mers out to dive on likely places, straining their eyes to 

 penetrate the depths of water to the bottom? We can be 

 sure that at least one person was stationed on the highest 

 part of the boat, his eyes glued to the water, even as Kemp, 

 with his "X-ray" eyes, studies the bottom today. 



Came their last day of search before returning to 

 Puerto Plata. Rogers was in one small boat with a diver 

 and oarsmen. The periagua carried two other divers with 

 its crew. Deeply discouraged at having failed to sight any 

 evidence of the wreck on this, their last attempt, they were 

 retmning to the Henry at the end of the afternoon when 

 one of the divers saw an unusually beautiful sea feather in 

 the clear water below. He went overboard to retrieve it 

 and take back to the ship as a curio. 



He returned with the purple feather and the exciting 

 news that he had seen several cannon lying on the bottom. 

 As he handed the Gorgonia over the side of the boat, a 

 blackened coin was seen clinging to its base. At last they 

 had found the v^eck! 



Rogers sent the diver down again, and this time he 

 returned with a "sow." Before buoying the spot and return- 

 ing to the Henry for the night, they picked up "two sows, 

 51 pieces-of -eight, a bar and a champeen and some broken 

 plate." 



Three days later, when a blackening sky and strong 

 northwest winds threatened a coming storm and caused 

 Rogers's men to halt their salvaging and head for Puerto 

 Plata, they carried with them a quantity of sows and "dow- 

 boys" of silver and nearly three thousand silver coins. 



Upon hearing news of the discovery, Phips hurriedly 

 completed his trading in the port. After taking on supplies 

 of food and water, the two ships set out for the banks on 

 the night of February sixteenth. Six days later they an- 

 chored near the wreck, "the reef making like to a half 

 moon." 



242 Sea Diver 



