the outboard. We headed their way, thinking they were 

 in trouble. 



As we approached them, Jane gasped, "Cannon. 

 Dozens of cannon. All over the bottom." 



In the quiet which followed the cessation of our noisy 

 outboard, they told us how Jane, who had been swimming 

 along the siu^face gazing down through her face plate, had 

 suddenly spied a cluster of cannon. When she and Barney 

 dived on them, to their amazement they discovered there 

 were more cannon lying in every direction. 



We quickly cast anchor beside them, and soon were 

 in the water, where we could observe the coral-crusted 

 guns from the surface. There were indeed dozens of them. 

 A series of exploratory dives failed to reveal any other 

 signs of the wreck, though there might be many objects 

 hidden in the coral growths which partially covered the 

 bottom. Could it be we had found the copper wreck? We 

 decided to bring Sea Diver to the spot so that we could use 

 the air equipment and examine the bottom more carefully. 



When I reached the bottom of the ladder in my div- 

 ing gear that summer afternoon, I looked down upon a 

 golden underwater world. The sun beaming through the 

 translucent water in slanting rays turned the sandy bottom 

 to purest gold, and illuminated the scattered cannon and 

 coral formations until they, too, shone, their surfaces orna- 

 mented with the vivid reds and greens and purples of nu- 

 merous sea growths, which gleamed like jewels against 

 the gold encrustration. Yellow and purple sea fans and 

 snaky lavender Gorgonia waved to and fro in the tide. 



We made the most of our few remaining hours. When 

 there weren't enough air hoses to go around, those who 

 were left without them spent their time floating on the 

 surface, from whence tliey made numerous dives to ex- 

 amine or photograph whatever caught their eye below. 

 Ed and Barney combed the bottom with the metal detector, 



The Bahama Islands 119 



