The Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes

‘I therefore set about looking for this individual if, indeed, he even existed. To my disappointment and surprise, my enquiries at the local inn did little to enlighten me. However, walking along the promenade I came upon two grizzled old sailors whiling away an idle afternoon together. I fell into conversation with them, and, Watson, to my great satisfaction they both remembered having seen the Alicia navigating her final departure from the estuary, on the morning in question—’ At that moment our excitable young client, Miss Lomas, came bustling into the room.

‘Oh, Mr Holmes!’ she said breathlessly and with much relief in her voice. ‘My brother and I were so taken aback by your abrupt departure this morning that I did not, in all honesty, expect to see you sitting here this evening!’

‘Calm yourself, Miss Lomas.’ Holmes laughed gently. ‘I apologize for any undue agitation that I may have caused you, but as my friend Watson here will attest, I have never been able to resist a touch of the dramatic. However, console yourself with the fact that my enquiries at Shoeburyness have provided our investigation with a most positive starting point. There is now a glimmer of light penetrating the gloom that has surrounded you.’

The young lady was so overwhelmed with joyous emotion that she ran towards Holmes, and would undoubtedly have embraced him were it not for his raised arms warding her off.

‘I knew from the outset that you would save our father!’ she exclaimed.

The look of consternation upon Holmes’s face slowly disappeared as he gently pushed Miss Lomas away from him. ‘My dear young lady, your assumptions and demonstrations of joy are, alas, somewhat premature at this early stage. I can only confirm that I will now proceed, confident in the belief that your father’s story is the absolute truth. To convince the authorities of this, sufficiently to effect his release will be quite another matter.’

Miss Lomas managed to calm herself while I showed her to a chair at our table.

‘Please explain, Mr Holmes, how you reached your conclusion regarding the truth of my father’s version of events,’ Miss Lomas asked.

‘Your arrival was well-timed, for I was about to set this before Watson, so you have now saved me the tiresome task of repeating myself.’

‘Will your brother not be joining us?’ I asked, with some surprise at his absence.

‘Unfortunately his work for Mr Garside as clerk and rent-collector sometimes extends into the evening, but he sends his apologies and I will inform him of any outcome.’

‘Now I understand. I was concerned that perhaps he was still harbouring some misgivings about taking us into your confidence. I take it that his employer is the same Nathaniel Garside who owned the Alicia?’ I asked.

‘The very same,’ Miss Lomas replied. ‘He has many tenants in the local vicinity and Edward helps him administer his estate, but please, Mr Holmes, you were about to explain the results of your visit to Shoeburyness.’

‘Of course, of course, but first please indulge me by answering a question or two of my own.’ At this point Holmes leant back thoughtfully in his chair whilst drawing deeply on his pipe. ‘Miss Lomas, to your knowledge were any members of Johnson’s crew tenants of Mr Garside?’

‘I should be very surprised if that were not so. Mr Garside owns a line of small cottages close by the creek and most of their occupants are seamen and their families. However, I am sure that my brother would be able to confirm this.’

At this, Holmes suddenly sat upright once more, clearly agitated by Miss Lomas’s suggestion. Then, having sensed Miss Lomas’s consternation at this unexpected reaction, he forced a smile and said: ‘I would much appreciate it if you could confirm this through another source. At this stage, I do not think it is in your father’s best interests for Mr Garside to have any inkling as to my line of enquiry.’

‘I am sure that my brother would not mention it to Mr Garside were you to request him not to,’ Miss Lomas responded defensively.

‘Nevertheless!’ Holmes insisted.

‘Of course, Mr Holmes, if you feel it is absolutely necessary.’

Holmes then leant back once more and relit his pipe.

‘Now to my encounter in Shoeburyness this afternoon, with two aged, but sharp-eyed seamen,’ he began, clearly much relieved at Miss Lomas’s acquiescence. ‘I will not divulge the names of the two gentlemen in question, at their request, but suffice it to say their evidence will prove to be of the greatest importance. They are old acquaintances of your father and are most anxious to aid in his release. No doubt the authorities are unaware of their existence and, consequently, of the information that they can bring to bear. Therefore they will keep a low profile, but they have assured me of their full co-operation once the moment comes.

‘On the morning of the Alicia’s inexplicable disappearance they were enjoying their pipes on the promenade, as is their wont. Not only were they able to confirm your father’s observation, that the Alicia was sitting unusually low in the water, but they are also willing to swear, under oath, that she had already begun listing to one side. Obviously, the mist obscured the Alicia’s final descent beneath the waves, but they are equally certain that she must have been shipping water before she had even left the harbour.’

‘Whilst I am much relieved at this vindication of my father’s word, it is almost inconceivable that a seaman of Captain Johnson’s experience would ever put to sea in command of a craft in such a condition,’ Miss Lomas observed gravely.

‘Yet three independent witnesses have now confirmed this to be the case. You see, we are no longer investigating the mysterious disappearance of a vessel and her crew, but are now delving into one of the deepest and darkest cases that we have yet encountered,’ Holmes solemnly declared.

I could contain myself no longer. ‘Holmes, surely you are not suggesting that Johnson would have deliberately sabotaged his own vessel and jeopardized the lives of his crew!’

‘I can think of no other explanation that would fit the facts. However, there is still much that we need to learn before I can present this to the authorities. Miss Lomas, can you tell me who is leading the investigation?’

‘Scotland Yard sent an Inspector Fowler, a most odious and unsympathetic man, who seems to get on quite well with Nathaniel Garside.’

‘Ah, so you have already formed this judgement of him. Watson, surely you remember our old friend from our investigation into the Egyptian gargoyle?’ Holmes asked me sardonically.

‘I most certainly do!’ I replied emphatically. ‘He was both arrogant and uncooperative, yet you sent him packing with a resounding flea in his ear. I rather fancy he will be more willing to co-operate with us on this occasion.’

‘We shall see. However, there is little more that we can achieve this evening. May I prevail upon you to make your own discreet enquiries as to the domestic circumstances of the missing crew members, Miss Lomas, while Watson and I will endeavour to be Inspector Fowler’s first visitors in the morning.’ With that Miss Lomas took her leave of us and we, in turn, retired shortly afterwards.

We spent an uncomfortable night, in our spartan and cheerless rooms, so that we experienced no real difficulty in meeting the unreasonably early breakfast time offered by our landlord. I, at any rate, was somewhat compensated for this by being served a brace of the freshest and most delicious kippers I had ever eaten. Holmes made do with a couple of cigarettes and the occasional sip from a cup of almost undrinkable coffee.

We arrived at the local constabulary on Elm Road at a little after nine o’clock, only to discover that Inspector Fowler had not yet surfaced from his hotel. We decided to wait, little realizing that it would be another hour before his arrival. When he did at last appear he seemed dishevelled and in a state of some agitation. When he noticed us in the corner of the waiting-room this agitation seemed to heighten somewhat.

He greeted us with no more than a sneer and gestured us toward his office with an unceremonious jerk of his head. By the time we had joined him there he was in the process of ordering himself a cup of black coffee. After glancing in our direction, however, he increased the order to three.

‘I trust that the police beverage will prove to be less poisonous than the one we were subjected to this morning at breakfast, eh, Watson? So, Inspector Fowler, why has Scotland Yard sent its very finest, to this neck of the woods?’ Holmes cheerily enquired.

Ignoring Holmes’s question, Fowler said: ‘I am a little surprised that the small matter of a lost ship should have lured the illustrious Sherlock Holmes from Baker Street; more than a little off your usual path. Besides, my business here is all but complete; you have wasted your time and your journey.’