A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People

# A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People by William Westall

This serialized adventure novel follows Sidney Erie, an underwriter at the Oriental and Occidental Marine Insurance Company, facing financial ruin from two major maritime disasters. The loss of the ship Niobe—insured for twenty thousand pounds—threatens the company's solvency. Erie's troubles deepen when a weathered sailor, Thomas Bolsover, visits him with damning evidence of deliberate sabotage. Bolsover, a former quarter-master aboard the Niobe, witnessed the captain emerging from the hold with an auger and lantern before the ship mysteriously sprang a leak. As the vessel sank, Bolsover observed four large holes deliberately bored in the hull, visible only from his vantage point. The captain, carpenter, and first officer are implicated in the insurance fraud scheme. The narrative pivots toward investigation and intrigue as Erie contemplates his response, while Bolsover's curious tattoo—a ship bearing the name "Santa Anna" dated 1774—hints at deeper mysteries to follow.