tered, desperately seeking a means of replenishing their 

 finances. 



Later, when Ed arrived at Turks island after leaving 

 the Criles and myself at Puerto Plata, he was greeted with 

 another tale of trouble. This time a group of men, includ- 

 ing Roscoe Thompson, our diving friend from Nassau, had 

 set out to search the Mouchoir banks for the treasure ship. 

 These banks he just west of the Silver banks and are simi- 

 lar in composition. Upon their arrival the men spent only 

 one night on the banks, and this in spite of the stormy 

 protests of the captain, from whom they had chartered 

 the boat. The next morning the captain headed the boat 

 back toward Nassau, refusing to have any part in risking 

 himself or his craft in such dangerous waters. The men 

 were helpless to change his mind. Back in Nassau they 

 brought suit against him, claiming that he had contracted 

 to make the trip and that they had lost both time and 

 money by making the voyage to the spot and then being 

 deprived of the opportunity to search there. 



It was easy for us aboard Sea Diver to understand 

 these incidents, for we, too, had lived under the tension 

 which comes from constant threats of danger, lack of sleep 

 night after night, and imaginations enhvened by the many 

 tales of unknown perils with which we had been so well 

 fortified at the start of the voyage. The wonder was that 

 we had come through it all so well. 



Perhaps the fact that our group was so congenial, 

 that there was no division among the crew, that we ate to- 

 gether and worked together and shared our experiences as 

 one, with the same enthusiasm for a common objective, 

 made the difi^erence. At any rate, we arrived in Puerto 

 Plata with a greater feeling of mutual esteem and fond- 

 ness for each other than ever before. 



The Silver Shoals 289 



