The Wreck Of The Mary Deare

‘No, no — aero engines.’ He sat down on the railing of one of the pontoons where the boats were laid up, a neat, dapper man dressed in black with a brief-case. He looked entirely out of place. ‘The ship herself,’ he said in his precise way, ‘is not important — twice the break-up value, that’s all. And the cotton was insured by a Calcutta firm. No, it’s the aero engines we’re worried about. There were a hundred and forty-eight of them — surplus American stores from the Korean war — and they were insured for Ł296,000. I must be certain that they were on board at the time the ship went down.’

‘What makes you think they weren’t?’ I asked him.

He looked at me quickly, hesitating and fidgeting with his brief-case. ‘It’s a little difficult,’ he murmured. ‘But perhaps — since you’re not an interested party… perhaps if I explain, it may help you to remember something — some little thing… an unguarded word, perhaps.’ He looked at me again, and then said, ‘Shortly after the claim was filed, we heard from our agent in Aden that a man named Adams had been talking about the Mary Deare and her cargo in a Steamer Point bar. He was reported to have given it as his opinion that she contained nothing but bales of cotton at the time she went down.’ And he added hastily, ‘You understand, sir, this is in the strictest confidence.’ And then he asked me again whether I couldn’t remember some little detail that would help him. ‘Surely-if you were on that ship for forty-eight hours you must have learned something about the cargo?’

There was a gale blowing,’ I said. ‘The ship was sinking.’

‘Yes, yes, of course. But you must have talked with Mr Patch. You were with him through a critical period. A man will often say things in those circumstances that he would be reluctant…’ He let the sentence go, staring at me all the time through his glasses. ‘You’re sure he said nothing about the cargo?’

‘Quite sure.’

‘A pity!’ he murmured. ‘I had thought…’ He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. I asked him then how he thought it was possible for a cargo consigned to a ship not to be on board her at a later date? He looked at me. ‘All things are possible, Mr Sands, where a great deal of money is involved.’ I remembered Patch saying the same thing about the loss of the Belle Isle. And then he suddenly asked me whether Patch had mentioned the name of another boat whilst we were together on the Mary Deare?

‘I don’t think so,’ I said quickly. If Snetterton wanted to find out about the Belle Isle, he could find it out from somebody else.

But he wasn’t to be put off so easily. ‘You don’t think so?’ He was peering at me. ‘I want you to be quite certain about this, Mr Sands. It may be vitally important.’

‘I am quite certain,’ I said irritably.

‘Mr Patch never mentioned the name of another ship to you?’

Damn it, the man had no right to come here questioning me about what Patch had said. No, I told him. And I added that if he wanted to find out what ships Patch had been connected with why the devil didn’t he go and ask him.

He stared at me. ‘This isn’t a ship that Mr Patch ever sailed in.’

‘Well, what ship is it then?’

‘The Torre Annunziata. Now please think back very carefully. Did Mr Patch ever mention the name Torre Annunziata to you?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Definitely not.’ I felt relieved and angry. ‘What’s the Torre Annunziata got to do with it?’

He hesitated. ‘It’s a little delicate, you understand … so much supposition …’ Then he suddenly made up his mind and said, ‘The Dellimare Company owned only two ships — the Mary Deare and the Torre Annunziata. The Torre Annunziata was in the Rangoon River at the same time that the Mary Deare put in to load her cotton cargo.’ He glanced at his watch and then rose to his feet. ‘Well, sir, I won’t trouble you any further for the moment.’