The commutation led me to prison registers, trial records, newspaper articles – even the ship’s log, and, as these accumulated, James Brown, the vampire-murderer, dissolved like Max Schreck in a sunbeam. What remained was not a pile of dust but a run-of-the-mill murderer whose story bears little resemblance to published accounts.

The following reconstruction is based on the collected documents.

MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS

23 May 1866 was a fair day with a breeze from the south-east; pleasant weather for men aboard the barque Atlantic as it cruised for whales in the Indian Ocean. 9 The crew spent the day bundling up the whalebone (baleen) that was used (in the pre-plastic age) for making umbrella ribs, buggy whips and corset stays.