Ed then headed for the cable office and wired the 

 American Embassy in Port-au-Prince, in ansv/er to their 

 message requesting his presence there: 



IMPOSSIBLE TO COME TO PORT AU PRINCE AS I HAVE 

 ONLY THIS WEEK LEFT FOR SEARCH AND TRIP W^ILL 

 CONSUME MOST OF THE TIME LEFT, I HAVE NOTHING 

 TO GAIN PERSONALLY BUT HAITI HAS MUCH LF SANTA 

 MARIA CAN BE FOUND. LIFE MAGAZINE REPORTERS AR- 

 RIVE TODAY AND WILL GIVE HAITI MUCH VALUABLE 

 PUBLICITY BUT IF WE CANNOT START TODAY ALL WILL 

 BE LOST. PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO HAITIAN AUTHORI- 

 TIES AND ADVISE. E. A. LINK 



The morning and afternoon passed with no word 

 from Port-au-Prince. Then Kurt Beck came to our rescue. 

 M. Beck, German bom but a Haitian citizen, was the pro- 

 prietor of a small hotel perched on the mountainside over- 

 looking the harbor. Hearing of our plans to search for the 

 Santa Maria through the newspapers, he had written us 

 before the start of our trip, offering any aid which he might 

 give. From the moment we introduced ourselves, he and 

 his wife and son exerted themselves to make our stay 

 pleasant and to help us. 



That afternoon M. Beck took Captain Weems in his 

 car in search of Colonel Chassagne. When they could not 

 locate him. Beck suggested that they call on Prefect Guil- 

 laume Sam, governor of the province. They returned to Sea 

 Diver with the news that after much persuasion. Prefect 

 Sam had agreed to give us temporary permission to search, 

 starting the following day, until we should receive a defi- 

 nite yes or no from Port-au-Prince. We would have hked 

 to leave for the reefs immediately, but it was already late 

 in the afternoon and we realized the ocean would be too 

 rough to risk towing Reef Diver. We planned instead to 

 leave at daybreak the next morning. 



To celebrate our apparent success. Captain Weems 



188 Sea Diver 



