erred in its position even slightly, could find itself in these 

 dangerous waters. 



Add to that the hazards of hurricanes and violent 

 storms, and it was easy to see why so many ships ended 

 up on the reefs. Unfortunately most of these reefs are just 

 underwater, so that they are not visible from the surface. 

 And because they lie at the edge of the Gulf Stream, where 

 the bottom drops suddenly to depths of several hundred 

 feet, well beyond the reach of the average sounding Hne, 

 their presence would be undetected until the ship sud- 

 denly encountered them. Because of the distance of the 

 reefs from shore, there must have been many times at 

 night or in poor visibihty when they could be struck with- 

 out any warning that land was near. 



The three wrecks which Bill Thompson had come 

 across while trolling a fish line about the reefs were no 

 doubt indicative of dozens more which must lie along this 

 250-mile-long string of keys. However, were it not for the 

 cannon, those coral-covered logs which Bill had spotted 

 from the surface, the final resting place of the wrecks 

 would still be a secret, for during the two to three hun- 

 dred years these ships had lain on the bottom, they had 

 completely disintegrated. It would not be ^asy to find the 

 remains of other wrecks; almost impossible if the cannon 

 had already been removed. 



The wreck at Looe key, on which we were to dive the 

 next day, had already been well worked over by the group. 

 Ed, Barney, and Jane had labored a day and almost a 

 whole night to raise and bring back to Marathon the two- 

 thousand-pound cannon which now lay in a fresh-water 

 bath near Bill's swimming pool. On it they found a 

 crowned rose, insignia of British royalty. 



In a protected enclosure near BiU's house lay charred 

 pieces of wood from the ship's big timbers, corroded iron 

 ballast, dozens of cannon balls of many sizes, bar shot 



The Florida Keys 19 



