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"Murdoch Ahoy" is the first episode of the seventh season of Murdoch Mysteries and the seventy-ninth episode of the series. It first aired on September 30, 2013.

Summary

Detective Murdoch and Inspector Brackenreid are aboard the S.S. Keewatin after the owner, Clarence MacFarlane, receives what he believes is a threat. Murdoch and the Inspector, along with Julia, stay on board, allowing them to later witness MacFarlane's daughter Amy, who is engaged to her father's chief financial officer Owen Mathers, fall overboard.

Meanwhile back at the station house, Constable Higgins and George are approached by Dr. Grace, who is excited that Annie Taylor is in town and is giving a lecture. She asks George if he would like to go, but Murdoch has asked him to remain at the Station House. 

Back on the Keewatin, Murdoch interviews a young man, Johnny, who claims he saw Amy go into the water. Murdoch asks the MacFarlanes if it was possible that Amy had committed suicide, as she could not swim. MacFarlane is shocked by this theory and denies it, saying that she was to be married. They interview Amy’s fiance Owen who tells them he had an argument with Amy earlier because she was speaking to another man, identity unknown.

After a steward delivers Amy's retrieved hat, Murdoch deduces that the hat could not have been on her head if she fell into the water, as the hatpin was not damaged. MacFarlane orders that every cabin be searched, insistent she has been kidnapped. Could Amy have set this up herself? Murdoch then asks if it is possible to communicate to his Station House and is led to the telegraph room to send his message. 

Murdoch asks for background on Amy MacFarlane, but before George can search, an elderly lady walks in, introducing herself as Annie Taylor. George asks Miss Taylor why she is not at her lecture; she explains that she cannot give her lecture without the barrel used to go over Niagara Falls that has gone missing.

Meanwhile, Murdoch, Brackenreid, and Ogden are approached by a friend of Amy's, Doreen Jarvis. She thinks she may have seen Amy heading down to the lower decks, the cargo hold, in maid's clothing – after the alarm was sounded. In the cargo hold, they find a trunk with a dead body inside, but not Amy's – it is a young man named Neville Morton.

At the Station House, Annie tells Constable Crabtree that she saw three young men take her barrel backstage but she thinks it was her manager who put them up to it. Higgins interrupts, reporting they have received another telegraph from Murdoch, asking them to look into Neville Morton.

On board, Dr. Ogden performs the autopsy and determined Neville's been dead for about an hour and identifies the weapon as being some kind of tool. Murdoch searches around the cargo and happens upon the murder weapon -a particular screwdriver- in his own handkerchief that he had given to Amy MacFarlane in their chance meeting earlier with Julia. Murdoch tells Amy's parents that he believes their daughter is involved somehow.

A telegraph about Neville Morton is received: Morton spent time in jail for bombing a bank. The threat made against MacFarlane may be real. Brackenreid asks about Clarence's enemies, and MacFarlane admits that Linus Calvert is on board, but Linus says that if he were to bomb a boat, then he would not be sailing on it.

It is revealed that Amy wanted to cancel her engagement with Owen, but Owen did not know this. A maid's hat is produced, found in the cargo hold. Maids don't go to the lower deck, so Murdoch returns to the cargo hold to investigate: spotting a man, gives chase, and catches Johnny. Brackenreid pieces the puzzle together; Johnny was the man seeing Amy. She was supposed to hide in the trunk until the boat reached Rochester, and then they would run away. Brackenreid asks how Neville Morton fits into all this, but Johnny does not know who that is.

Back at the station house, Annie Taylor and her manager argue over the barrel, while a frustrated George watches them. Emily interrupts and solicits George's help because her skeleton Shelley is missing. Then, Constable Jackson, looking flustered, tells them that his constable's helmet is missing.

It is nearly 11:00 P.M. on the boat; Clarence tells them that he received a telegram that there are two bombs on board the ship. Brackenreid says they must evacuate everyone, and that they have one hour to find two bombs. After looking at maps of the boat to determine where the bombs could be, they split up in search for them. Murdoch suggests that they are between the hull, now understanding why the bomber needed the special screwdriver. Behind a panel on the side of the hull, they find the first bomb set to midnight, as expected. Murdoch disarms it, and they start searching for the second one. It is also hidden in a panel, but the time to which it is set is 11:00 P.M...an hour early. Murdoch yells at everyone to run just before the bomb explodes. The bomb explodes and creates a hole through the hull.

Water rushes into the hull at a breathtaking pace. Brackenreid informs the full dining room that the ship is sinking and everyone is to evacuate the boats in an orderly fashion, before tossing back a whiskey. After finding out from the ship's telegraph operator that there was not any telegraph about two bombs being aboard the ship, Murdoch accuses MacFarlane of setting the bombs himself so he would get the insurance money. Brackenreid theorizes that MacFarlane doesn't actually know where the bombs were, and that was why he wanted them to find Amy before the bombs exploded. Murdoch believes MacFarlane had an accomplice, Owen Mathers. Neville Morton was killed by his accomplice in the cargo hold and Amy had seen it. Owen knocked her out, tied her up and left her in a trunk. A chase ensues; Johnny grabs Owen demanding to know the Amy's location, Owen frees himself but accidentally falls down a flight of stairs, which breaks his neck.

Consulting the ship's maps for a clue to where Amy is hidden, Murdoch hears a tapping noise coming from within the walls. They deduce that she is in the bow cargo hold according to the pipes placement, as the hold is rapidly filling with water displacing its cargo. Johnny and Murdoch wade through the flooding hold to find the trunk and Amy.

Johnny takes her back above deck, where Inspector Brackenreid and Amy's father Clarence are waiting. As they leave, Julia asks Brackenreid where Murdoch is. He reassures her Murdoch is right behind him, but Julia is distressed to find he is not right behind Brackenreid. She heads down to the cargo hold and dives into the water to search for him, finding him unconscious, she brings him up to the surface. Brackenreid returns to see Julia swimming with William in her arms. Lifeless and non-responsive, Julia performs mouth to mouth resuscitation – much to Brackenreid's disbelief. Murdoch sits up, coughing up water, and tells them, "I've lost my hat." Brackenreid scowls, "Your hat?", then goes back and fishes it out with his cane.

At the Station House, George talks to three young fraternity men about the barrel, reprimanding the lads, and Emily threatens them "if you have damaged Shelley...". They assure her they haven't and it was all just a fraternity prank. George offers the three of them a deal: if the three lads scrub the Station House from top to bottom and write an apology to Annie Taylor, then the students' parents needn't find out about their thefts. 

Everyone makes off the boat, but Clarence refuses knowing that he would be arrested if he returned. While Murdoch insists he would testify, he remains on board and goes down with the ship.

Character Revelations

  • While the court case isn't over yet, William assures Julia, "James Gillies will hang for what he did." Julia confides, "I just want this chapter of our lives to be over. I want us to start afresh." As does William
  • After George reluctantly turns down Emily's invitation to Annie Taylor's lecture and Higgins offers to go instead, Emily tells George that she thinks Higgins is making advances. George thinks Higgins is merely trying to be gallant. 
  • George has knowledge of fraternity house pranks. 

Continuity

Historical References

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1901 – the Edwardian Era (1901-1910) is the time when King Edward VII rules the British Empire; Queen Victoria died January 22, 1901. It is also known as the Belle Époque era, conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
  • There is a reference to the first Victoria Day, a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25, in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday.
  • Death and the Maiden is a common motif in Renaissance art, especially in painting and music; Depicted numerous times by German painter and printmaker Hans Baldung Grien or Grün (1484 – 1545) who was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht Dürer.
  • Annie Taylor was a 63 year old schoolteacher who went over Niagara Falls on her birthday, October 24, 1901 in a barrel. She emerged unscathed and became quite famous for this deed.
  • Julia Ogden uses mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or the kiss of life to save William which had been experimented with since the 18th century in Europe and Japan. It wasn't until well into the 20th century it became the effective method known as CPR. Julia mentions the Swiss using it to revive babies when Brackenreid accuses her of "canoodling".

Trivia

  • The boat that they filmed on was actually called the S.S. Keewatin, although it didn't sink in real life and was actually built after 1901.
  • The Canadian Red Ensign flown at the stern of the ship is of a design not introduced until 1957.
  • This episode is a favorite one of Murdoch Mysteries main cast member Hélène Joy.
  • During Season 16 (nine years later), Murdoch Mysteries: The Experience on Friday November 11, 2022 at the Center in the Square, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony performs Murdoch Mysteries: In Concert with the entire cast on the big screen accompanied by Robert Carli’s Murdoch Ahoy score considered one of the most beloved and musically rich episodes of the series.

Errors

  • When Amy is trapped in the trunk and water is rushing in, it is seen that she has a mouth gag on. When William and Julia save her, the cloth that was around her mouth is gone. It is possible she could have taken it off herself but as her hands were tied too, this is unlikely. (continuity)
  • Emily mentions that Annie Taylor had gone over the Niagara Falls recently at 63 years old. Given that the episode was set in May 1901, this is inaccurate as Annie Taylor went over the Falls in October 1901. (historical errors)
  • After Amy MacFarlane is saved from a watery death in the hold, she goes to the lifeboats to be evacuated from the ship. Miraculously, her wet maid's uniform seems to have dried by the time she enters the lifeboat. (continuity)
  • Dr. Ogden performs CPR on Murdoch in the flooded hold of the ship. Various forms of artificial respiration were explored during the 19th century, but it was not until the early 1960s that the method of external chest compression was discovered by James Jude and colleagues. Full CPR (artificial respiration combined with chest compression) was first seen in a training video in 1962.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as George Crabtree
Georgina Reilly as Emily Grace

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Kristian Bruun as Slugger Jackson

Guest Cast

Ted Whittall as Clarence MacFarlane
Jane Moffatt as Elizabeth MacFarlane
Wesley French as Johnny
Chad Connell as Owen Mathers
Miranda Millar as Amy MacFarlane
Susanna Fournier as Doreen Jarvis
Jillian Cook as Annie Taylor
Doug MacLeod as Linus Calvert
Joel Rinzler as Annie Taylor's Manager
Stephen Farrell as Steward #1
Lorn Eisen as Steward #2

Non-Credited Cast

Eric Conroy as Ship Captain
Micheal Brown as Telegraph Dispatcher
Ryan Worster as Student

Gallery

Murdoch Mysteries Season 7
"Murdoch Ahoy" • "Tour de Murdoch" • "The Filmed Adventures of Detective William Murdoch" • "Return of Sherlock Holmes" • "Murdoch of the Living Dead" • "Murdochophobia" • "Loch Ness Murdoch" • "Republic of Murdoch" • "A Midnight Train to Kingston" • "Murdoch in Ragtime" • "Journey to the Centre of Toronto" • "Unfinished Business" • "The Murdoch Sting"•"Friday the 13th, 1901"•"The Spy Who Came Up to the Cold"•"Kung Fu Crabtree"•"Blast of Silence"•"The Death of Dr. Ogden"
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 14Season 15
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