|
For whatever reason, neither man had noticed that a body
lay in the bottom of the boat when they first reached
it in the water. It was only now, on the beach, that they
became fully aware of its grim passenger. With trepidation,
they moved to take a closer look.
By appearance, the body was that of a young man. He was
lying towards the rear of the boat and was dressed in
typical seaman's garb, together with two life-preservers.
His head was raised, and the right arm outstretched and
wrapped tightly around a chain. The two men immediately
realised that the authorities needed to be informed of
the discovery and so, whilst Mr Du Feu remained with the
boat, Mr Le Brun went to raise the alarm
The authorities acted with commendable speed. That afternoon,
in a small cottage near Kempt Tower, the inquest into
the man's death was opened. It was headed by the Viscount,
Mr R Lempriere, and consisted of a jury, plus the Attorney
General. They quickly got down to business, and called
the first witness. Centenier Le Boutillier had been contacted
by Mr Le Brun at around 10:30 and had immediately gone
down to the beach to view the boat and its contents. On
arrival, he had conducted a search of both the body and
the boat. The body had yielded a number of items: a small
book, some keys, a coomb, and an address book. The last
item had a number of entries, including that of Mrs J
Cawley of Bermondsey, London. Also discovered was an identity
disc, inscribed G R Cawley, Boy Service, O.N. C.E. Turning
to the boat itself, he revealed that the locker contained
only a box of mills bombs, or hand grenades.
Whilst examining the boat, the Centenier was joined by
a Doctor Symons, who had been called to the scene on account
of the human element. Accordingly, he was the next to
address the inquest, and recalled what he had found:
|
"On arrival I saw a boat on the shingle,
and reclining in the stern with its head raised
was the body of a man with its right arm around
a chain. It was of average height, small limbed
and well dressed in a seaman's costume. In appearance
the body was that of a man of some 17 or 18 years
of age. He was almost completely bald, but the teeth
were perfect and they had no marks of wear. He was
probably bald by reason of some skin disease.
There was a little fluff on his face which he
had kept cut with scissors. The hands and nails
were well kept… Rigor Mortis had passed off
and decomposition had set in. I should estimate
he had been dead for two days to a week, but must
have been in the boat considerably longer than that."
|
|
