“They are Special Branch policemen who came to take Enderby in for questioning and to search the premises. They have a search warrant,” was the reply.
“That won’t be necessary,” said Walmar. “I have nothing to hide and they are welcome to search the place.” Inwardly, he wondered how much they knew about himself. Arriving at the shed, the two Special Branch men introduced themselves to Walmar and asked to examine the premises. Walmar unlocked the shed doors and opened one side. He led them in and went to the accommodation area and unlocked the door to it and opened it wide. Rice and one of the Special Branch went in and checked the accommodation rooms. They checked the cupboards and drawers and found nothing of interest. Meanwhile, the other Special Branch man checked the shed, all the while keeping an eye on Walmar. They found nothing.
As they went outside, Yvonne came down from the co-operative office with a message. “Walmar, the police have ‘phoned to say that there was a report last night from a freighter that they saw a fishing boat broken up and sinking. They stopped and put a boat out to search but found nothing. A police launch is going out to search the area where it was reported to have happened, about two miles off-shore north-east of here.”
He replied, “Thank you for that, Yvonne. I’ll see if any of our boats will go out and join the search.” Turning to the three men, he said, “It has been known for large freighters to run down a fishing boat in these waters. We are a bit close to the shipping channel. If any of our boats go out I would like to go with it on the search.”
“That’s fine, Mr Walmar,” said Commander Rice. “I’d like to come with you.” Turning to the other two men, he said, “Perhaps you would like to check the area and then arrange a search of the coastline for the Penny Jane’s dinghy. Mr Walmar, would you give a description of it, please?” Walmar was happy to oblige and gave them a detailed description. He and Rice then went over to the nearest fishing boat, which happened to be Jimmy Anderson’s, and Walmar explained the message that Yvonne had given him. “We’ll go out and have a look, Wal,” Jimmy said, using the name the fishermen gave him. “Give us about thirty minutes and we’ll head out.”
“Thanks. I’ll organise some flasks and food to take with us while you get ready. This is Commander Rice, a navy man. He’d like to come as well,” Walmar answered. Turning to Rice he said, “Why don’t you come up to the shop and have a coffee while I organise the flasks and food. Then I’ll get a set of oilskins for you. It’s still a bit blowy out there. What size gumboots do you take?”
“Nines,” Rice replied, “and I’ll take you up on that offer. The Special Branch men could most likely do with a coffee as well.”
“Fine,” said Walmar. “It can go on my account.” Rice called to the two men and they all walked up to the cafe together.
Thirty minutes later, Walmar and Rice were boarding Anderson’s fishing boat. They were kitted out in gumboots and oilskins. As Anderson steered the vessel out into mid-stream, two other vessels followed to help in the search. Rice found immense pleasure to feel a deck under his feet again, balancing his body against the swell that caused the vessel to rise and fall. The three fishing boats headed out on a north-easterly course. Anderson changed radio frequencies to make contact with the customs vessel that the police were using After speaking to them, he changed back to the fishing frequency and called up the other two boats with the course and rendezvous reference. They then all three switched over to the search frequency that Anderson had been told to use. There was still a large swell that would make the search more difficult. Anderson and Walmar were in the wheelhouse with a chart and discussed the wind and tide influences that would affect any floating debris or a person in the water. Anderson then got on the radio to the police and they agreed a search pattern.
As they came into the search area, the four vessels split up and headed for the search area each had been allocated. The vessels searched for nearly two hours and found nothing. It was decided to widen the search area. After another thirty-five minutes the southern-most fishing vessel reported having found hull timbers that looked like being from the Penny Jane but no sign of a person or body. After checking with the police vessel, Anderson turned his boat south to take Walmar to see if he could confirm that the timbers were from his boat. Fifteen minutes later, Walmar made the confirmation. When he handled the timbers he was near to tears. Seeing his friend’s grief at the confirmed loss of his vessel, Anderson put a hand on Walmar’s back to let him know the grief was shared. The skipper of the vessel that found the timbers, radioed the police vessel and confirmed that the find was the remains of the Penny Jane. The other vessels then moved down to join the search in that area. After another two hours of fruitless searching, the police called off the search. The police returned to Grimsby and the three fishing vessels headed for waters nearer home. They would have to wait for the tide to flow in enough to allow them to return to harbour.
The two Special Branch men had looked closely around the area to see if they could find anything that would help in their investigation. There was
