Beneath the 12-Mile Reef

This is the world beneath the sea.

Beautiful, mysterious...

and, for the most pan, unexplored by man.

These are the waters of the Gulf of Mexico...

off the west coast of Florida.

This is a sponge fisherman, a special breed of man...

dedicated to the most dangerous of all occupations.

Net coming up.

Hey, Socrates, where are you going?

I wear this suit. I go down.

No, you're not. We're going home.

We can't go home with an empty boat, Pop.

I can hear them laugh

when we bring this garbage in the auction market.

You know what we need?

We need a diver who's got eyes like an eel,

a nose like a shark so he can smell sponges a mile away,

a diver who will go down and he won't come up...

until the boat's loaded with $100 strings.

And you got him. He's right here on board.

Oh. Hmm. Where?

- Hmm? Who? - Me. Who else?

Hey, it's Penny.

Hey, Pop, look. It's Mom and Penny.

There they are. Over there, Mama.

And look who else.

Sofotes.

Sofotes with a big smile on his face...

and the itching hand.

Hey, Pop. Look at Sinan's boat, the Helios.

- Hello, baby! - Oh, Papa, we missed you so!

How are you, sweetheart?

- You miss me? - Oh, you don't know how much.

Oh, you're adorable! Adorable!

- How are you? - Give your papa a big kiss.

Penny saw you down the river. It's good you're back.

Did the boys bother her very much while I was away?

Papa.

What are you doing here, woman?

Why aren't you home in your kitchen, cooking?

Who should I cook for, empty house?

Listen how she talk.

For a long time you no see each other.

Cute kids, huh?

- Say big hello. - Ha.

He lends you money. Now he wants to run your life.

Hey, Tony, bring me one of those sponges.

When we're alone, I’ll, uh... loll say big hello.

Right, Mama? Hmm?

Say, what you trying to do here, huh?

Oh, let him have it. We got plenty.

Thanks.

Hey, Pop, look. Wool sponges. A whole loaf.

- Light. Best wool I ever see. - $100 strings.

They come out of deep water.

Hey, Mike, they're reading out the bids.

Come on.

Go ahead. I go back to my kitchen and cook. Go.

Yeah, she's trying to get rid of you. How do you like that'?

The bids on the cargo sponge from the boat Helios.

Ajax Sponge Company,

17,500.

Whoo-hoo!

Ah, okay.

My sweet brother.

Hey. Where did you get that sponge?

Where did you get it? That's what we wanna know.

You seen what I brought. You like, huh? Huh?

- Ah, sweet sponge. Whoo-hoo! - Okay, okay, sport.

How about letting us in on the big secret? We'd like to dance too.

Hey, Sinan, where did you get it?

We went to the 12-mile reef.

Nobody's been out to the 12-mile reef,

- not since it killed my brother Pete. - That's where we went.

Right out to Pete's marker, where it's still in the water.

We went way down, over 20 fathoms down.

Talk, talk. Big talk.

These pants fit loose on you. You lose your feet in the shoes.

And you too scared to go down.

I went down, all right.

If you went down, you saw the reef.

What does it look like?

Oh... Oh... Oh...

You're looking at a ghost.

I died down there.

That coral is beautiful, but sharp like a razor...

and cuts your suit to ribbons.

There are caves everywhere.

Your air line gets tangled up...

until you think you never gonna get out of there.

Cliffs that drop I don't know how deep.

There's an undersea tide that runs just like a river.

Keeps pushing you off.

I wouldn't go down there again...

for all the sponges in the world.

You spend your money, you go broke,

you'll go down again.

Now ready to announce the winning bid.

Mr. Carson...

of the New York Sponge Company...

bids 22,500.

Everybody! Parr/ores! Come on!

I buy the drinks! Whoo-hoo!

What's on your mind?

- You wanna sell your sponges? - Sure.

I'll give you $600 for them.

$600? Are you kidding?

- Sold. They're yours. - What are you doing, Pop?

After all the work we did bringing 'em in, you're giving 'em away.

Tony, the man wants to buy, we sell.

We're lucky to get stuff like this off our hands.

Okay, Pop.

Eh-eh-eh-eh. You borrow money, you pay.

A little for you, little for me.

My hand still itch.

Then scratch it. That's all you get.

- Come on, Tony. - Nickel, nickel, nickel.

If you don't be careful, I'm gonna get your boat.

- You'll never get my boat, Sofotes. - You old skinflint.

Hey, Tony, please. You don't call me bad name, huh?

He's right. You are a skinflint.

Always you pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch.

Don't get the idea y0u're gonna get our boat. It belongs in the family.

If you don't pay, it's going to belong in my family.

Tony.

There. There's Tony and Mike.

- Where? - There.

- How you feel, Tony? - Fine, Pop.

Ah.

- Do you see him, Socrates? - No.

Tony!

He's got it, Mama! Tony's got the cross!

Come on! Tony, my boy!

That's my Tony! Mama! Mama! My Tony!

Come on, boys!

Petrakis. Mitelli.

Hey, Tony, you find cross, huh?

You bring blessing. I gonna touch you for good luck.

No. You no touch for free. Is gonna cost you five dollars.

- All right. Take it off the bill. - Okay. Okay.

Wait. I'm gonna make a toast.

For you, Sofotes.

To Tony, who got the cross.

- Tony! - Good luck, Tony!

- Cheers, Tony. - Thank you.

Hey, Socrates, now you got the cross,

where you going next trip, huh?

Well, we're going up north.

Anyplace we go now, we're gonna get the sponge.

Up north. I don't know.

If I was Mike, I'd be pretty sick bringing empty boat.

Oh, wait, wait. You gonna see.

Next time we go out, we're gonna come home with a full load.

Ah, he's right.

Where we're going, we'll get a full load.

Hey, Mike. Wait. Wait, Mike.

Full load of sponges. What you mean?

You mean we go to 12-mile reef? Is that what you say?

Who said 12-mile reef? We're going to pick the Glades.

Mike, what's the matter with you, Mike?

You forget the hook boats.

- Who's scared of hook boats? - Me.

Socrates Houlis. I'm scared. We don't belong in the Glades.

Who said so?

Tony, you don't understand.

Long time ago, before you born,

your papa, me, plenty other Greeks, we come to Tarpon.

The Englishmen go to Key West.

And they worked the Glades.

The conch heads.

In old days, there's plenty sponges.

Anyplace you go, enough for everybody.

We don't have no trouble.

But now all the beds are picked.

Is no sponge left except in deep water,

like 12-mile reef or Glades.

But the conchs, Englishmen,

whatever you call them, he say, "No."

We are going to pick the Glades.

But, Mike, if they catch us...

They're not going to catch us.

Why do you worry so much?

There are 10,000 little keys in the Glades.

We start before the sun comes up.

By noon, we have finished a day's work...

and then we hide like a little mouse in his hole.

Two weeks, we come home.

- If we're lucky. - If we're lucky?

- Tony got the cross, didn't he? - Yeah.

The bishop blessed the boat, didn't he?

How much more luck do we need?

I'm gonna work bottom, Pop. Don't forget. You promised.

I'm going to find the most beautiful sponges you ever saw,

all wool, $200 strings.

And you're going to pay me, and my hand gonna stop itch.

The first thing we're gonna do when we get home is kiss you off.

- How do you like that, you old skinflint? - Oh, Tony! Tony!

Card, stop the engine. It's too much noise.

Pop, it's my turn to go down.

Shallow water's the safest place to break in.