Adventures of the Seaspray | Aired: May 9, 1967

Summary of Adventures of the Seaspray

The Adventures of Seaspray became a family favorite on ABC TV across Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. For many children, it became the focal point of their after-school pastime, bringing the whole family together. The series told the story of an adventure that every schoolboy and girl dreams about.

The story centered on widowed journalist Dan Wells, who sailed the Pacific on his 25-meter schooner “Seaspray”, with his three children, Mike, Noah, and Sue, assisted by their Fijian crewman Willyum. Every week, we would join them as they roamed across the South Pacific on their many adventures.

Fun Fact – Leone Lesinawai, who played Willyum in the series, was the original owner of the Seaspray schooner that was featured in the series. He leased the boat to the filming company and got Willyum to play the supporting role.

The Seaspray is now located in Fiji and is still used for tourist cruises to neighboring islands.

Table of Adventures of the Seaspray Episodes

Adventures of the Seaspray Footnotes

S1 E1 – Mutiny On The Seaspray – The Seaspray’s rudder is in desperate need of repair. While sailing to the nearest port, Willyum spots a rowboat adrift with two men lying unconscious inside. When the men recover, the Wells family discovers that the men are criminals who plan to hijack their schooner.

S1 E2 – Voyage Into Danger – The Seaspray makes landfall at what the Wells family assumes is a deserted island in order to replenish their water supply. The sound of a gunshot shows them that the island is not uninhabited after all and find a man, left on the island for survival training, being pursued by Japanese soldiers who are unaware that World War II ended more than twenty years earlier.

S1 E3 – Survival – The Seaspray makes landfall on Fiji near a vast Copra plantation. The Wells family hears a native boy cry for help. When they investigate, they learn that the crooked plantation manager has imprisoned the owner and forced the local tribesmen to work as slaves. Before they can leave to notify the authorities, Captain Wells and his sons are captured and forced to join the other workers.

S1 E4 – Battle of Copra Island – The Fijian police warn Captain Wells that bank robbers may try to use the Seaspray to escape. Later, Wells is attacked by thugs, but a tourist comes to his aid. In gratitude, Wells offers the man and his wife passage off the island. Too late, Wells discovers that these are the thieves for whom the police are searching.

S1 E5 – Stalemate – While shopping in a Fijian town, the Wells children visit a fortune teller who warns them to beware of danger that lurks everywhere. When later the family explore and become lost on a deserted island they discover that deadly World War II booby traps planted there by the Nazis are still operational and ready to snare unwary passersby.

S1 E6 – Trapped – The native chief of a remote Fijian island warns Captain Wells that the tribe’s witch doctor has fallen under the influence of a crook who plans to plunder the island’s mineral deposits.

S1 E7 – The Power of Davu – While climbing a glacier in New Zealand, the crew of the Seaspray stumbled upon a badly injured man. Leaving Mike and Sue to care for the victim, Willyum and Captain Wells head down the mountain for help, but the man turns out to be a criminal who is not as wounded as he appears and takes both teenagers hostage.

S1 E8 – The Hostages – The Wells family is visiting a gold mine in Fiji when Willyum witnesses two men robbing the mine’s manager.

S1 E9 – The Hunt – Captain Wells agrees to take an elderly Oriental man on as a passenger but becomes concerned when the man refuses to discuss the reason for his journey or his mysterious cargo.

S1 E10 – Smuggled Cargo – While visiting New Zealand, the Wells family gets involved with a gang of horse thieves.

S1 E11 – The Switch – Intrigued by reports that an isolated island along their route is haunted, the Seaspray crew decides to investigate. While walking along a jungle path, they hear moans, groans, and shrieks that cannot be accounted for.

S1 E12 – The Haunted Island – Captain Wells agrees to ship a seemingly harmless cargo of coconuts, only to discover that a rival captain has created a monopoly shipping the products and will brook no interlopers. The Seaspray narrowly escapes destruction when one of the coconuts in the hold turns out to contain a bomb.

S1 E13 – The Loaded Coconut – The Seaspray crew receives a decidedly unfriendly reception when they attempt to visit a small New Zealand fishing village on Bareknuckle Bay.

S1 E14 – Bareknuckle Bay – Captain Wells finds an old man hiding on board the Seaspray. An animal lover, he’s been taking potshots at loggers whom he believes are ruining his friends’ habitat and now the loggers are out for revenge.

S1 E15 – The Fugitive – The crew of the Seaspray attempt to foil the kidnapping of a famous scientist off a yacht by a gang using a submarine.

S1 E16 – Monster of Tauro – The crew of the Seaspray encounters a missionary who believes in spreading the Gospel with the muzzle of her rifle.

S1 E17 – Treasure of Ruala – While visiting New Guinea, the crew of the Seaspray go exploring and nearly have a fatal adventure.

S1 E18 – Cave of Death – After the Seaspray docks in Sydney, Australia, Mike and Sue Wells immediately head for Bondi Beach to learn how to surf. Their pretty instructor turns out to be part of a gang responsible for stealing a valuable art collection.

S1 E19 – The Surfers – After celebrating Sue’s birthday in a coastal New Guinea town, the Wells family returns to the Seaspray and finds it occupied by a large man and his two unsavory companions who insist they own the boat – and have the papers to prove it.

S1 E20 – Three Mile Limit – Captain Wells discovers his old friend, the skipper of a rival schooner, has contracted a deadly tropical disease which he has spread among the natives with whom he has done business.

S1 E21 – Evil Spirit – The Seaspray’s crew finds a strange-looking capsule floating in the ocean. Captain Wells discovers it was an orbiting camera recently fallen to earth and also learns that enemy agents are searching for the device.

S1 E22 – Sky Spy – The crew of the Seaspray tries to prevent a “payback murder” where one tribe kills a member of another whenever one of its members dies for any reason.

S1 E23 – The Death Dancers – The Seaspray crew was looking forward to their New Zealand trout-fishing holiday until they discover that pollution has killed all the trout. Captain Wells believes the fish kill was caused by indiscriminate crop dusting by a fleet of planes owned by Clint Hardin.

S1 E24 – Rain of Death – While in New Guinea waters, Captain Wells spots a column of smoke from a remote island that he interprets as a distress signal. Upon investigation, Wells and the Seaspray crew discover that a pair of white men searching for gold are forcing the natives to assist them by means of their magic tricks.

S1 E25 – Deadly Magic – When Mike discovers an oyster bed that yields enormous pearls, his activities attract the attention of a deadly gang of pearl thieves.

S1 E26 – Dangerous Waters – While battling a storm near the coast of New Guinea, the crew of the Seaspray receives a distress signal and sails to the rescue.

S1 E27 – Shipwrecked – While visiting the farm of an old family friend, Sue Wells goes exploring and discovers a dying prospector in a remote cabin. The old man entrusts Sue with a note for a “Miss Daisy” and a valuable sapphire that he wants her to deliver for him.

S1 E28 – The Black Sapphire – The Melbourne police ask Captain Wells to make excuses to delay sailing after a man charters the Seaspray to take him to Fiji.

S1 E29 – A Strange Charter – The crew of the Seaspray attempts to help a female sheep rancher whose neighbor is trying to force her to sell her farm by using crooked business tactics.

S1 E30 – The Dangerous Trek – While cruising off the coast of New South Wales, the Seaspray crew picks up a strange bundle, which turns out to be counterfeit money. The counterfeiting gang wants to get their funny money back and isn’t too concerned about shedding some blood to do.

S1 E31 – A Deadly Game – Captain Wells and his family fish a man out of the Melbourne, Australia harbor. He claims that enemy agents are after him and he requests political asylum. In actuality, he’s a jewel thief who double-crossed his partners and now both the police and his former accomplices are searching for him.

S1 E32 – Doublecross – The Wells family discovers an uncharted island. While exploring its interior, they are captured by descendants of The HMS Bounty’s mutineers who insist that the Seaspray’s crew remain on the island so their whereabouts will remain a secret. When Dan Wells attempts to escape, he and his companions are sentenced to death by the islanders’ tribunal.