A true example of nightmares in the series.
- Theodore's recurring nightmares about a sea monster rising from the water in "Theodore's Bad Dreams".
- Originally, Digby's model was used for the Old Wreck Kamel, a wrecked cable ship that appears infrequently in season 1. It has an appropriately ghastly appearance, with washed-out colors and, jarringly enough, empty eyesockets. The latter detail implies the ship was sentient at one time.
- Meanwhile, wrecked ships are discussed quite casually whenever the boats bring up the topic. It seems fairly benign, until you realize that in context, they're essentially talking about corpses.
- “Hank’s Funny Feeling”
- The S. S. Malarkey tries to invite Hank somewhere alone without the Dispatcher’s knowledge. He is also one of the few non-tugboat characters to have articulated eyes, but they do so slowly and stiffly to emphasize his shady disposition.
- Denny Doherty gives Malarkey a raspy, whimsical voice that reeks of insincerity. It's a lot creepier when listening to it as an adult; he's clearly trying to sell Hank on everything he's saying, likely with ill intentions in mind...
- "Owan on the Loose," where Owan activates his emergency engines to find Sigrid. To see the oil rig move on his own accord is fairly unsettling; something his size should not be able to shift around as quickly as he does. What's worse, his activated engines are accompanied by an emergency siren.
- "Nautilus and the Sinking Ship" is surprisingly dark and tense, centered on the tugs preventing the sinking of Canso Colossus. Thankfully, they succeed with some help from the eponymous navy ship, though the prospect of a recurring character's death is chilling nonetheless.
- "Theodore Tells a Lie" has every ship and boat in the Big Harbor have their worst fear come true when they hear Foduck's fire alarm blare in the middle of the night, warning of fire due to Theodore's failure to clean up a dock that was covered in debris and also contained some volatile oil barrels. If Foduck had not been able to put out the fire himself with his equipment, the fire could have spread and threatened the whole harbor, and not even Foduck or the fire department on shore would have been able to handle it if it got really bad. All thanks to Theodore's irresponsibility.The Dispatcher: FIRE!! Tugboats! Please go quickly and help Foduck!Constance: Tugboats! Standby to move the ships in case the fire spreads!
- "Theodore and the Haunted Houseboat." While he ultimately turns out to be harmless, Halliburton is played up as a frightening entity for the episode's first few minutes. One ominous shot, in particular, has him slowly creep up behind Theodore as he stops to catch his breath. Eerily, the narrator makes no mention of Halliburton's presence until after a cut to another angle of the scene.
- From Theodore's point of view, the houseboat appears to be perpetually screaming.
- "Hank and the Sunken Ship" has Hank trying to lift a sunken ship (which may be the equivalent of poking a dead body with a stick) only to have his hauling rope stuck around its mast and to make matters worse, he runs out of fuel and stormy waves threaten to crash him into rocks. And he almost would have if Theodore and Northumberland hadn't rescued him.
