The Loss of the Jane Vosper

by Freeman Wills Crofts

  Mr Trafford here intervened to point out smoothly that according to his notes no such suggestion had been made.

  He thanked Hislop for his evidence and asked Armitage if he had many more witnesses.

  It appeared there was just one, a Mr Hulbert Morris. He stated that he was a representative from Messrs Dennison & Meakers of Reading, and with reference to his own firm he repeated Hislop’s assurance that no explosives could have been included in the stuff sent for shipment.

  When this witness stepped down Trafford said that if any of those gentlemen who were appearing for interests involved had any further material facts to put forward, he would be glad to hear them.

  No one produced further witnesses, but a number of the legal-looking men and some of the trade union officials availed themselves of the invitation to address the court. Once again it did not seem to Jeffrey that their contributions very much advanced the common stock of knowledge. Most of what they had to say was devoted to showing that the person or interest for whom they appeared had acted throughout in an exemplary manner, and that if blame were to be allocated, it must be apportioned elsewhere.

  Then Armitage replied for the Board of Trade. His speech was not biased towards or against any interest, but took the form of a summing-up of the evidence which had been given. It ended by reciting a number of questions which he said the Board of Trade would like the court to answer. These were rather obvious and included such demands as, What was the cause of the sinking of the Jane Vosper? Was any person to blame for the sinking, and if so, who? Had the officers and crew done all that could be reasonably expected of them to save the ship? and several more of a similar kind.

  Trafford listened carefully and then had a long conversation with his assessors. Finally he said that that concluded the immediate proceedings. He thanked everyone very much for his attendance and help, and explained that the findings of the court would be delivered in due course. With a bow he and the assessors withdrew, and with the same lack of drama that had marked its opening, the enquiry came to an end.

  -5-

  A FURTHER PUZZLE

  On the afternoon of the following day Jeffrey, Alexander and Sutton met in the former’s office to discuss the situation which had arisen as a result of the enquiry. Jeffrey was anxious to reach a conclusion as to the course he would recommend his directors to follow when the claim for the £105,000 came in from the Weaver Bannister Company.

  He was far from clear in his own mind as to what that course should be. Naturally he wished to avoid payment if this were possible, but he did not desire, and was not going to suggest, anything which was not strictly honourable. To evade its liabilities on some legal quibble was to him the worst possible policy for an insurance company.

  But in this case there really was a genuine doubt as to where they stood. They still didn’t know what had happened aboard the Jane Vosper. The enquiry had not cleared up the one point in the whole affair that really mattered – the origin of the explosions. Until they knew that, how could they decide their own position?

  He had put these points to Alexander. ‘My strong feeling,’ he continued when they had talked them over, ‘is that we shouldn’t pay. The thing is too suspicious. It seems incredible to me that it could have been anything but foul play.’

  ‘It looks like foul play, I admit,’ Alexander returned, ‘but you can’t prove it. What’s more to the point, you can’t prove that the Weaver Bannister people were mixed up in it. If their deal with you was carried out legally, you remain liable, even though some other person may have committed a fraud which incidentally damaged their property.’

  Jeffrey leant forward. ‘I know all that,’ he said. ‘But look at it this way. The four explosions came from the same part of the ship, and the evidence was conclusive that that was near the bottom of No. 2 hold. Now the entire bottom of No. 2 hold was filled with these Weaver Bannister crates. Therefore does it not follow that the explosions came from the crates?’

  ‘It certainly looks like it,’ Alexander admitted cautiously.

  ‘And that view is further supported by the bulging of the bulkheads. The chief engineer said the fourth explosion must have come from low down, owing to the place in which the bulge occurred. It seems to me that the presumption that the explosive was in the crates is overwhelming.’

  Alexander shrugged. ‘Suppose it was,’ he parried. ‘I don’t just see what you’re getting at.’

  ‘Well, I think that should be clear enough. If it came from the crates, there’s fraud against us, and we don’t pay.’

  ‘Not exactly,’ the solicitor pointed out. ‘If you can prove that the Weaver Bannister people put the explosives into their crates with the object of sending them to the bottom of the sea and so obtaining the insurance money, then there would be fraud which would relieve you and see some of the Weaver Bannister people in prison. But you’re very far from being able to prove anything of the kind.’

  ‘But if the Weaver Bannister people didn’t put the stuff into the crates, how could it have got in? No one else had anything to do with them.’

  ‘You don’t know that.’

  ‘The stevedore said they were stowed exactly as they came into the docks.’

  Alexander shook his head. ‘Scarcely convincing, I’m afraid. Besides, you’d have to prove that no one else dropped explosives between them after they were loaded.’

  ‘I admit all that. All the same I’m hanged if I think we ought to pay as things are now.’ Jeffrey paused, shrugged, and then went on: ‘By the way, talking of another matter, I had four visitors this morning.’

  Alexander looked his question.

  ‘One after the other, as if it had been arranged between them, and each with the same air of secrecy and mystery. I couldn’t help smiling.’

  ‘Representatives of the other insurance firms?’

  ‘Yes. Each came in, hemmed and hawed, and then pointed out that the trouble was obviously connected with our consignment, and what were we going to do about it? They all sincerely hoped we weren’t going to pay.’

  ‘You bet they did. And what did you tell them?’

  ‘I said we hadn’t made up our minds, and asked them would they care to help us in whatever action we decided on.’

  Alexander laughed outright. ‘Trust you, Jeffrey,’ he said. ‘And what did they answer to that?’

  ‘Very non-committal. Glad to do anything vague and unspecified, but cautious about definite action.’

  ‘They wanted to shove the dirty work on to you?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Alexander took a case from his pocket and carefully selected a cigarette, then as an afterthought held the case out to the others.

  ‘They’ll succeed there, I should think,’ he declared. ‘You’ve just been at pains to explain why only your firm could be interested.’

  ‘Well, what do you advise?’

  ‘I’m coming to that. You have, as I say, shown an a priori reason for suspecting that the Weaver Bannister people may be at the bottom of the thing. Now if so, the first question that arises is: What was their motive? That would have to be established before any proceedings would have a ghost of a chance of success. I’m not trying to crab your idea – far from it. But as you know, the strength of a chain, and so forth. Therefore these difficulties must be faced.’

  ‘I understand that, of course, old man. Go ahead.’

  ‘Well, I think we have to admit that no suggestion of motive came out in the evidence. The firm insured 350 sets, and there was evidence that 350 sets went aboard. They stated that they sold those sets at £350 and they insured them at £300. That means that if they destroyed them they would get £300 each for them, but if they didn’t destroy them they’d get £350. Not exactly what you’d call a motive there.’

  ‘I see that,’ Jeffrey agreed slowly. ‘But that mightn’t have been the particular line they would take.’ ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘How do we know those crates contained sets at all?’ ‘Oh, I s
ee. You mean they might have filled them with stones?’

  ‘Something of the kind. By that means they would have made £100,000.’

  Alexander shook his head. ‘Impossible, I should say. How many of their men would know of a thing like that? Why, it would be common property. No, they simply wouldn’t dare to put themselves in the power of so many of their workers.’

  ‘H’m,’ said Jeffrey. ‘I agree there’s a difficulty there.’ He paused and for a moment there was silence in the room. Then he turned to Sutton. ‘You haven’t expressed any opinion, Sutton. What’s your view of the whole business?’

  Sutton moved uneasily. ‘It’s not so easy to answer you, sir,’ he answered. ‘I’m blessed if I know what to think.’ He paused in his turn, then went on. ‘So far as the question of the ship being sunk deliberately is concerned, I think that’s proved. I can’t see any way in which it could have been accidental. And the fact that the four explosions came so close together seems to me to show that they were worked by a carefully set timing mechanism. Clockwork bombs, probably.’

  ‘I think we both agree with Sutton so far?’ Jeffrey said, glancing at the solicitor.

  Alexander nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said rather surprisingly, ‘I think we may assume that. That question of the time seemed to me almost conclusive. And Armitage appreciated it too.’

  ‘You think so?’

  ‘I’m sure of it,’ the solicitor returned. ‘You see, there was not only the point that the four shots went off practically simultaneously – though not simultaneously enough for one to have caused the others – but also the even more important point of the time at which they did go off. Anyone wanting to sink the ship – I mean anyone except an absolute devil – would want to give the crew as good a chance for their lives as possible. Now that was done. Armitage brought it out very well. Had the ship not been unexpectedly delayed, the explosions would have taken place when it was close to land. The captain admitted that excepting round the coast of Kent, it was about as safe a place as could be found on the whole voyage.’

  ‘I follow you. I admit I didn’t see what Armitage was up to in those questions.’

  ‘That was it, I imagine: to show that deliberate sinking was not unlikely. Plenty of people would sink a ship for the insurance money, who would hesitate about drowning thirty-five men.’

  ‘I agree. You agree, Sutton?’

  ‘Yes, I do, sir. I’m satisfied the thing was deliberate. But when it comes to saying who did it, it’s not so easy.’

  ‘Well,’ Jeffrey suggested, ‘it seems to me that only six lots of people were interested, the owners of the ship and the five lots of cargo. Of those I think we can eliminate four; the owners of cargo which was not stowed at the bottom of No. 2 hold. That leaves two possibles. Weaver Bannister’s people and the owners of the ship.’

  Sutton nodded. ‘Yes, sir, that’s my view also.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s quite proved,’ Alexander put in, ‘though I admit it as a provisional working hypothesis.’

  ‘Very well,’ said Jeffrey, ‘let’s assume it in the meantime. That is that either Weaver Bannister or the Southern Ocean people have been going in for fraud. Though hang it all,’ Jeffrey made a worried gesture, ‘I can’t see either doing anything of the kind. They’re decent firms with good reputations. You both know Stewart Clayton. Can either of you see him a party to such a thing?’

  Alexander shrugged. ‘I know. I’ve been pointing out the difficulties myself. Too much so, I imagined you thought.’

  ‘If you hadn’t known, sir, you would have said that it was incredible that any one of the five would have sunk the ship, wouldn’t you?’ put in Sutton. ‘And yet it was done.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true,’ agreed Jeffrey. ‘Very well, provisionally we suggest that it must have been one of those two firms. Now the question is, What are we going to do about it?

  There’ll be a demand for £105,000, probably in the morning. What do you say, Alexander?’

  The solicitor did not reply for some moments. ‘I’ll give you my opinion,’ he said then, ‘first as a lawyer, and secondly as a friend.’ Again he paused and the others bent forward, obviously hanging on his words. ‘As a lawyer I am of opinion that with the knowledge you possess, you must pay. I can see nothing else for it, and I certainly should not refuse or put it in Weaver Bannister’s power to take you into court to recover the money. Now for unofficial advice as a friend. I should temporize about the payment, and I should put Sutton here on the job of trying to find out something more about what really happened. He might learn something that would put a completely different complexion on the whole affair.’

  ‘It’s good advice,’ Jeffrey declared. ‘As a matter of fact I thought we’d have Sutton investigate it in any case. Well, Sutton, what do you think about that?’

  ‘There are certain things that I think I could find out, sir, and there are others that I’m doubtful about. I think I should be able to find out if the 350 sets were of normal good quality, same as Weaver Bannister’s actually sell for the £350. And I should certainly be able to find out if they were really packed up and put on board. I’d have less chance of finding out whether the Southern Ocean people dropped in bombs after the cargo was stowed, though I’d do my best on that too.’

  ‘If Sutton can find out if Weaver Bannister’s 350 sets were of normal quality, and whether they actually sailed, I think that’s all you want,’ Alexander commented. ‘If that is proved you couldn’t refuse payment. Whether the Southern Ocean people sank their ship or whether they didn’t would be nothing to you.’

  Jeffrey was obviously unwilling to come to any conclusion which might involve payment by his firm. But he had to admit that Alexander’s view was sound. They thereupon went on to discuss with Sutton the details of his investigation. Finally it was arranged that the detective was to concentrate on the two questions already referred to: first, the quality of the Weaver Bannister sets sent, and second, whether 350 of these actually left in the Jane Vosper. If he could get any further information, so much the better, but he was not to go out of his way to seek it.

  By the very next post Jeffrey received the claim from the Weaver Bannister firm, a claim for the whole sum in question, £105,000. For some time he sat thinking over the situation, then he decided that he would go out to Watford and have a talk with the partners. This would have the additional advantage that while it showed a desire to settle the business amicably, it put nothing in writing.

  Accordingly he rang up the firm and went out early next morning. He had already decided to put all his cards on the table. These Weaver Bannister people were reasonable and would appreciate the position in which the Land and Sea Company found itself. They would not, he felt sure, object to Sutton’s enquiry. Under the circumstances indeed they should welcome it. If they were innocent they should be glad of anything which would help to remove the unpleasant suspicion of their firm which necessarily existed. On the other hand, if they were guilty they would almost certainly have prepared a demonstration for insurance detectives, and would be glad of the opportunity of making it.

  Jeffrey was courteously received by the senior partner, Mr Bannister, a man of about sixty with a pleasant manner and a look of quiet efficiency. It was evident that he was gravely troubled by what had taken place. He spoke with transparent sincerity, and a very short conversation was sufficient to convince Jeffrey that he at least had had no part in anything underhand. He expressed his complete bewilderment as to what had really taken place, and admitted without hesitation the equivocal and unpleasant position in which his firm had been placed.

  This gave Jeffrey his opportunity. He admitted that he also was utterly puzzled by the whole affair, going on to point out what a very serious matter it would probably prove for his company. ‘Now, Mr Bannister,’ he went on, ‘I’m going to be quite straight with you. I want you to understand at the outset that we intend to meet our full liabilities. That, I think, should be made clear before I go any further.�
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  He paused, while Bannister, evidently relieved, murmured politely that with a firm like the Land and Sea, no doubt of this could possibly arise.

  ‘Presumably,’ went on Jeffrey, ‘no action should be taken on either side until after publication of the Board of Trade findings on the enquiry. I don’t want to go into that, it can be settled later.’ Mr Bannister did not look quite so pleased. ‘What I should like to say now is this. Owing to the very exceptional nature of the circumstances, my directors will naturally require me to take certain obvious steps before any payment can be made. You know as well as I do what those steps are.’ Jeffrey smiled. ‘We are now talking formal business, not touching on our individual relations nor upon our private beliefs, which I imagine are identical.’

  Bannister nodded with a certain air of anxiety. ‘Go on, Mr Jeffrey,’ he invited.

  ‘I think you will agree that as a matter of formal business we should have a report from one of our representatives that he had satisfied himself that all the terms of the contract had been strictly carried out. You will agree also that our requiring this is not intended to, and in point of fact does not, throw any slur whatever on your firm.’

  Bannister made a deprecating motion. ‘I hope I am not so foolish as to object to that. What exactly do you want me to do?’

  ‘I should like you, if you will, to grant our representative, Mr Sutton, facilities to enquire into and report on the sending out of the crates, right from the loading here in your works up till the departure of the Jane Vosper.’

  Once again Bannister seemed relieved. ‘I shall not only agree to that,’ he said with some warmth, ‘but I shall welcome his enquiry. I shall give him my authority to go anywhere he likes about the works, to interrogate any of our staff, including myself, and to inspect any documents for which he may ask. I am only anxious that the truth should be demonstrated and am delighted at the prospect of its being done. But,’ he added with a searching look at Jeffrey, ‘you on your part will send a discreet man who will not give unnecessary trouble, and who will keep to himself anything he may see which is irrelevant to the enquiry.’