Frank asked, “Don’t you want to stop and search the areas that we’ve already covered?”
“No. If it’s here, we’ll see her.”
Sam looked down at the energy marker on his Seadoo. It was reading orange. He had plenty of power left. A little more than half what he started the day with, but the return trip, against the current, was going to exhaust a lot more power.
He continued, driven on by the mad desire to find the fabled ship.
Frank tapped on his dashboard and said, “Sam, this is it. We have to turn around, or you and I are going to have a pretty bad day, and one hell of a swim back.”
Sam looked at his own power monitor. It had moved further towards the left than he’d expected. Maybe, he’d travelled further than he thought. He would have to turn around.
“Okay, you turn around. I just want to see what’s beyond this bend.”
Frank shook his head. “No, we go together or not at all.”
“Suit yourself, Frank. We go together then.”
“And then, no matter what, we turn around?”
“Agreed,” Sam replied.
The dark tunnel appeared to narrow again, giving Sam the worry that he’d been wrong again. No ship could have travelled through such a narrow section. The speed of the current increased again, and the height of the tunnel dropped so much that he had to lean forward to stop his head hitting the ceiling.
As the pull from the powerful current gripped him, Sam realized his mistake. He was never going to make it back against this sort of river flow. Then he came around the corner, and forgot about all his concerns.
In front of him, were the remains of the Mahogany Ship.
Sam could only see part of the bow of the ship, but even that much of it indicated how enormous the grand vessel once was. The stern and main compartments were entirely buried in sand and river silt. Instantly, he realized the reason for the narrowing of the tunnel — the Mahogany Ship had become lodged ahead, and over the last two centuries, become filled with sand and rocks, until the tunnel became nearly completely blocked.
The bow itself was raised above the waterline.
“My God, we found it!” Frank said.
“Of course we did.”
“I never doubted you, mate.”
“Come on, Frank, now that we’re here, we may as well explore it,” Sam said, dragging his Seadoo up on the submerged sandy beach.
Frank nodded his head and followed.
Just before the waterline Sam saw the damage. The gash in the massive hull appeared unnatural. As though a single rock had torn through her hull at that precise location, leaving the rest of the beautiful ship unscathed. Sam gave it minimal thought before proceeding to enter through it.
“Are you certain it’s the Mahogany Ship?” Frank asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Sam swam through the dark hull, and past the old ladders, until he reached a cabin above the waterline. Carefully bracing himself on the inner deck, Sam expected its timbers to crumble beneath his weight, but the rare, blackened wood remained strong as steel.
He was certain that it wasn’t mahogany, but that didn’t matter. Nothing in the notes from the survivors of the Emily Rose, ever determined that it was indeed made out of mahogany, only that it was a blackened wood, unfamiliar to them all.
Against his better judgement, Sam climbed the ladder and stood on top of the now dry inside cabin. It was dark, and the wood seemed unnaturally sound. He removed his facemask and breathed the stale air.
Frank looked at him, waited another minute, before shrugging his shoulders and removing his facemask too. “This ship is hundreds of years old. You sure it’s going to take our weight?”
“No clue, but she seems pretty strong to me.” Pointing his flashlight to the walkway leading towards the aft of the ship, Sam said, “Shall we?”
“All right, but if this thing starts to break apart, I’m going to be out of here before you can stop me.”
“Agreed.”
Sam walked confidently over the sturdy floorboards. He’d already guessed why they were in such a good condition, but all the same, he knew he should have been more circumspect about exploring the ancient wreck. They looked down several openings in the walkway. Each appeared empty, all evidence of the original occupants of the vessel now gone.
“Seems deserted,” Frank said.
“What did you expect, treasure?”
“Well, yes, actually. We did start this hunt with a gold coin. I kind of expected more of the stuff.”
Sam laughed. “Everyone assumes that sunken ships carry gold. In my experience, they normally carry rotten wood, and a myriad of sea life. Here of course, being fresh water, and in an area devoid of light, the ship is just an old ship, and nothing more. I hope Mr. Rodriguez isn’t too unhappy with his investment.”
“He’s a big boy. He’ll just be glad that we found her, but he’s keen to prove that she was Spanish, and would have been bloody heartbroken if you’d found something that suggested she was not.” Frank then looked a solid door at the end of the internal companionway. “What about that?”
“The door?”
The door looked more like something out of Fort Knox than a door on a ship. “Whoever built that wanted to keep something out.”
“Or something in?” Sam suggested.
Frank’s arms shook suddenly, like a cold shiver. The suggestion appeared to have triggered a nerve, Sam noticed. Then, shrugging the thought off, Frank said, “Nah, something like that there… was designed to keep something precious in. I’ve worked with enough gold in my time to know when I’m close to something of value.”
“We’ll see.”
Sam pushed on the door, but it wasn’t going to move. He kicked at it and received the same response.
There was a large keyhole, made of iron, in the middle of the door. The iron had well and truly rusted, leaving more of a hole than lock, which was large enough that he could see through to the contents of the other side of the door.
In an instant, he saw it.
“Holy shit. That’s a lot of gold.”
Sam paused, studying how the door connected to its frame. Despite the keyhole, the whole thing appeared to be completely molded to the frame surrounding it, as though a team of carpenters were required to open it.
And perhaps there once were?
“You want a hand with that door?” Frank asked.
“Sure, what’ve you got in mind? I don’t think even the two of us would have any hope in knocking it down.”
Bringing out a diamond tipped angle grinder, Frank replied, “This.”
“Wow. What were you expecting, bringing that?”
“You thought I’d be stupid enough to enter a submerged shipwreck, without a means of cutting my way out if things went wrong? No way, I look after myself.”
The story didn’t seem to match up, but Sam was glad not to have to return to the dive platform in the Mahogany Cavern before being able to access the locked room.
Minutes later, Frank had cut a hole in the door, large enough for the two of them to shimmy through.
On the back wall of the ship’s vaulted room, Sam could see the remains of a very old treasure chest, now broken open. And inside the dilapidated chest, were at least two hundred gold coins.
Sam stepped forward and picked one up.
It was identical to the others he’d seen. The gold, having lost none of its luster, sparkled as though it were only just minted yesterday.
“Frank, I think we just found the Mahogany Ship.”
“That we did, Sam.”
Sam carefully looked around the rest of the room. It was almost completely empty, with the exception of the gold coins.
But is it here? Sam thought, disappointed that he hadn’t found it yet.