and as three times a day all on board must of necessity 

 gather here to eat and drink, om* voyages were continually 

 enlivened by this interesting pair. 



Kemp, the previous winter on Sea Diver, had been 

 well indoctrinated with our enthusiasm for sunken wrecks 

 and treasure ships. So when we dropped anchor in Pleasant 

 Harbor behind his home at NicoUs' Town in January of 

 1954, he was there to meet us. He hurried aboard, bursting 

 with stories which he had gathered of piles of ballast and 

 cannon upon the banks. Our chart of the area in the vicinity 

 of Andros island was soon sprinkled with dots and notes 

 describing what was to be found in the various locations. 

 He promised us that when we were ready to look for the 

 wrecks, he could produce the men who had told him of 

 them. 



Unfortunately we found ourselves once more beset 

 by the same high winds and heavy seas which had char- 

 acterized the winter months in previous years. And al- 

 though the fishermen Kemp brought along were sure they 

 could lead us directly to the wreck indications which they 

 had seen on the banks, we combed these waters day after 

 day whenever weather permitted without coming across 

 a single objective. 



Several times we were endangered by heavy seas in 

 the Tongue of the Ocean, which skirts the Andros island 

 reefs. And once, when our anchor dragged, we found our- 

 selves aground in Conch sound, with east winds of twenty 

 knots blowing us ever harder upon the solid coral bottom 

 near the shore. It took the arduous labors of all hands 

 over an anxious period from sundown to the following 

 noon, plus the help of some fifteen villagers, to get Sea 

 Diver off. Fortunately, she escaped with only a chewed-up 

 wormshoe and a slightly bent wheel, which Ed, working 

 underwater, was later able to straighten. 



130 Sea Diver 



