The Adventure of the Gloria Scott

"The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by the British
author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Although the story is presented as having been written by Holmes' friend Dr. John Watson,
unusually for a Sherlock Holmes story, the main narrator of "The Adventure of the Gloria
Scott" is not Watson but Holmes himself. The story begins with Holmes showing Watson
some papers which he thinks might be of interest to him. Holmes says that the papers
relate to the first case that he ever investigated as a detective.
The majority of the story takes place during Sherlock Holmes' time as a university student.
While Holmes is visiting the home of his friend Victor Trevor, a sinister looking man called
Hudson appears and asks to speak to Victor Trevor's father. It becomes clear that Hudson
knows something which gives him a great deal of power over Mr. Trevor. It is ultimately
revealed that Mr. Trevor has a dark secret related to events which took place on a ship
called the Gloria Scott some thirty years earlier.
Sherlock Holmes makes only one friend at university, a young man named Victor Trevor.
During the summer vacation, Holmes visits Victor Trevor's home in Donnthorpe, Norfolk.
Victor Trevor shares the home with his father, his mother and one sister having both died.
Victor Trevor's father is a wealthy man and a justice of the peace.
After dinner one evening, Victor Trevor begins talking to his father about the amazing
powers of deduction which Sherlock Holmes has already begun to demonstrate. Mr. Trevor
thinks that his son is exaggerating and asks Holmes what he can deduce about him.
Holmes makes several deductions about Mr. Trevor, all of which are correct. He then says
that Mr. Trevor once had a strong connection to someone whose initials were J.A. but has
tried to forget about that person. When he hears this, Mr. Trevor collapses face down on
the table and has to be revived by being splashed with water. Mr. Trevor asks Holmes how
he knew that. Holmes replies that he saw the initials J.A. tattooed in the bend of Mr.
Trevor's elbow and saw that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to remove the tattoo.
Mr. Trevor tells Holmes that he must use his amazing ability to make a living as a
detective. However, after that evening, Mr. Trevor appears to be uncomfortable around
Holmes. As a result, Holmes decides to cut his stay with Victor Trevor short.
On the day before Holmes is due to leave, Mr. Trevor is told that a man wants to see him.
Mr. Trevor sees the man, who is obviously an old sailor, approaching from a distance. He
needs to drink some brandy before he can face talking to the man. Although the man does
not give his name, Mr. Trevor recognizes him as Hudson whom he has not seen for thirty
years. Hudson says that he was thinking of getting a job with either Mr. Trevor or Mr.
Beddoes. Mr. Trevor is surprised that Hudson knows where Mr. Beddoes is. With an
unpleasant look on his face, Hudson says, "I know where all my old friends are." Mr.
Trevor tells Hudson that he will give him a job. He also says some other things to the man

which cannot be heard. An hour later, Holmes and Victor Trevor find Mr. Trevor lying on the
sofa in a drunken stupor.
Holmes returns to London. Seven weeks later, he receives a telegram from Victor Trevor.
In his telegram, Victor Trevor asks Holmes to come back to Donnthorpe because he needs
his help and advice.
At the train station, Holmes is met by Victor Trevor. Victor Trevor explains that his father is
dying and that Hudson appears to be the cause of it. Hudson was given a job as the
gardener at the Trevors' house but was not satisfied with that and had to be promoted to
butler. The maids complained about Hudson getting drunk and swearing. However, instead
of disciplining Hudson, Mr. Trevor increased the maids' salaries in order to get them to
stay. Hudson appeared to be able to do whatever he pleased and appeared to be
constantly sneering at Mr. Trevor. One day, Hudson said something to Mr. Trevor which
made Victor Trevor very angry. Victor Trevor grabbed Hudson and pushed him out of the
room. The following day, Mr. Trevor told his son that he should apologize to Hudson but
Victor Trevor refused. That evening, Hudson announced that he was leaving and would go
to see Mr. Beddoes in Hampshire. Victor Trevor was asked again to apologize to Hudson.
When Victor Trevor refused again, Hudson made a vague threat before leaving the house.
t.
After Hudson left, Mr. Trevor became more nervous than before. After he read a letter
which was postmarked Fordingbridge, Mr. Trevor had a stroke.
When Holmes and Victor Trevor arrive at the Trevors' house, they find out that Mr. Trevor
has already died. The only message that Mr. Trevor left for his son before dying was that
the papers are in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.
Sherlock Holmes is shown the letter which Mr. Trevor read before suffering a stroke. It
reads:
"The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe,
has been now told to reserve all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your henpheasant's life."
Holmes realizes that the letter is a coded message. He eventually works out that the first
word and then every third word communicate the true message, which reads:
"The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life."
Knowing that Fordingbridge is in Hampshire, where Mr. Beddoes lives, and having been
told by Victor Trevor that Beddoes is fond of hunting, which explains the references to
pheasants and gamekeepers, Holmes deduces that Mr. Beddoes wrote the letter.
Victor Trevor finds the papers in the Japanese cabinet and Holmes reads them. They take
the form of a confession by Mr. Trevor, who feared that he would either die or be arrested
soon.
Mr. Trevor says that his real name is James Armitage. In 1855, when he was a young man,
he worked at a bank from which he stole money. For his crime, he was sentenced to be
transported to Australia. The Crimean War was being fought at that time, which meant that
ships normally used to transport convicts to Australia were being used instead to carry
soldiers to the Black Sea. Consequently, the ship on which James Armitage was to be
transported, the Gloria Scott, was an old one which had been used to bring tea from China

before newer and faster ships replaced it. When it set sail, there were about one hundred
people on board the ship, the captain and three mates, a crew of twenty-six sailors,
eighteen soldiers, four warders, a doctor and a chaplain as well as the convicts.
The wooden walls of the ship's cells were unusually thin. The man in the cell next to
James Armitage was ale to make a small hole in the wall and spoke to him through it. He
revealed that he was Jack Prendergast who swindled people out of almost two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds. None of that money was recovered. Prendergast said that his
accomplice, a man called Wilson, had the money. He went on to say that Wilson was on
board the ship posing as the chaplain. Wilson had already bribed some of the warders and
sailors and, consequently, the convicts would be able to mutiny and take control of the
Gloria Scott. Armitage was told to pass on the news about the mutiny to the convict in the
next cell, a young man called Evans.
In his guise as the chaplain, Wilson was able to secretly distribute pistols to the convicts.
The mutiny started earlier than expected when the doctor discovered pistols in the bed of
one of the convicts. The doctor was taken prisoner and gagged. The convicts rushed
through the door which the doctor had left unlocked. Although Wilson and eight other
mutineers were killed, the mutineers took control of the ship. The captain and all of the
soldiers were killed, most of them from being thrown overboard.

To prevent them from talking, Prendergast also wanted to kill the unarmed doctor, mates
and warders. James Armitage, Evans and six other mutineers disagreed, thinking that,
unlike killing the armed soldiers, killing those unarmed men would be murder. Prendergast
gave those eight mutineers the option of leaving. They were given sailor's uniforms and
placed in a boat with food, water, a chart and a compass. Shortly after the eight mutineers
were placed in the boat, the Gloria Scott exploded. The eight mutineers returned to the
wreck of the Gloria Scott. They found one survivor, a sailor called Hudson. Hudson said
that, although he had been tied up. the first mate managed to escape and went to a part of
the ship where gunpowder was stored. The first mate held a match over an open barrel of
gunpowder and said that he would light it if the mutineers tried to do anything to him.
According to Hudson, the explosion was probably caused by a bullet fired by the mutineers
instead of the first mate's match.
A ship going to Australia picked up James Armitage, Evans and the other men in the boat.
On arrival in Australia, Armitage changed his name to Trevor and Evans changed his name
to Beddoes. Both men made their fortunes in Australia and returned to England as wealthy
and respectable men.
Mr. Trevor ends his confession by saying that he fears that all is lost because Beddoes has
told him that Hudson has revealed everything. However it is later revealed that Hudson
never told the police what he knew about Hudson and Beddoes.
After finding out the terrible truth about his father, Victor Trevor leaves England and makes
a new life for himself in Asia. Hudson and Beddoes are never seen again. Holmes thinks
that Beddoes wrongly believed that Hudson went to the police, killed Hudson and fled the
country.