deck and roof, and everything inside had been constructed 

 accordingly. 



But I didn't see all this with my first look. I saw only 

 a typical shrimp boat, dressed up with an extra-tall mast 

 and radio antennae, a low cabin top on the aft deck, and 

 a deep, wide seat built across the fourteen-foot stem. She 

 was painted with a wide band of gray-blue around the 

 bulwarks, and the wooden deck was gray. The rest of her 

 was white. 



We went aboard. She seemed tremendous after the 

 close quarters of Blue Heron, and the narrow beam of 

 Eryholme. The deckhouse was cut up into several small 

 cubicles in typical shrimp-boat fashion — a wheelhouse 

 forward; the captain's quarters at center, furnished with a 

 small table, bunk and stool; an adjoining head; and a 

 small, badly arranged galley aft. 



But there was a stainless-steel electric refrigerator, 

 and a small stainless-steel sink. In the wheelhouse there 

 were an automatic pilot; a very good seventy-five-watt, 

 ten-channel radio receiver and transmitter; and an RCA 

 radio direction finder, in addition to a large, clearly read- 

 able compass. I could see that there was also room to install 

 the myriad of other navigational aids and instruments 

 which were Ed's dehght. 



We walked forward up the sloping deck and found a 

 sturdy electric winch to haul the 150-pound anchor 

 and its hundred fathoms of chain. This immediately made 

 a hit with two sailboat people who were used to hauling 

 in the anchor with a hand winch. We could also see the 

 possibihties of the six-foot pulpit that extended high into 

 the air from the bow, wonderful for cruising in unknown 

 waters and for searching. This brought to Ed's mind the 

 advantages of a crow's-nest for this same purpose. He 

 examined the tall mast, considering the feasibility of in- 

 stalhng one there. 



The Florida Keys 55 



