The unfortunate Happenings of the Steam Yacht Scintillante

[maddox]

A sideline on Desertfox's Opening Moves Part Deux.

Tuesday April first 1919, Port of Marseilles.

Marcel Desmarais chuckling , his son and daughter believing they are going for a family visit in Marseilles. Never their favorite pastime. But in effect, they are going to Marseilles for a week long maiden cruise over the Mediterranian sea on his new yacht, SY Scintillante.

The busy harbor of Marseilles isn't normaly the location of the family members the children expect to meet.  14 year young precocious daughter Isabelle and 8 year young son Henry are pressing their father to tell them were they're going.

The large Panhard rounds a corner ,and the quay reveals a pristine beauty of a yacht. Uniformed crewmembers diligently working on the decks. A man, obviously the captain by the uniforms decorations, is waiting at the elaborate gangway to meet the yachts owner.



The captain, wearing the rare sunglasses, greets the family, the fake Italian accent just charmingly fun, adding a daredevil charisma to the man. (monsieur Demarais is puzzled, but his wife Maude, Isabelle and Henry just love the approach, so, for now he won't say anything. Later ,in private other things will be discussed between employer and employee, a newly hired man, chosen by his human resources director shouldn't try to get familiar to his family, especialy not with theatrics)

The Scintillante leaves dock at the precise time as stipulated by Marcel, the pursers perfectly attending the family. Life is good.
Turbine engines burbling nothing more than a rumble in the backround, the sleek ship has a free exit to the open sea, and the turn towards Monaco is perfectly done.  
The early spring med showing her most excellent self. Some high clouds, a gentle southern breeze, temperatures out of the wind, perfectly for drinking tea in the sun.
The galley, already turning out delicious smells.
But, if somebody would go in and look, the strange fact all the meals are pre-pepared, just needing heating, and not being prepared from fresh supplies would ring alarm bells. Marcel Desmarais is a well know gastronome and wouldn't tolerate such food practises in his kitchens.

A long drive with the Panhard, and then the sea-air makes the family Desmarais tired and sleepy and just after darkness falls, the 4 are sleeping the sleep of the innocent.
The attitude of the crew changes. The white and blue uniforms exchanging for dark colored outfits that ooze menace.
Around 1 30 am, 22 bodies are trown overboard, chains making sure those won't float. 3 30 am, another 2 bodies are dumped unceremoniusly.

The 20 sailors change roles again. The clothes of monsieur Desmarais and clever padding provide the "captain" the "standing" needed to proclaim ownership of the yacht.

[maddox]

After this, the story mixes with Opening moves Part Deux in this posting, and seperates in a following posting.

It was 2 P.M. and DF 031* out of St-Tropez was just about at the end of her patrol line and was swinging around for home.  Winds are unfavorable today and were steadily trying to blow the Air Ship further East then she wished to be.  Lieutenant Bonaventure could see a smudge on eastern horizon that was probably Corsica and he was admiring the peaks poking up from the smudge when he caught sight of something significantly closer flashing on the surface of the Ocean.

Calling for his Binoculars he focused on what ever it was that was causing the flashing.   It appeared to be a small cluster of Fishing Boats with someone using a mirror or something to signal the Airship.  Not far Beyond them was a nice looking Yacht obviously fouled in at least one of the Fishing boats nets?

Obviously today would not be as boring as usual and he ordered the DF 031 to swing further East to get a closer look.   About an half hour later he could get a better look at both the Yacht and the Fisherman trying to untangle their nets from the Yacht.  He started to read off the Yachts name from her stern when its name sprang out at him.  SY Scintillante.

Lt. Bonaventure turned to his radio operator, signal in the clear and give our position to France and any Italian or French warships in the area.   Repeat and then await for a reply.  The message is as follow

DF 031 located SY Scintillante approximately 50 miles West of Ajaccio Corsica ship is adrift,  I repeat have located SY Scintillante approximately 50 miles to West of Ajaccio Corsica ship is adrift over.

Once the radio operator started to Transmit Lt. Bonaventure ordered the rest of his crew to keep a sharp eye out for any Italian or French Warship or any merchant ships that might have picked up someone from the yacht.

Station keeping DF 031 has a bird of Preys view over the proceedings, and the longer the crew observes, the more envious and the more angry they get, because the Corsican fishermen, after a lot of gesticating have agreed on a certain hierarchy. After a short while of looting the ship, like moving boxes of winebottles ,cutlery and simular valuables , the mirror communication resumes.

"Claim salvage rights, Guido, Franco, and Vincenzo.Sailing this ship home"

Lt. Bonaventure signals this to HQ, and gets a reply

"salvage claim registred, keep watch and report"

Duly, the claim registred message is blinked down.

The fishingboats ,cut lose from the nets, sail home, short 2 men. And 6 of the fishermen stay on the yacht. Trying to salvage her. And they seem to be succeeding. Soon after the others left, the forward sail goes op, and the winds favor the bold fishermen. at 2 kts, the Scintillante makes her way towards Corsica.

*Dirigeable français

[ctwaterman]

Shortly after 2 PM two Imperial Warships receive and copy a message from DF31 in the clear.  The message is of great importance.

DF 031 located SY Scintillante approximately 50 miles West of Ajaccio Corsica ship is adrift,  I repeat have located SY Scintillante approximately 50 miles to West of Ajaccio Corsica ship is adrift over.

The Ships DD-38 out La Spezia is presently North of Corsica heading due west and is about 3 hours from the Location and immediately turns South by South West to begin closing hopefully reaching the area before dark hides her prey.  The Other SC-15 Aenid out of Cagliari Sardinia had been in route to Tunis when Orders to sail to the Strait of Gibraltar had been received she was currently more 200 probably closer to 250 Nautical Miles to the East South East of the position reported by the DF31.  As such she turned to a course heading East by North East and began searching the horizon for any ships that could have picked received a transfer of passengers from the Yacht.

[maddox]

April 7th

Dogwatch, on board of SY Scintillante.

Without steampower , the sleek yacht is proving unwieldy and the lack of crew is hard felt in her sailing prowess.  One to steer her,  and 5 do the other chores the 6 members of the Colonna Family have their hands full.

And the gods don't tend to give a bounty the size of Scintillante without a lot of effort and sacrifice. And another hurdle is trown in the wake of the proud steam yacht. The weather, more than a week rather gentle for the time of year changes. The southern breeze strengthens, and turns east, the barometer dropping.
In less than an hour, from a gentle, but slow trip the 6 men are struggling to have any progress towards Corsica.

[The Rock Doctor]

It would be unfortunate if these family members were mistaken for pirates and executed for their troubles...

[maddox]

The salvage claim is registred and accepted.  So, unless some Italian bureaucrats on Corsica wish to be themselfs, a French court will settle for a generous salvage  fee. if court is needed.
That depends on the insurance company Monsieur Desmarais had for the Yacht.

[ctwaterman]

The Italian Navy intends to show up and offer a free tow into Corsica... Sorry Forgot to post the next part I Plead a Swiss Distraction. :o

[maddox]

 Hours later, in a grey and stormy april morning the sleek shape of  Scintillante making absolutely no headway towards Corsica is seen from the Italian Destroyer  DD38.

With the knowledge honnest Corsican fishing men claimed salvage , Captain Andretti makes a fast decision, and offers assistance without any strings attached. (sorry ,pun intended. it doesn't work in Italian, nor French, nor Dutch). With the blinkers, and a lot of repeats, a course of action is layed out. The DD's petrol powered boat is lowered ,and a 2" hemp towing cable is dragged along.

The sea picks up the pace, and the wind is creating more and higher waves.  The cable is transferred with a lot of effort, and one of the Italian sailors ends up on board of Scintillante.

The cable is tied down, and DD38 applies ,gently, her power.  Headway is being made, and after a while 4 knots are logged by the DD.

Unfortunatly, the 5 hours it will take to reach the harbor, are long. And the weather isn't coorperating.  Scintillante is heaving heavy, the deck staying dry as designed. But the anchoring point is taking all the strain from the beating heavy cable. And that anchoring point is part of the ship. A cast bronze clete bolted to the stem girders. And it seems to have a flaw. A line of thin airpockets.  And it is giving way to the pounding.

BANG

The clete snaps under the strain of a larger wave.  The rope goes one way, the 4 kg chunck of bronze the other way.

Unfortunatly, it seems something is in the path of the projectile.  Marco, the Italian sailor from DD38  drops to the deck. Stomach splattered, intestines oozing out of the split belly skin, spine shattered below the ribcage.

Guido , one of the fishermen claiming the salvage, sees it and races to the fallen sailor. But, the damage is too much and Marco utters his last word

Mama

, before shock and bloodloss claimes him for eternity, in the arms of a fisherman.

[maddox]

The broken towcable sinks into the heaving seas, untill bouyancy from the attached floats stops it. The crew of DD38 hurriedly reels it in, before...

Too late, the wind, sea and ship conspire, and the heavy cable finds the port prop.... The shaft stops, turbines screech, safety valves pop. Steam mixes with the exhaust, a low vibrating roar erupts from the belly of the DD.

The assymetrical trust and the ship freed of the tow make the helmsmen work to keep the heading.  But the training pays off, and the mechanical wizardry of the Italian ship builders does the job perfectly. Except for a fouled prop, lost feedwater and a stopped turbine, no damage to DD38 is reported.

The blinkers between ships start again, and the information flows.  In the short time needed to get the details , the skies clear and the gusty, eastern wind falls off to an erratic light breeze that changes direction often.

A watery noon sun makes the gloom go away, and by a strange effect, white painted Scintillante seems to glow briefly, and regain her composture. Only a faint streak of red along the port forward scupper reminds of the tragedy.

Strangely, with the erratic wind, she becomes a well behaving sailing vessel.  The port will be reached soon now.

[ctwaterman]

April 9th 1919 Ajaccio Harbor Corsica.

The Scintillante was moored to a pier far from the fishing fleet normally found in the small civilian harbor.   On the Pier a group of Corsican Fisherman were arguing loudly with several Imperial Marina officers until the Senior Officer pulled the Eldest fisherman aside for a quiet conversation, where apparently some money changed hands.

Afterwords the Elder fisherman went off in search of a Lawyer and a bottle or two for his crew after the last few days ordeal.  And not necessarily in that order.

[maddox]

3 may 1919. Paris, Headquarters Toute Risque Insurance company ACHA.

Public relations spokesman Paul Voclaire for a public of shareholders.



Messieurs, one of our biggest investors and underwriters, but unfortunatly also one of our most insured clients has been declared officialy dead. Investigations and police reports rule out any doubt on this situation.  We have to conclude Marcelles Desmarais was killed as well as his primary beneficiaries during the piratical actions leading up to the escape of Jack Sparrow.

There are several issues that arise with this situation.  In order of importance.

• Only 1 primary beneficiary is left, the unfortunatly feeble minded mother of Monsieur Desmarais, Madame Geraldine. She isn't capable asses the ramifications, nor does she has the capacity to release the insurance. Even accepting the testament is beyond her.
• Secundary beneficiaries , 3 nephews and 1 nice are only legaly entangled, not by insurance agreements nor testament. These 4 people can have the power to contest or release the insurance situation.
• tertiary, 3 institutions are legaly tied in this situation. The Desmarais Foundry and Steel mill. The government and us, ACHA France.

Our problems are manifold, but our lawyers are working on the domestic side of the equation.
Each of the 5 direct beneficiaries have their team of lawyers, with emphasis on the Madame Geraldine, with the right papers, and the coorperation of her guardians, we can be absolved from the insurance money we should pay out in full.
Our contacts in the Ministry of Finance are working on a deal concerning the insurance money. In short, if we relinquish a quarter of that "non payable retribution" to the ministry, a dispensation can be agreed upon.
Next part is the lawyers to the secundary beneficiaries. Their job is to stretch the petty legalese fights between those 4 untill the sun rises in the west.

But for now, one situation we can't dodge ,avoid or defuse is the salvage question on the new and derelict Steam Yacht Scintillante. The Corsican fishers who get her to port are entitled to the No Cure No Pay Lloyds Open Form we do underwrite in cases like this.
Compounded by the death of the Italian marine sailor Marco Delamborta, who, by his actions and the insurance contract on Scintillante was insured. His family is entitled to 25000 Francs.
With the Italian AND French Navy supporting the claim of the Fishermen, as well the Delamborta divident, the Italian police and magistrate involved in the investigation we don't have a lot of options left. Already letters from an Italian lawyer are arriving, with demands of a full and complete settlement of the Scintillante affair.

We have only 2 tiny advantages in this, possibly lessening the amount we have to pay to those Colona cavemen from Corsica.

• 1) the airship that spotted the fishermen and accepted the salvage claim did report seeing trunks, chests and crates being moved from the yacht to the fishing boats. So, that report proves at least that the fishermen were doing things not acceptable according to the Lloyds Open form.
• 2) The Italian police did deny our investigators any acces to the yacht.

This concludes the preliminary assesment of the Scintillante affair. Our firm will keep you informed.