Mendel Peterson was with us again, as well as our 

 younger son, Clayton, who had turned into a very capable 

 diver for an eleven-year-old. We had not been able to 

 persuade his brother. Bill, to join us, for Bill was spending 

 the summer on a ranch in Wyoming, thus fulfilling some- 

 thing he had dreamed of all through his childhood. 



We found the museum to be an impressive structure 

 of gray block simulating an early Spanish fort, with battle- 

 ments and towers. It was situated on the Overseas highway 

 on Plantation key, its sixty-five-foot tower overlooking both 

 the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. From its top, with the 

 aid of the telescope he had placed there, it was even possi- 

 ble for Art to police the site of his galleon wreck far out at 

 sea. 



On the greensward inside the moat which surrounded 

 the museum, separating it from the road. Art had placed 

 the huge anchor which was one of the first things he had 

 raised from the sunken galleon. Overhead, from the bat- 

 tlements, fluttered the flags of all nations, and from the 

 tower high above waved a black-and-white Jolly Roger. 



In the main display room of the fort we found an im- 

 posing array of artifacts from the Spanish plate ship and 

 from other wrecks which Art had worked. In the pic- 

 turesque courtyard behind the museum were displayed an- 

 chors, ballast rock, numerous cannon and cannon balls, and 

 all the larger objects which had been secured from wrecks 

 up and down the keys. There was even a rephca of the 

 ocean floor, with a diver in full heavy-diving gear at work 

 upon a cleverly simulated wreck. 



But the most interesting exhibit of all was housed in 

 a heavily constructed vault in the interior of the fort. Here 

 we found the accumulated results of Art's long search for 

 treasure. On display were two of the three silver bars 

 which Art still insisted he had found "east of Key Largo." 

 There were some fine examples of gold doubloons and 



96 Sea Diver 



