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Gay Gibson was a stunning actress, just about to get her big break. Following a short theatre tour of South Africa in October 1947, she boarded the steamship the Durban Castle, sailing to Southampton, where a part on the West End Stage awaited. Unfortunately, she would never arrive. She would make the acquaintance of James Camb, a deck steward onboard the ship, and during an alleged romantic moment in Cabin 126, she would lose her life. He would claim she died of natural causes, and the police would charge him with murder. What became of Gay is unknown as James discarded her body through the nearest porthole into the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean. Let’s explore the case the newspapers would dub the Porthole Murder.
Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson was born on the 16th of June 1926 in India, the daughter of a British businessman. She completed her education in England before joining the Women’s Army Corps during World War 2. It was there that she developed a love of performing and began touring with a theatrical company using the stage name Gay Gibson.
Gay had found success playing the lead in The Man with a Load of Mischief opposite former British boxing champion Eric Boon. Leading to a tour of South Africa playing Lorna, the mistress of a prizefighter’s manager in Clifford Odets Golden Boy. One of her co-stars in that production was Doreen Mantle, who would go on to play Mrs Warboys in the classic comedy One Foot in the Grave. It was not the best experience for Gay; she was paid very little, and her private life had become complicated. She was a gorgeous redhead who people remarked quote “ attracted men like bees to a honeycomb” She was reportedly engaged in affairs with two different married men. There were rumours she was pregnant. So when an opportunity to be a part in a play in London’s West end she was happy to return home. She accepted the fare to England and £350 from a less- than- respectable nightclub owner, potentially one of her beaus.
She boarded the streamliner, the Durban Castle, on the 10th of October 1947, bound for Southampton. The ship was quiet, only half full, 21 year old Gay was the only female passenger aboard. On the first night at sea, the passengers, including Gay, attended a dance. She danced with several of the male passengers. It was there she caught the eye of James Camb, a deck steward. He remarked to another steward quote “I have a mind to take a drink to her cabin”. This was a typical remark James would make regarding the young female passengers who travelled on the Durban Castle.
Aged 31, James Camb was born in Waterfoot, Lancashire. He was a confident and self-assured man who craved a life with more adventure and excitement than the routine factory life that would be inevitable had he stayed in England. From 17, he began to work on ships. During world war 2, he worked as a Merchant Navy Reserve, where he met and married his wife; they would have one daughter.
He was first hired as an assistant cook on the Durban Castle but soon worked his way up to first-class deck steward. A much-desired role, he allowed him to earn generous tips from the rich passengers, making sure to give the attractive female travellers extra attention.
James had black hair that he wore slicked back with a shine. He was good-looking and silver-tongued and was rumoured to have an affair on each voyage. He was given the nickname “Don James” or “Don Jimmy” by the crew, who thoroughly disliked him. James would often sneer at them; they were all jealous of his success with the ladies.
On the evening of Friday, the 17th of October 1947, Gay dined with her assigned escorts, Mr Hopwood and Mr Bray. She shared dances with them and other passengers before deciding to return to her room with the plan to change into her swimsuit and take a late-night swim. The climate was tropical, and it was too hot to sleep. Gay was unable to find her swimsuit, and Mr Hopwood escorted her back to cabin 126 at 12.40 am, believing she was retiring for the evening. But it was still too hot for Gay to settle, and she was on the afterdeck having a cigarette, around 1 a.m., when a boatswain spoke with her. He was about to wash the deck and didn’t want to get her wet. She wished him goodnight and returned to her cabin. Still wearing her black evening gown and heels, this was the last time Gay was seen alive by anyone other than James Camb.
At 2.58 am on the 18th of October, the service bell was pushed several times in Cabin 126. Watchman Frederick Steer responded to the call. He noticed that both the red and green lights positioned outside of the cabin were lit, meaning that both the steward and stewardess had been called for, which was extremely unusual; a passenger would need one or the other. Frederick knocked, and a man briefly opened the door before closing it again and shouting through the grille quote “It’s all right”. He recognised the man as James Camb, and he left the cabin at first thinking that James, as a steward himself, had answered the call for assistance. But he was sufficiently sceptical of James that he reported back to the senior night watchman, and together they returned to cabin 126 and listened at the door. Hearing nothing, they left but reported the incident to the Officer on watch. He was not concerned, remarking quote “If a passenger chooses to entertain someone in their cabin at this hour, that’s their affair. We’re not responsible for their morals”
At around 7.30 am, Eileen Field arrived at Gay’s cabin to deliver her breakfast. She found the room unlocked and empty. She assumed Gay had left to visit the bathroom and set her glass of orange juice on the bureau. She left to attend to her other duties. At 9.30 am, she came to collect the dishes. The juice was untouched on the bureau, and when she looked closer, the slippers that Gay would have worn had she left the cabin were in the usual spot by the bed, the bed was in disarray, and the porthole was open. Alarmed, she reported Gay missing to Captain Patey.
At 10 am, the captain broadcast an appeal for Gay over the ship’s PA system; she, of course, did not respond. The initial theory was that she had somehow fallen overboard. At 10.30 am, Patey turned the ship around to make a thorough search of the water. Word was spread through the crew and passengers, and a painstaking search was made of the ship. No trace of Gay was found aboard, and given the traitorous nature of the Atlantic Ocean, Patey felt he had no option but to continue onto England.
The captain informed the chiefs at Union Castle Line’s head office about Gay’s disappearance, and they, in turn, notified Scotland Yard’s Criminal Investigations Department, who relayed the message quote “padlock and seal the cabin, disturb nothing, CID officers will come aboard at Cowes Road, Southampton”
An investigation was carried out in the meantime onboard. The captain was made aware of the call for assistance and that Frederick Steer had seen James Camb in Gay’s cabin. However, James flat-out denied he was in the cabin, and his reputation as a ladies’ man lessened their suspicions until he started to act very oddly. The temperature was hot, but James took to wearing long sleeves and a jacket when on duty. When asked to bare his arms, he was found to have scratches which he explained as him scratching himself in the tropical heat and rubbing himself with a rough towel.
Eight days later, when the ship docked, the police took James for interrogation. Detective Sergeant Quinlan carried out the interview. He first asked James to explain how Gay came to disappear, and that now was the best time to volunteer any information he had. He said she had invited him to her cabin that night, and he brought her a drink.
She had met him at the door wearing nothing but a yellow nightdress, which she promptly removed and got into bed, beckoning James to join her. He climbed into bed, and they began to be intimate. Suddenly, her body began to stiffen and go limp. Gay was foaming brownish froth from her mouth, and only one eye appeared to be slightly open.
James claimed quote I tried artificial respiration on her, and it was this he was doing when Frederick knocked at the door. When he returned to Gay, he quote: could not find any sign of life after a struggle with the limp body, I managed to lift her to the porthole and push her through”
Quinlan enquired about the service bells and how they both had been pushed. He replied quote: I cannot offer any explanation as to how the bells came to be rung, as I most definitely did not touch them myself” He admitted that he had lied about being in cabin 126 and, with frustration, said quote: I was definitely incriminated by the witness Steer”
In a later police interview, when pressed for more details, James said of Gay’s body when she hit the water quote: it made a helluva splash”, he painted a picture of himself as a callous and unfeeling man.
Two days after his initial police interview, James was charged with murder.
Five months to the day after Gay’s disappearance, James went on trial at Hampshire Assizes within the 13th century Great Hall of Winchester Castle. The public gallery was full of fashionably dressed women who would join the queue at 5.30 am to make sure they got the best seats.
Mr Justice Hilbury presided. Prosecution was led by G D Roberts, and James was defended by J D Casswell. Evidence presented included a replica of cabin 126 and the porthole.
James took the stand in his own defence, and it didn’t go well. His usual confidence came across as arrogance. On cross-examination, Roberts asked James if he was an honest man. He indicated he thought he was, he was then asked about putting Gay through the porthole, Roberts saying quote: Don’t you think that was curious conduct from a truthful person?” James responded quote I should say it was beastly conduct. Roberts got James to admit that he had changed his story on 6 occasions and that the purpose of that was pure self-preservation.
The ship’s doctor, Dr Griffiths, at the request of Captain Patey, examined James’s scratches. He found them on his shoulders and wrists, and he testified they were more in line with defensive wounds rather than made by a woman having a seizure.
Blood was found on the pillow along with lipstick. It was analysed by pathologist Dr Donald Teare, and it was found to be type O, and James was type A, so it was assumed the blood came from Gay. He testified that this blood, along with the release of urine, was more consistent with a person being strangled rather than having a heart attack.
The confirmation of urine on the sheets actually came from Dr Frederick Hocking, a defence witness; it had been missed by the prosecution pathologists. The fact that it was found on the sheets contradicts James’s story because had the urine been released during intimacy, it would have covered James and been present on the sheets in a different pattern. Making it more likely that James was standing over Gay rather than in the bed.
The prosecution put forward this version of events. James arrived at Gay’s cabin under the pretext of delivering her a drink. When she opened the door, he pushed his way inside and attempted to force himself on her. She fought him valiantly, scratching him, and he began to strangle her. Somehow, during the struggle, Gay managed to press the service button, desperately trying to summon help. By the time Frederick arrived, Gay was dead, and James pretended everything was ok. It was suggested that Frederick didn’t take more forceful action to view the cabin because he was used to James and his onboard romances. He then disposed of her body, under the mistaken idea that without it there would be no evidence of a crime and therefore he couldn’t be convicted.
Also, the yellow nightdress that Gay had supposedly opened the door wearing was not found in the cabin, nor were Gay’s black silk pyjamas. Eileen Field, the stewardess, confirmed that she had seen Gay wearing them in the first week of the voyage and at no point did James mention dressing Gay after her passing. It was therefore suggested that it was the pyjamas that Gay was wearing that night, and she was still wearing them when she went through the porthole. The yellow nightdress was an invention used by James to convince people that Gay had seduced him.
James’s defence was that Gay had died of natural causes; he had already admitted to disposing of her body at sea. This was a tall order, as the only conclusive proof of Gay’s cause of death was by analysing her body. The defence centred on proving Gay was in poor health and attacking her moral character.
People who had worked with Gay in South Africa were brought in to testify. Mike Abel, an actor, said she fainted 5 times in his presence, where her mouth, hands and fingernails turned blue. Henry Gilbert, an actor- producer and his wife, Dr Ina Schoub, claimed she had many health complaints, including asthma and perhaps congenital heart disease, that she was neurotic and sexually active.
In Gay’s belongings, they found a contraceptive device similar to a Dutch cap. The prosecution said that it was another sign she hadn’t expected to be intimate that night, as she hadn’t used it. The defence said it showed that she was a woman of loose morals, and that she was pregnant and that therefore there was no need for contraception. The rumours of the pregnancy were never confirmed, and Gay’s mother took to the stand to refute all their claims quote: she was one of the finest types of English womanhood physically, mentally and morally.
After the 4 day hearing, it took the jury 45 minutes of deliberation to find him guilty. Before sentencing him to death, Justice Hilsbury asked if he had anything to say in a quivering voice. James said quote: “My Lord, at the beginning of this case, I pleaded not guilty. I repeat that statement, now that is all”
This is where James got extremely lucky. He appealed, however, while it was being considered, the House of Commons added an amendment to the new Criminal Justice Bill that was before parliament, one of which was to abolish capital punishment. While the House of Lords were debating the bill, the home secretary decided to commute all capital sentences still pending to life sentences. The Lords would later reject the bill, but James was able to evade the noose in the short time this legal loophole was opened.
The Prime Minister Winston Churchill was disgusted, commenting quote: The House of Commons has by its vote saved the life of the brutal, lascivious murderer who thrust the poor girl he had raped and assaulted through a porthole of the ship to the sharks”
More women who encountered James while travelling on the Durban Castle came forward, but their evidence was ruled inadmissible for inclusion in the trial. Two reported being raped. Another woman said that she had been attacked on the deck, and she had fought him as he had tried to remove her clothes. Frustrated, he strangled her until she passed out. When she regained consciousness, James was standing over her.
James appealed against his life sentence in April 1948, but it was denied. Nine months into his sentence, his wife divorced him on the grounds of adultery.
In September 1959, just 11 and a half years into his sentence, James was released for good behaviour, described as a quote “star prisoner” by the prison. Still maintaining his innocence, he sold his story to the newspapers. He changed his name to Clarke and later remarried to a lady who had a child that he went on to adopt. In 1967, he was sent back to prison for 2 years for a sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl.
After his release in 1969, James moved to Scotland and began working as a head waiter at a hotel. Just months later, he was charged with sexual misconduct after breaking into the room of 3 11 year olds schoolgirls. He was recalled to prison to complete his life sentence.
He would be released in 1978 and died in 1979 of heart failure.
Gay Gibson’s body was never recovered