As her career developed, Havey addressed heavier subject matter, such as espionage (Day Break, 1913), gambling (In the Gambler’s Web,1914), opium smuggling (The Sheriff of Pine Mountain,1916), and even an oddball satire about vegetarianism (The High Cost of Starving, 1917). In A Sea Mystery, Mary shoots her husband and dramatically jumps off a ship, swimming to shore to escape the consequences of the murder she believes she’s committed. The film explores typical themes of popular melodrama, such as escaping from abuse, finding love, sacrifice, or revenge. Once on land, Mary is rescued by two brothers, both fishermen; the uncertainty their love causes within her reaches a dramatic peak when her husband reappears.
The opening of A Sea Mystery boldly upends traditional narrative expectations, featuring a violent altercation between husband and wife, followed swiftly by a pistol shot and then the woman jumping overboard. Once Mary reaches shore and is taken in by the kind brothers, the structural elements transition into a more Griffith-like rural melodrama. Havey unites these two different worlds in her scenario, linking them directly to Mary’s character development and creating tension between her turbulent past and her peaceful future, navigating uncharted waters in order to find happiness.
Director Lucius J. Henderson (1861?‒1947) was an actor, producer, and director in both theatre and film, who began his professional career as  a concert pianist. After performing with various touring stage companies under the aegis of Helena Modjeska, Tommaso and Alessandro Salvini, and Edwin Milton Royle, he entered films as a director and actor with Thanhouser, later working with several other studios and founding the ill-fated American Cinema Company. According to Q. David Bowers, he moved to Europe, producing films in England and Italy, though no titles are listed, and then appeared in White Mice (1926, Edward H. Griffith), filmed on locations in Cuba with William Powell and Jacqueline Logan. By the late 1930s Henderson was largely working in radio. – Olivia Hărşan, María Hernández, John Jacobsen