he had a very keen mind. He need only watch Ed start a 

 motor or repair a piece of equipment once; from then on 

 he was able to repeat the process. He liked to keep things 

 clean and tidy, which was a most welcome attribute aboard 

 Sea Diver; and he could cook like a French chef. 



We had wondered when we set out that winter how 

 Vital and Edward Kemp would get along together, for 

 Kemp, an equally adept member of his part of the world, 

 was possessed of an entirely diflFerent temperament. He 

 had grown up in the little village of Nicolls' Town on the 

 eastern shore of Andros island, close to Morgan's blufip 

 at its northern tip. From early boyhood he had been 

 schooled in the seamanship of the banks, accompanying 

 the older fishermen of the community on long trips in the 

 native sailing sloops in search of fish and crawfish. Now 

 in his own village Kemp was kingpin. He was an ofiBcial 

 of the government and a warden of the church. He owned 

 extensive property and a crawfish boat of his own which 

 he rented to his fellow villagers. As Captain Ed Kemp he 

 was well known throughout the Bahamas. 



He was a good-looking black man, tall and well built, 

 with an affable, easygoing nature which wore well. He 

 was very religious, and it became a familiar sight to see 

 him perched on the stool behind the automatic pilot, a pair 

 of little steel-rimmed spectacles clinging to his bony fea- 

 ttires, carefully tracing out the words of well- worn religious 

 tracts which he carried with him faithfully on all occasions. 

 He was a most abstemious man, who never took a drink 

 and seldom smoked. Kemp was handy in the galley, too, 

 where he produced some delicious Bahamian dishes. 



But his chief value to us was his uncanny ability to 

 find his way about in the shallow waters of the Bahama 

 banks. With Kemp watching from the pulpit, we did not 

 need a fathometer — in fact, he was much more depend- 



128 Sea Diver 



