elers, returning to the mother country. No doubt their per- 

 sonal baggage had contained many articles of value which 

 would have ended up on the bottom. 



Working alone and with inadequate equipment, as he 

 had begun, it would take years for Art to make any appreci- 

 able progress with "his" wreck. We were delighted that he 

 had invited us to return in July to work with him. 



During the summers of 1953 and 1954 we spent quite 

 a little time on Art's galleon wreck. Mendel Peterson was 

 with us much of the time. That first summer we were able 

 to supplement Art's equipment with an additional jetting 

 hose and the metal detector, which had proven so valuable. 

 Following the wavering needle of its indicator over the 

 white-sand bottom with the two jetting hoses, the men un- 

 covered, in addition to several cannons, a fascinating array 

 of old swords and battle axes, pewter and silver plates and 

 utensils, and small pieces of jewelry. 



They also found scores of pieces of eight, all black and 

 corroded save those which had lain in contact with another 

 piece of metal. These were still solid, the full arms of Spain 

 on a crowned shield and the square cross showing dis- 

 tinctly after they had been cleaned and treated. The date 

 1732 was distinguishable on many of them. 



Yet all the time they were uncovering these objects, 

 Ed and Art had a stricken feeling that the jetting hoses 

 were driving far more reHcs than they were salvaging 

 deeper into the seemingly bottomless bed of sand. It 

 seemed that almost as fast as the streams of water washed 

 the sand away from an object, the sand at the sides of the 

 hole thus formed would slowly but inexorably creep back 

 until, by the time the operator had finished, there was very 

 little trace of his efforts. The divers could go on forever in 

 this way without ever reaching many of the valuables 

 which must be there. 



The Florida Keys 91 



