below us, coral-encrusted, perfect, truly a thrilling find. 

 We threw our own anchor over the side and Reef Diver 

 hung poised above it. Ed put on his Scott mask and tank 

 and went overboard to investigate. He measured the an- 

 chor — first its length, arms outstretched, one full reach 

 and half again, nine feet long; then the distance from 

 one fluke to the other, another full reach, six feet from 

 point to point. It had cloverleaf-shaped flukes, sharply 

 pointed arms and a large ring, no stock. It was a very 

 old one, probably seventeenth century. It might well have 

 come from the Nuestra Seiiora, or perhaps from one of 

 Phips's salvage ships. 



We searched the whole area, surface swimming, 

 crossing the deep valley between this reef and the one 

 containing the ballast, while Ed swam the depths below 

 us. We skirted the outside of the ballast reef, too, carefully 

 observing everything below. 



Beneath the glassy, calm, blue-green water spread 

 fantastic formations of wild and beautiful coral, while 

 overhead a serene, cloudless sky lulled us into a feeling 

 of complete security. Brilliant blue and neonlike, multi- 

 colored parrot fish swam in schools or darted in and out 

 of the coral caves, while seventy feet below, Ed, in his 

 Scott, searched the lower depths for signs of shipwreck, 

 a small figure in the vast blue. 



Finding no other indications of a sunken ship, we 

 placed a buoy to mark the anchor find and went back to 

 Sea Diver for lunch, puzzled, but also elated, for we now 

 had two indications of the presence of a wreck some- 

 where in the vicinity. We decided to return and search 

 the inside of the same reef that afternoon. 



Once more we searched by boat. This time Kemp 

 spotted more of the small round ballast stones on the in- 

 side of the reef, just in line with the spot where Barney 

 and Jane had found the first two pieces. There were 



270 Sea Diver 



