The Mahogany Ship (Sam Reilly Book 2)

by Christopher Cartwright

  Sam looked around at the barren mountain in the distance. “Strange place for the Mahogany Ship to finally rest.”

  He then drove up the hill.

  A large tent had been set up to house the exploratory equipment. It looked out of place in the dry, barren land.

  A single man emerged from the tent and watched them, his hands in his pockets.

  Sam parked the big truck, waited a moment for the red dust to settle, then he and Michael got out.

  “G’day. My name’s Frank Edwards,” the man said, striding up to Sam with his hand outstretched. The stranger was noticeably shorter than average, with thick arms, and a large beard concealing his face. It gave him the appearance of one of Tolkien’s Dwarven miners.

  “Pleased to be working with you,” Frank said, gripping Sam’s hand firmly. “I read about your exploits with the lost airship, the Magdalena.”

  *

  Sam Reilly stared down the dark hole in the ground.

  It looked unnatural in the otherwise rugged Australian bushland. Just slightly wider than his shoulders, it was far too deep for Sam’s gaze to reach its black ending. The entrance had been reinforced with concrete and steel. Below every foot, a reinforced iron ring supported the earthworks behind, forming a natural ladder. It looked professionally built, as he would have expected from the mining operation that built it.

  Frank gulped a drink from his water bottle, and then offered it to Sam. “After our first core sample returned the Spanish coin, we decided to drill a larger one so that we could reach the cave system below. You can imagine how excited we were. Particularly after I had contacted Mr. Rodriguez and he’d brought up the mystery of the Mahogany Ship. We really half expected to breach the opening and find the ship intact.”

  Sam stepped back from the hatch, unable to see any further. “And once you reached it?”

  “Then we found a cavern made out of limestone, which appears to form the entrance of a maze of underground water systems, so enormous that…” Frank stopped, failing to find the right description and then said, “You’ll just have to see it for yourself, mate. I can brief you better once we get down there.”

  “Okay, so how deep is this thing?” Sam asked.

  “Five hundred feet, but the cavern opens nearly 50 feet earlier.”

  “And at the bottom of the cavern, is it dry?”

  “No, the entire cavern is flooded, approximately halfway up, but there’s plenty of evidence that the height of the water has risen and fallen many times before.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Byron, our geologist, noted that the rock formations on the walls have hundreds of lines within them, spreading from the very submerged ground, through to the surface high above the water line. Most likely indicating the changing erosion of limestone via the flowing river,” Rodriguez explained.

  “So, it’s safe to say that the Spanish coin didn’t sink through 450 feet of soil to reach the cavern. Therefore, it must have entered at a point further upstream, where the difference between the surface and the underground waterway is smaller.” Sam said out loud, speaking to no one in particular. “And if that cavern is a hundred feet high, then it’s conceivable that the Mahogany Ship, if that is indeed where the Spanish coin once originated, may be further upstream.”

  “Let’s go have a look then, shall we?” Frank said, as he pressed the green button hanging from a cable that dangled inside the mineshaft, “After you, Sam. It’s only big enough for one person at a time. Byron’s already down there. He will look after you once you’re at the bottom.”

  Sam peered over the side again and spotted it.

  The miner’s elevator – a makeshift, cable driven device, used to gain vertical access down the narrow shaft. It was a ten-minute journey to where a team of miners had already constructed a large work platform, from which to base their expeditions.

  Sam stepped onto the steel platform of the miner’s elevator as it reached the surface, “I’ll see you at the bottom, shortly, shall I?”

  “I’ll start loading some of the equipment you brought and meet you down there soon,” Rodriguez said. “Frank will follow and bring you up to speed with where the underground operation is progressing.”

  The dry heat of the Australian outback disappeared along with all external light as Sam began the long descent. After several minutes, the shaft opened up to a massive cavern, and a large grin came across Sam’s face at what he saw.

  Four large spotlights had been bolted into the walls and were projecting light around the room, allowing the enormity of the cavern to be fully visualized. Not quite as large as the one that held the Magdalena for 75 years, the cavern commanded a similar interest over his imagination. Below, the water lapped around the newly constructed work platform, which was approximately 50 feet in length by 20 feet wide. At the southern end, a small computer station had been set up, and three laptops displayed geophysical information.

  These people aren’t amateurs… but why then do they need my help?

  The water was flowing, but without any tremendous strength. It would be easy enough to dive. There were five tunnels through which water fed into the cavern and only one out of which it drained. Taking a cursory glance at it, Sam could see that only two tunnels were large enough for a ship to travel, but that didn’t mean that the ship wasn’t stuck further up one of the smaller tunnels. On the platform a man prepared dive equipment.

  Sam pressed the red button on the lift controller and it came to an abrupt halt, approximately half a foot from the work platform, causing him to nearly slip.

  “Welcome to the Mahogany Cavern. My name is Byron.”

  “Mahogany Cavern?”

  “It’s just what Mr. Rodriguez named it when the coin was found here.”

  “He’s quite convinced, isn’t he?” Sam eyed the man in front of him. He was clean shaven, with thick glasses.

  “That we’re going to find the Mahogany Ship? Yes. He says he had a hunch when we first found the coin, and then metallurgy analysis placed it around the same time that Magellan’s ship would have been in this vicinity.” Frank shrugged his shoulders. “In my experience, Mr. Rodriguez’s hunches are always right. If it came anywhere near here, we’ll find it.”

  “Time will tell whether or not it was a myth or something much more interesting, after all,” Sam replied, with an indifference that he didn’t feel. “So, there are five entrances and one exit?”

  “No, actually, there are five entrances and two exits… one of them is far below the water line… come around to the computer station and I’ll bring you up to speed with what we have discovered so far. We’ve had three men down here including Mr. Rodriguez, who has told me he wants to be involved every step of the way. You’ve already met Frank – he’s our drilling engineer. And then there’s me. Senior geologist for Rodriguez Mining Inc. You now make the fourth person who even knows of its existence.”

  “You guys look pretty set up here. All of you must be used to working in similar environments. Why doesn’t Mr. Rodriguez bring in a full scale team and mine this ship? Why me?”

  “It’s a good question. I’m surprised Mr. Rodriguez didn’t talk to you about it before you came. The land that we drove through to reach this shaft is private property. It’s farming land – cattle to be precise. We haven’t purchased the license to mine here, because with the exception of the gold coin, our exploratory core samples show no gold deposits. As far as the government’s concerned, this is still an exploratory expedition. You, my friend, are the fourth person who even knows of the existence of that Spanish coin.”

  “Couldn’t he get a grant to dig specifically for the Mahogany Ship? I know that the Victorian government, seeking to find the answer to the mystery, offered $200,000 to anyone who could locate the remains of the ship. I’m certain they would offer exploration rights for that purpose.”

  “Yes, but it would take months, if not years, to get around the bureaucracy. Outsiders would come in and take over. Besides,
it’s going to become complex. You see, the land above us is on the corner of three separate properties. Depending on which tunnel our mysterious ship lies in, we’re going to have some difficult negotiations. But if we can continue as an exploratory team, for which we already own the rights, and then come across the Mahogany Ship in all its remaining glory, then…”

  “You’re merely a mining corporation that is now helping bring a name to the local community.”

  “Right, you’ve got it. So, you see, we can’t just go around blasting our way through these tunnels, pumping out the million plus gallons of water in the process. We need an expert cave diver, with experience in treasure hunting.”

  “I wouldn’t call myself a treasure hunter, but I’ve been involved in a few expeditions to find lost wrecks over the years. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in finding the Mahogany Ship, so here’s to hoping that your boss’s luck hasn’t run out just yet.” Sam smiled. “All right, now down to work. Let’s see what you have explored so far.”

  Byron slid his hand across his laptop screen four times, revealing a new system, “This is a geological scan of the cavern and tunnels that we’ve reached so far. Using ground penetrating radar, the computer has been able to predict size and shapes of the tunnels. The red arrows show the direction of water flow.”

  Sam looked at the screen, which displayed a map that looked more like an ant's nest than a cave. There were five tunnels in and two out. Two of the tunnels looked quite detailed, with the map going nearly a mile down each of them. The rest of the tunnels stopped for no apparent reason within a hundred feet.

  “You’ve explored the first two tunnels, is that right?”

  “Yeah, we can set the SONAR up at the entrance of each new tunnel, but it only works based on line of sight, so we need to physically move it further up the tunnel to capture each new section.”

  “And the other three tunnels?”

  “Five tunnels, you mean?”

  “No, three tunnels. At this stage, we’re working on the theory that the gold must have come from further up the tunnel, which is where we will find the Mahogany Ship, if it was ever here.”

  “Okay, each of them are going to be a bit more trouble. You see, there, the tunnels open into more tunnels, which then open into yet more tunnels. To complicate things more, the tunnel depths change dramatically, both raising and dropping more than a hundred feet. At some sections, it’s wide like this cavern, but in others, it begins narrow enough that you and I might only just reach our way through it. In other words, it’s going to be a cave diver’s nightmare.”

  “No, this is the type of challenge we dream about, but it’s going to take some time.” It had already become clear to Sam that it could take years for a team of divers to explore this underwater labyrinth.

  “Time that we don’t have,” Rodriguez said, as he came down the mine elevator.

  “No, I understand that. So, we’re going to have to narrow our field of search a little.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “Okay, I’ve laid eyes on her… now let’s get the rest of my equipment down here, and I’ll show you just how we’re going to solve this mystery.”

  Chapter Eight

  The Sea King helicopter dropped the new team of arrivals on the deck of the Maria Helena. Keeping its rotors turning as the passengers disembarked, the pilot took off again, as though the precious minutes it took to fully allow its rotors to cease spinning was too much. They were the latest of a set of arrivals who’d come to assist in their work uncovering the underground pyramid and its mysteries. It was the third inflight the past 24 hours, and the Maria Helena was starting to fill up, mostly with scientists, engineers and microbiologists.

  Tom Bower shook his head.

  It had never ceased to amaze him how much a man like Sam Reilly could obtain when he thought it was important. Even if, in this case, he was making certain that Michael Rodriguez was going to foot the bill for every piece of equipment that had arrived. But it wasn’t equipment that surprised him. It was the professionals who came. Each one the top of their respective field, they had been brutally poached from whatever expedition or project they had formally been working on and whisked from any location on earth to help.

  To do so required money and power. Both of which, Sam’s family had in abundance.

  He looked at the flight manifest. Ignoring the other three passengers, whose roles would most likely be limited to that of lab technicians aboard to examine artifacts and sea life, Tom’s eyes reached the name of the man he wanted to meet.

  Dr. Bill Swan.

  The four passengers stepped out of the helicopter and moved towards the main cabin with military efficiency. Each one carried an identical large duffle bag over his shoulder. They could have all been top of their field scientists – nerds – but they meant business.

  Tom took notice of the only woman amongst the new arrivals, as the only one who didn’t appear to be a scientist. Her features were clearly part Southeast Asian, but her height betrayed her European heritage. She was wearing olive cargo pants and a light tank top. Her face displayed all the signs of a person who hadn’t slept much in the past 24 hours. There were slight bags under her almond shaped hazel eyes and her messy dark hair had been tied back in a careless ponytail, a pair of Ray Bans propped on top.

  Matthew shook her hand as he greeted them all at the rear of the Maria Helena, and despite her obvious fatigue, she responded with a warm smile, full of perfect white teeth. She could have been a model.

  I bet that smile’s gotten her whatever she wanted many times before…

  Tom wondered what such a beautiful woman was doing aboard their ship. Already, he’d decided to make it his mission to find out. He would have approached her directly, but first he needed to meet the new archeologist Sam had sent him. Work would have to take priority over pleasure.

  Tom approached Matthew after the group of new arrivals were shown to their respective living quarters, “Have you seen this person?” Tom pointed to the name Bill Swan, “This man.”

  “Bill, the archeologist?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “Sure have…” Matthew laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Did Sam tell you that Bill was the best archeologist he’s ever met?”

  “Sure did. In fact, he told me specifically, that he has asked him to join Global’s Deep Sea Expeditions since old man Reilly first put him up to running the project, but each time was rejected. This was the first one that grabbed Bill’s attention enough to bring him out. Why, do you know him?”

  “Yeah, I’ve never met Bill. But I’ve heard the rumors.” Matthew’s left eyebrow was raised, as though he was trying to hint at something, “Sam’s been trying to get Bill to join his team for nearly a decade. Rumor has it they studied together at college, but I’ve heard that it was more personal than just that. Either way, I don’t know how he’s managed to persuade Bill to join us…” Matthew then laughed again, “Only it’s not Bill… its Billie. She often uses the name Bill on her dissertations, because in our apparently equal world, people still take more notice of a man’s view.”

  “Holy shit! You mean that angel who came in just then is the archeologist that I have to look after for the next two weeks until Sam gets back?”

  “That’s the one, you lucky bastard.”

  It was at that point that the angel returned.

  “Matthew, I just spoke to Veyron…” she said, her waspish voice betraying her adorable face in a second. “That fucking asshole sends a couple of his goons to pick me up and virtually drag me from a research core sampling station, 20 miles deep, in Antarctica, a week before my two-year project reached its conclusion, starts telling me a whole bunch of bullshit about finding one of the greatest archeological discoveries of this century – and now I find out he’s not even here. I don’t even know how he found me…”

  Matthew just smiled at her as she stopped her rant.
<
br />   “How did he find me?” she asked. “Has that fuckwit been keeping secret tabs on me again? You know that’s why I left him last time. I was sick of the secret bullshit that seemed to follow him wherever his projects led. So, Matthew, tell me… where the fuck is he, and what’s more important to him than this amazing discovery?”

  “The Mahogany Ship,” Tom replied, not making an attempt to conceal the grin that beamed across his face.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “I suppose I’m the man who’s going to be your tour guide of the deep blue sea over the next couple weeks until Sam returns.”

  “Billie, meet Tom Bower. Sam’s Director of Operations and the Maria Helena’s helicopter pilot. He’s been friends with Sam since they were kids,” Matthew said.

  “You’re Tom Bower?” She looked him up and down with what appeared almost like admiration. “I kind of expected you to be bigger. Sam spoke a lot about you while we were at college. You both became helicopter pilots for the Corps… only he got out and you stayed and served your country at the Sandpit …”

  That’s strange. He neglected to mention anything about attending college with a half-Asian goddess with a foul mouth…

  Instead of mentioning it, Tom replied, “Yeah that would be me. You two must have been pretty close. You sound like you know him pretty well.”

  A crooked smile appeared, but even that looked delicious.

  “Yeah, you could sure say that again.”

  There was obviously a past between the two of them, but she certainly wasn’t going to be forthcoming about it.

  Matthew, on the other hand, held no such restraint, “Sam and Billie have a past that goes way back… Are you kidding me, you haven’t heard the story?”

  “No…” Tom started to reply, but was interrupted.

  “And he’s not going to either,” Billie said. “So, he’s finally discovered the Mahogany Ship, hey?”

  “Sounds like it,” Tom replied.

  “Okay, I have to actually run this ship, so I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted,” Matthew said.