At first Pitt didn't get it. He thought Gallagher was referring to any one of the four Great Lakes that lay to the east. Then it hit him. “Lake Michigan? The Princess Dou Wan sank here in Lake Michigan, not far from where we stand?”
“I'd guess about twenty-five miles slightly southeast from here.”
Pitt was elated and numb at the same time: This revelation was too good to be true: The wreck of the Princess Dou Wan and its priceless treasure were lying only twenty-five miles away. He turned and stared at Gallagher. “You and Mrs. Gallagher must have been cast ashore nearby.”
“Not close by,” Gallagher said, smiling. “This exact spot where the pier sits. We tried for years to buy this property for sentimental reasons, but the owners wouldn't sell. Only after they died did their kids let us have it. We tore down the old cabin they used for family vacations on the lake, the same cabin that saved Katie and me from freezin' to death. It was in poor shape, so we tore it down and built the house you see. We figured we was given a second chance in life and it would be a good idea to spend our remaining years at the very spot we were reborn.”
“Why didn't you look for the wreck and salvage the artifacts yourself?”
Gallagher gave a short laugh and slowly shook his head. “What good would it do? The Communists still run China. They would claim it as theirs. I'd be lucky to keep a nail out of one of them packing crates they rest in.”
“You might have filed a claim for yourself and become a very rich man.”
“The Communists wouldn't be the only vultures to come gatherin' around. The minute I'd begin pulling up them antiques, the bureaucrats from the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and the federal government would have come down all over me. I'd have ended up spending more time in court than salvaging the wreck and paying attorneys more than I'd make out of it.”
“You're probably right,” said Pitt.
“You bet I'm right,” snorted Gallagher. “I did a bit of treasure-hunting myself when I was young. It never paid off. You make a strike and, besides having to fight the government, other treasure hunters appear like locusts to rape your wreck. No, Mr. Pitt, my family was my riches. I figured, leave well enough alone. The treasure ain't goin' anywhere. When the proper time comes, I always thought, somebody will salvage it for the good of the people. In the meantime, I've been perfectly content without it.”
“There aren't many men who think like you do, Mr. Gallagher,” said Pitt with respect.
“Son, when you're as old as I am, you see there are a lot more things in life than owning a fancy yacht and a jet plane.”
Pitt smiled at the old man on the canvas stool. “Mr. Gallagher, I like your style.”
Ian cleaned his catch of fish, and Katie insisted Dirk and Julia stay for dinner. They also offered to put them up for the night, but Pitt was anxious to return to Manitowoc, find a place to use as a headquarters for the search-and-salvage project, and call Sandecker with the news. During dinner, the two women happily chatted away in Mandarin Chinese while the men swapped sea stories.
“Was Captain Hunt a good man?” “No better seaman ever trod a deck.” Gallagher stared sadly through the window out onto the lake. “He's still out there. He went down with the ship. I saw him standin' in the wheelhouse as calm as if he was waitin' for a table at a restaurant.” He turned back to Pitt. “I hear the cold fresh water preserves things, unlike salt water and sea creatures that eat bodies and ships until there's nothing left.”
Pitt nodded. “Not long ago, divers brought up an automobile from a car ferry that had been on the bottom of this same lake for nearly seventy years. The upholstery was still sound, the tires still held air, and after drying out the engine and carburetor, and changing the oil, they charged the original battery and started the car. It was then driven to an auto museum in Detroit.”
“Then the Chinese treasures should be in good shape.”
“Most of it, I should imagine, especially the bronze and porcelain artworks.”
“Wouldn't that be a sight,” Gallagher said wistfully, “seeing all them antiques lying there on the bottom of the lake.” Then he shook his head and rubbed eyes that were beginning to moisten. “But it would tear my heart out to look at the poor old Princess.”
“Perhaps,” said Pitt, “but she found a more noble death than if she was torn apart by the scrappers in Singapore.”
“You're right,” Gallagher said solemnly. “She did find a noble death.”
IN THE MORNING PlTT AND JULIA BADE THE GALLAGHERS A fond good-bye and checked into an attractive bed and breakfast in Manitowoc. While she unpacked, Pitt called Sandecker and filled him in on their meeting with the Gallaghers.
“You mean to tell me,” Sandecker said in amazement, “that one of the world's greatest treasures has been sitting under everyone's nose for the past half century, and Gallagher told no one?”
“The Gallaghers are your kind of people, Admiral. Unlike Qin Shang, they were never driven by greed. They felt it was best not to disturb the wreck until the proper time.”
“They should receive a fat reward as a finders' fee.”
“A grateful government may make the offer, but I doubt if they'll accept it.”
“Incredible,” said Sandecker quietly. “The Gallaghers have restored my faith in the human race.”
“Now that we have a ballpark, we're going to require a proper search-and-survey vessel.”
“I'm way ahead of you,” Sandecker said smoothly. “Rudi has already hired a fully equipped search boat. The crew is on its way to Manitowoc from Kenosha. The boat's name is Divercity. Because we have a requirement for secrecy to consider, I felt you'd attract less attention with a smaller vessel. Not wise to advertise a hunt for a treasure of inestimable value. If word leaked, a thousand treasure seekers would flood onto Lake Michigan like a school of piranha in a pond stocked with catfish.”
“A phenomenon that takes place with every treasure find,” Pitt concurred.
“And in the hope and anticipation that you'll make a successful discovery, I've also ordered the Ocean Retriever off a project on the Maine coast and directed her to Lake Michigan.”
“The perfect choice. She's ideally equipped for intricate salvage work.”
“She should arrive on site and be in position over the wreck within four days.”
“You planned and arranged all this before you knew if Gallagher could lead us to the wreck?” Pitt asked incredulously.
“Again, anticipation.”
Pitt's admiration of Sandecker never ceased. “You're a tough man to keep up with. Admiral.”
“I always hedge my bets.”
“I can see that.”
“Good luck, and let me know how it goes.”
With Julia in tow, Pitt spent the day talking to local divers about water conditions and studying charts of the lake bed in the general location of the Princess Don Wan. The following morning at the crack of dawn, they parked the car at Manitowoc's yacht basin and walked along the dock until they found the Divercity and her crew waiting for them.
The boat, a twenty-five-foot Parker with a cabin, was powered by a 250 Yamaha outboard. Functional and electronically well equipped with a NavStar differential global-positioning system interfaced with a state of the art PC and Geometerics 866 marine magnetometer, the Divercity also mounted a Klein side-scan sonar that would play a key role in seeking out the remains of the Princess Don Wan. For a close-up identification, the boat carried a Benthos MiniRover MK II underwater robotic vehicle.
The experienced crew consisted of Ralph Wilbanks, a big, jolly man in his early forties with expansive brown eyes and a bristling mustache; and his partner, Wes Hall, easygoing, soft-spoken and smoothly handsome, who could have doubled for Mel Gibson.
Wilbanks and Hall greeted Pitt and Julia warmly and introduced themselves. “We didn't expect you this early,” said Hall.