Missing Witness (40 page)

There was a hush in the courtroom. Berkeley shifted in his chair, glanced at his papers, and then looked up.

“I didn't say Edward Teach was a picture of virtue. He was a violent man, certainly. Although that information is only anecdotal…and is somewhat disputed…”

“My point is—if Teach was willing to do that, do you think he would have had any moral qualms about keeping Isaac Joppa in chains in the hold of his ship for months on end?”

Dr. Berkeley adjusted his glasses and smiled.

“It was not my testimony that Edward Teach had moral qualms about anything. But yes, your point is true to some extent…I doubt if Edward Teach would have had any twinge of conscience about keeping anybody in chains under any circumstances. I just don't think that was his particular mode of operation in his practice of piracy.”

As Dr. Berkeley gathered his papers, and then slowly and carefully made his way from the witness stand, Will was beginning to get a picture of the scales of justice in the Joppa case. And, at best, they were dead even. And that wasn't a good thing.

With the burden of proof being his to satisfy perfectly, dead-even scales meant that he had failed to make his case.

Now, MacPherson had two more expert witnesses left.

Will's job was simple enough—he needed to tip the scales, ever so slightly, in his direction. And in order to accomplish that, he could not afford one stumble—one single trip—one faulty step.

58

“M
Y NAME IS
D
R
. W
ILSON
A
UGER
. I am a PhD in ocean archaeology, currently employed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. I also work as a consultant to the National Geographic Society.”

Virgil MacPherson walked Dr. Auger through his considerable credentials, including his participation in five deepwater salvage operations involving ancient ships. They ranged from sixteenth-century Spanish galleons to nineteenth-century ships sunk during the Civil War.

“Were you also involved,” MacPherson continued, “on a more recent, perhaps even more spectacular, salvage operation on a sunken vessel?”

Dr. Auger smiled. He was a man of medium height with a ruddy complexion and an athletic build.

“Yes. I was one of the consultants on the locating and video archiving of the
Titanic
.”

The jury was sitting stock-still, riveted on Dr. Auger's testimony, seeming amply impressed.

“And are you familiar, Dr. Auger, with the variety of salvage operations that have been conducted regarding the sailing vessels of the pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard?”

“Yes, I certainly am. I'm familiar with the salvage operations regarding the remains of two of Teach's ships, presumed to be
Adventure
and
Queen Anne's Revenge
. As well as some of the artifacts found in those searches.”

“Would you share with the jury some of the items that were recovered from the sites of those ships?”

“Yes, I'd be glad to. There was the recovery of a bronze ship bell. Perhaps your jury is not familiar with the fact that bronze oxidizes differently than iron, more slowly, and therefore is preserved much better in salt water than iron. In addition, they found a syringe, which is presumed to have been used for injecting mercury—the treatment of the day for syphilis—something we can presume probably was rampant among Teach's crew. Also, the
remains of a weapon called a
blunderbuss
—sort of a sawed-off shotgun of that time. A weapon that would have been used by pirates in the early 1700s.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Now, have you read, by the way, the background materials my office provided to you, including the trial transcript of Isaac Joppa's statement before the Old Bailey Court in London, as well as the statements of an African who was a member of Edward Teach's crew, a fellow by the name of Caesar? In those instances, both Caesar the pirate and Isaac Joppa claimed that Joppa had been kept as a prisoner in the hold of one or more of Teach's ships, his hands manacled with irons. Did you read that?”

Auger smiled and chuckled a bit.

“I did read that information. I understand that was Isaac Joppa's defense at his trial. And his friend Caesar apparently tried to stand up for him in the trial at Williamsburg by claiming the same thing…mainly that Joppa had been kidnapped and kept under restraint by the use of irons.”

“Now, can you tell the jury—among any of the artifacts that are known to have been retrieved from the sites presumed to be of the ships
Adventure
and
Queen Anne's Revenge
—did any of them include manacles, shackles, or any similar device used to restrain human beings?”

Dr. Auger paused a minute, turned so that he could face the jury almost directly, and then answered.

“There have been
no
objects retrieved from those two sites that would in any way correspond to what we understand to have been eighteenth-century shackles, manacles, or the like. None.”

“Now lastly,” MacPherson said, wrapping up his direct examination, “you are familiar, are you not, Doctor, with the current salvage operations regarding another ship presumed to belong to Edward Teach?”

“Yes, that's correct. You're referring, I presume, to the salvage site of the
Bold Venture
. It's being headed up by Dr. Steve Rosetti. Actually, I've been following their progress. And I can say that some of us who are not formally involved in that project have been concerned about its progress…it's been rather slow in getting down to the actual site. But we know that operations have finally been commenced. And as of my last review, no artifacts—at least, none relevant to this case—have been located.”

MacPherson concluded his direct examination and strode confidently back to the counsel table.

Dr. Auger's testimony had clearly shown one thing in particular—that twenty-first century science had failed to corroborate, through any
physical evidence, the story that Isaac Joppa had been a manacled prisoner in the hold of Edward Teach's pirate ship.

For Will Chambers, the task was now simple. He needed to take Dr. Auger and the jury back down into the hold of an eighteenth-century pirate ship.

And then convince them that what they would find there would conclusively prove Isaac Joppa's innocence.

59

“D
R
. A
UGER
,” W
ILL BEGAN
, “you did indicate that there is a substantially greater propensity for bronze to endure salt water, as opposed to iron. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct,”

“I was wondering,” Will continued, “whether you'd be able to explain exactly why it is, in laymen's terms, that iron disintegrates a lot more quickly at the bottom of the ocean than, let's say…well, as an example, that bronze bell you talked about.”

“Certainly.” Auger leaned back in his chair confidently. “First of all, you have to understand I'm not a PhD in chemistry…my field is ocean archaeology. But in that field we have to be aware of the chemical properties and the natural forces at play in the preservation of ocean antiquities. Now take iron as an example. Iron is the most abundant transition metal on the face of the earth. Most of us are familiar with products made out of unprotected iron. When it's exposed to the elements, rusting takes place. That's why an old automobile, one with iron parts, will begin rusting. Rusting is actually an electrochemical process. It needs three things to occur. It needs water, oxygen and, lastly, an electrolyte. In terms of the electrolyte, when you're talking about ocean water, particles of salt can be the electrolyte. The bottom line here is that unprotected iron corrodes very rapidly at the bottom of the ocean because of the presence of those elements. Now, there are exceptions to that…”

“Well, let's talk about that for a minute,” Will said, beginning to probe. “One of the exceptions is—as I understand it—if a piece of iron has been buried under the sand or silt at the bottom of the ocean, that can protect it from the oxidation process. Is that correct?”

“Well, that's a very rudimentary way of describing it. But that is correct. That's why, when we find iron pieces buried deep in the sand, many
times we can get lucky and find something that's pretty well preserved. But that's the exception.”

“Well then,” Will said, continuing on the same line of questioning, “let me pose a hypothetical to you, Doctor. Let's assume there was a pair of old-fashioned iron manacles in the hold of the ship
Adventure
or the ship
Queen Anne's Revenge
…or even in the hold of the
Bold Venture,
which is currently being explored by Dr. Rosetti and his team. Let's assume that, when the ship was sunk, those manacles were attached to something that left them exposed to the salt water above the surface of the sand—totally submerged. Would that be a condition likely causing, over the course of three hundred years, the total disintegration of those iron manacles?”

Auger took a few seconds to evaluate the question, smiled, then shot back.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors involved that you have not included in your hypothetical. The facts you stated made it rather simplistic. It's really difficult for me to predict, with any kind of certainty, the level of disintegration or corrosion. For instance…I'd want to know where the iron came from…what its composition was…what the ocean temperatures were. What is the depth? What are the currents like in that part of the ocean? You see, Mr. Chambers, it's a much more complicated process than you've presented…”

“And I do appreciate that,” Will said with a smile. “After all, that's what makes you the scientist and me only the, well, only the trial lawyer. But take a shot at it…what would your opinion be about the likelihood that those iron manacles would be preserved over nearly three hundred years, submerged in salt water and unprotected by sand or silt?”

After a few more moments of reflection, Dr. Auger asked Will a question.

“In order for me to answer that, I need to ask you a question, Counselor—is it proper for me to guess at the answer? I mean…can I speculate in answering this…”

MacPherson jumped to his feet.

“Your Honor, I'd ask that the Court admonish the witness not to speculate under any circumstances. That, if Dr. Auger is unable to form an opinion to a reasonable degree of scientific probability, then it is guesswork and inadmissible.”

Judge Gadwell smiled and leaned forward, nodding his head toward Will Chambers.

“Mr. Chambers, you understand the rule on speculation by experts. We cannot let this expert witness simply engage in guesswork.”

“All right, let's try it this way,” Will countered. “Dr. Auger, I'm not a betting man myself. And I don't know whether you are or not. But—would you be willing to gamble your next month's paycheck from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute that those manacles I described in my hypothetical would have survived almost three hundred years of corrosion, if submerged in the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean because they were unprotected, not buried in the sand?”

MacPherson was on his feet again, shaking his head violently.

“No, sir. No, sir…Mr. Chambers is simply trying to evade the court's ruling…This really is a kind of contempt, Your Honor. The Court's already ruled that this expert not engage in guesswork…”

“Your Honor,” Will said calmly, “I never asked Dr. Auger to guess at the answer to my most recent question. I just put it in terms that I thought he and I, as well as the jury, might be able to be clear on.”

Judge Gadwell grimaced as he struggled with the objection and Will's rebuttal, and then turned to the witness.

“Dr. Auger…do you have an opinion that you can give us on this, or not? Because if you don't…”

“Your Honor,” Auger said with a reluctant smile, “I think I can probably give an answer to that question.”

The judge nodded.

“Let's put it this way…I don't get paid very much by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute…and that's no criticism. Most of us in my field labor in the vineyards of scientific inquiry more for the intellectual curiosity and thrill of the research than we do to become independently wealthy. And let me say—about that Spanish galleon I consulted on—the gold didn't go to me. It went to a private exploration corporation that has been engaged in litigation with the state of Florida, and the nation of Spain, and a couple other independent entities ever since they discovered it. So…maybe it's a blessing that we don't get rich. But that having been said, to answer your question, Mr. Chambers, no, I wouldn't want to bet my next month's wages on the preservation of those iron shackles. The chances are that they'd be pretty well disintegrated.”

“So,” Will said, concluding that line of questioning, “the fact is that the
absence
of evidence of iron manacles in the circumstances I described is not necessarily evidence that they were not there
originally
. Would you agree with that?”