“I noticed the name on the lifeboat,” Jerry said. “It was the Mary N. Smith, from Weymouth.”
“No!” Sandy said. “You must have gotten it mixed up in the darkness. I saw it clear as day on the stern. It was the Martin South from Yarmouth!”
“I’m sure I had it right,” Jerry said. “I remember thinking to myself that it was a pretty innocent, girlish name for such a dirty freighter!”
“Maybe you’re both right,” Lieutenant Ames said. “It sounds to me as if both names have a lot in common. They probably have a set of phony papers under each name—and maybe under three or four more names that sound a lot like those. That way, all they have to do is paint out and change a few letters after each port, instead of having the whole job to do. It allows them to make quick shifts of identity.”
“It also lets them explain that they were picked up because of an accidental similarity of names, in case of trouble,” Jerry put in. “I wonder what name they’re using now,” he added.
“That’s pretty easy to guess,” the Coast Guard officer said. “If I were changing names after leaving a port, I’d paint the bow and stern while I was at anchor, and leave the lifeboats and other things for when I was at sea. My guess is that we’ll find them sailing as the Martin South from Yarmouth.”
“Unless,” Sandy added, “unless they decided to change it to something else while at sea, after the trouble. After all, they have no idea whether Jones got us or we got him, and they’ll probably be expecting to get picked up.”
“Well, we won’t take any chances,” Ames said. “I’ll radio the Navy now to be on the lookout for any freighter with a name anything like Martin South or Mary N. Smith. And if I know those boys, we’ll have a report on them within the next few hours!”
After giving his instructions to the radio operator, Ames decided it was time to head for shore and turn over Jones, Turk and the boys to the FBI. It was decided to take the sloop in tow behind the cutter, and Sandy went over the side to find a towing line to hand up to the cutter’s deck.
“Come on over with me,” Sandy said, “and I’ll show you some of the bullet holes we’re carrying. They ought to help support our story!”