HMS Investigator

“ This tale recites one of the many stirring experiences of the crew of her majesty's ship Investigator, which, after having been frozen fast in the ice-floes of Mercy Bay, Banks Land, for two years, was abandoned, June 3, 1853. Owing to lack of provisions, the men, living on two-thirds rations for twenty months, were obliged to keep the field for hunting purposes so as to avoid death by starvation. ”

“ These natives are a much stouter class of people than any I have yet seen (those of Jarvis Bay excepted) . On returning to the beach Mr. Evans, mate, and one of the seamen belonging to the Investigator were missing. Lieutenant Fowler and the rest of the gentlemen waited until dark in hopes of their appearing and then went on board and a boat with a midshipman was immediately sent to wait at the beach but as neither appeared the boat returned. In the morning two guns were fired from the Investigator as signals and we saw two boats go to shore we supposed to search for those missing. ”

“ The history of maritime discovery is strewn with rotten ships. Certainly if the great navigators, before venturing to face the unknown, had waited to be provided with vessels fit to make long voyages, the progress of research would have been much slower than was the case. It sounds like hyperbole to say that, when pitch and planks failed, these gallant seamen stopped their leaks with hope and ardour; but really, something like that is pretty near the truth.
The fitting out of the Investigator proceeded busily during January and February, 1801. The Admiralty was liberal in its allowances. ”

“ Arnold Hythe duly joined the "Investigator" as officer in charge of the diving parties. Twelve first-class seamen-divers were drafted into the ship, while special gear for "creeping" was placed on board. Submarine apparatus for recording by sound the presence of submerged craft under way was also installed, so that it was impossible for any vessel making the faintest noise to approach within two miles of the "Investigator." Even the wavelets lapping the bows of a passing fishing-smack would be reproduced with unerring fidelity. ”

“ Whereas Captain Matthew Flinders, commander of His Majesty's ship Investigator, has requested permission to receive on board that ship the undermentioned convicts as seamen, to make up the number he is deficient. ”

“ The whole ship's company journeyed across to where the Herald lay, and, in the interchange of yarns and the assurance of abundance of food and rest till the ice broke up, they found just the requisite stimulus to overcome all the evil effects of their past trials and privations. With a few men from the Herald to relieve the members of his crew who were on the sick-list, Captain McClure returned to the Investigator after a few days, and when the [Pg 58] summer arrived he worked his vessel out into open water. ”

“ M—-,* (* Marsden.) for all of whom I have the greatest regard. who scarcely speak to each other. It is really a miserable thing to split a small society into such small parts. Why do you ladies meddle with politics? But I do not mean YOU."
What subsequently happened to the Investigator, a ship which had played so memorable a part in discovery, may be chronicled in a few lines. She was used as a store ship in Sydney harbour till 1805. In that year she was patched sufficiently to take her to England. Captain William Kent commanded her on the voyage, leaving Sydney on May 24th. ”

“ Few secrets can escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest, and skill to follow it up. ”

“ He would, of course, spare no pains to fathom the mystery; drastic measures would be taken to secure the detection of the culprit and the restitution of the necklace to its rightful owner. The ship would be minutely, if quietly, searched; not a member of the crew, from captain to stoker, would be spared, nor any passenger against whom there might develop the least cause for suspicion. Detectives would meet the ship at New York and co-operate with the customs officials in a most minute investigation of the passengers’ effects. Everything possible would be done—trust the captain! ”

“ He thought a chance was about to present itself for him to get away.
A moment he lay quiet, and then emerged from his hiding-place.
The warehouse was artificially illuminated by a few swinging lamps, and only one was lighted at the time.
The detective cautiously glanced around. He had prepared himself for the work he had in hand. He saw a light in a distant corner and he cautiously stole toward the light, and came upon a man sorting over the contents of a sailor's ship-sack.
It was a critical moment; life depended upon success, death would follow, sure death, the failure of his plan. ”

“ I got a wire shortly after the ship left Havre on Saturday, and it said that one of the Liverpool detectives, Sergeant Mackay, was watching your ship before she sailed. He was looking out for a man also wanted for murder, not this Vane—a different person altogether. ”

“ There was a telephone instrument in the room that speedily put the distracted father in communication with one of his detectives over on the mainland. A long talk followed, the upshot of it being that the detective in charge of the search asked that the “Meteor” be sent over to Wood’s Hole at once, that she might be ready for any sea-going following-up of clues that might be necessary.
“For, of course, we’ve got to find that cabin sloop,” finished Detective Musgrave. “If the sloop isn’t at sea, then the chase undoubtedly must be followed on the mainland. ”

“ With a quick movement, the spy plucked a leather case from his coat pocket and hurled it over the edge of the quay, then, throwing up his arms, he dropped lifeless upon the rain-sodden ground.
Rapidly a crowd collected. Amongst them was Detective-inspector Ferret, who, having finished his conversation with his luckless confrère, was leaving the post office when he heard the commotion.
"Well, what's all this?" he asked brusquely. He bent over the body of the spy and flashed a pocket-lamp upon his face. "It's our man," he continued, addressing the lads in an undertone. ”

“ To the great credit of the British Navy, be it said that this crime is held almost equal to murder, and when an officer is convicted of it, the trial is in camera, and the findings kept secret; but no matter how high his rank, he is stripped of his standing and marched over the side of the ship as a degraded criminal and an outcast. A man of the ranks convicted of it usually spends the rest of his natural life in prison. ”

“ FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Apart from the Eck case did you, during the war, or after, hear of any other instance in which a U-boat commander fired on shipwrecked people or life rafts?
DÖNITZ: Not a single one.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: You know, do you not, the documents of the Prosecution which describe the sinking of the ships Noreen Mary and Antonico? Do you or do you not recognize the soundness of these documents as evidence according to your experience in these matters?
DÖNITZ: No. I believe that they cannot stand the test of an impartial examination. ”

“ The detective awoke, leaped to his feet, and confronted a powerful-looking man in an oil-skin suit.
"Hello! who are you, and what are you doing here?" came the inquiry from the stranger.
"These are just the questions I'm putting to you," answered our hero.
"Well, stranger, my questions are first, I reckon."
"You're right; but tell me, am I in your quarters?"
"No, not exactly; this shanty was built for common use; but where did you come from?"
"I came from the sea."
"You're a man, you're not a fish; how did you come in from the sea?" ”

“ Captain Martin mused a moment and then broke into a laugh.
"And so," he said, "you think we are spread out along this road for the conspirators to grab off?"
"If they can, of course; but that is not stating the case right. We are spread out along the road to Peking to catch the men who will try to stop us. See? We are here to watch for those who will try to catch us, and to catch them! What do you think of that?"
"Clever!" exclaimed the Captain.
"The system is an old one in detective work," Ned explained. ”

“ Indeed, it appears to us that all of the witnesses who said so, did it rather by way of inference from the caulking which another witness said had been done to the ship, and from the condition in which the soap was, than from an examination of the ship. The witness Goodsell, more relied upon than any other witness to prove the leaks in the deck, does not do so satisfactorily from the usual examination made by shipwrights when they are called upon to ascertain such a fact. ”

“ Although they could have brought hundreds to the examination, and the sum of whose evidence would have amounted to the same, yet the committee not wishing to impede the progress of the investigation, by a redundancy of evidence, they were careful to select such men as were most likely to give a clear and distinct account of all the circumstances as they occurred under their knowledge, taking care, at the same time, to procure those whose different situations afforded them an opportunity of witnessing that transaction, from the commencement to the close. ”

“ COL. PHILLIMORE: You see, all your orders were so clear, were they not? Have you got the Defense documents there in the witness box?
GODT: I think so—no.
COL. PHILLIMORE: Look at the Defense Document Number Dönitz-8, Page 10. It is on Page 10 of that book. Let me just read you the second paragraph:
“U-boats may instantly attack, with all the weapons at their command, enemy merchant vessels recognized with certainty as armed, or announced as such, on the basis of unimpeachable evidence in the possession of the Naval Operations Staff.” ”

“ The main work of the department, however, is on a par with the collection of evidence, the unravelling of secret mysteries, and the study and handling of character—which any man of the world would have probably at once concluded was more fitted to the controlling influence of experienced Criminal and Commercial Investigators rather than to long-service officers who have been strapped to their stool by strict disciplinary red-tapeism from their teens upwards. ”

“ The routine of naval espionage is very similar in character to that followed by military spies. The naval spy, however, must be a rather more intelligent and highly trained man than his military confrère, and cases that have come to light prove that his position is one of more responsibility, and that he is entrusted with more funds for the carrying out of his work. It is an interesting fact that, for many years past, officers and men of the German naval service have been employed along the East coast of England in compiling extremely detailed plans of places and fortifications. ”

“ No force or threat of force was employed. Indeed, the inspection was made with the full cooperation of petitioner's staff. There is some suggestion that the search was unreasonable because made by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who were not persons authorized to conduct those examinations. But they acted under the auspices and with the authority of representatives of the Navy Department who were authorized to inspect. The inspection was nevertheless an inspection by the Navy, though its officials were aided by agents of another department. ”

“ Meantime the detective had reached a most extraordinary determination. He saw that the chances were against him if he sought to reach the boat in which he and Taylor had crossed from the mainland; and yet it ways absolutely necessary that he should have a boat. He reasoned that the smugglers would scatter all over the island, and concluded that the safest place for him was the starting-point of the searchers. It required a cool, level-headed man to decide under all the circumstances, and our hero was just the sort of man described. ”

“ The rule, which is universal in civil actions, that a plaintiff cannot be admitted as a witness in his own cause, does not apply to criminal prosecutions, which are always supposed to be at the suit of the crown, and on behalf of the public. The court afterwards re-assembled, Captain Taylor’s evidence was admitted, and the prisoner was dismissed from the rank of Lieutenant, and adjudged to serve in the navy as a Midshipman. ”

“ The men had made a thorough search, and all hands were still of the opinion that the detective, or whoever it was that had been tracking them, still remained secreted somewhere on the island.
One of the men, a shrewd fellow, offered several singular suggestions. He had accurately measured the tracks of the man who had laid out two members of the crew, and he had found duplicate foot imprints down around the rendezvous.
A more dazed and bewildered set of men were never engaged in an illegal traffic. ”

“ It’s sport listening to folks telling all they know about a thing that you know more about and they never guessing it.”
“Yes,” agreed Frank, “and I can understand now how detectives and Secret Service men find out so much without any one suspecting them. They just start a conversation and then let the other fellows do the talking and pick up a lot of information. But that was rich about the sharks!”
“And the devil fish too!” added Tom. “Wonder if there is any danger from being attacked by an octopus. Say, if there is that’s where our undersea radio would come in mighty fine.” ”

“ After indictments had been returned against some of the Hamburg-American officials for conspiring to defraud the United States of legal clearance papers, Koenig, assisted by a private detective in the pay of Captain Boy-Ed, developed a scheme to get affidavits from tugboat captains to the effect that they had supplied English war vessels patrolling off Sandy Hook with provisions. ”