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PACIFIC OCEAN

Pacific Ocean

The cruise ship S.S. Victoria, carrying about 1100 passengers, was sailing in the North Pacific Ocean at approximately 40°N latitude and 165°E longitude, about 1000 miles east of Hokkaido, Japan, when she received a phone call from an anonymous bomber calling himself Viking and alerting the captain to the presence of a bomb on board. Captain Howard went to investigate, and he was killed when the bomb exploded, leaving First Officer Carole Tanner as acting captain. A tropical cyclone named Typhoon Henry, nearly 200 miles across, was approaching the Victoria's position from the southwest, and although the ship adjusted course to avoid the worst of it, the situation made it impossible to evacuate the passengers into lifeboats, and no sea or air rescue units were available in the area, leaving the only options to diffuse the bomb or to pay the ransom.

To deal with the crisis, Pete Thornton called in MacGyver, Charlie Robinson, with whom MacGyver had worked as a bomb-diffusing team when they had served together in Vietnam, and Mike Donahue, another bomb expert and Vietnam veteran. MacGyver and Charlie Robinson took a 5-hour jet to Midway and a 2½-hour helicopter flight to the Victoria's location, and they maintained radio contact with Thornton and Donahue in Los Angeles. Three identical and sophisticated bombs were located throughout the ship, and Charlie was killed when he inadvertently triggered one of the devices. Carole Tanner took his place and worked in tandem with MacGyver to disarm the other two bombs, but as they worked to diffuse each trigger, MacGyver realized that Donahue himself was the most likely suspect. Donahue's identity as Viking was confirmed, and he was immediately arrested in Los Angeles.

Cross Reference: Victoria, Viking

Episode Reference: Countdown