A few days after Sea Diver's arrival in 

 Puerto Plata, Ed bid farewell to the Criles and myself at 

 the airport in Ciudad Trujillo, capital city of the Domini- 

 can Republic. From there he hastened to a marine-supply 

 store, where he purchased 140 feet of heavy chain. On 

 this, his second trip to the Silver shoals, he intended to be 

 fully prepared for any eventuality with an absolutely safe 

 anchorage inside the reef harbor. 



Before returning to the site of the galleon wreck, how- 

 ever, Ed, Glenn, Vital and Kemp set out for Turks island, 

 where they were to meet Ed's sister, Marilyn, and Mendel 

 Peterson. Marilyn had piloted the two of them from Wash- 

 ington to Nassau in the Widgeon, where they were joined 

 by a Bahamian friend, Leonard Thompson, long-time is- 

 land pilot and owner-manager of Skyways, Ltd., who was 

 to fly the plane back to Nassau. Ed had arranged for Mari- 

 lyn and Leonard to bring the plane to Turks island; from 

 there he intended to fly it over the Silver shoals. He wanted 

 to make absolutely certain that the expedition was search- 

 ing the right area for the Spanish-galleon wreck. 



290 Sea Diver 



