broken free from its line, gradually sinking into the sand 

 beneath it. 



We spent the remainder of the month experimenting 

 with the magnetometer, which we now familiarly called 

 "Maggie." When the weather allowed, we took our tem- 

 peramental partner out to sea, towing her both on the 

 surface and below, lashed to a thick wooden plank at the 

 end of a heavy line. However, there were many days when 

 our prima donna flatly refused to perform, and then Ed 

 and Bill worked patiently ashore to restore her to a more 

 co-operative attitude, while I sulked in the heat and 

 wished I had never seen her. 



We made one final effort at Looe key, hoping, with 

 the aid of "Maggie," to locate the remains of the Spanish 

 snow which had been wrecked the same night as the Brit- 

 ish Looe, and also the mysterious vessel from which had 

 come the bell marked "Soli Deo Gloria." We wondered if 

 we might also come across other wrecks, for we knew that 

 Looe key had proved fatal to many ships in past centuries. 



We arrived there just before dark on a calm, lovely 

 evening, and anchored behind the key, ready to search 

 the outside of the reef early the next day. But by morning 

 it was blowing hard, and breakers were rolling across tlie 

 reef from the sea. It was impossible to approach any closer 

 to the jagged coral with Sea Diver. By afternoon the wind 

 was even higher. 



We waited over the second night, vainly hoping that 

 the next day would be better. Instead, the wind became 

 constantly stronger. On the afternoon of the second day 

 we headed back to Marathon through heavy rain squalls 

 and wind up to fifty knots. Back at Bill's dock that night, 

 the wind held steady at fifty with squalls of even higher 

 velocity. 



The weather man on our radio said this was hurri- 

 cane-breeding weather — high barometer, hot and sticky 



74 Sea Diver 



