By order of the authorities, James Stauncy was removed from Exeter to
London, and lodged in Newgate. According to the law of those times,
it was necessary for him to be tried before the Lords of the
Admiralty; and on the 25th of February, 1755, the case came on in
Justice Hall, at the Old Bailey.
The court was crowded, as is usual on such occasions, by worthless
idlers, by men and women whose curiosity and morbid interest in
criminal cases bespoke a low mental and moral standard, and by a
large number of respectable persons interested in mercantile law,
some of whom knew about Mr. Phillipson, and had heard the rumour that
he was in fact the guilty man.
No pains or money had been spared by Mr. Phillipson to secure an
efficient counsel; and when the prisoner was placed at the bar and
the trial commenced, there was not a countenance in that motley
company of barristers, jurymen, witnesses, and on that did not give
evidence of intense excitement. The captain looked pale and
careworn, but he answered when appealed to, with a firm voice, 'Not
guilty;' for though he had determined to give his life rather than
break his vow by betraying his tempter, he would not publicly confess
to a crime, when in his conviction, mistaken as it was, he had only
discharged a duty.
Jim Ortop, on being sworn, related the facts of the case in a
straightforward way; but, becoming sadly bewildered by a severe
cross-questioning, the general opinion went in favour of the
prisoner. The next witness, however, most effectually turned the
scale. He was a short, thick-set man, who described himself as a
diver in the employment of the Government. He stated that, having
sailed in a diving-bell ship from Plymouth to Lundy, he was ordered,
in company with another man now in court, to look for and examine the
Sarah Ann, and found her on a sandy bottom in seven fathoms water.
He went on to say that they discovered a hole in the side of the
ship, which had been purposely bored, no doubt; and that he was
prepared to swear the brig had been scuttled. This worthy searcher
of the seas and revealer of marine mysteries could neither be twisted
nor shaken by the clever counsel for the defence; and when the augur
was held up to view, there was a confused hum of many voices in
Stauncy's disfavour.
Mr. Mogford and the cook were next examined, but they could not
directly oppose the evidence of the diver. They lauded the captain
as he deserved to be lauded, extolled his seamanship during the
storm, and declared it was utterly impossible for him to be guilty of
the charge. The latter was particularly eloquent in his defence,
and, when drawn out purposely by counsel, unfolded all the secrets of
his heart as to the criminality of the merchant. So clear and
truth-like were his assertions, so fervid and telling was his
declamation, that the tide set in strong again on Stauncy's side, and
the sympathies of the people were his from that time forward. So
general was the conviction that he had been a deeply injured man, and
was but a scapegoat for the merchant, that he was requested, at the
special desire of the jury, to throw some light on Pickard's
evidence; but he declined. The judge summed up therefore, and the
twelve arbiters of his fate retired to consider their verdict. A
buzz of earnest voices increased to an unmistakable clamour; and the
cook, freed from the restraint of the witness-box, defamed the
merchant in the strongest language he could command, vowing vengeance
in terms which gained the sympathy of a multitude by no means
unwilling to make a demonstration on the captain's behalf.
The jurymen returned; the usual form was observed, and the fatal word
'GUILTY' was uttered by the foreman.
There were those then present who felt more than Stauncy did when the
verdict was announced. A flush of emotion for a moment suffused his
cheek, but it passed quickly away; and, whilst others were weeping in
sorrowful compassion, he stood calmly waiting the sentence of death.
'And _that's_ the end of it!' said Mogford to the cook, as they left
the court together. 'Why, Sam, he's as bad as a suicide. He ought
to have turned king's evidence against that old rogue in Appledore.
Why didn't he let it all out?'
'Can't tell, Mr. Mogford,' replied Pickard; 'it's unfathomable; but
the end of it hasn't come yet. If those Lords of the Admiralty don't
take notice of what I said, I'll swear information against the
merchant, and feel certain that diver will bring him to judgment.
Bales of broadcloth, Mr. Mogford! nothing but list, I'll lay my life;
and if the cap'n held his tongue to screen that varnished hypocrite,
_I_ won't.'
'What _do_ you mean, Sam?'
'I mean that Phillipson intended to kill two birds with one stone--to
get a heavy insurance on the brig, which he consigned to the deep,
and a heavy insurance on the sham cargo. It isn't the first time,
neither, that them bales have done service in that way.'
'The dodger!' exclaimed the mate.
'The villainous scamp!' responded Sam warmly. 'His money and his
station have guarded him so far, and no one has dared to whisper the
truth without suffering for it; but let the wind set in another way,
and you'll see that many of his prime supporters will turn out to be
his prime foes. Opinions chop right round often.'
In consequence of his depositions, a second request was made to the
Government by the insurance company concerned that the Sarah Ann
might be again examined; and a couple of detectives were sent to
Appledore to keep an eye on the merchant, who was in first-rate
spirits when he heard the issue of the trial, and had no doubt any
more of Stauncy's fidelity.
His rejoicing, however, was short. That bright gleam of sunshine was
followed by portentous signs of a coming tempest in the persons of
the two strangers, and the barometer of hope sank rapidly every hour.
Those vigilant gentlemen appeared to take note of everything, and
turned up everywhere. Without interfering with any one, they seemed
to be minding everybody's business, and were specially attentive to
the merchant's residence. No vessel left the port without being
carefully scrutinized; nor could a 'butt' pass through the place
without being favoured with an examination. They seemed gifted with
ubiquity, and were set down at last by the merchant's conscience as
spies on himself. This conviction grew into absolute assurance when
a rumour reached him that the Sarah Ann was to be raised by order of
the Government, and he began to tremble for his safety. Neither
money nor friends could help him, as he foresaw, so that he was left
to the exercise of his wits, on the acuteness of which he prided
himself, and which had never failed him yet.
As a means of securing timely information, he despatched his son to
Lundy in a yacht, and engaged the services of smugglers up and down
the coast, to give him a sign in case of threatening appearances. A
week had not passed after these precautions had been taken before the
tub-shaped ship, which had aforetime excited the curiosity of the
Appledore mariners when lying in the Pool, appeared off Lundy; but
ere the waters were touched by the hive-shaped home of the divers,
young Phillipson weighed anchor and stood in for Bideford Bar. The
wind was unfavourable, and before he could pass the fair-way buoy a
six-oared gig sped swiftly by, and landed a gentleman whose
acquaintance we have already made at West Appledore. Mr. Cocks
immediately put himself in communication with the detectives, who
proceeded at once to mount guard at Mr. Phillipson's house; so that
he felt himself a prisoner. He was too knowing, however, to take any
notice of the new movement; and though his ingenuity was greatly
taxed, he did not betray his uneasiness.