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<title>XII</title>
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<section data-parent="book-2" id="chapter-2-12" epub:type="chapter">
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<h3 epub:type="title ordinal z3998:roman">XII</h3>
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<p>The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Saskatchewan</i> was to start on the next Friday. The claimants had arrived at New York on the Sunday, after much trouble and a long journey, having to make an immense détour. The council could not now hold its first meeting on New Year’s Day, but was expected to assemble on the 6th January (Twelfth Day).</p>
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<p>For two days they were without intelligence at Barnham and Stirmingham, the cables being wrong again, but on the third Aymer was sent for to the private residence of <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Broughton at seven in the morning. The London dailies had not yet arrived, but he had received a private telegram from Shaw, Shaw, and Simson, with the most extraordinary news. The yacht of <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Marese Baskette had brought the steamship <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> back to port a derelict, having found her helpless on the high seas, with every passenger and every one of the crew dead.</p>
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<p>Presently the papers came and contained the same announcement, though they one and all expressed a strong doubt as to the accuracy of the news. By-and-by down came a second edition of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Telegraph</i>, repeating the former telegram, with additional particulars. By night it was known as a fact over the length and breadth of the world, that the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> had been found lying like a log upon the waste of waters with a crew of corpses—a veritable ship of the Dead. The ghastly news was only too true. Excitement rose to the highest pitch; edition after edition of the papers sold out; men congregated in groups, discussing this new horror which had saddened civilisation. All were completely in the dark as to how it had happened, and in the eagerness for further insight the brief telegram announcing that the claimants had started on board the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Saskatchewan</i> was overlooked. There were plenty, however, who pointed out to each other the fortunate escape the claimants had had. If the snow had not fallen on that particular night; if the wires had not been broken by the falling posts; if the pine tree had fallen on one side instead of crossing the line, they would in all human probability have one and all shared the fate of those on board the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>.</p>
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<p>Only one circumstance caused any abatement of the intense alarm which this fearful occurrence created. It was this: The greater portion of the space allotted for passenger accommodation on the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> had been taken by Marese for the claimants, and as it was not certain up to the last moment whether they would come or not, the ship started with less than a third of her full complement of passengers. There was not, therefore, such a death-roll as might have been; but, even as it was, it was extended enough.</p>
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<p>No one could understand how it had happened; not the slightest explanation was given, and the public mind was exercised in speculating upon the cause of the disaster. The passage from America to England had long lost the character of a voyage. The height to which perfection had been carried in the great steamship lines, was such that it had become a mere ocean promenade. No one thought of danger; the perils of the deep had been so thoroughly overcome. In the midst of this security came a shattering blow, which dispelled the confidence slowly built up by such an expenditure of skill and money as had perhaps never been equalled in the history of the world. The mystery seemed impenetrable. If the vessel had disappeared like the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">City of Boston</i>; if it had sunk, there would have been several explanations possible. But to be brought back into port perfect, uninjured, and yet a derelict, with a dead crew—it was inexplicable.</p>
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<p>The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Saskatchewan</i> arrived on the 2nd January, and with her came the claimants—all but Marese—and these immediately proceeded to Stirmingham. It was hoped that she would have brought fuller particulars as to the fate of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>; but having started on the very day that the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> returned to port, nothing more was known on board than the simple fact.</p>
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<p>On the 4th, however, another steamer came into Liverpool, bringing the New York papers up to date, and the contents of these were at once published in London.</p>
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<p>By the steamer came a letter from Anthony Baskelette. He had left the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Saskatchewan</i> on hearing of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>’s return, in great anxiety about some consignment he had made by her to his agent in Stirmingham. He had met the heir, and had been invited to accompany him to England on board his yacht, which would not reach Liverpool till the 9th. He was full of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> catastrophe, and his long letter contained more particulars than four papers.</p>
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<p>Aymer read it with the deepest interest. It ran:—</p>
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<p>“You will of course attend the council on the 6th, both in the interest of the building society and of myself. I am delayed by the necessity of seeing after the consignment I had made on board the unfortunate <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>, which consignment is too valuable to be left to agents. I am in the greatest anxiety, because it is uncertain yet in what light the rescue of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> will be regarded.</p>
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<p>“There can be no doubt that if the owner of the yacht—<abbr>Mr.</abbr> Marese Baskette—likes, he can put in a heavy claim for salvage. The question is—whether in his position as the ostensible heir, and as a gentleman, he will insist upon his right, or, at all events, moderate his demands?</p>
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<p>“I have met and conversed with him, and I gather from him that personally he is averse to making any claim at all. He considers that his yacht simply performed a duly, and a duly that was imperative upon her captain. To take money from those unfortunate persons who had consigned goods, or bullion in the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> he thought would be contrary to every sentiment of honour and humanity.</p>
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<p>“But, unfortunately, he is not altogether a free agent. It appears that at the time when the salvage of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was effected, there was on board the yacht a certain <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore Marese—a cousin of <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette’s, who is only in moderate circumstances, and naturally looks upon the event as a windfall which may never occur again—as I hope and pray it never will.</p>
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<p>“<abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore Marese, it seems, performed some personal service in rescuing the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>, and was considered to have run considerable risk to his life.</p>
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<p>“A certain sum will have no doubt to be paid to <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore, and I cannot blame him if he insists upon his right. He was practically the master of the yacht at the time, and it seems was on his way—with <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette’s permission—to London, to attend to some very urgent business there, which the catastrophe of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> has delayed and greatly injured, causing him pecuniary loss.</p>
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<p>“Then there is the captain of the yacht, and the crew. It is a fine vessel—some 300 tons or more, I should think—a screw steamer, and very fast. She carries a rather numerous crew, and all these are ravenous for plunder, and it is hard to see how these claims are to be avoided. Still further, it seems that <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette himself is not altogether a free agent. He freely admitted to me that he was not without his debts—as is probable enough to a man of fashion, with a certain position to maintain.</p>
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<p>“These creditors may take advantage of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> business to push him, and say that he must take the salvage in order to meet their demands. Of this he is greatly afraid.</p>
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<p>“Baskette is a most pleasant man, easy to converse with, very open and straightforward—quite a different person to what I should have expected. He has been particularly agreeable to me, promising his best efforts to curtail my loss, and has given me a cabin in his now famous yacht, the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i>.</p>
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<p>“I cannot drive the subject of the salvage from my mind. The saloons, bars, hotels—everywhere people talk of nothing else. It has quite eclipsed the tragedy, as well it might, from the magnitude of the sums involved.</p>
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<p>“First of all, there is the vessel herself—found upon the high seas, a derelict, without a hand at the wheel or at the engines. She is a splendid steamer, fully 3000 tons, and estimated at half a million of dollars, or, say, 100,000 pounds. The cargo she carried was immensely valuable—the bullion you know about: it was 718,000 pounds in exact figures—but the cargo must be worth at least another 75,000 pounds.</p>
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<p>“Then there is a very large amount of personal property, for half the claimants who were to go by her had forwarded their luggage previously; and there are the effects of the poor creatures who died. But these last, <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette declares, shall under no circumstances be touched. Happen what may, they are to be returned to the owners of their heirs undiminished.</p>
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<p>“Putting it all at the lowest estimate, the value of the vessel, the bullion, and cargo cannot be less than 893,000 pounds; and the salvage will equal a gigantic fortune.</p>
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<p>“So far I have dealt only with the salvage question. I will now proceed to give you a more detailed account than you will be able to get from the papers, of the terrible fate which overtook the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>. These I have learnt from <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette and from <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore Marese, who was on the yacht.</p>
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<p>“The reporters are, of course, incessant in their inquiries, but there is much that has escaped them, as a certain amount of reticence must of necessity be observed. These gentlemen have, however, made no reserve to me—I must beg of you not to publish this letter, or any part of it, lest there should appear to be a breach of confidence.</p>
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<p>“It appears that the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> started at noon on the Friday, as per bond, with a full complement of crew, but a short list of passengers. About two hours after she had left, the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i> put out to sea. <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette was at that time still at Imola, unable to get to New York. He and his cousin, <abbr>Mr.</abbr> T. Marese, were to have gone together in the yacht to London, where <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore’s business was very pressing.</p>
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<p>“When <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Baskette found himself unable to reach New York, he telegraphed to <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore telling him to take the yacht and go on to London as had been previously arranged, thereby showing the same character of consideration for others which he has since exhibited to me.</p>
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<p>“<abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore put to sea in the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i>, and says that next morning they overtook the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>, or nearly so, the yacht being extremely swift. It occurred to him that, after all, as the Atlantic is still the Atlantic, notwithstanding steam, and there are such things as breaking machinery, it would be well to keep in company with a powerful vessel like the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> as far as the coast of Ireland.</p>
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<p>“They did so, and even once spoke the steamship, which replied, ‘All well.’ All that day the two ships were not half a mile apart, and the night being moonlit, the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i> followed close in the other’s wake till about four in the morning, when, as often happens at sea, a thick fog came on. Afraid of collision, the captain of the yacht now slackened speed to about six knots, and kept a course a little to the starboard of the steamer ahead.</p>
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<p>“The fog continued very thick till past noon, and then suddenly lifted, and they saw seven or eight sail in sight, one of which was the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> on their port bow, and about four miles off. She was running, as usual, at a good pace, and the sea being quiet, was making all thirteen knots. The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i> increased speed, and drew up to within a mile and a half by three in the afternoon. The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> then bore due east, and they were in her wake. The wind was west, with a little southerly, and just ahead of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was a large square-rigged ship, with all sail set, but making very little way on account of the trifling breeze.</p>
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<p>“An extraordinary thing now happened. The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was observed by the captain of the yacht to be making straight for the sailing ship ahead, and had now got so close that a collision appeared inevitable. He called to <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore, who came up from below. The <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> ran dead at the sailing ship, though she was making thirteen knots to the other’s four, and the slightest turn of her wheel would have carried her free. On account of the direction of the wind, the ship was sailing almost right before it, and the steamer appeared to be aiming at her stern.</p>
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<p>“On the yacht they could see the crew of the sailing ship making frantic signs over the quarter to the steamer, but not the slightest notice was taken. The captain of the sailing ship had relied upon the steamer giving way, as is usual, and had allowed her to come so close that, it seems, he lost his head. Seeing this, the mate sang out to put the helm a-starboard, and run straight before the wind. This was done, and only just in time, for the steamer actually grazed her quarter, and carried away their boom. Knowing that the captain of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was an old sailor, and a steady, experienced man, they were astonished at this behaviour, especially as, without staying to inquire what damage had been done, she kept on her course at still greater speed.</p>
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<p>“The captain of the yacht now put on speed, being desirous of speaking the steamer; but after an hour or two it was evident that the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was drawing ahead, and had increased her lead by at least a mile. They could not understand this, as the yacht was notoriously faster, and it became evident that the engineer of the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> must have got his safety-valve screwed-down.</p>
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<p>“Night, as everyone knows, falls rapidly at this time of the year, and the darkness was increased by the fog, which now came on again. During the evening all their conversation was upon the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>. Surely she would not keep up her speed in such a fog as this? The yacht had slackened, and was doing, as before, about six knots.</p>
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<p>“The night wore on, till about two o’clock, when the wind freshened, and blew half a gale. At four the fog cleared, and the watch reported that the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> was on their starboard quarter, a mile astern, with her engines stopped. <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore was called, and came on deck. There lay the steamer in the trough of the sea, rolling, heaving—so much so that they wondered her sticks did not go. No smoke issued from her funnel, and the steam-pipe gave no sign. The usual flag was flying, but no signal was shown in answer to the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Gloire de Dijon</i>’s inquiry. There was no sail on her.</p>
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<p>“It was at once evident that something was wrong, and <abbr>Mr.</abbr> Theodore ordered the yacht to be put about. They tried the signals, but, as I said, no notice was taken. On approaching the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>, which had to be done with some caution, as she slewed about in a helpless manner, and was drifting before the sea, an extraordinary spectacle presented itself. As she rolled, her deck came partly into view, and they saw, with what feelings may be imagined, several men lying on the deck, and thrown now this way, now that, as the rollers went under her, evidently either dead or unconscious.</p>
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<p>“Filled with alarm and excitement, they attempted to board the vessel, but found it impossible. The waves made all but a clean breach over her. She staggered like a drunken man, and swung now this way, now that. Some of the standing rigging had given way, and they could hear the masts creak. They were afraid to get under her lee in case they should fall.</p>
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<p>“At length the captain of the yacht thought of a plan. He got a hawser ready with a loop, and watching his opportunity, ran the yacht close to her bow, and with his own hand, at great risk, hurled the rope, and by good luck the loop caught in the fluke of one of her anchors. They paid the hawser out over the yacht’s stern, and gradually got her in tow. It strained fearfully; but as soon as they had got the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i> before the wind, they had her right enough, though there was even then some danger of being pooped. The sea was high, but not so high that the jolly-boat could live, and they manned her and boarded the <i epub:type="se:name.vessel.boat">Lucca</i>.</p>
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<p>“The sailors were eager enough to get on board, but so soon as they were on deck the superstition of the sea seemed to seize them, and not one would venture from the gangway; for towards the stern there lay the bodies that they had seen, still and motionless, and evidently dead.</p>
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<p>“A terrible mystery hung over the ship—terrible, indeed!”</p>
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