for ourselves, for their finely worked, gleaming barrels 

 would be in as good condition today as when they had first 

 disappeared into the sea. 



There was even the possibility — Ed scarcely dared 

 breathe it — that, if the brass cannon were of a certain 

 period, they might contain platinum, which, unrecognized 

 in the early days as a valuable metal, had often been used 

 as an alloy with copper. 



No wonder our imaginations were fired! 



Ed also showed me a chart of the keys on which the 

 two salvagers had indicated the locations of several piles 

 of cannon balls or ballast stone, and of other areas where 

 iron cannon had already been removed. These places were 

 all further up the keys in the vicinity of Key Largo. 



The temptation was great. On a beautiful Sunday 

 morning in early March we left Marathon. There was 

 just a pleasant breeze blowing from the east, and we de- 

 cided the weather had at last given us a break. We in- 

 tended to make our way slowly up Hawk channel, which 

 leads between the keys and the line of outer reefs, inves- 

 tigating a few possible wreck sites on the way. The pre- 

 vious day Ed had reconnoitered this area from the air with 

 the Widgeon. He had found that, while the water was 

 murky off Marathon and north as far as Long key, from 

 there on it appeared clear. If only it were smooth enough, 

 we might be able to spot some of the wrecks. 



We circled south under Seven Mile bridge and out 

 into Hawk channel, where we set our course to the east- 

 northeast. To our starboard was Sombrero light, guarding 

 what was left of the ivory wreck and its companion wreck, 

 from which had come the 1617 cannon. Not a thing could 

 be seen beneath the milky green waters. Ahead of us was 

 Washerwoman shoal, also marked on our chart as a spot 

 where ancient cannon had been removed during World 

 War II. 



38 Sea Diver 



