son had gone carefully over the blackened bits of ship's 

 rigging, the corroded coins and the broken green bottle. 

 It was his opinion also that the ship could not be the 

 treasure ship, for its anchor was much too small. Secondly, 

 the square-shaped bottle which we had uncovered was of 

 a type that was not made until the middle of the eighteenth 

 century. The ballast stones could have come from almost 

 any part of the known world, he said, and there was no way 

 to trace their origin. 



As to the anchors, who could tell? Many anchors had 

 been lost on the Silver shoals over the years. Probably the 

 small one on the inside of the reef had belonged to the 

 ship we had investigated. As to the larger one on the out- 

 side of the reef, it might have come from the galleon we 

 were seeking, or it may have come from one of the many 

 vessels which later worked the wreck. 



Peterson agreed that if this later wreck could have 

 melted so completely into the reef in what was probably 

 less than two hundred years, it would not take many more 

 years for it to disappear completely, with even the ballast 

 stone buried in the ever-enveloping coral. He pointed out 

 that the Spanish galleon, which had lain there at least an 

 additional century, would undoubtedly be completely con- 

 cealed by now. 



So the mystery of the Silver shoals still remains to 

 tantalize the treasure-seeking adventurer of the future. 

 Somewhere deep within the coral of those reefs on the 

 northern bank exists the last remains of the Spanish plate 

 wreck. Perhaps, in deep concealment, there lie enough 

 gold and silver to supply a modern-day Phips his fortune. 

 Yet there may remain only a few scattered bits which were 

 missed by the combined onslaught of the British expedi- 

 tions and the hundreds of vulturelike island vessels which 

 followed in their wake. 



For the treasure hunter of the future who wants to risk 



294 Sea Diver 



