There was something very wrong on the fatal voyage of the American whaleship Petrel. Vile things had happened on board, things that would have been carefully kept under wraps, except for the curiosity and kindness of the constable in charge of law and order in the Bay of Islands, Alexander McGilp. After he listened to the ghoulish tales told by four men who had run away from the ship, instead of returning the deserters to the dubious attentions of the officers and captain of the ship, he wrote their evidence down, and passed it on to both officialdom and journalists.

And so the ghastly story was printed in New Zealand newspapers, leading to the most sensational trial of the nineteenth century. Had the captain and officers really committed those terrible crimes? A man had died ? had they murdered him? Or were the grim events caused by something else ? something lurking in the bowels of the unfortunate ship?

It took two months to pin down the highly unexpected solution to the mystery ? two months of sensational headlines before the full story could be told.