just south of a red nun buoy "C," which served to mark 

 the division between the Gulf Stream deeps outside and 

 the shallower waters behind the reefs. I took my turn at 

 the wheel while the others went below. 



A half hour later, as Sea Diver approached the red 

 nun, I studied the chart to check our position, then disen- 

 gaged the automatic pilot and took hold of the wheel to 

 guide the boat past the marker. The chart showed a 

 depth of eighteen feet from Sea Diver's position south 

 of tlie marker to the deeper water outside the line of reefs. 

 I headed the boat in this direction about fifty feet from 

 the marker. 



Suddenly Sea Diver was brought to a violent stop. We 

 had hit something so solid that I could feel the deck un- 

 der my feet assume an abrupt slant as the bow came out 

 of the water. I immediately threw the engine into neutral, 

 and as I leaned out of the door to see what we had hit, 

 large and small pieces of wood from tlie bottom of the boat 

 floated aft. Ed came running, and so did the others on 

 board. 



Sea Diver had by now drifted ofiF the obstruction, 

 and we were floating clear. From the bow we could just 

 make out the angular shape of some sort of submerged 

 metal framework, lying with its top about three feet be- 

 neath the surface. 



We dropped anchor and Ed hurried below decks to 

 set the pumps going. When he returned to where we were 

 hanging over the starboard rail, attempting to make out 

 what we had hit, he reported that there were no signs 

 of damage inside the hull, as far as he could see, and that 

 the boat did not seem to be taking on an undue amount of 

 water. 



He set the air compressor going and got into his div- 

 ing gear, for he wanted to have a look at the damage to 

 the outside of the hull. He had been overboard only a brief 



60 Sea Diver 



