At first no one paid any attention to the tiny blur that crept across the outer edge of the sidescan sonar's recording paper.
Six hours into the search they had found several manmade objects. Parts of the downed aircraft that were pinpointed for retrieval, a sunken fishing trawler, bits and pieces of junk thrown over by fishing fleets seeking shelter in the fjord from storms, all were identified by video camera and eliminated.
The last anomaly was not resting on the bottom of the fjord as expected.
It sat inside a small inlet encircled by sheer cliffs. Only one end protruded into clear water; the rest was buried under a wall of ice.
Pitt was the first to realize its significance. He was sitting in front of the recorder, surrounded by Giordino, Commander Knight and the archaeologists. He spoke into a transmitter.
"Swing the fish, bearing one-five-zero degrees."
The Polar Explorer was still stationary in the icebound fjord. Outside on the pack a team led by Cork Simon had augered through the ice and lowered the sensing unit into the water. Very slowly they swung the fish, as they called it, scanning a 360-degree grid. After searching one area, they unreeled more cable and tried again at another site farther away from the ship.
Simon acknowledged Pitts command and twisted the cable until the fish's sonar probes were trained at 150 degrees.
"How's this?" he queried.
"You're right on target," Pitt replied from the ship.
Seen from a better angle the target became more distinct. Pitt circled it with a black felt pen.
"I think we've got something."
Gronquist moved in closer and nodded. "Not much showing to identify.
What do you make of it?"
"Pretty vague," answered Pitt- "You have to use some imagination since most of the object is covered by ice that has fallen from the surrounding cliffs. But the part that shows underwater suggests a wooden ship. There's a definite angular shape coming together at what might be a high, curving sternpost. "
"Yes," said Lily excitedly. "High and graceful. Typical of a fourth-century merchant ship."
"Don't get carried away," cautioned Knight. "She could be an old sail-rigged fisherman."
"Possibly." Giordino looked thoughtful. "But if my memory serves me correctly, the Danes, Icelanders and Norwegians who have fished these waters over the centuries sailed in more narrow beamed double-enders."
"You're right," said Pitt. "The sharp bow and stern were handed down from the Vikings. What we're seeing here might also be a double-ender, but with a broader sweep."
"Can't get a clear picture through the ice-covered section of the hull,"
said Gronquist. "But we could drop a camera back of the stern in clear water for a better identification."
Giordino looked doubtful. "A camera might confirm the stern section of a wrecked ship, but little else."
"We've plenty of strong male backs on the ship," said Lily. "We could tunnel down through the ice and inspect her at first hand."
Gronquist took a pair of binoculars and walked out of the electronics compartment to the bridge. He returned in half a minute. "I make the ice cover over the wreck to be a good four meters thick. Take at least two days to cut through."
"You'll have to dig without us, I'm afraid," said Knight. "My orders are to get under way before 1800 hours. We've no time left for a lengthy excavation."
Gronquist was taken aback. "That's only five hours from now."
Knight made a helpless gesture. "I'm sorry, I have no say in the matter."
Pitt studied the dark spot on the recording paper. Then he turned to Knight. "If I proved positively that's a fourth-century Roman ship out there, could you persuade North Atlantic command to keep us on station for another day or two?"
Knight's eyes took on a foxy look. "What are you cooking up?"
"Will you go along?" Pitt crowded him.
"Yes," Knight stated firmly. "But only if you prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that's a thousand-year-old shipwreck. " ... Then it's a deal."
"How are you going to do it?"
"Simple," said Pitt, reeling Knight in. "I'm going to dive under the ice and come up into the hull."
Cork Simon and his crew worked quickly at cutting an access hole through the one-meter-thick ice sheet with chain saws. They quarried multiple squares until they reached the final layer. They broke through with a sledgehammer mounted on a long pipe and then removed the ice fragments with grappling hooks so Pitt could safely submerge.
When he was satisfied the hole was clear, Simon walked a few steps and entered a small canvas-covered shelter. The interior was heated and warm and crowded with men and diving equipment. An air compressor sat next to the heating unit, chugging away, its exhaust vented to the outside.
Lily and the other archaeologists were sitting at a folding table in one corner of the shelter, making a series of drawings and discussing them with Pitt as he suited up for the dive.
"Ready when you are," Simon announced.
"Another five minutes," Giordino replied while busily checking the valve assemblies and regulator on a Mark I navy diver's mask.
Pitt had slipped a special dry suit over long underwear made of heavy nylon pile for thermal insulation. Next he pulled on a hood and then a quick-release weight belt while trying to absorb a cram course in ancient ship construction.
"In early merchant vessels the shipwrights favored cedar and cypress, and often pine, for the planking," lectured Gronquist. "They mostly used oak for the keel."
"I won't be able to tell one wood from another," Pitt said.
"Then study the hull. The planks were tightly joined by tenons and mortises. Many ships had lead plates laid on their underwater surface.
The hardware may be of iron or copper."
"What about the rudder?" asked Pitt. "Anything I should look for in design and fastenings?"
"You won't find a stern-centered rudder," said Sam Hoskins. "They didn't Turn up for another eight hundred years. All early Mediterranean merchantmen used twill steering oars that extended from the aft quarters."
"Do you want a reserve 'come home' air bottle?" Giordino interrupted.
Pitt shook his head. "Not necessary for a dive this shallow as long as I'm on a lifeline."
Giordino lifted the Mark I mask and helped Pitt pull it down over his head. He checked the face seal, adjusted the position and cinched up the spider straps. The air supply was on, and when Pitt signaled that he had proper air flow, Giordino secured the communications line to the mask.
ANie one of the Navy men unreeled and straightened the air-supply hose and communications line, Giordino tied a manila lifeline around Pitts waist. He performed the predive checkout and then donned a headset with microphone.
"You hear me okay?" he asked.
"Clear but faint," Pitt answered. "Turn up the volume a notch."
"Better?"
"Much."
"How do you feel?"
"Nice and cozy so long as I'm breathing warm air."
"All set?"
Pitt answered by making an okay sign with his thumb and forefinger. He paused to hook an underwater dive light to his belt.