CHAPTER XXII
STUDYING CURRENTS
There was no question about Tom's statement. They had approached closeto the side of a small, sunken and wrecked steamer, and in her side wastorn a great hole. In the light from the submarine it could be seenthat the plates bent inward, indicating that the explosion was fromoutside.
"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw his chum move theengine room telegraph signal to the stop position.
"Going to investigate," was the answer. "We might as well take thetime. We may learn something of value."
"Do you think there is any treasure in her?" asked Mr. Damon.
"There might be," answered Tom. "We'll put on the diving suits and gooutside."
"I hope there aren't any devil fish," remarked Ned.
"Same here," Tom agreed. "But I don't believe we'll meet with any. Willyou take a chance, Ned?"
"I surely will! I'd like to find out what sort of ship that is--orrather, was, for there isn't much left of her."
He spoke truly, for indeed the torpedo had created fearful havoc. Thefull extent of it was not observed until Tom, Ned, Koku and two of thecrew had put on diving suits and approached the hulk. She lay on herside on the sandy bottom, heeled over somewhat, and when theinvestigators had walked around her, as they were able to do, they sawa second, and even larger hole in the opposite side.
"Two submarines must have attacked her," said Ned, speaking through histelephone to Tom.
"Either that, or else one sent a torpedo into her, dived, came up onthe other side and sent another."
"Well, let's see if she has any treasure aboard," Ned proposed."Wouldn't it be queer if we should discover two treasure ships?"
"More queer than likely," Tom answered. "We've got to be careful goinginside her."
"Why?" asked Ned. "Do you think we'll set off a hidden mine?"
"No, but part of the wreckage might be loosened if we climbed over it,and we might fall and be pinned down. I've read of divers being caughtthat way. We must be careful."
"Do you suppose a German sub did this?" Ned asked.
"I think very likely," Tom answered. "Maybe we can tell if we candiscover the nationality of this craft."
They made their way to a position just outside the gaping hole in thestarboard side of the craft. Evidently; it was, or had been, a trampsteamer, and the torpedo hole on her starboard side was aboutamidships. She must have filled and sunk quickly with two such greatholes torn in her.
Standing near the wound in the steel skin, Tom and his companions triedto see what was inside. Their portable torches did not give lightenough to make out clearly the character of the cargo carried, and itwas too risky to venture into the mass of wreckage that must be theresult of the explosion of the torpedo.
"Let's try the other side," suggested Tom, and they moved around thestern of the craft. When they reached the place where the name wasvisible Tom raised his electric torch and, in the glow of it, they allread the painted inscription, Blakesly, New York.
"That's the vessel that disappeared so mysteriously!" exclaimed Ned,speaking through his instrument. "I remember reading about her. Shesailed from New York for Brest, but was never heard of. At last wehave solved the mystery!"
"Yes," agreed Tom, "but without much avail. We are too late to do anygood."
"Not one of her crew or passengers was ever heard of," went on Ned. "Itwas surmised that a German sub attacked her, and that she was eithersunk 'without a trace' or else her survivors were taken aboard thesubmarine and carried to Germany."
"Perhaps we may learn something to that end," said Tom, as they gotaround to the other side. The hole there was not quite so big, and asit seemed safe to enter Tom and Ned prepared to do so, the othersremaining outside to give them aid in case of necessity.
It was comparatively easy to enter by this wound in the side of theBlakesly, and, proceeding cautiously, Tom and Ned made the attempt.They found they could not penetrate far, however, because of the massof wreckage scattered about by the explosion. They could see throughinto the engine room, and there the machinery was in every stage ofdestruction, while below the boilers were disrupted.
"She must have gone down in a hurry," remarked Tom.
"Yes, and with part of her crew," added Ned, as he pointed to where aheap of white bones lay--grim reminders of the Great War. The engineroom forces had been trapped and carried down to death.
"I wonder if, by any chance, she did carry gold," suggested Ned.
"It wouldn't be down here if she did," asserted Tom. "And if she was atreasure ship, and the huns knew it, they wouldn't leave any on board."
"That's just it," went on his chum. "They may not have known it, andhave ripped a couple of torpedoes at her without any warning. It wouldbe just like them."
"Granted," assented the young inventor. "Well, we can take another lookaround outside. Maybe there's a way of getting on deck, and so goingbelow from there. I wouldn't chance it from here."
"Me, either," Ned answered.
They looked around a little more, a further view showing how dangerousit would be to attempt to enter the shattered engine room, where amisstep or a sudden change of equilibrium might cause disaster.
"Nothing there," Tom reported to Koku and the others waiting for himoutside.
"Rope by up go him stern," said Koku, motioning toward the after partof the wreck.
"What does he mean?" Tom asked one of his crew.
"Oh, he went walking around outside while you were inside, sir," wasthe answer, "and he seems to have found a rope ladder or a chain, orsomething hanging from the stern."
"Let's go and see it," proposed Tom. "I've been wondering if we couldget on deck."
"Are we going to spend much time here?" Ned wanted to know.
"Not much longer," Tom replied. "Why?"
"Well, I was thinking we'd better keep on looking for the Pandora. Idon't want that fellow Hardley to get the bulge on us."
"Oh," laughed Tom, "he isn't likely to. But we won't take any chances.As soon as I see if we can learn anything that may be useful from thishulk, we'll go back and start on our way again."
The party of divers, led by Koku, who wanted to point out hisdiscovery, walked slowly along on the bottom of the sea, around to thestern of the Blakesly.
"See!" said the giant through his telephone, and, as the instrumentswere interchanging, all heard him.
Koku pointed to several ropes and chains that were dangling from thestern of the sunken craft. Evidently they had been used by those whosought to escape from the sinking ship after she had been torpedoed.
"Wait a minute!" Tom telephoned, as he saw Koku grasp a chain,evidently with the object of hoisting himself up on deck by the simplemethod of going up hand over hand. He could easily do this by adjustingthe air pressure inside his diving suit to make himself more buoyant.
"Koku go up!" said the giant.
"Better make sure that chain will hold you," cautioned Tom. The giantproved it by several powerful tugs, and then began to raise himselffrom the sandy bed of the ocean.
"Well, if it will hold him it will hold us," asserted Tom. "Ned, we'llgo up. You two stay here," he said to the members of his crew. "Wecan't take any chances of all getting in the same accident if thereshould be one."
A little later Tom, Ned, and Koku stood on the deck of the sunkencraft. Much of what she had carried had been swept off, either in theexplosions or by reason of currents generated by storms since thefatality. But what seemed to be the cabin of the captain, or of some ofthe officers, was in plain view and easy of access from this level.
"Let's take a look!" said Tom.
Ned followed him to the door. It had been torn off, and inside was atable made fast to the floor. From the appearance of the room it wasevidently the compartment where the charts were kept, and where thecaptain or his officers worked out the reckoning. But it wastenantless now, and if any maps or papers had been out they weredissolved in sea water some time since.
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br /> "Let's see if we can find the log book," proposed Ned.
"Good idea," assented Tom.
Using the iron bars they carried, they forced open some of the lockers,but aside from pulp, which might have been charts or almost anything inthe way of documents, nothing was come upon that would tell anything.
"Unless the log book was kept in a water-tight case the ink would allrun, once it was wet," Tom said, when they were about ready to give uptheir search.
"I suppose so," agreed Ned. "But I would like to know whether shecarried treasure."
However, it was impossible to discover this, and dangerous to look toofar into the interior. So Tom and his party were forced to leavewithout discovering the secret of the Blakesly, if she possessed one.
Later, however, when they had returned home, Tom and Ned made a reportof what they had seen, and so cleared up the fate of the vessel. Theylearned that she carried no treasure, and they were glad they had notrisked their lives looking for it. What had happened to her crew wasnever learned.
They returned to the submarine and told what they had viewed. Andthen, with a last look at the wreck, they passed on in their search forthe Pandora.
Several fruitless days followed, and though a careful search was madein the vicinity of the true location given by Mr. Hardley, nothing wasdiscovered.
"How long will you keep at it before you give up?" asked Ned oneevening, as they went aloft to replenish the air tanks and charge thebatteries.
"Oh, another week, anyhow. I have a new theory, Ned."
"What's that?"
"Ocean currents. I believe there are powerful currents in these waters,and that they may have shifted the position of the Pandoraconsiderably. I'm going to study the currents."
"Good idea!" cried his chum.
And the next day they began observations which were destined to havesurprising results.
Tom Swift and His Undersea Search; Or, the Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic Page 22