It was while we were discussing plans for this trip 

 that Captain Weems fairly took our breath away with an- 

 other idea. 



"What chance do you think we would have of find- 

 ing the remains of the Santa Maria?" he said. He told us 

 that he had been reading a treatise of Morison's describ- 

 ing the loss of the Santa Maria when it struck a reef in the 

 harbor off of Cap Haitien at midnight on Christmas eve of 

 1492. 



"Morison went down there and investigated that area," 

 Captain Weems continued. "He even picked out the exact 

 reef where he thinks the Santa Maria sank." He brought 

 forth a copy of Morison's paper, and we examined the 

 chart which was included, showing the harbor off Cap 

 Haitien and the wreck reef which Morison had selected as 

 the last resting place of the Santa Maria. We spent an ex- 

 citing evening as we reviewed the possibilities of finding 

 the lost ship. 



Ed figured that some of the metal ship fittings, anchors 

 and armament would still exist, as on many of the old ships 

 we had searched. Even though Columbus had salvaged 

 what he could of the wrecked Santa Maria to construct a 

 fortification ashore, there must have been parts of the ship 

 which were inaccessible to the salvagers. These must still 

 be on the bottom, heavily coated with coral and much 

 corroded after the centuries. We had never examined a 

 wreck as ancient as the nearly five-centuries-old Santa 

 Maria, but if the lombaid which we had found in the north 

 Bahamas had endured since that early time, it was most 

 probable that the metal remains of the Santa Maria would 

 still be intact. With our metal detector and magnetometer 

 we should have a good chance of locating one of the most 

 historic ships of all time. 



The next day Captain Weems returned to Sea Diver 

 from a visit to town, brimming over with enthusiasm. He 



144 Sea Diver 



