The Wreck Of The Mary Deare

‘When you got back to the ship’ — Sir Lionel was now putting his questions direct to the witness again — ‘did you talk to any of the officers or men of the Torre Annunziata?’

‘Yes. The first officer, a bloke called Slade, came aboard for a drink wiv me and the Chief.’

‘Did you ask them why they had been shifting cargo around?’

‘No. But Slade tol’ me they’d ‘ad ter do it because of some clerical mess-up over the destination of the steel tubes they were due to load.’

‘Did you talk to Adams about it?’

‘No.’

‘But you saw him when you got back on board?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he suggest that the crew of the Torre Annunziata had been tampering with the Mary Deare’s cargo?’

‘No.’ And then he added quickly, ‘An’ if they ‘ad, ‘e’d ‘ve known about it ‘cos when I saw ‘im, ‘e was up an’ about an’ feelin’ better fer ‘is two days in bed.’

‘Adams being sick, I take it you were in charge of the loading of the cotton cargo?’ Higgins nodded and Sir Lionel then asked him, ‘Did you notice any change in the disposition of the cargo?’

‘No, can’t say I did.’

‘You’re quite certain?’

‘Course I’m certain.’

Sir Lionel’s small head shot forward and his voice was suddenly crisp and hard as he said, ‘How could you be? You said you joined the ship after she was loaded?’

But Higgins wasn’t easily put out. His tongue passed over the dry line of his lips. But that was the only sign of uneasiness he gave. ‘I may not ‘ve bin there when she was loaded. But I was when we discharged our top cargo of Japanese cotton an’ rayon goods. I took special note of ‘ow the cases was stowed ‘cos I guessed I’d ‘ave to load the bales of raw cotton when they was ready.’

Sir Lionel nodded. ‘Just one more question. You say you didn’t go aboard the Mary Deare until the day before she sailed. How was that?’

‘Well, I wasn’t took on till then.’

‘Who engaged you — Captain Taggart?’

‘No, Mr Dellimare. Oh, Captain Taggart signed the papers. But it was Dellimare wot engaged me.’

‘Why?’

Higgins frowned. ‘Ow d’you mean?’

‘I asked you why he engaged you. Were you the only man who applied for the vacancy?’

‘Well, not exactly. I mean…’ Higgins glanced round the court and again his tongue passed along his lips. ‘It didn’t ‘appen like that.’

‘You mean the job wasn’t offered in the usual way? You were engaged by Mr Dellimare privately?’

‘I suppose so.’ Higgins sounded reluctant.

‘Perhaps you would be good enough to explain to the Court how it happened.’

Higgins hesitated. ‘Well, we ‘appened ter meet, as you might say, an’

‘e was short of a second officer an’ I wanted a berth, an’ that’s all there was to it.’

‘Where did you meet?’

‘Some bar da’n by the waterfront. Don’t remember the name of it.’

‘By arrangement?’

Higgins’s face was reddening, the muscles on his neck swelling. ‘Yes, by arrangement.’ He said it angrily as though challenging Sir Lionel to make something of it.

But Sir Lionel only said, ‘Thank you. That was what I wanted to know.’ And sat down. He had established two things: that, if the Dellimare Company were planning to wreck the Mary Deare, the vital shift of cargo was a possibility, and that Higgins could have been the instrument of their choice. But he had nothing definite against Higgins and that, he admitted to Hal long afterwards, was the real trouble. To justify his clients in withholding payment of the insurance claim he had to have something more positive.

It was the evidence of the other survivors that finally decided him, and the most damaging evidence was that of the helmsman, Yules, who had been on the bridge with Higgins when the fire broke out. He was timid and he gave his evidence with a slight stutter. He wasn’t a very strong witness, but he clung to his statement that Patch had given the order to stand by to abandon ship with unshakeable obstinacy. He even had the words off pat, and though Patch’s counsel rose to the occasion and had him so terrified that he kept on looking to Higgins for support, he never budged.

He was the last witness before lunch and I didn’t need Hal to tell me that Patch would have a bad time of it when he took the stand for examination by the various counsel. The Court hadn’t begun to get at the truth yet. But what was the truth? Hal asked me that over lunch and all I could say was, ‘God knows.’

‘Dellimare couldn’t have started that fire in the hold,’ he said, and I agreed. Dellimare was dead by then. It had to be Higgins. Evidently Bowen-Lodge had also considered this possibility over his lunch, for, when the Court reassembled, he had Yules recalled and questioned him closely about the movements of the officer of the watch. And Yules swore that Higgins had been on the bridge from 20.00 hours and hadn’t once left it. Later, Burrows, the chief engineer officer, testified that Higgins had been playing poker with him and two members of the crew who had been drowned, from 17.00 hours to 20.00 hours with only a brief break for food.