CHAPTER V
The "Fusi Yama"
"At this stage of the proceedings, gentlemen," began Sir Hugh. "I think it time to reveal all I know concerning the Fusi Yama and her cargo of sunken gold."
It was the first time that the whole of the members of the Salvage Syndicate had assembled at Thalassa Towers, and what might be termed a meeting of the Board was in progress.
The scene was the smoking-room, in which a roaring fire was blazing on the hearth, for the autumn morning was decidedly chilly. On the oaken table, and held down by four leaden weights, was an Admiralty Chart of a portion of the Pacific.
"The Fusi Yama, a vessel of 4500 tons, was, you may remember," continued the baronet, "sold by a Japanese firm to a British shipping concern at Shanghai. There was rather a fuss made about it at the time, because in shipping circles it was regarded as somewhat significant that Japan had entered into commercial maritime competition to such an extent that she could build and engine vessels and sell them to a nation that hitherto held the palm for ship-construction.
"This was just before the war, and the Fusi Yama's first voyage under the British flag was from Chi-fu to Liverpool—but the voyage was never completed in the manner intended. Her cargo consisted of cotton and silk and specie and bullion to the value of a million and a half.
"Strictly speaking, the bullion and specie ought to have been sent by a regular mail-steamer, but rumours were in the air of trouble with Germany, and the consigners decided that a steamer running off the recognized route stood a better chance of getting clear of the Pacific than a liner, for there was then a powerful German cruiser-squadron based at Kiao Chau.
"However, the Fusi Yama and her cargo were fully insured, she was classed A1 at Lloyd's, had an experienced and capable skipper, so the underwriters thought they'd struck oil, so to speak.
"On the 2nd August, 1914, the Fusi Yama left Chi-fu; on the 9th she was captured by the German cruiser Nürnburg, but not before her masts were knocked away by shell-fire. You fellows know perfectly well how frequently the Hun got to know of our movements, so, looking back, it was not surprising to learn that the Fusi Yama had been shadowed from the moment she left port. Nor is it when I tell you that I have good reason to believe that the Huns are after that gold too."
A murmur of suppressed excitement ran round the room. Interest in the scheme, already keen, rose to fever-heat. There was a chance, then, of "coming up against Fritz" again, not with steel or bullet but in a contest of wits and skill, and with the almost certainty of a lavish display of low-down trickery on the side of their opponents.
"Then," continued Harborough, "the officers and crew of the captured vessel were transferred to the Nürnburg, a prize-crew was placed on board the Fusi Yama, and the two vessels steamed eastwards. Three days afterwards they fell in with a three-masted Yankee schooner bound from Singapore to 'Frisco. Arrangements were made with the skipper to take off the Fusi Yama's crew. In those days the Huns in the Pacific treated their prisoners well. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt to say that they were fairly straight as Huns go, but it may have been that they knew they were in a tight corner, and until they were out of it they had to behave decently.
"Shortly after that the Nürnburg joined the rest of von Spee's squadron, but without the Fusi Yama. It was naturally concluded that the Huns had removed her valuable cargo and, finding her slow speed a hindrance, had scuttled her.
"At any rate the million and a half had vanished. The under-writers paid up as cheerfully as they could, and wrote off the Fusi Yama as a total constructive loss.
"Now this is where the affair has a personal note. Here let me remark that I bind no one to secrecy over the matter, nor do I make any attempt to do so; but I would like to point out that not only your own but your comrades' interests will be at stake if, even incautiously, you discuss the matter with outside friends or strangers.
"There was on board the Fusi Yama a man named Williams, whom I knew when I was down on my luck in Manitoba. There was a bit of a scrap in camp, and he said I'd done him a good turn. Incidentally, his home in England—or birthplace rather—was close to mine.
"Williams was a dare-devil sort of fellow, and when the crew of the Fusi Yama were placed on board the Nürnburg he had the audacity to disguise himself as a Chinaman, with the result that he was retained by the Huns as a servant. I expect he played up to that, but it was a risky thing to do, although he certainly had features of a Mongolian type. He wore a false pigtail, which might have been fatal to him had Fritz taken it into his head to pull that. They did the next best thing; they cut it off, which saved Williams from further anxiety on that score.
"All the time he was keeping his eye on the bullion, so to speak.
"Then a Jap squadron got on von Spee's track and hustled him along. The Nürnburg had taken her prize into an unfrequented lagoon in the Marshall Archipelago, and was preparing to transfer the gold when von Spee heard that not only the Jap squadron but the Australian warships were converging on him.
"So the Fusi Yama was hurriedly scuttled in the lagoon in about fifteen fathoms, with the bullion and specie in her strong-room. Williams was the only human being, except the Nürnburg's crew, who saw the deed done, and he made good use of his eyes and wits.
"Having found out what he wanted, Williams looked out for an opportunity to part company. It was no easy matter, and not until 14th September, when von Spee's squadron was lying in Talcahuano Harbour, did the supposed Chink succeed in getting ashore.
"On 1st November von Spee's vessels sunk the Good Hope and Monmouth in action off the Chilian coast, and about six weeks later the German squadron was destroyed off the Falklands, so had the gold been placed on board the Nürnburg we should not be sitting in this room to-day. In my opinion Sturdee's action and the Zeebrugge business were the two smartest bits of work the British Navy ever did during the war."
"I saw von Spee's squadron," remarked Merridew. "I was only seventeen then, and our home was at Port Stanley. A fellow couldn't help feeling sorry for von Spee, even though he was a Hun. His ships came up quite unsuspectingly to find the old battle-ship Canopus lobbing 12-inch shells at them over the arm of the harbour. Von Spee knew his guns could outrange hers, so he held on. Then he had the shock of his life when he saw tripod masts coming round the corner. He legged it, but it was like a rat trying to get away from a terrier. There were survivors from the Nürnburg."
"Yes," agreed the baronet, "there were. We'll hear about some of them, I fancy. But to get back to friend Williams. Apparently he had a sticky time in Chile, for he was eleven months in hospital at Valparaiso. Then he worked his passage in a Yankee barque to 'Frisco, made his way across the States, and arrived in New York just about the time when the Huns started their unrestricted U-boat campaign. Signing on on board a British tramp, Williams found that once more his luck was out, for three hundred and fifty miles west of the Irish coast the tramp was torpedoed, and the survivors spent sixty hours in an open boat in heavy seas before being rescued.
"By a curious coincidence I was patrolling-officer at Falmouth when Williams was brought ashore from a 'P-boat'. I didn't recognize him at first, and no wonder; but he spotted me all right. That was soon after my brother's death, so when Williams was able to be moved I sent him here, but I knew he was done for.
"I saw him again when I was on leave, and it was then that he told me the story of the Fusi Yama's gold, and a week later he died. He left me certain papers and a rough chart showing the lagoon and the approaches. These I kept in the attaché-case which was stolen three days ago."
"Will that affect the expedition?" asked Beverley.
"Only to this extent, I believe," replied Sir Hugh. "We'll have to hurry up and get a move on. This brings me to speak of the opposition show. At present I'm rather hazy concerning the head of the rival party, but I have no hesitation in saying that we are up against a tough proposition. To the best of my belief the directing spirit is a fellow called Kristian Borgen."
"A Hun?" asked Claverhouse eagerly.
"Probably," replied Harborough. "Although just now he pretends he's a Swede. From guarded inquiries that I made at the Foreign Office I find that his papers are in order and that he's a native of Stockholm. If he isn't a Hun, he's probably a pro-German. Most Swedes are or were, because their country is practically contiguous to Germany and also because of the Huns' propaganda in Sweden during the war. Fear of her old enemy, Russia, also made her inclined towards Germany. But if Kristian Borgen is a Swede, he's plenty of Hun pals, amongst them some of the survivors of the Nürnburg."
"Where is the man?" asked Villiers.
"Here, in England," replied the baronet. "Actually in Southampton and taking steps to fit out a rival expedition. Of course as a Swede he is quite at liberty to do so; it is only if he can be proved to be a Hun that we can take action. Personally I like rivalry. It gives a zest to things, provided it is fair and above board, but there's something in the other organization that isn't, as we say in the Service, jonnick."
"Meaning that scrap on the Downs?" remarked Beverley.
"Yes, and the loss of the attaché-case," replied Harborough. "That alone is sufficient to let us know that Kristian Borgen—if my surmise is correct—means business."
"Sufficient, I think, to justify the case being reported to the police," said Claverhouse.
Sir Hugh shook his head.
"I wouldn't have people say that I brought in the police for the purpose of obtaining a free hand in the Fusi Yama treasure-hunt," declared Harborough. "In fact, the least we say about the Fusi Yama for the present the better."
"But why does the fellow come to England to fit out an expedition?" inquired Swaine.
"I rather wondered why he did," replied Sir Hugh. "You know that Scandinavia has been buying hundreds of vessels of various tonnage from us, and Borgen is admittedly an agent for their disposal. He thinks, probably, that he can equip a ship here at less cost and without exciting suspicion. At the same time he can keep an eye on us. Of course I may be totally wrong in my surmise, but this I know: there's dirty work going on, and we'll have to keep our weather eye lifting. So much for that. Now comes another point: the question of a vessel and her equipment."
"Steam or petrol?" asked Fontayne, who in pre-war days had been articled to a marine engineer.
"Neither," replied Harborough. "Coal nowadays is scarce and expensive, especially abroad. Petrol is dangerous: any of you fellows who served on M.L.'s will endorse that statement. No, I'm pinning my faith on heavy oil-engines with hot bulb ignition. They are economical, reliable and fairly simple. I'm also looking for a vessel that has a moderate sail-plan. Now, what do you think of these?"
From a drawer of a pedestal desk the baronet produced a bundle of plans and specifications and placed them on the table.
"Genuine tramp steamers are out of the question," he observed. "The present-day price is much too stiff. Here is a selection of yachts, some returned from Government service, others placed on the sale-list by their owners, who find that the pastime is too expensive for them and must needs leave them to the New Rich. Now, here's the Titania, auxiliary schooner, 260 tons registered and 409 tons Thames measurement, two six-cylinder engines giving her an approximate speed of twelve knots."
"That's not much of a speed," said Villiers.
"No, not compared with the type of vessel that you and I have been accustomed to," agreed Harborough. "Still twelve knots is not to be sneezed at. It is an economical speed. For every additional knot you would require horse-power rising by leaps and bounds and consequently more fuel-space than we can afford. And, of course, with high-speed engines the risk of mechanical breakdowns is higher than with slow-running motors, and, after all, the main object is to get to the Pacific with the least delay. Hence reliability is the thing. The vessel, according to the agent's glowing account, has cruised extensively, including voyages to the West Indies and the Mediterranean."
"Have you seen her?" asked O'Loghlin.
"No, but I propose doing so to-morrow," replied Harborough. "She's lying at Southampton in one of the yards on the Itchen. By the by, does any one here understand heavy oil-engines?"
"I do a bit," replied O'Loghlin. "I had a theoretical course, and during the war I put in three months on the kite-balloon barges. That was in the old R.N.A.S. days."
"All right," concluded Harborough. "That's settled. You, Villiers, had better come along too. Three are quite enough for the selection board."