There were quite a few people in the anteroom and the secretaries’ room when I was shown in to see Sir Joshua.
Something unusual was clearly happening. People whispered as I passed, and I caught a few remarks.
“That’s Sir John Custance, the Commissioner of Air Police.”
“I expect there’s some news.”
Sir Joshua was sitting in his magnificent private office. Through the huge window I could see Drake’s Island, Mount Edgcumbe, and the open horizon.
A lunch tray and a decanter stood on the table. The room was thick with cigar smoke.
Sir Joshua was nearly seventy. He was a tall, heavy man with a red face, purple veins showing through his cheeks, snow-white hair, and short whiskers.
He had been one of the pioneers of commercial aviation and had made a fortune from it. He now controlled the finest air fleet in the world and possessed, heaven knew, millions of pounds.
He was an able and honest man. His only weaknesses were a touch of pomposity and the curious belief that the Commissioner of Air Police was somehow an unpaid official of the White Star Line.
Several great air-shipping magnates had tried to treat me that way before. None of them had enjoyed the experience.
But Sir Joshua was certainly not pompous that afternoon. His face twitched with anxiety as he shook my hand.
“Thank God you’ve come, Sir John,” he said. “I’m nearly out of my mind with worry. You’ll agree that this business is about as serious as anything could possibly be?”
I decided it was wiser not to answer that directly.
“I’ve already spoken to Superintendent Pilot Lashmar,” I said. “What I need now, Sir Joshua, is a short and exact account from you personally.”
“Sit down.”
He pushed a padded chair towards me and offered me a box of cigars.
“You shall have the whole thing in a nutshell.”
He sat opposite me, pulled several papers towards him, and began reading. His hand was trembling slightly.
“Our liner Albatros, carrying the mails, left New York yesterday morning at about seven o’clock American time.”
“That put her arrival here at Plymouth at approximately six-thirty this afternoon, Greenwich time.”
“The weather at the ten-thousand-foot level, where our mail liners normally fly, was perfect.”
“Besides the mail, she had about two hundred passengers.”
“And there was something else aboard that only a handful of our officials knew about.”
“A parcel of exceptionally valuable Brazilian diamonds had been sent from Tiffany’s in New York to Aaron and Harris, the Hatton Garden dealers in precious stones.”
“The diamonds were locked in the ship’s safe, under the care of the purser.”
“Several ships sighted the Albatros during the day and exchanged signals with her.”
“She also reported herself by wireless whenever she passed one of the lightships after nightfall.”
“The lightships are positioned roughly a hundred miles apart, from the Fastnet to Long Island, and they are connected by cable to our telegraph room here.”
“The instruments in this office record the exact geographical position of every one of our ships while they are in the air.”
“Each position is printed on a strip of tape beneath the corresponding dial, and a clerk checks the records every hour or two.”
I already knew all of this. Every detail of the system was familiar to me.
I wished he would stop explaining the machinery and get to the important part.
Sir Joshua seemed to notice my impatience and gave me an apologetic look.
“You see, Sir John, I thought it best to prepare a short and coherent statement for the newspapers.”
“They haven’t discovered anything yet, but we can’t keep the matter secret much longer.”
“Even you couldn’t keep it from them forever, with all your authority.”
“What I’m reading to you is the statement I’ve prepared.”
“I particularly want you to hear it because you’ll have to decide whether it should be released in this form.”
I nodded.
Sir Joshua continued.
“At ten o’clock last night, the clerk on duty checked the tapes.”
“When he reached the record for the Albatros, he discovered that there was no record of her position for two whole hours.”
“The last entry showed that she had passed Lightship A.70 and signalled that everything was all right.”
“A two-hour gap was so extraordinary, considering how efficient our system is, that the clerk became alarmed and reported it to his superior.”
“We immediately sent out a general call to every ship then in the air.”
“Within minutes, several replied.”
“None of them had seen the Albatros.”
“And there was no reply from the Albatros herself.”
“We then contacted Lightship A.71, which should have been her next stop.”
“They told us that she had never passed them.”
“By eleven o’clock, everyone in this office knew what had happened.”
“The night staff were becoming seriously alarmed.”
“Fortunately, I happened to be attending a performance at the Theatre Royal nearby with Lady Johnson and my daughters.”
“The staff knew where I was, so a messenger intercepted me as soon as the performance ended.”
“I came here immediately.”
“I had been in the office less than five minutes when the most extraordinary and sensational news began arriving from our receiving station near the Citadel.”
Sir Joshua paused for a moment.
“Captain Pring, one of our most reliable pilot commanders, was in charge of the Albatros.”
“The message came from him.”
“This is the substance of what he reported.”
“At sunset, the Albatros was flying at ten thousand feet.”
“Lightship A.70 was about twenty miles behind her.”
“There were no other airships in sight.”
“Then the lookout reported another ship approaching rapidly from the east.”
“The Albatros was travelling at her normal ninety knots.”
“But as the stranger came closer, they saw that she was much smaller and moving at an almost unbelievable speed.”
“Pring estimated that she was covering a mile in sixteen to eighteen seconds.”
“That must be a mistake in the message.”
“The stranger showed no identifying lights and gave no signal.”
“She simply shot past the Albatros at a distance of about half a mile.”
“There were several strange things about her that immediately attracted attention.”
“Unfortunately, we still don’t know exactly what those things were.”
“Then the mysterious ship turned around.”
“She caught up with the Albatros and began flying around her in wide spirals as easily as if the liner were standing still.”
“And then, without the slightest warning, she opened fire.”
“The first shell was clearly aimed at the Albatros‘s wireless equipment.”
“It destroyed it completely.”
My heart leapt.
Now this was news.
I had to use every ounce of self-control I possessed to stop myself from firing questions at him.
It was almost impossible to believe.
Nothing like this had happened since the League of Nations had been established.
If armed aircraft were once again attacking civilian ships, it could mean the beginning of another terrible war.
Sir Joshua stopped to drink some water.
He understood the seriousness of the situation as well as I did.
At my nod, he continued, his voice unsteady.
“The Albatros was helpless.”
“Under the international agreement, only naval, military, and police aircraft are allowed to carry weapons.”
“So the liner had absolutely no means of defending herself.”
“She couldn’t even escape.”
“With her wireless destroyed, she couldn’t call for help.”
“Then the attacking ship turned a machine gun on the Albatros‘s rudder and shot it out of action.”
“Captain Pring had no choice.”
“He ordered the liner down onto the water.”
“The Albatros descended and settled on her floats.”
“The other ship followed her down and landed less than two hundred yards away.”
“Then the stranger sent a Morse signal using a Klaxon horn.”
“They announced that they were sending men aboard the Albatros.”
“They also warned that if the captain or crew offered the slightest resistance, they would blow the liner to pieces.”
“A collapsible Berthon boat was launched from a door in the rear fuselage.”
“Four men were inside.”
“All four carried large-calibre automatic pistols.”
“They wore pilot’s hoods and masks with talc windows over the eyes, so no one could identify them.”
“Pring could do nothing.”
“He had two hundred passengers to protect.”
“The men went straight for the safe and took the women’s jewel cases.”
“They left the mail untouched.”
“Ten minutes later they were back aboard their own ship with the stolen valuables.”
“Their aircraft took off and disappeared into the darkness at about two hundred miles an hour.”
“The Albatros was left helpless on the water.”
“It took the crew several hours to construct a temporary rudder.”
“Fortunately, her searchlights were still working.”
“She used them to signal for help until she was finally spotted by a large cargo steamer called the Sant Iago, sailing from Baltimore to Cadiz.”
“The Sant Iago came up from the south.”
“She took the passengers aboard and is bringing them home.”
“She’s only a fifteen-knot ship, but I’ve already sent one of our smaller liners to meet her and transfer the passengers.”
“They should reach Plymouth sometime tomorrow.”
“The Sant Iago has wireless equipment.”
“She was therefore able to communicate with us.”
“She also contacted the air-yacht May Flower, which she spotted at dawn flying at four thousand feet.”
“May Flower belongs to Mr. Van Adams, the Philadelphia millionaire.”
“He’s crossing to England with a party of friends.”
“She descended to the water and took Captain Pring and the second officer aboard.”
“She should reach Plymouth by tea-time this afternoon.”
“Then we’ll know more about this unprecedented and appalling affair.”
“And what about the Albatros, Sir Joshua?”
“We left a small crew aboard her.”
“An emergency tender and a team of workers went out at dawn.”
“She should be flying again tonight.”
At last I had all the facts.
Even before Sir Joshua finished speaking, my mind was racing.
There was going to be an enormous uproar.
Within twenty-four hours, England and America would be furious.
Every pilot in the business would be pointing an accusing finger at me.
That meant everyone from the captains of the great London-Brindisi-Bombay liners and the Transatlantic fleet to the commercial traveller proudly flying some battered second-hand fifty-horsepower aircraft.
“Thank you, Sir Joshua,” I said.
“That was remarkably clear.”
“If I may say so, you’ve managed to combine a precise statement of facts with a very vivid account of what happened.”
“I don’t think the newspapers could ask for anything better.”
“You think so, Sir John?”
“When the time comes to give the story to the newspapers, I wouldn’t change a word.”
That was how a little well-placed flattery allowed me to escape a situation that might otherwise have become rather uncomfortable.
I stood up.
“I must leave you now, Sir Joshua.”
“I have a great deal to deal with and need to rejoin Mr. Lashmar.”
“Steps have already been taken.”
“Later today I’ll be able to tell you more.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll see Captain Pring the moment May Flower arrives.”
“And I’ll see him before anyone else.”
“What we do next will depend heavily on what he tells us.”
I said it all in my shortest, most official tone.
Then I left the room as quickly as possible.
Lashmar was waiting for me.
I took him by the arm and hurried him out of the office.
“I’ve just heard the full story, Lashmar.”
“It’s pretty bad.”
“Now tell me—has anything been done on our side?”
“I had two of our patrol ships sent out at two-thirty this morning, sir.”
“They’ve been searching a very wide area ever since.”
“They’re still out there and reporting every hour.”
“Any results?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“No strange airship has been seen anywhere.”
“I’ve been searching the Irish coast and the Scillies myself this morning.”
“More to satisfy procedure than because I expected to find anything.”
“I’ve also sent the entire story, as far as we know it, by cable to the United States.”
“Good.”
“Have they replied?”
“Their police ships are searching from Cape Breton all the way down to the Bermudas.”
“So far they haven’t seen anything unusual.”
“Of course,” I said, “searching that enormous stretch of ocean is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“It’s about eight hundred miles, if it’s an inch.”
“But as far as I’m concerned, this is their problem, not ours.”
“You think so, sir?”
“Of course.”
“This is straightforward piracy.”
“Whoever these men are, they’ve organized the operation with extraordinary skill.”
“And they’ve got an aircraft of enormous size and power.”
“There isn’t a factory in England capable of building such a machine without us knowing about it before it ever left the ground.”
“And there certainly isn’t anywhere on these small islands where they could hide something that large.”
“Every flying machine in the country has to be registered and licensed by me.”
“I mean every machine.”
“Even a contraption made from spruce and piano wire with a motorbike engine that can barely get ten yards off the ground.”
“No.”
“This is an American operation.”
We had been crossing the Hoe towards the Citadel while we talked.
Now we reached the long, low building of Dartmoor stone that housed the Plymouth headquarters of the Air Police.
It stood right on the edge of the cliff, barely five yards from the spot where Sir Francis Drake was supposed to have finished his game of bowls while the Spanish Armada was sailing up the Channel.
We went through the gates.
The police sentry presented arms.
Then we walked up and down the terrace.
“Signal Southampton,” I ordered.
“Tell them to send two of their fastest boats here immediately.”
“They may be needed in an emergency.”
“And it will at least look as though we’re doing something.”
“Have them ready for action, with full service ammunition and bombs.”
“Sir Joshua can have a fit if he likes.”
“There isn’t anything else we can do until we know more.”
“Unless you’ve got some better idea?”
The little man shook his head.
Lashmar was as sharp and energetic as ever.
He had already acted quickly and sensibly.
Just then an orderly stepped onto the terrace and handed me a signal.
I read it aloud.
“Air-yacht May Flower has just passed St. Mary’s doing ninety knots.”
The message had come from our westernmost Air Police station on Tresco in the Scilly Isles.
Lashmar quickly worked out the distance.
“Twenty-five miles west-southwest of Land’s End,” he said.
“Add another seventy miles.”
“She’ll be here in just under an hour, sir.”
“Then here’s what we’ll do, Mr. Lashmar.”
“Go and meet her.”
“Escort her all the way home.”
“And make absolutely certain that no one speaks to Captain Pring before I do.”
“Not a single person.”
“Not even Sir Joshua.”
“Not even anyone from White Star.”
“Those are my orders.”
“But be extremely polite when you give them to Mr. Van Adams.”
“Offer him my compliments and all that sort of thing.”
“He’s rich enough to buy the goodwill of the entire universe if he has enough cash in his pocket.”
“Make the escort look like a special compliment from the Government.”
Lashmar never wasted words.
He understood immediately.
He saluted and hurried towards the electric railway that ran down the cliff like a chute to the sea-drome far below.
I lit a cigarette and watched him go.
It was quite a sight.
Below us lay the largest sea-drome in Britain—a harbour inside a harbour, enclosed by massive concrete walls.
Even in the worst weather, when the Sound outside the distant breakwater was rough and dangerous, the sea-drome itself remained as calm as a pond.
That afternoon it looked like polished silver.
Three enormous airliners rested on their floats at their moorings.
Electric launches and motorboats moved constantly between the ships and the landing stages.
At the centre of everything was the magnificent Atlantis, elegant as a swan.
Connie was supposed to leave for America aboard her in just a few hours.
From where I stood, the little boats surrounding her looked like water beetles.
A bell rang.
A deep rumble followed.
Then the railway car shot out of the tunnel beneath me and raced towards the water with Lashmar aboard.
It seemed to shrink as it moved away—from a small boat to a matchbox and finally to something no larger than a postage stamp.
Behind me, I heard the creak and hiss of the semaphore on the station roof.
Across the sea-drome stood our Patrol Ship No. 1.
She had a streamlined fuselage, the familiar red, white, and blue stripe, brilliant white planes, guns mounted fore and aft, and twin phosphor-bronze propellers flashing brightly in the afternoon sun.
The semaphore signal was spotted within five seconds.
I raised my glasses.
The engines were already ticking over.
Lashmar jumped into a launch and raced across the water, leaving a cream-white wake behind him.
Two great plumes of spray rose six feet into the air from the bows.
He reached the patrol ship almost immediately.
A moment later, the faint throb of her four high-compression engines changed into the angry drone of a giant hornet.
Patrol Ship No. 1 slid across the water.
Her floats lifted.
They rose higher and higher until they were barely touching the surface.
Then she was airborne.
She made one smooth spiral over Pinklecombe and climbed rapidly.
A moment later she turned and shot away over Rams Head like an arrow from a bow.
I may be biased, but the officers and men of the Air Police were about as good as any force could possibly be.
I still had roughly forty-five minutes before May Flower could arrive.
The Royal Hotel was less than four minutes away.
After everything that had happened, a cup of tea with Connie seemed exactly what I needed.
As I hurried across the Hoe, I realized that I might be occupied for a long time.
That meant I could easily be late for dinner.
I would have to tell my girl that something extremely important had happened.
But whatever happened, I was determined to see her off when she left.
Then I remembered something.
As Chief Commissioner, I had absolute control over every airport in England during an emergency.
There was no reason not to use that authority.
It would be sensible to close the sea-drome before May Flower arrived.
Then I could be absolutely certain that nobody could reach Captain Pring before me.
And if I later had to delay even the Royal Mail for half an hour, given the circumstances, I doubted anyone would dare object.
There was a telephone booth in the hall of the Royal Hotel.
Within thirty seconds, I had given my orders.
From that moment on, nobody was to enter or leave Plymouth sea-drome without my permission.
Then I walked into the winter gardens.
Connie was sitting at a small table surrounded by tubs of azaleas, listening to a ladies’ orchestra.
“I’ve got exactly half an hour and ten minutes, darling,” I said.
I put my watch on the table and helped myself to some early strawberries.
“Tell me when the time is up.”
“Then I have to rush away for an hour before dinner.”
And just like that, I forgot all about the Albatros.
I forgot about Captain Pring.
I forgot about the mysterious armed ship somewhere over the Atlantic.
Now that I know what happened afterward, I can’t understand how I could have taken the whole affair so lightly.
It was a grave matter.
It was astonishing in its boldness.
It was a carefully planned and completely unexpected masterpiece of crime.
But at the time, it seemed far away.
It felt like something I might read about in a foreign newspaper—something that could never possibly touch my own life.
If only I had been able to look even a little way into the future.