did not wait for the water to clear, but went on with our 

 surface explorations from Reef Diver in another area. 



When Ed and Barney returned that afternoon, the 

 water had cleared and they could look down on the de- 

 struction their explosion had wrought. Another large sec- 

 tion of the reef had been completely flattened of rampant 

 coral growth, leaving a large white patch on its surface. 

 Almost in the center of the patch they could see a deep 

 hole which had been opened up by the blast. They de- 

 scended eagerly upon it. 



Ed said it looked for all the world as if they might 

 have blasted into the open hull of a coral-covered ship. 

 They poked and prodded and examined the spot, peering 

 down into its depths hopefully, but could discover no 

 signs of anything man-made. Evidently the explosion had 

 blown an opening into one of the concealed coral caves of 

 the reef. 



Once more applying the metal detector to the debris, 

 they dug forth several pailfuls of bits and pieces from the 

 wreck and dumped them on the deck of Reef Diver. 

 We examined them eagerly. There was the lower part of a 

 very old, hand-blown, square, green-glass bottle, and 

 some small, badly corroded bits of ship's rigging, includ- 

 ing a ringed spike with some tarred rope still attached. 

 The hunks of coral which had showed metal indications 

 yielded nothing worth while, only completely disinte- 

 grated metal dust which failed to give us a clue as to the 

 original shape or purpose. 



After examining everything closely, Ed reached the 

 sad conclusion that the sliip upon which we were diving 

 was not the Spanish galleon we were seeking. He said it 

 was probably the wreckage of a much smaller boat, which 

 might have sunk there within the same century that the 

 Spanish flagship vanished. There was not a single indica- 

 tion that a ship the size of the Nuestra Seiiora could have 



The Silver Shoals 283 



