hurried back to Sea Diver for additional equipment. Vital 

 joined the others when they returned to raise our find 

 while Kay and I remained on the larger boat. We were 

 most excited. Strange to have found it in such a location, 

 but it surely had the look of the anchor we were seeking. 

 We waited eagerly for Reef Diver to return. 



At last we heard the boat's high-pitched hum. We 

 hurried to the rail. We could sense excitement in the men's 

 voices and their smiles as they approached Sea Diver. The 

 anchor was lashed to the iron superstructure of the Uttle 

 cruiser, the broken end dragging in the water. 



"This looks like the real McCoy," Ed called. 



They were indeed pleased with their find, for this 

 anchor might very well have come from the Santa Maria. 

 It was photographed like a prima donna; first as it hung 

 from the stern of Reef Diver and, later, reclining upon a 

 tarpauhn on the aft deck of Sea Diver. 



Careful measuring showed it to be seventy-eight inches 

 long without the missing ring end. The arms were irregu- 

 lar in length, probably because of the missing flukes. The 

 distance from the end of one arm to the other was fifty- 

 five inches. Ed made detailed and accurate measurements 

 of each section as Captain Weems noted them on paper. 



Then Ed took a hammer and chisel and carefully set to 

 work, where the shank and arms joined, to remove enough 

 of the coral covering to reach the original iron. It was quite 

 a job, for the encrustation was an inch and a quarter thick, 

 and he did not want to damage the anchor. As he had 

 expected, there was evidence of crude welding of the 

 two parts, and a hand-wrought look to the iron. Only very 

 early anchors were made in this fashion; later they were 

 cast, he said. 



Further testing at the end of one of the arms showed 

 a narrow channel in the metal where the fluke had orig- 

 inally been forged to the arm. A third test spot at the 



214 Sea Diver 



