Sea Patrol (season 1)

We meet the crew of the HMAS Hammersley.

The Hammersley intercepts a FFV (Foreign Fishing Vessel) and, after forcing them to stop, boards the vessel to discover numerous Asian fisherman. ET and Jaffah remain on the vessel to look after it while it is towed by the Hammersley back to base.

Following this, the Hammersley answers a distress call from a marine biologist on Bright Island and they release the tow of the FFV until they return. This distress call turns into a medical emergency. The crew discover the young woman scientist has been poisoned and Swain, the boat's medical officer, is forced to perform a tracheostomy on the young woman to enable her to breathe. Shortly after the woman is brought back to the Hammersley, she ceases breathing and dies, despite the attempts at resusiatation by Swain and Hammersley's 2IC and exectutive officer, Lieutenant Kate "XO" McGregor.

After the trip to Bright Island, the crew of the FFV accidentally light their vessel alight and the crew, as well as Jaffah and ET, are forced to abandon ship. As time passes, they begin to fear the Hammersley will not find them.

When the Hammersley arrives back at base, the CO discovers that the Australian Federal Police are very interested in the death of the marine biologist, Lisa Holmes. When the biologist's colleague, Doctor Ursula Morelle arrives to identify the body of Lisa Holmes, it appears that she knows something which she is not letting on. Despite this, the captain becomes quite interested in the doctor and soon finds himself unable to resist her charms.

This also marks the time when the CO becomes very interested in Bright Island and the secrets which it holds.

While transporting AFP officers Greg Murphy and Alicia Turnbull to Bright Island, the Hammersley runs into a sophisticated buoy in the middle of the ocean. Thinking that the buoy is being used for illegal drug trade, the crew leave it and plan to watch for any boats approaching it to apprehend the criminals. After the crew spots a boat approaching it, and then quickly turn away, they think their cover has been comprimised and plan to pick up the buoy. When Swain and ET are sent to collect the buoy, they discover it is in fact a bomb and are nearly killed in the explosion. They discover the explosion was remotely detonated and go after the culprits. When they intercept a small boat with two young men on it, they find that they are only middle-men. When one man discloses the location of a second buoy, the Hammersley head straight for it, hoping to save the men that were currently heading for it. The XO tricks the two men into identifying the bosses of the drug trade and they hand the case over to the federal police. In the face of his near death, the Nav finds that she has increasing feelings for ET. Kate becomes jealous of the CO's relation with the marine biologist, Ursula Morelle, suspecting there is more going on than meets the eye.

The Hammersley battles through a fierce storm which causes a power outage and a near breech of the boat itself. Following the storm, there is much talk of ghost ships, mostly due to Chefo. When Spider thinks he has spotted a ghost ship, the Hammersley discovers that it is in fact an abondoned catamaran. The crew board it and leave ET and Spider to accompany it to base, thinking that the owner had been washed overboard in the storm. Upon consultation of the man's wife, the crew conclude the man had committed suicide and choose to abandon a search for the man. Contrary to this, and following his gut feeling, the CO chooses to search for the man, not beleiving that it was suicide. When the Hammersley finally comes upon the man, freezing and floating in the water, but still alive, they take him onto the boat. It soon seems that everything is not as it seems when the Hammersley receives a photograph of the man, Rory Kinsella. The man they have, and the man in the photograph are two different people. The story soon comes out that the man they have is Kinsella's best mate, Steve Jackson, and that he had murder Kinsella when he heard he was going to leave his wife.

The crew of the Hammersley receive a mayday call from a boat which claims it is being attacked by pirates. Upon investigation, they crew that issued the mayday call to be intoxicated and that they have shot a flare at the pirates, causing them to retreat. The Hammersley goes after the supected pirate boat and, when they board it, find it to be in a barely sea worthy condition and find that the pirate are actually illegal immigrants attempting to reach Australia. The men on the other boat had injured one of the immigrants and, while attempting to move the immigrants to the Hammersley, they are uncooperative and throw a bucket of wastewater onto the crew. Upon return to the Hammersley with the immigrants, the crew discovers the waste water was contaminated with irukandji jellyfish; a deadly jellyfish which is the size of a pinhead. As a result of an irukandji sting, Chefo and Jaffah become gravely ill and Jaffah dies as a result.

Mike is forced to choose between saving the lives of his two injured sailors or the life of a young immigrant girl who has possibly fallen overboard.

Charge, after suffering from a minor irukandji sting on his eye, begins to have trouble performing his duties when the sting causes his eye significant discomfort.

Buffer, who has befriended one of the English-speaking immigrants questions his job and AUstralian law when he is forced to hand over the immigrants to the immigration department where they are placed in detention.

The crew of Hammersley are forced to say farewell to one of their own, Jaffah, and everybody feels the hurt.

The Hammersley attempts the daring capture of an illegal fishing ‘mother ship’ but is thwarted by violent eco-terrorists. Mike finds himself falling in love with beautiful marine biologist Ursula Morrell, who later goes missing under mysterious circumstances.

The crew uncovers a people smuggling racket, when they almost collide with a floating shipping container full of North Korean refugees. Hammersley races to capture the smugglers’ ship and save the lives of their human cargo. Kate is wooed by a charming civilian sailor. Meanwhile, Mike is determined to solve the mystery of Ursula’s disappearance.

The men of the Hammersley are smitten by a female sailor with a rescue fetish. Several crewmembers succumb to food poisoning – or is it something more sinister? Mike discovers a link between his crew’s food poisoning, and a federal police murder investigation.

Spider saves the life of a boy after discovering an unexploded sea mine, washed ashore during a cyclone. Kate is humiliated when she sees a video of Chefo’s bucks night. Spider fears his career may be over when he is caught impersonating an officer.

Disaster looms for the Hammersley when a fire erupts in the engine room. Bad luck plagues the Hammersley, after its mascot is stolen by a rival Patrol Boat crew. An eye injury threatens to destroy Charge’s career. ET makes a vow of chastity to prove himself to Nikki.

The crew pursues a distraught father who has kidnapped his own children. While searching a crocodile-infested swamp for the missing family, the crew discovers a badly mauled fisherman. Who has dumped him there, and will they save his life? The mystery of Bright Island deepens, when Mike discovers the body of a dead fisherman.

The Hammersley saves sailors from a sinking ship, only to learn they are diamond smugglers who will kill to save their cargo. Swain is kidnapped by smugglers and left trapped in their sinking ship. Will Buffer rescue him before the ship sinks? Mike is reprimanded by Navy brass over his obsession with the Bright Island mystery.

The Hammersley races to save a boatload of tourists from being murdered as part of a bizarre terrorist publicity stunt. Meanwhile, Swain and the crew help deliver the baby of a runaway teenager, found lost at sea with her criminal boyfriend. A series of emergencies at sea prevent Swain from attending the birth of his first baby.

The crew risks life and ship to hunt down a rogue terrorist boat, and retrieve its cargo of biotoxins. Mike makes the most difficult decision of his career when he orders the sinking of the rogue ship. It’s an emotional time for the crew as the Navy officially decommissions the long-serving HMAS Hammersley. ET transfers to a frigate, so he and Nikki can finally pursue their relationship. Kate accepts Mike’s offer to remain his 2IC on the new, improved patrol boat.