“I was never in a big fog before,” said Roy, “but I saw at once that the ship was in a dangerous situation. I wondered what I could do to help. I knew that at least I could figure out what ships were in the neighborhood.”
“How?” said the mate, much interested.
“You see,” explained Roy, “I have kept a file of the Herald shipping news ever since I joined the Lycoming. That gave me the names of the ships of any size that have sailed from various ports in the last few days. I made a list of them. Here it is.”
Roy handed the list to Mr. Young, who looked at it with interest.
“Then I tried to figure out which ones would be due in our neighborhood. I didn’t know how fast any of them traveled, but you can bet your boots that hereafter I’m going to learn the speed of every ship we pass. I figured they would all go at about our rate—fifteen knots. Then I worked out the distances from all the ports south of us, including Cuban and West Indian ports, and reckoned what ships should be near us. When I had found that out, I began calling them. Only one of them seemed to be very close—the Merrimack.”
“How could you determine that?”
“Well, I knew we were off Hatteras, and most of the ships I talked with knew where they were. But the Merrimack was lost in the fog and her wireless man didn’t know where he was.”
“Then how did you know she was near?”
“By the wireless signals. They were so loud and distinct that I knew she was close at hand.”
“But how could you tell that she was five thousand feet away at one time and a little later only two thousand feet? That’s what puzzles me. I never heard of anything like it before.”