a gamble — and what treasure seeker does not? — the Silver 

 shoals still ojffer a challenge. When it is possible to attack 

 these reefs with equipment able to tear them apart and 

 carefully sift the debris, there will still be a chance to un- 

 cover treasure. There is little doubt that in the years to 

 come there will be many more forays on the Silver shoals. 



On the morning of May twenty-fourth, Sea Diver's 

 crew collected the scattered marker buoys and put Reef 

 Diver aboard the mother ship, preparatory to leaving for 

 Turks island later that afternoon, Pete made a last dive to 

 free the mooring anchor and chain, and shortly after three 

 o'clock they set out. It did not take long to work their way 

 through the now-famihar reefs to the north, and in twenty- 

 five minutes they were in the deep Atlantic. 



One would think this the conclusion to a risky under- 

 taking, but actually they were unwittingly entering upon 

 the narrowest escape of the whole expedition. It happened 

 thus. 



When Sea Diver had been on a north heading for ten 

 miles in water more than two miles deep, Ed changed her 

 course to 295 degrees to carry her toward the northernmost 

 tip of Turks island, well clear of the Mouchoir shoals, which 

 lay to the west and slightly to the south. The automatic 

 pilot was set on this course, and while Sea Diver plowed 

 her way through a sea roughened by a heavy wind from 

 the southeast, the crew retired, leaving one man on watch 

 every two hours throughout the night. Ed was to follow 

 with the dawn watch. 



When he appeared in the wheelhouse at four thirty 

 the next morning, he turned on the radar, expecting to 

 pick up an indication of Turks island ahead and to the 

 south. Instead, he was astonished to see only a few scat- 

 tered blurs on the uppermost part of the radar screen. Upon 

 orienting himself with the chart, he discovered to his horror 



The Silver Shoals 295 



