beating to which Blue Heron was subjected each time she 

 raced. He was ready for a new activity. In the meantime 

 he turned to more leisurely cruising, and we spent de- 

 hghtful days and weeks exploring the enchanting Florida 

 keys clear to their western extremity at Dry Tortugas. 



That is how we happened to be at Bill Thompson's 

 place on the Florida bay shores of Marathon. Here we 

 intended to prepare Blue Heron for a long-anticipated 

 cruise to the Bahamas. When we were ready to sail, it 

 would be simple to circle west and south, shce through 

 the opening in Seven Mile bridge and head for Bimini, 

 nearly 150 miles away. 



But it was at this point that Bill Thompson succeeded 

 in changing our entire outlook. Now he and Ed ar- 

 ranged for us to return to Marathon from the Bahama 

 cruise at the end of May, in time to join the expedition 

 which was slated to explore the three ancient ships that 

 Bill had discovered lying on the bottom not many miles 

 away. 



The search was being organized by Jane and Barney 

 Crile, the couple from Cleveland who had made the initial 

 explorations with Bill. (The remainder of the time Barney 

 was the very capable and well-known Dr. Crile of the 

 Cleveland Chnic). Now they were recruiting equipment 

 and a party of divers to continue their exploration of the 

 three ships. Upon hearing of Ed's interest in the enter- 

 prise and of the Blue Heron, which would be available 

 for their use, they were glad to welcome him into their 

 group. 



I realized that this new pastime of skin diving and 

 searching the remains of sunken ships would necessarily 

 make some changes in the way we were accustomed to 

 spending our days aboard Blue Heron. But little did I 

 realize that it would lead to the eventual disposal of our 



8 Sea Diver 



