Original subtitles

The Old West is hardly the place

you'd expect to find a naval hero, is it?

But one of them played a major role

in the winning of the West.

Remember David Glasgow Farragut?

He made himself an unforgettable American hero,

when, in the Battle of Mobile Bay, he shouted,

"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

But I think his finest hour

was in a battle few Americans ever heard of,

on June 17, 1856

in the Battle of San Francisco Bay.

I brought the work detail back, sir.

So I see.

We couldn't get any work done at shore, in this fog.

I'm sorry, sir.

You're not responsible for the weather, Lieutenant.

Give the men a ration of rum to thaw the fog out of them.

Aye-aye, sir. Thank you, sir.

Detail, dismissed!

Burnell just brought the work detail back.

I can't get any work done because of the fog.

It just goes on and on and on,

and it doesn't really make any difference!

David-- No, let me blow off steam.

It's one of the few luxuries you can afford

on a captain's pay.

My entire life I've spent in the Navy,

and I've only climbed as high as captain.

[ sighs ] Now, all I'm good for

is building warehouses and docks and barracks.

David, don't talk like that.

Well, you know it's true.

My only chance for promotion is a battle, fought and won.

Well, there aren't going to be any battles for me,

so I've made a decision.

I'm going to buy as much land in California as we can afford,

and when Commodore Mervine gets back from Panama,

I'm going to hand him my resignation,

effective immediately.

David, the Navy is your heart and soul.

To start all over again, way out here in the West--

Everybody in the West is starting new.

The Commodore won't be back for at least two weeks.

Wait till then. I want it done now.

[ knock on door ]

Come in.

Captain--

I'm sorry, Mrs. Farragut.

Well, what is it, Lieutenant?

Dr. Ashe, the Navy civilian agent in San Francisco,

just came alongside in a rowboat.

He insisted on being taken aboard, sir.

What's he doing here?

He said he's been through hell.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

He said he has to see you, sir,

on matters of terrible emergency.

That's the words he used.

Well, bring him in, Lieutenant.

He's not exactly presentable, sir.

I said bring him in.

[ door opens, closes ]

[ breathlessly ] San Francisco has gone mad.

They were going to hang me. What?

They've hung at least two men already.

They voted the United States Marshal,

arrested Chief Justice Terry.

Captain...

there are eight thousand armed men in the streets,

arresting anybody they suspect.

Some of them are looting stores, setting fires that-- that--

[ sighs ]

You've got to stop them, Captain.

Get a hold of yourself, man. Stop who?

The Vigilantes.

The Vigilantes were disbanded five years ago.

They've reorganized to start another clean-up drive,

but this time, the scum of the Barbary Coast

has turned law and order into mob violence.

You've got to stop them.

You know I can't intervene in a civil disturbance.

Captain, you're the only federal authority left here,

anywhere within five hundred miles.

It'll split California off from the Union,

unless you take your ships into the bay,

turn your cannon on the Barbary Coast,

open fire to shock the mob into its senses.

Get the medical officer.

Suppose you had to weigh anchor tonight, Lieutenant,

and take this ship and the others from here

through the channel into San Francisco Bay.

Sir, while this fog holds, that's impossible.

"Impossible" isn't a very popular word in the Navy.

But facts are facts.

Even if there was a wind, and there isn't,

we'd run aground or pile up on the rocks.

So you'd play it safe,

stay here and let San Francisco stew in its own juice.

What happens in San Francisco is none of the Navy's business.

You said so, yourself.

That's sensible, Lieutenant,

but those are United States citizens over there.

You'd better get back on watch.

Aye-aye, sir.

How's Dr. Ashe?

He twists and turns

and mutters "Vigilantes," over and over.

The first Vigilante Association cleaned up crime and corruption back in '51,

then turned the city back to the legally-constituted authorities.

They were law-abiding citizens led by decent men.

Decent law-abiding citizens

wouldn't do what was done to Dr. Ashe.

No, they wouldn't.

What are you going to do?

[ sighs ]

I might get myself a court marshal,

but I've got no choice.

I'll need my best shirt and my full-dress uniform.

Get a boat over the side, Lieutenant.

Sir, in this fog--

Dr. Ashe managed to find his way through it.

Yes, but-- But what?

Nothing, sir.

Shall I issue sidearms to the boat crew?

If I'm not back aboard by the time the fog lifts,

these are your orders.

That's all, Lieutenant.

Captain shore party, on the double,

Boatswain, do your stuff. Move, men, move!

Let her go!

[ men shouting, distant ]

[ shouting grows louder ]

Empty your pockets.

That all?

You've been arrested

by the Second San Francisco Vigilante Committee,

on suspicion of being enemies of law and order.

You'll be tried and judged when we get around to you.

Lock 'em up.

What's biting you?

Well, we're supposed to let the suspects

give an account of themselves.

It says so, right in the Vigilance Committee rules.

We'll separate the sheep from the wolves

when we finish the round-up.

When'll that be?

That'll be when I say so.

[ door opens ]

Well, what do you know?

Here comes the Navy.

Who's in charge here?

You've got enough gold braid and brass on you

to trim a Christmas tree.

I asked you who's in charge here.

Now, I'll ask you one, Admiral.

Who sent for you?

I'm here to investigate a complaint by Dr. Ashe,

the Navy civilian agent in San Francisco.

Old doc Ashe, huh? He got away, did he?

He's on my ship.

You should've stayed there with him...Admiral.

"Captain."

Captain David Glasgow Farragut.

What's going on in San Francisco

is none of the Navy's never mind.

[ banging outside ]

Search him.

Lock him up.

I'll tell you what you do, Admiral.

[ door closes ]

You go talk to Mr. J.D. Calhoun.

He's the chairman of the Vigilance Committee.

Where is he?

Up on Nob Hill with the rest of the nabob.

[ men murmuring ]

What are you standing around here for?

Get out and get busy!

Go on, get out!

[ knock on door ]

[ knocking continues ]

I hope you'll excuse me for disturbing you, ma'am.

It's all right. Come in.

The fog's clearing some,

and there's a light wind offshore.

The Captain's orders are that if he's not back onboard

when the fog lifts and we can move,

I'm to take the ships down the bay

and anchor off San Francisco.

Yes?

That's all.

I don't even know if I can get them down there

through the narrows.

Here's where we are.

Here's the Carquinez Straits.

Here's Point Reyes.

Those are ships' graveyards.

I can handle a ship at sea, one ship,

but getting three of them through into the bay...

Captain Farragut thinks you can do it.

He expects as much of others as he can do himself,

but he's...

the only one of his kind.

It's a good kind for a Navy man to be.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

MAN: What do you people expect me to do?

March down there, one man against eight thousand?

Wave my badge and read the Riot Act?

Well, I tried that, and I got a bullet for it.

And if I try it again, they'll hang me,

just like they hung Cora and Casey.

In other words, Marshal,

you flatly refuse to do your duty.

I didn't start this thing. You people did.

And I think you should be the ones to put it out.

How? You could begin

by calling off the round-up on the Barbary Coast.

McCartney's your man.

McCartney's not our man.

Well, he claims to be acting on orders from your committee.

You know better than that, Marshal.

McCartney is a power-drunk rabble-rouser.

That's what you get when you open the door for it,

an invitation to a mob.

We had no such problems in '51.

Five years ago, McCartney and his kind

were in jail somewhere back East.

Gentlemen...

I've listened since midnight.

You talk, talk, talk,

and you're still right where you started.

It looks, in the morning, my ships will be able to move.

I've ordered them to move down into the bay.

Why?

Only the President can use the armed forces against civilians.

We can't take into such responsibility.

Then don't.

Be Pontius Pilate, Mr. Calhoun.

Wash your hands, shut your eyes,

turn your back.

I'll go down there with you, Marshal.

I'm not under your command.

No, but you took the same oath I took,

to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I've already done all I could and nearly got killed for it.

So did Dr. Ashe,

and he wasn't bound by a badge or a uniform.

All right.

It won't help any, but I'll go.

Capt. Farragut?

Wait a minute, Captain.

I'll go with you.

Search 'em.

[ laughs ]

All right. Take 'em away.

Well, well, well.

I thought you left us, Admiral.

McCartney,

the Vigilance Committee has voted unanimously

to terminate your connection with the committee,

and your authority to act undercover

of its good name and public acceptance.

All right, Calhoun, I'm fired. Now, I'm on my own, okay?

You run things up on Nob Hill, I'll handle the Barbary Coast.

Marshal?

This is a writ of Habeas Corpus.

"Commanding the immediate release

"of Chief Justice David Terry and all other federal officials,

"who are legally in your custody,

"and all citizens, known or unknown,

"to the court issuing this writ,

"but known to be held in the violation

"of their civil rights.

"Failing which, you and any person, or persons,

"shown to be in contempt of court, may be charged

"with armed rebellion against the United States of America."

[ men murmuring ]

All right, Marshal. I'll take over.

McCartney, you've chosen to cut all connection

with this city's reputable leaders.

You've defied the highest court in California.

And what are you going to do about it?

I'm going to give you one hour, McCartney,

one hour until 8:00.

Then what happens?

I have three ships out there.

Your ships are up at Mare Island.

They came down into the bay, last night.

In this fog?

My men don't have to see the Barbary Coast

to flatten it with our cannon.

[ men murmuring ]

Get out of here!

You hear me? Get out!

That's the way you lose a mob, McCartney.

First, one man comes to his senses,

then two, then a dozen,

then a hundred.

You have just under an hour.

That's all.

Just under an hour.

[ men murmuring ]

The fog's thickening again.

I know.

The wind's dying.

We won't be off the Barbary Coast

for at least an hour.

It's after 7:00.

I'm sure we'll be there in time.

You have a lot of faith, Mrs. Farragut.

I learned it living with the Captain.

I sure wish he was here.

I think he is.

Yes, ma'am.

Captain Farragut.

Captain, are your ships really out in the harbor?

You heard me.

But they won't-- they won't fire on the city?

I hope not.

What do you mean you hope not?

I can't control what happens when I'm not onboard.

You and your friends have a few minutes yet,

unless you're more afraid of McCartney

than you are of cannonballs crashing down on you.

MCCARTNEY: Hey.

Hey, you. Come here.

I said come here!

What's the idea sneaking around,

whispering to him?

He's nothing, nobody!

He's the Navy.

MCCARTNEY: What?

He's the U.S. Navy,

and that's the United States of America.

Listen, McCartney,

I didn't join the Vigilantes to fight the United States.

I quit! I'm done!

I'm going home,

and you men will go with me if you know what's good for ya!

And be quick about it!

Before he gets us all blown to kingdom come!

Hold on there.

You're not going to quit on me.

Get back there, all of ya!

I'll kill the first man that goes through that door.

You're running from nothing but a uniform!

A bluff, a fake!

[ groans ]

All right. You stay there and keep your mouth shut.

All right, you men, turn the prisoners loose.

All of 'em!

You've done it, Captain.

Thank God.

Hey! Hey, the ships are out there!

I saw 'em!

Three Navy ships with them big cannons

coming right at us, out of the fog!

Captain, you won't let them fire on us, will you?

They won't fire.

I left orders they were just to show the flag.

Then you were bluffing?

Let's say I had confidence in my junior officer,

and he made it with about two minutes to spare.

I don't ever want to play poker with you, Captain Farragut.

I don't gamble.

Can't afford to, on a Navy Captain's pay.

"To his Excellency,

"the Secretary of the Navy of the United States,

"James Dobbin Esq.

"Subject: Training Maneuvers in San Francisco Bay.

"Report of the same from Capt. David Farragut."

Training maneuvers? It was a battle.

That's an old Navy rule.

What you don't brag about

can never go against your record.

I thought you were writing your resignation.

I'm Navy, Virginia.

I always will be. I'm sorry.

I'm not.

I'm glad and I'm proud.

I'm proud.

Because of Farragut's forceful determination,

eight thousand Vigilantes decided to lay down their arms,

and he decided to remain in the United States Navy.

It was a fateful decision, for, eight years later,

he won the most decisive naval battle

in the war between the states.

Farragut went on to be made an Admiral by act of Congress,

our Navy's first hero in the American Hall of Fame.

Next week, another story of our American heritage.

See you then.