The third chapter of CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS sees Ed Healey (Charles Durning) drop dead trying to celebrate the impending birth of his grandchild, his daughter Elizabeth (Blair Brown) having fallen into bed with Tom Hennessey (Vic Morrow) after being rejected by Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan). Hennessey's newfound power as a duly elected senator, bought and paid for by Armagh, also enables him to fake a marriage certificate for Elizabeth, claiming that her late soldier 'husband' is the baby's father. Joseph is entrusted with 75% of Healey's profit shares, the rest set aside for Elizabeth, while Martinique (Barbara Parkins) reveals how she became Healey's housekeeper and lover, escaping a murder she committed in Jamaica, finding comfort in being smuggled aboard ship for her final destination of Titusville. With her now considerable wealth she bids farewell to Joseph, imploring him to take Elizabeth for his bride, but the once smitten girl curiously refuses on the grounds that it's too late. Meeting Tom Hennessey's now grown daughter Bernadette (Patty Duke), Joseph learns of her mother's grave illness, Katherine Hennessey (Joanna Pettet) confessing her love for Joseph on her deathbed, her last wish to have him wed Bernadette. The not so grieving husband returns home to make salacious accusations about Katherine and Joseph, who proceeds to thrash the insolent bastard before announcing his intention to ruin Hennessey for his attempted slander of a good Christian woman.
