savage of the sea, one of those same barracuda. I shud- 

 dered at the thought of undertaking my first dive in the 

 company of this toothy monster. And I looked admiringly, 

 but also with perplexity, at the mothers and fathers in 

 the party who were willing not only to face these under- 

 water terrors themselves, but also to allow their children 

 to go overboard. 



About four miles out, not far from Sombrero hght- 

 house, the cruiser dropped anchor on what had come to be 

 called the "ivory wreck" because of the number of ivory 

 tusks which had been recovered there the previous year. 

 Aboard with the Crile family was Arthur McKee, a profes- 

 sional diver and owner of the Museum of Sunken Treasure, 

 a collection of underwater relics located at Plantation key, 

 some fifty miles nearer Miami. Having made the initial 

 discoveries on the ivory wreck the previous year with Bill 

 Thompson, Jane and Barney were eager to explore it fur- 

 ther. 



Blue Heron and the LCP boat continued a quarter 

 mile further on to Delta shoal, where Bill, in the years be- 

 fore the war, had discovered scores of cannon piled like 

 matchsticks. Most of these cannon had been removed 

 during the war years by professional salvagers and sold 

 for scrap; but Bill, after long search, had finally relocated 

 the spot by means of two cannon wliich the salvagers 

 had missed, probably because the guns were buried 

 beneath the shifting bottom sand at that time. 



The divers had attached lines to one of these cannon 

 the previous day, to prepare it for hauling. An empty 

 bottle attached to one of these lines floated on the surface, 

 marking the location. We anchored Blue Heron almost di- 

 rectly over it, and the LCP boat, manned by Bill Thomp- 

 son and a lively crew of divers of all ages, cast anchor close 

 by. 



Soon the whole area was athrob with activity. Three 



The Florida Keys 11 



