At their various positions throughout the deck, everyone stopped what they were doing, straightening and then becoming motionless. Instinctively they were looking to where the captain stood, seeking guidance.
The first movement came from the deckhouse. Sarah appeared, clutching Sophia to her.
‘What was it?’ she demanded. ‘What was that peculiar noise?’
‘Dear God,’ said Richardson, distantly and to no one, ‘don’t say we’re too late.’
Knowing how little time they had, Briggs jerked forward, calling to the transfixed men around him. Probably there would never again be such a test as this of his qualities as a master-mariner, he thought.
And unless he correctly assessed the situation, there wouldn’t be the need, anyway. They were only minutes from being blown to oblivion.
The Attorney-General decided it had unquestionably been the best day since the enquiry began. He looked around the hushed chamber, contentedly aware of the effect of the expert witnesses whose affidavits he had produced.
Captain Fitzroy, master of H.M.S. Minotaur, had been the first; then Captain Adeane, commanding the Agincourt; then Captain Dowell, from the Hercules; and finally Captain Vansittart, in command of H.M.S. Sultan. There had been no challenge from any of the lawyers because the testimony had been virtually unchallengeable. One after the other the Royal Navy officers had asserted their unequivocal belief that the damage to the Mary Celeste’s bows had been caused intentionally, during some act of violence. And they had not limited themselves to the hull marks. They had identified the bloodstaining and unanimously agreed that it was an axe mark on the rail.
Flood looked away from the advocates’ bench, towards Sir James Cochrane. They had all wanted evidence and now he had produced it; he had little doubt now that the police would recommend proceedings.
There was a stir from behind and he turned to see the first mate of the Dei Gratia, Oliver Deveau, fluster into court. The man’s lack of composure was immediately obvious. His usually slicked-down hair was in disarray and even his beard was unkempt.
Pisani rose at his client’s entry, beckoning him immediately towards the witness area, turning to the judge as he did so.
‘My Lord will see,’ he said, in formal apology, ‘that we have returned from Genoa the witness whom it was desired to recall.’
‘An exercise which would have been unnecessary had the barest minimum of attention been paid to the needs of this court by the majority of participants,’ retorted Cochrane, unmollified.
The Attorney-General concealed any satisfaction at the remark. The judge had obviously been impressed by the evidence of the sea captains.
He rose, determined to attack immediately, gesturing as he did so for Baumgartner to hand the witness the evidence of the captains.
‘Having waited for so long, I’m sure the court can spare you for a little further time,’ said Flood sarcastically. ‘I would like you to read the evidence that has been produced in this court by four expert witnesses.’
Deveau took the affidavits, frowning down. He read slowly, head moving along each page, and the very silence in court was to his advantage, decided the Attorney-General. Cochrane was fidgeting in his seat by the time Deveau looked up.
‘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-Generaclass="underline"
‘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.’