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Flying Scud, the

American merchant brig sailing across the Pacific Ocean out of China[1] in 1871.[2]

In December of 1870,[2] Captain Wicks sailed the Flying Scud[1] out of Hong Kong,[3] bound for San Francisco, smuggling opium along with a legal cargo of rice and fine silk.[1]

In February of 1871,[2] the Flying Scud spotted the signal fire of the castaway crew[1] of the Currency Lass[3] on Midway Island. Shortly after taking the castaways aboard, Captain Wicks learned of their valuable haul of pearls,[1] which he demanded as payment for their rescue.[3] The castaways refused and a fight broke out aboard the Flying Scud. One of the castaways, Paul Carthew, was hit over the head during the fight and when he regained consciousness, he discovered his shipmates had killed Captain Wicks and his entire crew. Horrified at his involuntarily involvement in the killing, Carthew reluctantly went along with his shipmates in order to get off Midway Island and return to civilization. They tried to sail the Flying Scud[1] but, due to her more complicated rigging,[3] the ran were aground onto a reef.[1]

The next day, a British man-of-war rescued them. The castaways posed as Captain Wicks and the crew of the Flying Scud to cover up the killing. The man-of-war returned brought them to San Francisco, where Carthew reported the Flying Scud shipwrecked to the Commission.[1]

Before leaving Midway, Carthew had found Captain Wicks' logue and intended to destroy it, eliminating any evidence of the killings. But upon reading it, he discovered Elias Goddedall, the ship's mate, had kept his own logue, which could expose of the crew of the Currency Lass marooned on Midway as the murderers of the Flying Scud's crew.[1]

In November of 1871,[2] the owners of the Flying Scud put her up for sale at auction. Carthew hired Thomas Bellairs to act as his agent in the purchasing of the Flying Scud at auction, backed to $20,000. He intended to return to Midway, reclaim the mate's logue and burn the derelict into the sea, destroying all possible evidence against him and his shipmates.[1] But in December,[2] Bret Maverick won his membership into the Ring and found himself in his first auction bidding against Bellairs for the shipwreck. As Bellairs continually bid the price up higher and higher, Bret believed there must be more than rice and silk to be salvaged from the Flying Scud and, with the encouragement of Brother Bart, finally won the bidding at $21,000. In order to raise enough money to pay for his winning bid, Bret was forced to sign 60-day notes with creditors.[1]

Bart chartered the Norah Creina to take him to Midway on a percentage deal with Captain Nares and his crew for 35% of the salvaging profits. At Midway later that month, they discovered the Flying Scud had been smugglng opium in the rice. The opium still did not come near the amount of money Bret had spent on the wreck and even so, Bart did not want to risk smuggling opium into San Francisco and ordered the contraband be thrown overboard. Nares and his crew — working only for their percentage of the profits — objected, threatening to kill Bart if he destroyed the opium. One of Nares' crewmen, Matthew Higgins, knocked the gun from Nares' hand and helped Bart bind him and his crew. Knowing he and Higgins could never sail the Norah Creina home with the crew held prisoner, they left the Flying Scud in one of the ship's small boats.[1]

After a few days at sea, when the chance of rescue in the trade lanes seemed remote, Higgins confessed to Bart that he was really Paul Carthew, and explained the entire story of the killings aboard the Flying Scud. Nares and his crew managed to free themselves, salvage what they could and left the wreck behind.[1]

See: The Wrecker