‘Well?’ demanded Flood peremptorily.
‘Sir?’
‘Four experts of unchallengeable integrity have attested on oath before this enquiry that the damage they examined was the result of violence.’
‘When I first gave evidence I said I had not noticed the marks to the rail… or any bloodstaining. And I certainly didn’t see any hull damage.’
‘A point I accept, Mr Deveau,’ said Flood. ‘Isn’t the problem that you didn’t see what subsequent examination has discovered?’
‘I do not understand,’ protested the man.
‘Isn’t the fact that during the time it took you and your salvage crew to reach Gibraltar there was ample time to repair any evidence of violence… and that unfortunately you overlooked the axe mark and the bloodstaining that has been found?’
The Attorney-General had expected Deveau to be off-balanced by the questioning, following so closely upon the captains’ evidence, but the first mate merely shook his head in persistent denial.
‘I also said the first time,’ he repeated, ‘that we found no evidence of violence. Only of a ship having been abandoned for a number of days.’
Flood concealed his annoyance.
‘Why did you leave Gibraltar so hurriedly?’ he demanded.
Deveau frowned again. ‘There was no haste about it,’ he said. ‘The Dei Gratia had to continue to Genoa, to discharge her cargo. Captain Morehouse ordered me to go.’
‘Just as he ordered you to board the Mary Celeste?’ said Flood.
‘Yes — ’
‘And seize her for salvage?’
Flood was hurrying the questioning, hoping to unsettle the man.
‘Captain Morehouse was unwilling at first for us to split the crew,’ said Deveau.
The answer was not what Flood had expected and he raised his eyes from his note, examining the witness curiously.
‘Explain yourself,’ he said.
‘When I returned from boarding the Mary Celeste I proposed we put a salvage crew aboard. Captain Morehouse said his first responsibility was to his own ship, the Dei Gratia, and that he was unhappy at the thought of reducing his crew by the number of men necessary to take over the Mary Celeste.’
‘So what happened?’
‘There was a discussion among the crew, who agreed to do extra watches.’
‘Why did they so agree?’
‘So that we could man the Mary Celeste, of course,’ said the man, surprised.
‘And in expectation of sharing in a salvage award once she was brought to port?’ demanded the Attorney- General.
‘Yes,’ said Deveau.
‘Was there a reduced crew on the Mary Celeste?’
‘Sir?’
‘Was there a reduced crew? Or is the fact of the matter that there were still some people aboard when you crossed to her?’
Deveau shook his head, a familiar gesture of bewilderment.
‘The Mary Celeste was abandoned,’ he insisted.
‘Are you an obedient seaman?’ said Flood, returning to his earlier questioning.
‘I pride myself upon being so,’ responded Deveau immediately.
‘So you would obey any command a superior officer gave you?’
‘Were it in keeping with the laws of the sea and ensuring the safety or smooth running of any vessel in which I was serving, then, yes, I would,’ said Deveau.
It could almost be construed as a prepared answer, decided Flood.
‘Did you, on December 5, receive from Captain Morehouse any order that did not comply with those restrictions?’
‘Really!’ protested Pisani, rising. ‘We are off again on the wildest flights of fancy. Can there be any point to this flagrant innuendo?’
Cochrane looked at the protesting lawyer, then to the Attorney-General:
‘Mr Flood?’
‘I would not be pursuing this or any other line of questioning if I did not consider it germane to the court’s enquiry,’ said the Attorney-General.
‘An assurance which we have received time upon time and of which we still seek proof,’ disagreed Pisani.
‘It is proof with which I am attempting to furnish this court.’
‘Of what?’ demanded the Dei Gratia attorney, in open challenge.
‘I would have thought by now that would have been obvious to everyone,’ said Flood.
‘The point of much of your questioning, Mr Flood, remains obvious only to yourself,’ said Pisani.
The Attorney-General started to retort, but the judge stopped the dispute.
‘I feel,’ he said, addressing the Attorney-General, ‘that this hearing might proceed in a more satisfactory manner if a certain propriety were maintained in the examination.’
Flood knew that Cochrane could not possibly be against him, after the evidence he had been able to produce. He decided that the judge must be satisfied. But he wasn’t, determined Flood.
‘Have you any cause to change your beliefs as to how the Mary Celeste came to be abandoned?’ he said.
‘No, sir,’ said Deveau.
‘Or of what fate befell the crew?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Against the opinions of experts you heard before you hurried away or from the affidavits you have today considered, do you have any wish to change your evidence?’
‘I have told the court everything I can to help,’ said the first mate.
‘Was the need to get the Dei Gratia to Genoa to unload its cargo of petroleum the only reason you were despatched from Gibraltar?’
Deveau regarded the Attorney-General uncertainly.
‘Yes,’ he said, the curiosity sounding in his voice. ‘What other reason could there have been?’
‘It was not perhaps thought wiser by Captain Morehouse or even by Captain Winchester for you to be hopefully beyond the call of this enquiry?’
Pisani started to rise, but Cochrane anticipated the protest.
‘Aren’t we risking propriety again, Mr Flood?’ he cautioned.
‘Only in pursuit of the truth,’ responded the Attorney-General. He looked back to the witness.
‘Tell this court of the conversation that took place prior to your departure from Gibraltar.’
‘There was little discussion,’ recalled Deveau. ‘Once the Dei Gratia was cleared for sailing, it was our responsibility to complete the voyage for which she had been chartered. Captain Morehouse felt he should stay here, as superior officer. And that therefore I should captain the vessel to Italy.’
The Attorney-General was aware of Cochrane suddenly staring up and knew that the judge had also recognised how close Deveau’s wording had been to that of Captain Morehouse.
‘An attempt, in fact, to assist the court?’ said the Attorney-General, stressing the disbelief.
‘Yes, sir. That is how I understood it.’
‘Like discussing your evidence in detail?’
‘Sir?’
‘There appears often to be great similarity between the evidence of yourself and of others. Has there been much discussion between you?’
‘Of course,’ said Deveau ingenuously. ‘It is not a thing that happens often.’
