44 - The Lion's Mane Part Three
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Hello everyone, Stamford here. Now John has told me to tell you to go and check out patreon.com forward slash Sherlock and Co.

Is that right? Yep. There, you'll gain access to loads of bonus material. Plus, you'll get adventures in full, so you don't have to wait, and they will be ad-free. How good's that? Now, I know a few of you enjoyed my singing a few adventures back, so I'm going to give you a little treat. I've prepared a song for you. Here we go. Ha, no. Oh, come on. Previously on Sherlock and Co. Leona.

That's Scottish, right? Scottish Gaelic? No, it's a local word. A mythological creature type thing. Bitch of the sea, as some people call her. You see the face of a beautiful woman in the water. Ghostly white, lush green eyes, long black tentacles. They come writhing out of the water, reaching higher than a ship's mast and pull you under.

She wraps you up like a spider does a fly and sticks you to the bottom of the sea. Here. What? Picture of the boat we found Harrison. Yes, we know this. Know what? Oh, crap. What? Iona. L-I-O-N.

N. Oh my god, that's what Harris scratched into the bone. Try telling the islanders she's just a myth now. If you can show me how he was murdered, I'm happy to take the best current thesis off the table. Alright? I can show you, yes. But I'd need a submersible.

Excuse me? I'm reverse engineering the practices of Arthur A. Allen, the oceanographer. People that are lost at sea are notoriously difficult to find. Oceans are vast. People are tiny. That's how things were.

Until Alan came along and worked with all the things I'm going to work with. Which is? Data. Now for your task. Yep, go on. Find out what Harris Stackhurst was up to out here every night. And why the locals were so upset with it. Exactly. Olaf, did you turn on your son? I doubted his cause. So did his mother. What was his cause? The sea.

The vitality of the sea, always. So what was Haris doing out there each night? I can't. Why not? Is... Was he hiding? Something did he discover? Bellamy's are guilty. Earthdog is guilty. Of what, Olaf?

I went to tell him to stay away from the breach, okay? Ian, just calm down. What happened to Harris that night? He got aggressive with me. Because he knew what I'd done. That I kept quiet and they paid for... I was just towing the line. Everyone does it around here, all right? I...

I just wanted something out of it. Towing the line for what? Get out. Ian, what is going on? Ian, are you guilty? Are the Bellamy's of Balsanna, right? Ian, get out. Get out of my house. I didn't kill Harris and I didn't kill Fitzy. It was the Bellamy's. Get out.

Welcome to the finale of the adventure of the Lion's Mane. I don't think I've ever used the word finale before for the last part of an adventure. Might continue to do so. Adds a bit of pizzazz, doesn't it? Warning, this episode contains pizzazz. Does it? Don't know. Don't care. I've got to upload this, so I'm rushing now. Human remains discussed. A bit of swearing. Other bits that could be spoiler material found in the episode description. Hope that wasn't too fast. Made sense. If it didn't, I don't care because it's too late. I have to upload it. Bye!

Oh, you got a bruise? Oh, do I? Yeah, just there, on your shoulder. Oh, what a bastard. Yeah, that is one tortured soul. Do you think he did it? I don't know. I don't think so. Why? Because you saw him back there. He had a total breakdown at the idea of it. Yeah, but that's an indicator of guilt, not innocence. I mean, if you're innocent, you're calm and measured. You get your case across. You absolve yourself because you're confident in your convictions.

In the truth. When you're lying, I mean, you do shit like that for a start, but to kill your friends is a severely traumatic thing. Right, so that's exactly how you'd react when pushed. But to have your friends be killed and to be accused of that would give you the same...

Hi. Yes. Hello. Maud. Hi John. I'm Ariana. Oh my god, Maud. I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you there. She's rock-pooling with me. Very nice. Then a bit of swing ball and an ice lolly, is it? Sorry? Nothing. I might have to trade places with one of yous. Got to head to the gables in a bit, so... Sure. No, yeah. I'll help. Oh, that's... Okay. Ah! Okay. Er, so... What are we doing in here? I'm interested in the bottom of the pools.

Lift the sand into the sieve and tell me what you find. OK. Oh, look, a crab. I'm not looking for a crab. Starfish. Oh, this is so cool. We're not looking for starfish either. Maud, can I just grab you a second? Sure. So the gables, where's that? Bellamy's Barnacles. The HQ sort of thing. Right, the oyster farm. Oysters and all manner of other squishy sea beings. Yeah, yeah.

Cool rock pools, eh? Yeah. You shouldn't be walking around in those, mind. Those shoes. If you tumble on these rocks, you'll know about it. Like razor blaze these things. Yeah, blimey, they're slippery too. You're pretty adept at strolling over these. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus, nearly went in. Sad wee things. The rock pools? Aye. I think they're pretty cool. All those creatures left behind. All the while the ocean is way out there, full of life. But not for these lot. A crab or two.

A couple of wee fishes and a shrimp. What did they do to be stuck in this thing? Living in solitude with one another. Dumped in here by the big sea that left them behind. I, um... It can be difficult to share a flat with somebody. Oh, I know. I listen to your show. And, um... Yeah. I can only imagine what an island for your whole life must be like. I'm an outsider. Obviously, all I see is the beauty and the way of life and the culture. But I appreciate there must be some downsides, too.

who share the island with Ian and Olaf, of course. What happened to Fitzy, Maud? Did the community turn on him too? And why is it that the men you love suffer such a grisly fate? Why didn't you tell us, Maud? What were you thinking? Okay, okay, okay, I get that. Get what? How it looks. I've got how many men my age to meet and talk to? Of course I snog Fitzy once or twice.

But that doesn't even mean I was his girlfriend. Well, you can understand why I want to get some serious answers out of you, yeah? I can. But I've got to go. Can I come? No. No? I don't think that would be okay. Right. Understood.

Any particular reason, Maud? My dad and brother. Your dad and brother. And they run the whole business, don't they? Yep. And what, they wouldn't like us because we're investigating? Shh. What? Just, shh. What is it, Maud? What is going on? Everyone listens on this island. Everyone talks. It'll get back to them. Right, okay. Can that seagull talk? Because otherwise it's just you and me. You don't understand. Why did you bring us here?

An outsider needs to expose it. You've seen what happens when people on this island... Here. What's that? A gift. What's going on? Hey, you okay? Yeah. No, something's up with Maud. What's that? Bellamy's barnacles. Organic potted shrimp. Doesn't say organic. Yeah, it does. It's just scratched off. Aha! Found you. What's he found?

This is a decent beer, this. It's really growing on me. That's gassy. Can you do the big reveal now, please? Oh yeah, show us. What did you find? What I was looking for. Lovely. And what exactly is that? This. Oh my god. The tooth of Harris Stackhurst. Lateral incisor, a little bloodied, slight crack.

But otherwise fully intact. Knocked out of his mouth by his best mate, Ian Murdoch. Indeed. Oh, this is so annoying. Why? Because I keep thinking we're getting more and more information, but it just makes things less and less clear. No? Is that just me? Uh, yes. It is just you. Or, at least, it's certainly not me. Thanks. What are you looking at? The walls. What is it? It's the old language, the Norse Gaelic stuff.

Yeah, they told us already. These are the folktales on the walls. Wow, you really did have a lot of Lyonna's song last night. No, look. Balsanna.

Balsana. It's what Olaf said the Bellamys and Ian were guilty of, and then I... You said that to Ian and he went crazy. Exactly. Excuse me. Yes, everything all right? It's great. I have to say, I like this local beer very much. That's very sweet of you. Sorry, hi, what does balsana mean? Balsana?

Death in the soul. Death in the soul? A custom in the old fiara. A criminal charge. In what way? You could be tried by the island for balsanna. It didn't mean you took somebody's life, but it also didn't mean you aren't guilty. It means that death is in your soul. That you have the spiritual weight of murder, even if you committed no such act.

Aelred said it of himself when taking his son to sea. When his son drowned in the storm, Aelred imprisoned himself on the grounds of Balsanna. He didnae kill his son, but his son would be alive if it were not for him. Olaf said it was them. They had that, that death in the soul. Who? The Bellamys. The fish farm people? Exactly. They're responsible, and Ian, but how?

We could go and find out. Oh, it's ten o'clock at night. So, hurry up and finish your pint. Okay. Ah, right. Let's do... God, sorry. Excuse me. In thirty seconds, we cut the engine and the row. Understood? Understood. Aye, aye, Captain. That's the second time you've said aye, aye, Captain, this adventure. Yeah, so? I'm just letting you know. You should cut one. Why? Because it's...

Well, it's stupid if you keep saying it. We're going to be cutting the engine and the conversation. Just to be clear. Can we whisper? At least because it's audio. The podcast is not a priority. Excuse me, tell the listeners that. Go on, tell them. You are not a priority. Oh, isn't he lovely? Okay, cutting the engine. I'll row us up to the wharf. There's one, two, two lights on. That'll be for the indoor shrimp farming.

The room with the vats will be lit up. I don't think we have any personnel here tonight. Good. Sherlock, go left. See that pier? Ah, yes. The jetty. Okay. Hello, listeners. We are approaching Bellamy's Barnacles, their main farm. We've gone round the island in a sort of clockwise pattern. North and then east. And we're here at what they call the Gables. Let's look at that.

like a spit of land, which apparently is ideal for oyster farming, among many other things. And now we are approaching, well, like Sherlock said, the jetty, looks like, where they load and unload their goods, their slimy, fishy goods. And we'll make our way into the building.

So why are we here? I hear you cry. Well, because Harris's best friend blames these people. Harris's dad blames these people. The Bellamy's own daughter more. I mean, she didn't come out and say it, but she harbours ill thoughts towards her family and their ways. Here we go. Come. Right. Let's do this.

I say we head towards the main building, the green one there with the big metal paneling. That'll be offices. We don't want that. We'll be here all night looking through documents, won't we? Then what exactly are we looking for? Malpractice. How do you know this? I told you. All will be revealed when I get my submersible. Are you still on this submarine thing? I'm telling you, mate, if you hire a submarine, I'm not going in it. Okay. Okay, fine.

Then there'll be no podcast, no adventure documented. Rightio. Suck. Can't you just figure out the case without the summary? Submersible. This way. Oh, wow. That is a strong smell of, I don't know, crayfish.

Crustaceans? Crabs. No, forget it. Watson, come on. This is a crab farm, too? Keep behind me. Single file. Stray either side and you'll be in with the crabs. Hey! Sorry, I thought that was your hand. It was my butt, John. Yeah, but I'm trying to hold your hand. I don't want to hold your hand. Sherlock, come, hold my hand.

I'm not holding your hand. It's not a cowardly thing. It's for balance. Hmm, sure. Come, chop chop. I had sushi last week. I had the crab buramaki. They can smell it on me, I swear. I think they can probably smell your pickled cockles. Like the rest of us. Oh, this is good. This is very good indeed. Sorry, why is this good? We found nothing. We found much. Far too much. Look at the date here, on this pond.

Err... yeah. Last year. So? Right, hold on. Sherlock? Earth, are you doing? Getting a crab. Yeah, I can see that. Steve Irwin. Who? Ah! Here we go. Pinchy little so-and-so. Oh, put him down. Wow, he is big. He's very big. They get that big after a year? No, they do absolutely not. See what I'm getting at yet?

No. Well, you will once we crack open that shipping container over there. Okay, what am I looking at here? Barrels and barrels of the stuff. Hey, this... Wow. This is a chemical fertilizer. What the hell is this? Malpractice. She scraped it off. What? The organic... The word organic from your shrimp. She scraped it off. She was giving us a clue. Oh, yes. They're not organic at all, mate.

Those fuckers. I knew I shouldn't have been paying seven quid for their stupid little shrimp pots. There is so much of this stuff. They need as much as they can get. Why? Because they have a problem. A problem that Fitzy McPherson died trying to resolve. And Harris Stackhurst died trying to expose. Well, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let's turn down the craziness a little bit. I get it, OK? Bit of naughty farming practice here, yeah? I mean,

I mean, they said they're organic and they're not. Slap on the wrist, fine. All that kind of stuff. But food manufacturers don't murder people because they've been fiddling about with chemicals. Nobody has murdered anybody, Watson. For goodness sake. Well, what is going on then? You know what they're guilty of. Bolsana. Death in the soul. Who's going to speak out against the only employer on the island? Against the richest family? Hmm?

Mr. Murdoch certainly didn't. They paid him off. So who killed Harris? We get to meet them in the morning. In the meantime, we best head back to the pub. Anyone fancy a nightcap? He's in a fun mood, isn't he? This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables?

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Fitzy McPherson and Harris Stackhurst may have suffered the same fate, but they were two very different people. Fitzy was a loyalist. He believed in protecting Bellamy's Barnacles at all costs, believing, as so many do, that their commercial survival was tied to the island's own survival and the well-being of its inhabitants.

That may well be true. Who knows? I'm not an economist. But Harris Stackhurst was studying to be a marine biologist, all the while working at the oyster farm and dating Maude Bellamy. He became conflicted by the wringing out of sea life welfare to ensure higher revenues.

his attention was drawn to a bigger problem. The problem Fitzy knew all too well and a problem that was remedied by the importing of barrels and barrels of nitrogen. Chemical nitrogen fertiliser. Not very inconspicuous given the company's proclaimed business practices. So what, they say they're organic and they're not.

I bet there's plenty of companies that do that nonsense. With crops, maybe. Marine life, not so much. Why not? Because it's extremely harmful. Just ask Watson here. Why are we asking me? You've still got some in your itchy leg. Urea nitrate. Indeed. But wait, wait. What happened to him? What happened to Harris? Harris was on a mission to expose an ecological disaster in the bay. There...

There was an ecological disaster in the bay? Not that the islanders knew it, such is the power of the Bellamys. But Harris certainly did, given his area of study. Every night, when he wasn't working or under the watchful gaze of his fellow Fiordans, he ventured into the North Sea to examine the Viking bank. However, on his way, he was stopped by his dearest friend. Ian Murdoch? Ian Murdoch, who knew a thing or two about the Bellamys and the disaster...

since they paid him off so handsomely, tried to stop him. The intervention became fiercely heated and even came to blows. Ian Murdoch punched Harris in the face and caused his tooth to dislodge. The tooth would not prove to be anything other than a minor wound, but landing onto razor-sharp rock pools and cutting his wetsuit open? That was fatal. Ah, here we go. Oh no. Nice and merciless.

Hi there. Sherlock Holmes? Yes, that's me. Lovely. OK, so you've got the Marine Explorer sub for a private hire for three hours. Lovely. The fee is paid. Aye. And what I'm going to do is take you through a number of safety protocols, first of all. Is this the rest of your party? That's correct. I mean, apparently...

Yeah. Right, so we'll run through a few precautionary steps. I'll get you to sign a few forms. There's an online video I need you to watch. And then finally, you can come in the sub and I'll take you down. Wait, sorry. I thought I was piloting this thing myself.

Stop sulking. I'm not sulking. You are. I'm just a little disappointed. They were never going to let you drive the thing, mate. In the pamphlet, there is a customer driving the submarine. It's misleading. Yeah, OK. You just... Whoa, OK, what was that? So that's just a slight shudder as we move into the tidal patterns down here. Right, yeah, OK. Whoa. Whoa.

I can't believe how dark it is. Oh, it's very dark, that's right. This is what's known as the Viking Bank. They're hills under the sea. It causes some very steep, dark chasms down here. Oh, lovely. Yeah, it's almost pitch black, but for your front lights. For now. What's that? Nothing. I guess I'm used to... Spanish beaches, right? Right, yeah. But this is, I mean, it's still...

Magical, but also creepy. They say on Fyara that a sea monster lives down here. Lyona. A beautiful woman, one woman. And towering sea tentacles, the next. Oh, so you know the stories then. Unfortunately. Oh.

Oh, are you starting to be convinced it was Leona, John? Well, the master detective right here has been banging on about fertiliser for the past hour. It's relevant to the case. Yeah, but he was writing Leona in the boat, Sherlock. He was not. Sherlock, he was. Could we move this along a little faster? I really would like to get round to proving my point. We're not in any hurry to get anywhere. This is for leisure purposes. These coordinates here...

I can't just take this sub off the bank. It is for a murder investigation. Oh. This is in conjunction with the Highlands and Islands Police Force. Don't believe me? Then we can surface and call Inspector Fergus Barle. That's who made the booking? Exactly. Okay. Let me see those coordinates. Thank you. We're not far. I know.

How exactly do we know to use these coordinates? I told you. Put the data into the machine. The machine being you, of course. That's right. Some of the greatest oceanographers have made it possible to plot pathways and movements of nearly any object. As long as we know the data, and thankfully, we do. So what was he doing out here? Those fertiliser barrels are a temporary measure. Before we set off from the mainland, we noticed Bellamy's barnacles wharf near the ferry terminal.

Did we? You were about to pass out from sleep deprivation. Of the many marine supplies they had out on their deck, one in particular caught my attention. A pipe reel. It must have been 30 foot tall. You could lay 60 or 70 miles of pipe with that. Like...

Pipes in the ocean under the sea. Exactly. A feed, Watson, of fertiliser. Across all the major farms out of John O'Groats, Orkney, Fiarra, Shetland. Servicing all their needs. Keeping them as the dominant supplier in their market.

But what happens when that feed becomes interrupted? That flow of rich chemical nitrogen suddenly stops. You have to replace it. Quickly. So you order in until you fix your breach. There's a breach? There's a breach. In the pipe. Fitzy McPherson tried to fix it and Harris Stackhurst tried to expose it. So it's just spewing all this fertiliser into the ocean? Yes. The white whale.

Oh my god. Look. This is like a jungle down here.

I've never seen anything like this. Weeds, kelps, sea grasses, a toxic bloom of algae, all triggered by an unstoppable deluge of chemical nitrogen. This is unbelievable. It's like the whole place is on growth hormones or something. Yes, if only it wasn't so toxic. It's so dark.

I'm going to see if I can get my roof lights to point ahead. Oh, that won't be necessary. Why not? Because we're about to see the next organism stimulated so potently by this nitrogen. And they emit plenty of light. Trust me. What are you getting at? He wasn't writing Lyona in the boat, Watson. He was writing Lion's Mane. The pub. The jellyfish. Look. Oh my god.

Behold! Incredible. Yeah? A dense forest of lion's mane jellyfish. The largest of their species. The bell, measuring sometimes as large as two meters in diameter. The tentacles can vary in length. Some can reach 30 meters. Venomous, tenacious, suffocating.

Each lion's mane jellyfish has over a thousand of those tentacles. And now look how many there are. Invigorated by the bloom of zooplankton, there are thousands upon thousands of them. He wouldn't have stood a chance. No, he would have. If he hadn't have torn his wetsuit during his fight on the rock pools. Those tentacles found a way through to his skin and from that point...

He had very little chance of escape. The Burmarks, though? He obviously found the pipe. Residue of chemical nitrogen fertilizer would have seared his skin. Poor guy. Indeed. We may need to surface soon. Yes. We have seen what we needed to see, I suppose. Still, it will be a shame to depart from such beauty. I agree. Me too. Me too.

Maybe that is Leona. I mean, still just as beautiful, but without the myth and legend. You okay? Oh yes. Yeah, thought you might be. Yes, well, I'm not saying it was easy.

calculations to determine the location of where Harris was wounded were pretty exhausting I bet still out on the ocean now with your pal doing a bit of fishing eh we're not coming out here for fishing at all

Mariana, we were fishing. That's why we were having to get the lake ferry. Something more important than that, I'm afraid. And, after all my work last night, I'd appreciate it if we could see this through. What work last night? More calculations, Watson. What do you mean? Months and months worth. Tides, wind speeds, swells, currents. You've done more tracking. Two men were killed, Watson.

Two men. Fitzy McPherson. Exactly. I'm not diving, mate. I am not diving into that ocean. No way. You don't have to. Why? Because, if I'm correct, Fitzy washed up into this cave. Right. I can moor the boat here momentarily. But we can't be long.

The tides could well sweep it away before we even realise. I don't think we're going to be long. You don't? No. Why not? I found him, Sherlock. I found him. He too left a message. Look, on the cave walls. Fitzy was here. Must have died of his wounds. Or perhaps exhaustion. Yeah. We should go. We should. And we should take him back with us. Agreed.

Come on then. - We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Fitzroy Macpherson. Fitzroy, to so many of you, the grace and peace of God our Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, be always with you. - We will obey your commandment and obey your commandments and obey your commandments and obey your commandments.

Ah, you can't sleep either then? Ah, no. No, not... not tonight. Although, I'm pretty glad about that. Oh, the train window, I know. Ah, you can see why I stayed up the whole night last time. It's beautiful. Yeah. You okay? Sure, sure, yeah. You? Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Bit sad about the whole thing, but yeah. Yeah.

It's a kind of sad one. I know why you're sad. What do you mean? You wanted the sea demon to be real. Ah. Oh, I did. I did. It's not fair. You wanted some magical adventure. For us to uncover some folk legend. But not jellyfish. Damn it. I mean, it would have been so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But... Hey, wait. What? What's that out the window? Where? There, in the distance. There? Yeah, just over there. Oh my goodness, it's Hogwarts. Oh, I hate you. I hate you.

That was essentially a long, drawn-out public service announcement about the dangers of jellyfish. I hope you can appreciate that. And that's something to think about next time you go for a swim in the sea. Right, we'll see you all next... Oh, wait, Dr. Watson, MD, on Twitter. If you've got TikTok, follow Sherlock and Co. Pod, all one word. And if you've got Instagram, follow Sherlock and Co. Pod. And if you've got none of those, what's your secret?

How do you do that? Can I be like you? Please? Please? Please?