Conspiracy in Canada

[margotdarby]

(06-09-2014 04:31 PM)HerbS Wrote:  In Gen.Tidwell's book about Confederate Secret Operations out of Canada.He states that Martin drowned in the St.Lawrence River.

(Picking this up after two years.) This is the traditional claim about Martin. However, the Vice Admiralty Court's 1865 report on the salvage claims for the ship Marie Victoria say there were no crew or bodies aboard the ship when the local salvagers discovered her foundering in the St. Lawrence River. Nor were any bodies reported found in or near the river. I have to suppose the entire crew, with supercargo Martin, abandoned the ship after it crashed or (more likely) was sabotaged.

Some news stories from 1876 (eg NY Daily Graphic, Mary 22, 1876) maintain that the ship was damaged by a bomb planted by a man named Keith, ostensibly a partner of Martin's, who collected insurance proceeds after the incident. This story also claims that Martin was killed on the Marie Victoria (though again no remains were found). I have to believe that Martin escaped, along with the crew, and stayed in hiding while his wife presented herself publicly as his "widow."