‘Is that familiar to you, Captain Winchester?’
‘I know that’s what I said…’
‘Then what has caused you to alter that statement since you first gave evidence at this enquiry?’
‘I have not altered it.’
‘To my mind, you have qualified it considerably.’
‘I said something quite frightening and unexpected,’ tried Winchester.
‘And accounted for whatever it was by some unknown weather condition,’ the Attorney-General reminded him.
‘All I meant to convey was that there was something in addition to the weather.’
‘And that addition — something so terrifying that it caused such experienced men to leap overboard — I have been attempting to identify for many days past,’ said Flood. ‘Having tried once to be be more helpful, perhaps you can offer this enquiry the further benefit of your considerable experience. What, beyond stress of weather or known perils of the sea, could have caused such a reaction among such men?’
Wearily Captain Winchester shook his head. There was always such a moment, thought Flood, just before the bull slumped, exposing the fatal point of entry between the shoulder blades.
‘If you have the transcript of my earlier evidence before you,’ said the ship-owner, ‘then I believe you will see that I also stated my belief that no one would ever know… that it would always remain a mystery.’
‘And you may recall my response to that,’ replied Flood. ‘That before the conclusion of this enquiry, the real truth might be found.’
‘I remember the remark well enough,’ said Winchester. ‘I am unaware of your having succeeded.’
‘Then let us proceed and perhaps I might,’ said Flood. ‘What, in addition to weather or perils of the sea, would cause the abandonment?’
‘I don’t know!’ protested Winchester desperately. ‘How many times do we have to have the same question to which I can only make the same answer!’
‘We will have the question as many times as it takes me to obtain the proper answer,’ said Flood. He took up another piece of paper.
‘Have you arranged for the Mary Celeste to load fruit in Messina, for passage back to New York?’ he asked unexpectedly. It had been a wise precaution to have the last three months’ editions of the New York Journal of Commerce shipped from America, from which he had been able to learn of the contract.
‘It was a shipment agreed before I even knew of the disaster that had befallen the vessel,’ said the owner.
‘If you fail to fulfil that contract, do you stand to lose financially?’
‘Of course,’ said Winchester. ‘I am responsible for my company’s bond.’
‘Can you afford such loss?’
‘Of course not.’
‘So you are not a rich man… you are someone who would welcome money, in fact?’
Until the error with Deveau, that was the sort of question that would have brought Cornwell to his feet in protest. Now the lawyer remained at his bench, hunched in apparent concentration over his papers.
‘I am not a rich man,’ responded Winchester slowly, as if he were anxious that the judge should be aware of what he was saying. ‘For my income I depend upon the workings of my ships. But I am not so short of funds that I am driven to the sort of criminality that has been suggested on numerous occasions at this hearing. I am not involved in any nefarious scheme to benefit from the disappearance and subsequent recovery or the Mary Celeste, its crew or any salvage award that this court may feel inclined to make.’
‘An assurance, like those that preceded it, which I know this court welcomes,’ said Flood, smoothly. He picked up the piece of deck railing, holding it above his head.
‘You were aboard the Mary Celeste before it sailed from New York?’
‘On several occasions.’
Flood gestured to the court marshal for the exhibit to be carried to the owner.
‘Do you imagine you would have noticed such an injury on the railing, had it occurred there?’
‘Yes, I do. Prior to Captain Briggs’s buying into my company, we thoroughly examined the vessel together. There was also a purchaser’s survey conducted. It said nothing about any such injury.’
‘So it occurred during the voyage?’
‘Obviously.’
‘How?’
‘There are a hundred ways that such damage could have been caused.’
‘Would you say it was an axe mark?’
‘It is certainly a blow from something heavy.’
‘What does that suggest to you?’
Winchester sighed. ‘That perhaps there was an incident of the sort that can happen on any ship for a dozen different reasons and that somehow the top-gallant rail became marked.’
‘A violent incident?’
The owner looked steadily at the Attorney-General.
‘That is your belief,’ he said. ‘Not mine.’
‘Then what is your belief, Captain Winchester?’
‘I believe that there occurred aboard the Mary Celeste something very extreme but which, were we to know, would be quite understandable to experienced mariners. Whatever it was, it was of sufficient severity to cause two excellent seamen like Captain Briggs and first mate Richardson to quit their ship, something neither of them would have done unless in fear of their lives.’
‘And what, this enquiry wonders, would that have been?’ said Flood.
‘I wish to God I knew, so that I could enlighten you and end this inquisition,’ blurted Winchester, unable any longer to hold his anger.
Cochrane came up from his notes and the Attorney-General stood smiling at the reaction he had achieved from the witness.
‘Perhaps, when he is returned from the place to which he went upon your advice, first mate Deveau can help us further,’ said Flood. ‘Since your previous evidence, we have come a long way towards changing your opinion. After the benefit of additional examination of Deveau, it could be that we can achieve more progress.’
Winchester stood regarding the Attorney-General balefully, aware that the outburst of annoyance would be misconstrued in the bias of the hearing.
‘You heard the evidence about the sword from the expert witness, surveyor Austin?’
‘Yes.’
‘And his positive evidence that the stains upon the blade were blood?’
‘His belief that the stains were blood.’
Flood ignored the qualification.
‘Already, Captain Winchester, you have offered the hearing a little more than you did during your first period of evidence,’ said the Attorney-General. ‘Can you, in advance of anything else we might hear, offer us any further assistance on that staining?’
‘How can I?’ said Winchester tightly.
‘Or on why a supposedly abandoned ship came to be on course?’
‘No.’
‘Almost as if it had been sailing to a rendezvous?’
‘No.’
Perhaps he had moved prematurely for the kill, thought Flood. The witness was proving more resistant than he had anticipated.
‘What is your intention, once this enquiry is concluded?’ he demanded.
‘To retrieve my ship, appoint a new captain and then return to New York to continue my business.’
‘What captain?’
‘The command has been given to Captain George Blatchford, of Wrentham, Massachusetts.’
The reply appeared momentarily to surprise the Attorney-General.
‘What about Captain Morehouse?’ he said.
