eenth century. Pete said that, oddly enough, the bore of 

 the laige cannon went only partway through the barrel 

 and ended in a big air bubble. He figured that it must have 

 been carried as ballast on the ship after it had been re- 

 jected for other use, upon the discovery of tlie flaw in the 

 metal. 



We were to meet Jack's party and his "duck" at Sambo 

 reef, some six miles offshore from Key West, the following 

 morning. We found the water behind the reefs reasonably 

 calm so early in the day, but once we had rounded the 

 last buoy and turned east to follow the outer edge of the 

 reefs, we encountered a fairly rough sea. From the distant 

 shore we could see Jack's "duck" making its way toward 

 the reef, and we slowed our approach, timing our arrival 

 to correspond with his in order to ascertain the exact loca- 

 tion of the wreck. 



We were hardly settled, and Pete and Ed returned 

 from looking over the bottom, when Jack hailed us from 

 the "duck," which was anchored a scant fifty feet away. 

 We would have to move Sea Diver, he informed us, for 

 he was going to set off a charge of dynamite to loosen the 

 visible cannon and cannon balls from the coral. This was 

 discouraging, but necessary, we realized, and after some 

 careful jockeying. Sea Diver was eased away from the 

 reef. We waited for the dynamite sticks to be placed. 



When Ed saw the amount of dynamite Jack intended 

 to use, he was appalled. "It'll blow the whole wreck to 

 Kingdom come," he said. 



But Jack wanted to be siue of accomplishing the job. 

 We waited for the muflGied boom of the underwater explo- 

 sion and the sharp, hard impact against the bottom of the 

 boat. Then we spent another hour returning Sea Diver to 

 her original position in waters now roiled and muddy 

 from the explosion. We might as well have skipped the 



The Florida Keys 65 



