The Night Desk · Season 2 · Case 42 · Sunday cold case ·
The Halcyon on the Bar
Twenty-two years ago tonight the brig Halcyon struck Harrow Bar in the snow. Her silver went down with her. Or so everyone said.
The case file
Sunday cold case. Twenty-two years ago tonight, on December 6, 1904, the brig Halcyon struck Harrow Bar in a snowstorm. Her crew got ashore at Fogbell Point in the boats. The inquiry found that her strongbox, $12,000 in silver coin, went down with her. This week divers on the new Bar beacon brought it up. It is empty, and its padlock was sawn through before she sank.
In the hour before she struck, five of her people stood at five stations: the pumps, the bow, the galley, the 'tween decks and the boats. Each had a tool to hand: a hacksaw, a cold chisel, a boat axe, a carving knife or a belaying pin. All five live in Port Merrow still, and one of them is lying.
Who was there
- Captain Matthias Rowse, mate of the Halcyon, now a harbor pilot. Square, gray and quiet, the man who brought the last boat ashore that night.
- Amos Eathorne, boatswain of the Halcyon, now a net maker. Hands like rope, one ear deaf from the gale, and the inquiry's best witness.
- Mrs. Tamsin Blamey, stewardess of the Halcyon, now a landlady. Still walks as if the floor might tilt, and still makes the best cocoa on the quay.
- Thomas Rosewarne, carpenter of the Halcyon, now an undertaker. Black coat, a measuring eye, and a carpenter's chest he has never opened since.
- Sam Tregear, ship's boy of the Halcyon, now a lifeboatman. Thirteen that night, thirty-five now, and he has not forgotten a minute of it.
The places: the pumps, the bow, the galley, the 'tween decks and the boats.
The means: a hacksaw, a cold chisel, a boat axe, a carving knife and a belaying pin.
Case 42 · Sunday, December 6
The questioning room
This case's night is Sunday, December 6, from midnight your time. The questioning room plays here with JavaScript on; the case file above reads without it.
The inspector's note: Polish is not proof
A witness in a cold case has had years to tell the story, and a liar will tell it most smoothly of all, with the richest detail and the firmest dates. Ignore the polish. Line each claim up against the others and find where two people cannot both be right. The name that keeps turning up in those pairs is the one to doubt.
How to solve a Night Desk case, with a worked example.
The solution
The night desk's write-up appears here once you solve the case, or from Monday, December 7, the night after it opens.