Chapter 4
Lee knocked on the Nelson's door. "In," he replied as Lee and Chip entered the cabin sat down on the chairs in front of his desk.
"Admiral, FS-1 is unavailable for this cruise," Lee said as he explained the situation regarding the part, the vendor and that Janet would have to stay on board the sub. "We'll be using the diving bell to take the parts down to the lab. It'll take us longer to re-stock the lab but I don't see any other way," Lee told him.
Harry nodded his head in agreement. "How long before we get to the lab?"
"We should be there in seventy-two hours," Chip answered.
"Fine," Harry replied. "Now for the Navy's mission." He explained to Chip what the Navy wanted Seaview to do.
"Sir, we've never been in those waters," Chip said.
"Yes, I realize that but, I guess that's going to change," Harry responded. "You two can look over the terrain of that area. I have a feeling it's not going to be smooth sailing," he sighed.
"Yes sir," the two men replied, left the cabin and returned to the control room.
Before heading for the control room, Lee checked his cabin to see if Janet was still there. She had just finished dressing and was getting ready to go to her office. Lee explained to her what the mission was so she could prepare the paperwork. He quickly gave her a kiss and left the cabin before one thing would lead to another.
Once in the control room, Lee looked for any maps they had of that area. He found a couple but since no ships had navigated that section of the ocean, there wasn't too much data on the underwater landscape so they would have to rely on whatever satellite data was available.
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Lee conducted several drills in the mornings and afternoons for the two days they were sailing to the lab. He was happy with the results of all the drills except for the rescue diving team.
After completing the drill, Lee was upset with the response of the emergency dive team so he called the seven men into the observation nose and closed the crash doors.
"Your reaction time in getting into your suits and into the water took far too long. If there was a real diver out there that needed to be rescued, he would have died," Lee told the men consisting of Chief Sharkey, Kowalski, Patterson, Riley, Marco, Phil and Cooper. "We will run another drill and you better have a quicker response. Dismissed."
"Aye, aye, sir," the men replied as they left the nose and returned to their stations.
He scheduled the drill for later that afternoon and was pleased with the improvement. He recalled the men to the observation nose, "Well done, dive team…great improvement."
"Thanks, Skipper," the men replied in relief.
Lee and Chip were very relieved they didn't have to worry about the paperwork as Janet noted the results of the drills and would file it.
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Once the drills were completed, Lee ordered Sharkey to have the men bring the supplies for the lab to the missile room to save time. There were quite a few boxes and containers so he wanted them ready to be loaded as soon as they were in position.
They were two hours away from the lab; Harry, Lee, Chip and Janet were in the control room when Harry asked Sparks to place the call to the lab and let them know when they were arriving.
"Admiral, I have Dr. Bender on the radio for you," Sparks told him.
"Pipe it to the observation nose," Harry said.
"Aye, sir," Sparks responded and put the call through.
Lee and Janet joined him in the nose. Since it would take longer to unload the boat, Lee decided Janet would check off the supplies as they were loaded into the bell as that would free up another man to help unload the supplies in the lab.
Harry picked up the mic on the table, "Gustav, it's good to hear your voice," Nelson said.
"Good to hear yours too Harry. I hope your calling to tell me you're here with our supplies. We're tired of eating tuna fish," Dr. Gustav Bender, lead scientist, at the lab teased. He had two assistants with him, Steven Karner and Robert Cager. The main function of this lab was to check out the fish, aquatic plants and composition of the sea water.
"We should be arriving in two hours and yes, we have your supplies," Harry answered with a grin. "We'll have to use the diving bell to deliver the supplies as FS-1 is out of commission so we'll send down a crewman to help unload."
"Thanks Harry. Will you be coming down?"
"Yes, I'll be there after the first load is delivered. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've discovered."
"See you soon," Gustav replied looking forward to seeing his friend.
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The lab was situated one hundred and fifty feet below the surface so when Seaview arrived at the lab, Lee ordered maneuvering to bring her up to seventy-five feet. He positioned her over the top of the lab so the bell would align up with the sea lab's hatch.
"I'll meet you in the missile room," Harry told Lee as he made his way up the staircase.
"Yes sir," Lee replied as he and Janet left the control room through the aft hatch and headed to the missile room. When they arrived, the missile room was packed with so many boxes and containers they could hardly walk around.
Lee and Janet made their way over to the men who were loading the first batch of supplies, "Phil, I want you to go down to the lab and help them unload the supplies as they delivered. Patterson, Riley, you'll take turns riding down in the bell; change positions every hour. Marco, you'll help load the bell along with either Riley or Patterson. Chief, you'll be in charge of lowering and raising the bell. Mrs. Crane will check off the supplies off the manifest as they are loaded." He looked at Janet, "You will only check off the supplies, no helping them load the bell."
"Aye, aye sir," they all replied.
Since the bell didn't hold as many supplies as FS-1, Lee figured it would take them close to nine hours to complete the delivery.
Phil and Patterson boarded the bell with as many supplies as they could fit in before Chief Sharkey lowered it down. Once it coupled with the lab, with the help of the two men stationed at the lab, Phil would unload the supplies and send it back up for more.
Harry entered the missile room with his green sweater on his arm and made his way over to the deck hatch just as the bell was returning from its first delivery. Harry pulled on the sweater as the crew loaded up the bell with more supplies.
"Save some room for the admiral," Lee told the men who started to remove some boxes.
"Don't worry Lee, I'll be able to squeeze in there," Harry replied as he climbed into the bell with Patterson. "I'll let Sharkey know when we're returning to Seaview. I'm sure Dr. Bender and his men are looking forward to dinner so I hope Cookie is making a good one."
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When Seaview made a deliver to any of the undersea laboratories, the personnel were always treated to a home cooked meal. Cookie would always make the labs favorite meal. The men at this lab liked roasted chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and carrot cake for dessert.
"I'm sure he'll make their favorite dinner," Lee said as he secured the hatch on the bell after Harry was aboard. Lee signaled Sharkey to lower the bell. He waited until Sharkey motioned to him that the bell had reached the lab.
Lee would return to the control room once Harry was aboard the lab so he and Chip could look over the maps they had of the area they would head to for the Navy. He also had Sparks get whatever satellite data they had which wasn't very much as a lot of the oceans hadn't been mapped out.
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Chip was at the charting table when Lee entered the control room. He was studying the many charts and maps he had spread out over the table. He looked up when Lee approached the table.
"There isn't a lot of information about the area where that plane went down. If the coordinates are correct, the wreckage should be about two miles off the PR's twenty-five-mile limit. I checked out the surface maps and found there's a volcanic island five miles away from the coordinates. I had Sparks check it out and it's been in-active for the last ten years. As far as the ocean floor, there's nothing charted as no one wants to go that close to the PR."
Lee rubbed his hand through his hair, "I guess we'll have to chart it as we go along."
The two men returned to the charts and plotted the course they would take to the wreckage.
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The men in the missile room had been loading supplies for almost nine hours. Janet figured they had only three more trips before all the supplies would be delivered.
On the last trip up from the lab, Riley told Sharkey that the admiral and Dr. Bender would be returning on the next trip up.
"Missile room to Control Room," Sharkey said over the mic.
"Control Room," Lee replied, "everything okay, Chief?"
"Yes sir," he responded. "The admiral will be returning on the next trip up.'
"Thanks, Chief," Lee answered and stowed the mic. "I'll be back when the admiral and Dr. Bender are on board." Lee looked at his watch. "Dinner should be served in an hour. Hopefully they will be done unloading the supplies."
Chip looked at Lee, "I sure hope so as I'm looking forward to dinner as I didn't get much of a lunch."
Grinning Lee said, "I'm sure Cookie will have plenty of food."
He left the control room and was surprised that there was still supplies to be loaded into the bell. He walked over to Janet. "How many more loads?"
"I think about three more," she replied tiredly.
Lee looked at her and could see she was tired along with the rest of the men. It had been a long day for them. Once they finished with the supplies, the men would be off duty but Janet would have dinner with the men from the lab.
When Sharkey brought the bell up, Lee undid the hatch and helped Harry and Dr. Bender out.
"Welcome aboard," Lee said to Gustav as he shook his hand.
"Thanks, Lee," Dr. Bender replied and looked over at Janet.
"Good to see you, Janet," Gustav greeted her.
"Nice to you see too, sir," she replied with a grin. Gustav had taken a liking to Janet as she reminded him of his daughter.
"I hope you're hungry," Lee said, "I know Cookie has been cooking all day."
"What are we having?" Gustav asked.
"Tuna casserole," Janet joked getting a huge smile from Dr. Bender as he knew she was teasing him.
Lee piped up, "Your favorite dinner, of course."
Harry, Lee and Gustav left the missile room and made their way to the observation nose where dinner would be served as soon as the other two men were aboard the boat. Lee turned around and grinned at Janet as he left.
It was thirty minutes later when they finally made the last delivery and all the men were back on board the boat. Janet escorted Steven and Robert to the nose for dinner.
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The crash doors were closed separating the observation nose with the control room., O'Brien saw Janet and the two men enter the control room and opened the doors. Lee smiled when he saw them as he was getting worried why it was taking so long to complete the job.
"Sorry you had to wait for us," Janet said. "We had more loads than expected."
Lee handed Steven, Robert and Janet a drink while Cookie and the mess specialists set out dinner. The group took their places at the table and enjoyed the meal.
When they were finished, Dr. Bender said, "Thanks for a fantastic dinner. I don't know if I'll have room for dessert."
Cookie smiled as the mess specialist had just brought in the carrot cake and coffee.
"On second thought," Gustav grinned as Cookie served him a huge piece.
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Normally when Seaview made a delivery to the undersea labs, Lee would surface the boat so they could get some fresh air and look around outside instead seeing nothing but darkness when they were in the lab.
Lee left the nose to check the weather topside and didn't like what he saw. He returned to the nose. "Sorry Dr. Bender but the weather topside is too rough for us to surface. It's very windy and there're high waves."
"I understand," Dr. Bender replied. "Just looking out the observation nose seeing the little bit of light that's filtering through the water is fine with us."
The men and Janet were enjoying their coffee, cake and conversation when they felt the boat gently roll from side to side.
Lee and Chip quickly set down their cups and opened the crash doors. Lt. O'Brien was at the sonar console talking to Kowalski.
"Kowalski, what was that?" Lee asked as he picked up the extra set of head phones.
"A small undersea quake," he answered.
Putting on the headset, Lee looked over the screen and didn't see anything. "Ron, anything on the hydrophone?"
"No sir," Ron replied as he handed Chip his headset.
Lee listened for a while before removing the headphones. "Any idea how far away?"
"I'm guessing about hundred miles west of here," Ski responded.
Chip removed his headset and handed it back to Ron. "Nothing on the hydrophone."
Lee, Chip and Bobby returned to the charting table, "How much longer are you on duty?" Lee asked.
"Another hour, sir," he said.
"I want to be notified immediately if there's any type of movement. Please tell Scott and the rest of the watch when they come on duty to let me know also," Lee ordered.
"Aye, aye, sir," Bobby answered as Lee and Chip returned to the nose and closed the crash doors behind them.
"Problem, Lee?" Harry asked when they returned.
"A small undersea quake," Lee said worriedly.
"We've noticed an increase in the seismometer readings in the last few weeks too," Dr. Bender volunteered. "Nothing major but it's the first time we've had any readings at all."
"Thanks for information," Nelson replied noticing the worried look on Lee's face meant he wasn't telling him everything.
Looking at his watch, Gustav, said. "Well, Harry, we better get back 'home'. It's been a long day for everyone. Thanks for the delicious dinner and the supplies."
"You're welcome, Gustav," Harry replied as Lee opened the crash doors. "Hopefully, you won't have to wait so long for the next delivery."
Harry walked with the three men from the lab to the missile room where Sharkey and Patterson were waiting to return them to the lab.
"Thanks again, Harry," Gustav said as Patterson helped him into the bell. Robert and Steven climbed in while Sharkey secured the hatch. Harry waited while Sharkey lowered the bell to the lab. Once the bell was secured to the lab, he left the missile room for the control room.