CLEARING UP THE MYSTERY
THE Patrol-leader could only surmise that the searchlight came from
a British warship. It was impossible to discern the source of that
blinding beam or to form any idea of the distance from which it
came.
Then through the night came a crisp order:
"Away sea-boat's crew!"
The steady plash of oars and the creaking of crutches announced the
approach of the warship's boat. Presently she swung athwart the
dazzling beam, the crew outlined in silver as they bent to the
pliant oars.
"Way 'nough--in bow."
Right alongside the _Marie-Celeste_ swung the boat. Lithe, active
bluejackets swarmed up the drifter's rusty sides. Loud, excited
protests on the part of the foreigners were checked by a stern order
that they were under arrest.
"Smack ahoy!" hailed an unmistakable English voice.
"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted Old Negus in reply
"Are you foul of this fellow's trawl?"
"Ay," replied the old fisherman grimly. "'Twas what I meant to do."
"Righto! Clear your gear and carry on. When do you think you'll make
Aberstour?"
"Soon as we can," declared Old Negus.
"Shout when you're clear, then," continued the boarding officer. "We
want to haul in this fellow's trawl and be taken in tow."
It was a tricky job disentangling the _Frolic's_ anchor from the
beam of the trawl, but, aided by the smack's winch, the task was
accomplished.
With a fair tide and steady head wind the _Frolic_ beat homeward.
Before long the destroyer overtook her with the _Marie-Celeste_ in
tow.
"I'll be gettin' a new otter trawl out o' she," remarked Old Negus,
jerking his thumb in the direction of the captured drifter. "T'old
'un was a bit shaky," he added with a grin. "But it fair beats me to
know 'ow that there destroyer came up just when she were wanted."
* * * * * *
It was not until the following day that the question was answered.
Brandon and Old Negus had to attend court as witnesses against the
crew of the _Marie-Celeste_. Then it came out that the coastguards
had picked up Brandon's signals, but very wisely they refrained from
answering them lest the poachers should take alarm.
The coastguards immediately telephoned to the Divisional
Headquarters at Aberstour. The fishery protection gunboat was away,
her position by wireless being given as eighty miles sou'-sou'-west
of her port.
Clearly she was too far away, even at her speed of twenty-two knots,
to be on the scene in time; so Aberstour sent out a general wireless
call, which was picked up by the destroyer _Seagull_, which was on
her way from Portsmouth to Sheerness, and at the time was only
eleven miles from the Silverknoll Bank. Thirty-five minutes after
receiving the message the _Seagull_ had captured the
_Marie-Celeste_.
Caught red-handed the Belgians were fined £200 and their gear
confiscated. Old Negus received £50 compensation for the deliberate
destruction of his trawl, and Patrol-leader Brandon was highly
complimented for his part in the capture of the poachers:
More than that, the mystery of the scarcity of fish on the
Silverknoll Bank was satisfactorily cleared up, since foreign
drifters no longer run the risk of trawling within the three-mile
limit off that part of the coast.