Crimzle › Previous cases › Case 006

Murder Aboard the Silver Gull

Case 006 · 6 August 2026 · Medium

The Silver Gull rode out the gale at anchor two miles off Cape Wrath, and her owner, Douglas Pryce, spent the evening telling his crew that the insurance money would be worth more than the boat. At two in the morning they found him below deck. The tender was smashed against the hull, so no one had left and no one had come aboard. Four people were awake that night. Who killed him, what did they use, and where were they when the anchor chain started to drag?

Suspects

• Ruth Kingsley

  Cook and stewardess

  Has sailed with Pryce for six seasons and knows what he keeps in the safe. She served the last drinks at eleven and washed every glass before the police arrived.

  163 cm

• Diana Wells

  Navigator

  Plots the course, keeps the log and signed the papers that put the boat in Pryce's name alone last spring. She says she was working; the log says nothing was written after ten.

  178 cm

• Frank Mercer

  Engineer

  Keeps the engine alive on a boat that should have been sold two years ago. Pryce had stopped paying him in March and promised to settle 'after the claim'.

  172 cm

• Oliver Kane

  Skipper

  The tallest man aboard and the only one who could have put the tender out of use with one blow. He insists he never left the wheel while the anchor was dragging.

  189 cm

Possible weapons

• The brass compass

  A spare, taken out of its box that evening, still warm from somebody's pocket when it was found.

  1.1 kg

• The cast-iron ballast weight

  One of six kept under the cabin sole to trim the boat. Five are in their rack; this one was not.

  8.5 kg

• The boat hook

  Four feet of ash with a steel hook and spike at the end, normally clipped to the rail outside the wheelhouse.

  1.9 kg

• The coil of nylon cord

  Thin, strong and cut short at one end. Nobody will say what the missing length was used for.

  280 g

Places

• The wheelhouse

  Glass on three sides, the wheel, the engine telegraph, and a clear view of the deck — in daylight.

  Indoors

• The engine room

  Two decks down, hot, and loud enough that a man there hears nothing at all.

  Indoors

• The galley

  A narrow strip of steel and gimbals amidships, with the only kettle that stays upright in a gale.

  Indoors

• The chart room

  Charts, the log book and the safe, one step down from the wheelhouse and out of sight of everyone.

  Indoors

Evidence & statements

1. If Frank Mercer was down in the engine room, then Diana Wells was the one carrying the boat hook.
2. At least one of these is true: whoever was in the engine room is taller than whoever had the brass compass, or Oliver Kane was carrying the cast-iron ballast weight.
3. Exactly one of these is true, never both: whoever was in the wheelhouse is the tallest of the four, or Ruth Kingsley was in the chart room.
4. Oliver Kane was not carrying the cast-iron ballast weight.
5. Whoever was in the chart room is taller than whoever was in the engine room.
6. The wound was made by a steel hook, and there is one such thing on this boat: the killer is whoever was carrying the boat hook.

Play this case