

MITCH, SAM, HENERY

What! Why!

DAVE LONGSTON

The spot that you all are talking about is where the gulf heads out into the middle of the Atlantic. The current down there is almost 20 knots. That’s enough speed to sweep us off the wreck and out into the blue with out anyone knowing.

MITCH KENNEDY

Alright we will use the underwater scooters. That way we can stay on the wreck with out wasting much energy.

HENERY HEARTS

And we should pack extra bottles. The more we have the longer we can stay under.

SAM LONGSTON

I’d figure you would say that HENERY, so I filled them already, and stowed them in the boat. All we need now are the scooters and we can leave tomorrow.

  EXT. DOCK SIDE, on the TREASURE SHARK. 6:00AM

         The sun rose in the east, lighting the calm Atlantic that stretched out in front of the TREASURE SHARK. MITCH, HENERY, DAVE, are down below getting everything checked and rechecked. SAM was at the helm plotting a course to the dive site. A cool breeze seeps the Diver Down flag into a whipping motion.

SAM LAUNDRY

Suit up boys were here.

The anchor dropped into to water, and the hundred and forty feet of chain followed, to the bottom.

SAM LAUNDRY

Alrighty guys were anchored and the current isn’t too bad right now, but it may pick up at anytime. So get in and do a quick look to see what’s down there. If the current picks up come right up. I’ll have the spare bottles at the 15ft safety stop. Ok?

MITCH KENNEDY

(as he is putting on his buoyancy compensator, and checking all the pockets)

Yea that sounds good. We all know the primary layout of the ship, if it is it right?

HENERY HEARTS

Yea it as two cannons forward, with aft torpedo launchers.

DAVE LONGSTON

(testing his regulator, and putting his mask on)

I’ll be the first one in, HENERY will follow second, and MITCH you bring up the rear with the gear. Once were in hand us the scooters, and then jump in.

EXT. IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

DAVE jumped in, signaled for HENERY to jump in and MITCH hands them the scooter before jumping in himself. They all gave the “OK” signal to SAM, and began there descent into the blue abyss. The water was a sight shade of blue/green, and clear visibility. The sound of air bubbles from the regulator can be heard.

MITCH KENNEDY

(Thinking to himself)

Passing 60ft, and another thermo layer, God it’s getting cold. DAVE looks alright, and so does HENERY. Time to start up the scooters.

The whining sound of the scooters echoed in the three’s ears. As they approached what appeared to be a mass covered in fishing nets. The closer they got, the more they realized that this was the ship they were looking for. Excitement shone in their faces brighter then their flashlights. The mystery of the missing H.M.S Blaney has now been solved.

MITCH KENNEDY

(Writing on a slate for the others to read.)

Let’s get topside. We know its here.

DAVE LONGSTON

(Signaled that he understood and was in agreement)

HENERY HEARTS

(wasn’t paying attention, thinking to himself)

There’s a door over there! Maybe I can get in there and grab some hard evidence that this is the H.M.S Blaney.

HENERY let go of his scooter, and approached the bulk head. MITCH, and DAVE went to stop him, but the current picked up and swept them away. HENERY realized what he had done. They were only going down to take a peek at the wreck and see if it is indeed the Blaney, but because of his curiosity, he is being sucked into the door that has nets all over it. The fear in this face can be seen as he struggles to swim away, but is unable to. HENERY is tangled. DAVE, and MITCH start their way towards HENERY, but their air is running out.

As DAVE and MITCH get to HENERY, he is panicking, breathing faster and harder, going through his air faster. The net has wrapped his arms and legs tight, and every move HENERY makes the nets constrict more. The terror on all three’s faces’ show what they are thinking.

MITCH KENNEDY

SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!

Only underwater a rumble can be heard, MITCH and DAVE start frantically cutting at the nets to free HENERY. Time is running out, air is running out. At 100ft, they would need to make safety stops or risk getting decompression sickness, and that requires time and air, that they are almost out of. To MITCH and DAVE, HENERY was family, and they didn’t want to give up, but they had to go. HENERY knew this. HENERY knew that they were almost out of air, so HENERY grabbed both of them, and gave them the up signal. MITCH, and DAVE didn’t want to let that happen but they had no choice, HENERY them towards the surface. MITCH embraced HENERY and started his ascent to the boat, as did DAVE.

Leaving a friend is a hard thing to do, and it weighed heavily on their minds. Half way up, MITCH spotted something on the way up, and coming up fast. It was HENERY, he ditched his dive belt and rocketed himself up from his death trap. DAVE, noticed it to, and tried to grab HENERY, but he was going up to fast. HENERY reached the surface before DAVE, and MITCH.

SAM LAUNDRY

HELP! Guys get over here, HENERY is going into shock! What the hell happened he came flying up without any equipment.

DAVE LONGSTON

He got stuck in the nets on the wreck and we were out of air.

MITCH KENNEDY

Call the Coast Guard!

MITCH and DAVE started to treat HENERY for the BENNS. SAM got up into the wheel house and called the Coast Guard.

SAM LAUNDRY

Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the commercial dive boat Treasure Shark calling the U.S Coast Guard. We have a diver down. Mayday, mayday, mayday.

INT. COAST GUARD STATION SANDY HOOK. NOON

In the radio room, a flash message came through the radio.

Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the commercial dive boat Treasure Shark calling the U.S Coast Guard. We have a diver down. Mayday, mayday, mayday.

A radio operator went to the hand microphone and responded, while alerting the air crews.

COAST GUARD STATION SANDY HOOK

This Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook to Treasure Shark, state your emergency.

EXT. 4 HOURS OUT OF BELMAR, on the TREASURE SHARK.

SAM LAUNDRY

We are requesting an immediate air lift. One of our divers is going in to shock due to decompression sickness. We are four hours out of Belmar, NJ.

INT. COAST GUARD STATION SANDY HOOK

COAST GUARD STATION SANDY HOOK

We receive Treasure Shark; Coast Guard Chopper Zulu 11 is en-route, eta ten minuets out.

8 minuets later

INT. COAST GUARD CHOPPER ZULU11.

PILOT

This is ZULU11 calling Treasure Hunter, we have you in our sights. Hold it steady, we are going to lower a rescue swimmer to retrieve the down diver

The swimmer was lowered to the Treasure Shark via cable. The rescue swimmer ran to the group gathered on the deck.

RESCUE SWIMMER

What’s his name, what happened.

MITCH KENNEDY

His name is HENERY HEARTS, he was tangled in fish nets on the wreck, and we had to surface. On the way up he bolted to the surface, and now he is unresponsive, and has gargling in the lungs.

RESCUE SWIMMER

Lower the basket.

A minuet later the basket was lowered, and HENERY was loaded and lifted away. MITCH, DAVE, and SAM were told that he was going to be taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, but before they go see him, they would have to go the Coast Guard Station and give full reports.

INT. COAST GUARD CHOPPER ZULU11.

PILOT

This is ZULU11, we are carrying a priority 1, critical patient. Repeat, we are carrying a priority 1 critical patient. Name, HENERY HEARTS, suffering decompression sickness, ready the compression chamber. 

The credits roll up, as the orange and white chopper flies at top speed to land.