My Journal

By Harriman Nelson

18. All That Glitters

“All set, sir,” Ski said as he finished hooking up the magnifying camera to the lab’s videophone. He was still casting sideways glances at the coins in the two small specimen tanks on the table. Most of them were still heavily encrusted with calcifications but even so, the gold that was visible on some of them was pretty spectacular. “Admiral,” he asked, “what do you think? I mean, how come no shipwreck with them?”

“It’s doubtful we’ll ever find out.”

“Are you done here, Ski?” Chip asked from the doorway, “Bermuda reports they’ll be set up in a few minutes for the videoconference.”

“Yes sir, everything’s ready. Admiral? I don’t suppose you can let us all watch on the monitors?”

“Actually, that’s not such a bad idea. See to it, Chip.”

“Thanks, Admiral,” Ski said and left with a huge smile, while Chip used the wall mike to give Sparks the order. I couldn’t help noticing that he returned the mike to its cradle with a bit more firmness than necessary.

“What’s eating you, lad?”

For a moment he hesitated, then, “Word’s out that you don’t plan on keeping the coins.”

“That’s right.”

“But just one of those coins is probably worth a thousands of  dollars!”

“This is not a treasure hunt, Chip. And with new historical salvage laws....”

“We found them outside of Bermuda’s territorial waters, and if  they’re Spanish, they lost them in the first place. It  should be finders keepers!”

“Most of any treasure found still is, with the exception of set percentages for the nations of origin,” I said absently reaching for a non- existent cigarette, (the cravings had been attacking me  with a vengeance).

“It’s only a few coins, not the Atocha. Nobody should care if we keep them!”

“Turning them over to Bermuda and Spain would be advantageous for U.S. relations.”

“Well, you can sure as hell bet Bermuda and Spain wouldn’t do the same for us!”

“Commander Morton, I don’t like your attitude. As owner of the Seaview, I’ll decide on the distribution of these coins, is that clear?”

“Crystal. But when you get right down to it, shouldn’t it be Lee’s, er…the captain’s decision as well? He’s  your business partner, and he found them, sort of…”

“Did he say anything about the gold?”

“Er, no.”

“Where the devil is he anyway? I thought I told you to make sure he joined me for the video conference.”

“I told him about the conference. But I’ll admit he acted as if  he only half heard me. Probably on the videophone with Kate again.”

“Well, we can’t wait any longer. And I doubt he’s speaking with her right now. The PM invited the Peabody’s to the video conference.  Go ahead and have Sparks pipe Bermuda though as soon as they’re ready.”

 “I hope,” the Prime Minister said as soon as the video feed was linked, “that you don’t mind a larger audience than we originally agreed to.”

“Not at all,” I lied taking in the fact that Prime Minister’s office was packed full of staff, reporters, and invited guests.

“This is Mr. Jones, our numismatic specialist,” she added.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to examining the coins, Admiral Nelson.”

“Same here, Mr. Jones,” I said, “I’m afraid I only managed to clean up two of the coins, but not nearly as well as I’d like to have.”

“Yes, the Prime Minister told me Seaview’s limitations as far as underwater archeology is concerned.”

“It will just have to do,” I said as I picked up the first coin with tweezers and held in front of the video cam.

Amid the oohs and ahh’s from the Prime Minister’s guests, Mr. Jones had me turn the coins this way and that as he took notes. It was taking a long time and I could tell Chip, standing behind me, was getting antsy.

“As you know,” Mr. Jones finally said, “before the industrial age, coins were minted by hand. Various melted metals were poured into engraved dies. Some engravers established their own distinguishing marks. That’s what we were hoping for. With them, we might have been able to tell you just what the coinage might have been minted for.  War, building, general currency, etc. It’s said that Queen Isabella had doubloons especially minted for Columbus to trade with India. At least that’s where they thought he was going,” Jones laughed. “Those coins may simply have been from the royal coffers. In our case, however, the fact is, that these two coins are centuries apart and certainly not the great admiral’s.”

“Hundreds of years apart?” Chip asked, confused.

“The first gold coin you showed me, Admiral, was minted in the early 1500’s, in Spain. The second is from 1749 and was minted in Peru. Either could have been used as legal tender here in Bermuda decades later. Gold was gold, after all. It’s feasible, though unlikely, that Captain Nelson might have been paid in gold doubloons like these, for any slaves he traded in Bermuda.”

Just then Lee entered the lab, and took his place next to Chip.

“About time,” I whispered turning toward him, “where the devil have you been?”

“Sorry,” Lee whispered back, “Mom just won’t quit harping about me being a Nelson and….”

“Ah, Captain Nelson-Crane,” the Prime Minister interrupted whatever Lee was going to say to me, “Do you have any ideas as to how the coins came to be on the sea floor, seeing as how there’s no wreck?”

“Well,” Lee moved toward the videophone, running a hand through his hair, “I’m no expert, but despite currents, storms, seaquakes, and natural occurring anomalies in the area, the only thing I can think of is that somebody deliberately tossed them overboard.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Mr. Jones said.

“The punishment for stealing in the olden days was cutting one’s hands off, wasn’t it? Perhaps someone had stolen these, and was on the verge of being discovered. So,” he picked up the oldest coin, “it would hardly be surprising to toss it or a bag containing them overboard.”

“May I see the bag?”

I removed it from the tray of sea water. “I was surprised it hadn’t disintegrated, but if you look closely, it’s not organic. It’s a mesh, made of silver wire.”

“Yes, most unusual. I’ve only seen one other. In the Madrid’s National Archeological  Museum. It is probably worth double of the entire cache of coins.”

“What are your plans, now, Admiral?” the Prime Minister asked.

“First,” I said, “we’re going to continue searching for the Sea Nymph. As for the coins, I’ve got a few ideas and...”

“Aggghhh!” Lee suddenly groaned, falling to his knees, the coin still gripped in his hand, and  his eyes rolling backward in his head.

 “Lee!” I knelt beside him and grabbed his arms, “Lee!”

“Not again,” Chip muttered, on his knees with me.

Lee’s eyes suddenly rolled back into place, but opalescent.

“He,” Lee barely managed, hoarsely then shuddered.

“Lee,” I said softly, “tell me what you see, son. Lee?”

“He…he watched. He just watched as the men… stripped her…showed her off…he didn’t do anything…just watched…then…they tossed him a bag, no, it was two. A few coins slipped out…gold coins…oh God, she…only about 13 or so…”

“Who is ‘he’?” Chip asked.

“I…I…think… it was me,” he looked up at us, his eyes morphing back to normal, but agonized.

“What’s going on, Admiral?” the Prime Minister asked, “Admiral?”

“Later,” I barely acknowledged and nodded to Chip to take care of the formalities with our video guests as I helped Lee up and out of the lab.