The Loss of the Jane Vosper (6 page)

‘I shall do so,’ Alexander promised. ‘Now there is one other point. If I’m really to go into this matter seriously, I’d like to have Sutton with me.’

John Sutton was a private detective employed by the Land and Sea, as well as by certain other insurance firms. He investigated doubtful cases, both beforehand, when the question of granting the cover was being considered, and afterwards, if what seemed a fraudulent claim had been made. Sutton was a first-rate man, extremely reliable, and as pertinacious and thorough as they were made.

Jeffrey raised his eyes at the solicitor’s proposal, but the chairman declared it was only common sense. ‘There’s no earthly use in half doing anything; though I don’t suggest,’ he smiled crookedly at the lawyer, ‘that without Sutton that’s what you’d do. But undoubtedly if we do suspect anything, Sutton should know all there’s to be known about it from the beginning.’

This was agreed to, and then Brangstrode summarized the position. ‘The matter stands then in this way. Unless everything is cleared up beforehand to our satisfaction, Alexander will represent us at the enquiry, taking Sutton with him. In the meantime we do nothing about any claim that may be made.’ He looked round on his little audience, and seeing approval on each face, turned to the solicitor. ‘And now, Alexander, what about that lunch I defrauded you of?’

With a little further talk the conference came to an end.

In due course the
Barmore
reached London and the shipwrecked crew came ashore. But whatever statement they may or may not have made to their owners, no further information was vouchsafed to Jeffrey. Instead he was simply informed that the Board of Trade enquiry into the disaster would be held on the following Wednesday in a court in Hopeney Street off Kingsway, under the presidency of Mr Courtney Trafford, a stipendiary magistrate with considerable experience of that class of work.

The newspapers, it was true, were full of the story. But their accounts were not very illuminating. As was to be expected, they wrote up the dramatic side of the tale for all they were worth, painting vivid pen pictures of an epic struggle to save a stricken ship amid a waste of tumbling waters in the darkness of the night. But over such dull matters as practical cause and effect they slid gently. Naturally perhaps, as the very mysteriousness of the happening was but so much more grist to their mill.

Jeffrey read these accounts with exasperated scepticism. He had not been content entirely to rest on his oars during that ten days before the enquiry. With some difficulty he had found out four insurance firms beside his own, which had covered portions of the cargo carried by the ill-fated ship. He had called in each instance on the manager and tactfully questioned him as to his views on the affair. In the case of three out of the four his efforts had met with a ready response.

These three managers admitted without hesitation that they viewed the circumstances with grave dissatisfaction. Mr Edwardes of the Derby & Yorkshire Company was the most outspoken.

‘Explosions?’ he had said. ‘What sort of explosions? They won’t say. They must surely know, that captain and crew. Then why all the mystery? I admit I don’t at all like the thing. I may say we’re not going to pay a penny till the whole matter is cleared up.’

‘So far as I can gather,’ Jeffrey answered, ‘Doulton of the Antwerp Company and Austin of the Narrow Seas take up the same position. And so do we.’

‘Of course you do. You’re attending the enquiry?’

‘Alexander, our solicitor, is watching it on our behalf, but I didn’t think of going myself.’

‘I shall,’ Edwardes returned. ‘If there’s going to be trouble, I want to know about it from the beginning.’

Jeffrey, remembering that this was the argument Alexander had used for taking Sutton, decided that after all he might as well attend himself. If the proceedings didn’t seem to be useful he could leave at any time. Besides, even if he were to wait till the end, it would not take up a serious amount of his time.

Jeffrey was more upset about the position of the Land and Sea than he would have cared to admit. Owing to various family troubles, he had never been able to save, and now at the age of fifty-two he was still entirely dependent on what he earned. He did not exactly fear that the payment of this £105,000 on the top of the £250,000 would cripple his company, but its prosperity was too intimately bound up with his own for him not to be profoundly anxious as to the outlook.

It was therefore with a direct personal interest in the proceedings that he presented himself with Alexander and Sutton at the Hopeney Street court at some twenty minutes past ten on the Wednesday morning following.

The room into which they presently pushed their way was of good size and was fitted with the usual court furniture. Bench, dock, jury box, witness box, well containing the solicitors’ table, and public galleries; all were arranged as in a criminal court – as indeed Jeffrey reminded himself this usually was. Unlike so many courtrooms, this was modern, airy and well lighted. In one other particular it looked different from the courts which Jeffrey had previously attended, and that was in the absence of policemen, of whom several had always been well in evidence.

But what most surprised Jeffrey was the number of people who were present. He had not expected the proceedings to be popular, but already there was a crowd of from eighty to a hundred standing chatting in little knots or seated as close as they could get to the central table. And nearly all of them looked as if they were there on business. There were a number of men whose black clothes, clean-shaven faces and thin compressed lips unmistakably suggested the law. Many more were obviously businessmen, and among them Jeffrey recognized several whom he knew. They were the managers of all four insurance companies on whom he had called, one or two other men interested in shipping, and Stewart Clayton, the manager of the Southern Ocean Company. There were men in blue suits and carrying bowler hats whom Jeffrey put down, correctly, as he afterwards discovered, as trades union secretaries. There was a rather woebegone cluster of men in poor clothes, obviously the shipwrecked crew, with, standing a little apart from them, but with a subtle suggestion of belonging to them, some half-dozen older and better dressed individuals, clearly the officers. Only a few persons who had taken seats in the public galleries appeared to be unconnected with the proceedings. These looked like unemployed, who had drifted in as a relief from the dreadful tedium of their lives. Not a single woman or girl was present: all were men.

‘This is going to be a bigger thing than I had any idea of,’ Jeffrey remarked to Alexander, as they squeezed their way into a seat near the solicitors’ table.

‘There are a good many interests affected,’ Alexander replied, ‘and probably most, if not all, are represented. There’s first of all the Board of Trade, then the owners, then the underwriters, then at least five insurance firms who covered the cargo. You discovered four besides your own firm, didn’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, they’re probably all here. Then the British Latin States people will be called in connection with the rescue of the crew. And that’s only one side of the affair. The captain, officers and crew of the lost vessel are in a way of speaking upon trial. They will be here both as witnesses and to see that they get a fair hearing.’

‘That lot over there, I should say.’

‘I imagine so. It’s rather a serious business for the senior officers. The court can reprimand them, or suspend or remove their certificates, in the event of negligence or other fault being proved. They can’t be sent to prison, but even a reprimand is a terribly serious thing for an officer, specially a master.’

‘You mean he’d lose his job?’

‘Almost certainly. And that wouldn’t be the worst of it. He’d probably never get another. Particularly now, when so many qualified men are unemployed.’

‘Means ruin for life?’

‘It does, and so I expect the chief officers are all legally represented. And that adds to the crowd.’

As he spoke, Clayton saw Jeffrey and pushed across. ‘Extraordinary affair this,’ he remarked. ‘Quite outside my previous experience.’

‘I’ve only heard what you told me yourself,’ Jeffrey answered, when he had introduced Alexander. ‘Has your captain not been able to clear it up?’

‘No, that’s just it,’ Clayton returned. ‘He doesn’t know a thing about it. His statement is simply that explosions occurred, but what caused them he can’t say. Extraordinarily unsatisfactory.’

‘Probably the enquiry will bring out the truth.’

‘I’m sure I hope so. Not to know is bad for us from every point of view. But you’re almost as much interested in it as we are?’

‘A good deal more deeply than we care to be,’ Jeffrey admitted.

Clayton shook his head. ‘Well, let’s hope for the best,’ he murmured, as he moved to a seat beside his solicitor.

It was now half past ten, the hour at which the proceedings were to open. People had continued to pour in, till the room was practically full. Almost all had found seats. The shipwrecked crew, of whom there seemed between thirty and forty, had pushed into the jury box and the witnesses’ seats behind. Counsel with their formidable briefs, and their attendant solicitors with their reference books and stacks of papers, had taken their places at the table. There was still, however, movement all over the room and a loud buzz of conversation.

Presently there came a cry of ‘Silence!’ Everyone stood up and the stipendiary magistrate, Mr Courtney Trafford, entered, followed by two other men. He took his place in the centre of the dais, bowed to those present, and sat down, his companions sitting on his right and left hands respectively.

‘The assessors,’ Alexander whispered. ‘Technical men appointed to advise Trafford.’

Jeffrey nodded, settling himself more comfortably in his seat. They were punctual about beginning at all events. He hoped this was an augury for the speedy conduct of the case.

There ensued a number of rather uninteresting formalities, and then all sorts of people from all over the room, Alexander among them, got up and said they were appearing for this or that interest. Their names were duly noted, and a short discussion then took place between the magistrate and his assessors. When this was over, Mr Trafford made a brief opening statement.

‘As you are aware, gentlemen, this enquiry is into the circumstances of the sinking of the steamer
Jane
Vosper
,
while on a voyage from London to Pernambuco and other ports in South America. The court will be concerned in the first place with the fact and the cause of the sinking, but it will also take cognizance of the conduct of all those concerned, inasmuch as this may have contributed or otherwise to the sinking. This will include not only the actions of those on board the ship, both before and at the time of the disaster, but also those whose duty it was to see that she went to sea in a reasonably fit and perfect condition, both as regards the ship herself, the appliances and stores which she carried, and the nature and disposal of the cargo.

‘The loss of a ship at sea is always a distressing event to all concerned, and this case is no exception to the rule. At the same time it is a matter of congratulation that in this instance the worst feature of such disasters is missing - there was happily no loss of life. That fortunate circumstance will not, however, make any difference to the course of this enquiry, particularly as we have only to remember that had the weather been different, it is possible that not a single member of the crew would have escaped.

‘I shall now ask you, Mr Armitage, to open the proceedings on behalf of the Board of Trade.’

Mr Reginald Armitage, one of the barristers present, was a tall man with an impressive carriage and a dominating manner. His hawk like face and heavy jaw bespoke a tenacity of purpose which would not easily be turned aside from the path he wished to follow. His very look of conscious power and grip was a reassurance to those for whom he appeared, and induced doubts of their case into the minds of his opponents. And when he spoke, these feelings became strengthened. He had a full rich voice with which he could make great play, modifying it, as it were between the aggressive roaring of the lion and the seductive softness of the sucking dove. It was rumoured by those who did not like him, that in civil cases he made huge sums merely by not being on the other side.

‘Your Worship,’ he began quietly, standing up and turning towards the magistrate, ‘after what you have just said there is no need for me to waste the time of the court with prolonged remarks, and I will be very brief.’

He paused and hitched his gown up on his shoulder, a characteristic action. Then in a louder and more assured tone he went on: ‘As Your Worship has pointed out, this enquiry is into the sinking of the steamer
Jane
Vosper
on the morning of Saturday, 28th of last month, while she was on a voyage from London to Pernambuco in Brazil.

‘The
Jane Vosper
,
as you will hear in evidence, was a cargo liner of some 2500 tons register, owned by the Southern Ocean Steam Navigation Company of Fenchurch Street, and registered in London. Her length was 270 feet, beam 36 feet, and draught 16 feet. She was built in 1913 for the general carrying trade, and carried a complement of 35 officers and men.’

Mr Armitage then went on to describe the vessel, with its high fo’c’sle, bridge-deck and poop and the comparatively low stretches of well-deck between. He told of the location of the stores and of the berthing of the officers and crew. He referred briefly to the engines and boilers and went into detail about the size and position of the three holds and the number and position of the watertight bulkheads dividing them. When he had finished there was not much about the vessel that he had not covered.

‘As to the actual voyage and to the extraordinary series of explosions as a result of which the ship sank,’ Mr Armitage went on, ‘I propose to say very little, as I think you will get a better idea of these direct from Captain Hassell, her master, who is with us today. But very broadly speaking,’ and Mr Armitage went on to describe both, not indeed broadly, but in the utmost detail. He told the story vividly and well, from the loading of the cargo in the London Docks right up to the point at which the
Barmore
picked the crew up from the boats. Nothing was omitted from the tale, except the explanation of what had really occurred. Mr Armitage didn’t say in so many words that this was a mystery, but indicated that all the available evidence on the point would be put before the court. Then after a short peroration on the importance of the case and the number of interests involved, he sat down.