He was originally created as a character for the Sunbow/Marvel animated series in 1984, later produced as an action figure, and finally introduced into the comic book in 1985.

In the two-part Sunbow episode "There's No Place Like Springfield", he revealed he lied about being the minimum age of seventeen in order to join.

Shipwreck graduated from the Great Lakes Naval Gunnery School, and is a qualified expert with the M-14, M-16, Browning .50 cal., 20mm Oerlikon AA gun, and the M1911A1 Auto Pistol.

[1] He served time at Gitmo before moving on to carrier operations in the Middle East, and participating in patrolling actions in the Mekong Delta and Yokosuka.

He has a pet parrot named Polly (voiced by Frank Welker and Neil Ross), who is his loyal companion and is usually seen sitting on his shoulder or helping out with the G.I.

On rare occasions, he even proved capable of holding brief but meaningful conversations with human beings (as when, in one episode, he initially refused to divulge Shipwreck's whereabouts to the other Joes), indicating far greater intelligence than a typical parrot.

[4] He then helps the Joes deal with the aquatic effects of the creation of Cobra Island, namely a tidal wave.

[5] During the Joes' nighttime invasion of the Cobra-controlled town of Springfield, Shipwreck is part of Hawk's strike team, which is sent to take control of the airport.

The two team up to stop a Dreadnok "Swamp-Copter"; Alpine launches a hooked rope at it and Shipwreck ties it to a nearby tank.

A spray of gunfire from the Thunder Machine sends Shipwreck diving for his life and the prisoners escape.

[15] Devil's Due Publishing introduced Shipwreck in a storyline based on his later filecards when he trained to become a Navy SEAL.

He first appeared in the 1984 miniseries, "The Revenge of Cobra", as offering Flint and Mutt a way back to Joe headquarters on his land sail.

He and Snake Eyes infiltrate a Cobra underwater factory and steal a laser disc containing information on the cubes to the pyramid of darkness.

They fight their way out of the stronghold, and are later rescued through the efforts of a popular lounge singer named Satin, whom Shipwreck falls in love with.

In the climax of the story arc, during the battle at Cobra Temple, Shipwreck activates a mechanism that causes the cubes to self-destruct.

[20] Shipwreck continued to be a recurring character through the regular series and generally served as comic relief.

Joe, but tricks the film crew into letting him go sightseeing in Hollywood instead, resulting in him getting into a fight at a pool hall and arrested.

[24] In the highly rated two-part season finale "There's No Place Like Springfield", Shipwreck and Lady Jaye rescue Professor Mullaney from Cobra.

As a backup plan, Mullaney implants the formula into Shipwreck's brain via a neural transceiver (as seen in Star Trek) and reveals he is only able to remember it by hearing a code word, which he tells Lady Jaye.

Upon waking up (purportedly) six years later, his emotions and mental state would be toyed with when he is trapped in a town filled with synthoid copies of his friends and loved ones, including Mara and another synthoid called Althea, who was posing as his daughter from his false marriage to Mara.

During the two-parter, Shipwreck is tormented by a recurring nightmare of Cobra interrogating him for Mullaney's formula, as well as visions of many of his long-term Joe friends.

In Part 2 of the episode, Shipwreck's origins are revealed when a female Crimson Guard named Cadet Deming interrogates him, by using a hazardous psychedelic mind control program, a reference to the 1975 film Inside Out.

Gunfire from the Dreadnoks ignites the formula, causing explosions that signal the USS Flagg and lead the Joes to rescue Shipwreck.

Shipwreck is featured in the episode "Once Upon a Joe", as he entertains orphans with a fairy tale of his own while their home is being rebuilt.

In the aforementioned episode, he tries to ignore his order to report for duty, shoots down a Cobra jet that crashes into an orphanage, and manages to avoid rebuilding the home with the Joes by purposely acting clumsily and prompting the others to kick him out, though he later saves the Joes in battle using the MacGuffin device.

[27] In "The Most Dangerous Thing in the World", Cobra sends false orders through the Department of Defense computers promoting Shipwreck, Dial Tone and Lifeline to Colonel.

Shipwreck arrogantly assumes his position and even deploys live ammunition for an armor drill, leading to an accident that almost kills Leatherneck and Wet-Suit.

His aggressiveness and ineptitude, combined with disagreement on battle tactics and poor leadership among the "Colonels", throws the Joe team into chaos.