So we had ceased to get very excited over the prospects 

 of finding the cannon until one day we picked up a copy of 

 an old chart that Mendel Peterson had sent us, labeled "A 

 description of the Bahama Banck," which had originally 

 been drawn up in the mid-seventeenth century by a Mr. 

 Charles Salmon, under the command of a Captain Phips. 



On the western border of the same banks we had 

 searched for the brass cannon, three wrecks had been 

 charted. They had most intriguing names: the "plate 

 wreck," the "Genuees wreck" and the "copper vireck." The 

 latitude of each was plainly indicated, and although the 

 map was rather crudely drawn, we found upon comparing 

 it with our present-day chart that whatever landmarks still 

 existed matched very well as to latitude. There was no 

 longitude given, for in those early days of sailing, tlie navi- 

 gator had no means of determining it while at sea. 



We believed the plate wreck must have been part of 

 a Spanish treasure fleet. The Genuees wreck had perhaps 

 received its name because it contained gold from the west 

 coast of Africa, transformed by the British into guineas 

 for their trade; while the copper wreck, no doubt, had 

 carried a valuable load of that much-prized metal. 



We soon discovered that the Captain Phips who had 

 caused this chart to be drawn and who had evidently lo- 

 cated and attempted to salvage these wrecks was the same 

 Captain Phips who, a few years later, wrested a treasure of 

 millions from a Spanish galleon which had been wrecked 

 on the Silver shoals earlier that same century. Ed and I had 

 often read and talked of the Silver shoals. What treasure 

 hunter has not? For the story of Captain Phips's sudden ele- 

 vation to wealth and fame by his finding of the Spanish 

 plate wreck has lived to this day to spice and encourage 

 the plans of treasure seekers the world over. 



Perhaps, then, this seventeenth-century chart held the 



108 Sea Diver 



