“But if the center of the Gulf is so very deep, wouldn’t the wreck be apt to slide down from the shore line into the hole?” asked Andy.
“That could happen, my boy. And that, of course, is one of the risks we’re running. My hope is that the Margarita, when she went down, either got caught in the sand close to shore or otherwise got caught on some rocks so she couldn’t slip. Of course, if she slid out into the Gulf and down into deep water, why, our search for her will avail us nothing.”
“But we’ve got a diving bell! We could use that!” cried Fred.
“Not if she went down a mile or two, Fred. Divers can go down to a certain depth, but as yet they’ve discovered no means of going down as far as that. The water pressure is too great.”
It was at this point that Leif Olesen came in and joined in the conversation. The Norwegian spoke fairly good English, although with a strong accent.
“I’ve been on two other hunts for lost ships before this,” said the deep-sea diver. “One off the coast of Norway and the other off the coast of Nova Scotia. In Norway we found the ship and brought everything up that was of value. The job took four months, and for my work I received about two thousand dollars.”
“Well, I’ve promised you more than that, if you’re successful this time, Olesen,” answered the captain.
“What of the second ship you went after?” questioned Jack.
“There we were very unfortunate. We located the ship and worked for ten days to turn her in the sand so that we could get at the things in her cabins. Then a fierce storm came up and we had to run for safety. When the storm was over we went back and hunted everywhere, but the wreck had disappeared, and although we sailed and searched around in that vicinity for a week we were unable to find the slightest trace of her.”