the many tales we continued to hear of their existence. 



Nevertheless, when we headed Sea Diver into the set- 

 ting sun later that afternoon on our way back to Miami, it 

 was without any feeling of disappointment. Like solitaire, 

 this was a game which one might expect to win only once 

 in a while. The gamble had been part of the fun. It really 

 didn't matter. We would try again. Someday, perhaps, 

 we would find those brass cannon. 



For five wonderful years we had sought adventure in 

 pursuit of evidences of the past. From the time when 

 Columbus first sighted San Salvador through all the ex- 

 citing days of Spanish conquest, the colorful centuries 

 when buccaneers and pirates dominated the Spanish 

 Main and countless richly laden treasure ships traversed 

 the Florida straits — we had relived the eventful history of 

 the New World. 



At the base of scattered coral reefs from the remote 

 Silver shoals to the now-populous Florida keys, and on 

 shallow ocean floors, we had uncovered symbols of a 

 world of the past, meanwhile discovering in this under- 

 water kingdom new horizons of our own, a peace and tran- 

 quihty seldom encountered on the earth's surface. 



But we had made only a beginning. We looked for- 

 ward to many years of this soul-satisfying life at sea, as 

 well as to the unpredictable and fascinating finds which 

 would undoubtedly be part of it. Next year we would set 

 out with Sea Diver once again, on another voyage of dis- 

 covery. Life was a wonderful adventure, and we were 

 content. 



330 Sea Diver 



