"This is not the way we manage things here," the maitre d' hissed in total exasperation.

"Then it's either my way, or I'll complain to the health commission about the sea gull droppings on the balcony outside my room."

It was a small battle, but I was happy to win it.

Dinner involved creative ways to eat boiled potatoes with catchup and Worcestershire sauce. Once I asked the hotel bartender for a martini straight up. I got exactly that, Martini-brand vermouth straight up. Teri was about eighteen at the time. Bless her heart.

She took it upon herself to set the bartender straight and instruct him on how to make bloody Marys and screwdrivers.

The opening day of the search didn't get underway until almost eleven o'clock in the morning. The sea was fairly rough and the boat ride from the dock to the Keltic Lord was an adventure in itself. When we came alongside, Gonzo and another crew member helped everyone climb aboard the ship but me. I was left ignored and forgotten on the leaky ferryboat in a rainstorm, knocked up and down against the hull by aggressive wave action, while clutching a briefcase containing my research material, charts of the search area, and a sack of cookies pressed on me by my wife.

My faithful ship's crew, my loyal team of technicians, had all rushed into the galley for a cup of coffee.

Struggling over the railing with my load, I reached the galley soaked through to my undershorts. No one gave me so much as a glance.

Sid Wignall acted as though I didn't exist. it was then I introduced my hand routine, which became beneficial over the years in dealing with mutinous boat crews and dive teams.

I raised my right hand into the air and inquired in a loud voice, "Does everyone see this hand?"

They all stared indifferently and nodded silently.

heN"atever happens," I continued, "a fire aboard ship, we strike an iceberg, or we're torpedoed by the crew of a U-boat who forgot to surrender, you save this hand."

Good old Gonzo sailed into the net. "Why should we bust our arse to save that hand, mate?"

I had the power, the Force was mine. I looked him square in the eye and said, "Because this is the hand that writes the checks. 9 @ It was amazing how I went from Rodney Dangerfield to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the space of thirty seconds. Now I was the first one helped on board the ship. Gonzo became my pal and always kept my coffee cup full. Even the captain began calling me "sir." I knew then that searching for shipwrecks was in my blood.

Because of the late start during the first days into the search, by the time we began running our lanes in the search grid, which meant towing the side scan sensor back and forth as though we were mowing a lawn, half the day was gone and we had to return to Bridlington before dark.