like to conclude our business with these people as quickly as possible. Mister Lockhart will negotiate the trade while I oversee the preparations for our voyage in two days time.
If matters go as planned the pelts will fetch a price of twenty-five or thirty dollars apiece from the Chinese. That would bring nearly thirty thousand dollars in profit. Our aim is to bring back the most exotic textiles, ivory, brass, and chinaware — of which the ladies are so fond. Indeed, the set given me by the Emperor on my last voyage will make a handsome gift for my wife, Clara. Over the winter I intend to commission the same artisan to make additional pieces for the set.
Though I wish it were sooner, we shall not arrive at Canton until November. Tea shipments will be ready by then, however we will still have to winter there. In the spring we will use the northeasterly monsoon winds of the South China Sea to take us to Sunda Straight and then we shall ride the trade winds to the Indian Ocean and onwards to New York. After that I intend to give up this life at sea and spend my final years with my wife — perhaps I shall finally come to know my sons, Robert and James Junior. I dare say Mister Lockhart will be pleased with my retirement.
Captain James Whittaker
I sat dream-like under the warm sun while the gentle waves rocked me like a baby. For some reason I was thinking about my aunt’s china when I heard the faint sound of splashing water. I hopped over to the side of the boat half expecting to see another pod of porpoises, but instead it was the team back from their dive. I should have been excited, but I only felt dread.
“Yahoo! It’s amazing down there,” Amanda gushed. “You’re going to love it, Peggy.” All the others were equally bubbling with enthusiasm over what they’d seen.
“Was it hard to find the anchor? Did you see the Intrepid?” I fired back.
“The anchor was right where our GPS indicated it would be — a perfectly spectacular example of one used on a seventeenth-century trading ship,” Captain Hunter spouted while bobbing on the waves.
“And what about the Intrepid?”
“Not yet. We needed to set up the anchor as our datum point and start a radial grid with three metre intervals,” said the captain. “Then Scott’s tank ran low on oxygen so we had to surface. But we’ll go down again this afternoon.” I felt relieved they hadn’t yet found the Intrepid.
“We saw a half a dozen artifacts already,” Amanda said after she’d climbed up onto the boat.
“That’s right. And now we’ve got lots to do to prepare for this afternoon. So Amanda and Marnie — you get started on the site map right away. Scott — I’ll get you to prepare the lab and water treatment tank. And Dr. Sanchez — I’ll need you to get on the radio and get the latest weather forecast from the Coast Guard. As we all know — weather around here can change quickly. I’ll prepare the equipment for this afternoon’s dive. Okay people, let’s get to it.”
“Ah, Captain, don’t you have a job for me?” I asked, the disappointment swelling up again.
“Get the kid to make the food,” said Dr. Sanchez. “It a safe place where she does no damage.”
“Damage?” I said sharply. “Obviously you haven’t seen me cook yet.” I stormed off towards the galley cursing the wiry little creep under my breath. A few moments later I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Amanda. She was obviously amused.
“I bet you’ve some ideas of what you’d like to feed Dr. Sanchez.”
“Yah — for starters, fish guts and boiled saltwater soup, followed by stuffed viperfish covered in ocean mucus and seasoned sand flies.”
“Mmmm, sounds delicious. And for dessert?”
“Dessert will be fish eyeballs in Jell-O topped with whipped bilge water and shavings of ex-lax … wait, better leave off the ex-lax … the head is still broken.” Amanda plugged her nose and we both laughed.
“Never mind Sanchez the Scrooge. Marnie’s going to get started on the site map and I’ll help you with lunch — I’m starved.” We worked side by side to prepare the crew a tossed salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, and for dessert — banana bread. I really did wish we had some of that ex-lax on Jell-O for Señor Poop Head!
“Would you like to dive with me this afternoon?” Amanda asked while I set the table. I turned to face her instantly.
“This afternoon — really?” She nodded. “Captain said it was okay?”
“Sure, now that he’s seen the terrain he feels it’s safe for you to go down. Just promise you’ll stick close and if you spot something, leave it in place for mapping.”
Over lunch the conversation was focused on the excellent condition of the anchor, the shredded rope still attached, and some mysterious wooden box about forty feet from it. The captain pulled out some charts that showed details of the depth of the seabed and ocean currents in the area.
“Will you try to bring the anchor up?” I asked.
“Not right now, Peggy. We don’t have the right equipment to handle something so big on this trip. We’ll need to leave it until we can figure out how best to move it.”
Then Dr. Sanchez groaned. “Maybe the little girl should clear dishes so adults can talk business.”
Amanda laughed. “No need, this is an equal opportunity crew,” she said. “Hey Scott, I think it’s your turn to do dishes.”
“You got it. Hey, Marnie, will you give me a hand?” Scott and Marnie got up from the table and started to clear the dishes.
Dr. Sanchez groaned again.
“Captain, why don’t you go ahead and finish what you were telling Peggy.” Amanda winked at me.
“Sure, what I was saying is that the iron anchor has been sitting on the ocean floor for over two hundred years. If we just lift it to the surface and expose it to oxygen it would create a chemical change causing the iron to heat up. This would create intense internal pressure — so much that the anchor would crack into little pieces. ”
“Is that what happens to wood too — does it just disintegrate?”
“Wooden artifacts preserved in perfect conditions may look as good as new until taken out of the water — if allowed to dry they can split and collapse too. Generally, anything we recover from the sea must be given special preservation treatment from the moment it reaches the surface. Marnie, since you’re our resident wood specialist, do you have anything else to add?”
“Well, Peggy, you can imagine that preserving an entire ship made of timber is a real challenge. It too would collapse into dust if it’s not kept moist — so constant spraying is a first measure. Preserved timber can tell some pretty important and interesting things. For instance, by reading the rings on the timber — much the same way as tree ring dating — we can get a general date of when it was harvested — which in turn will tell us how old the ship is and possibly even where it was built.”
“Scott, do you want to share something about glass and ceramics?” Amanda asked.
“I’d be happy to,” Scott said, turning from the sink and wiping his hands on a dish cloth. “Glass and ceramics need to be stabilized and cleaned
