nylon pile for thermal insulation.  Next he pulled on a hood and then a

quick-release weight belt while trying to absorb a cram course in

ancient ship construction.

"In early merchant vessels the shipwrights favored cedar and cypress,

and often pine, for the planking," lectured Gronquist.  "They mostly

used oak for the keel."

"I won't be able to tell one wood from another," Pitt said.

"Then study the hull.  The planks were tightly joined by tenons and

mortises.  Many ships had lead plates laid on their underwater surface.

The hardware may be of iron or copper."

"What about the rudder?" asked Pitt.  "Anything I should look for in

design and fastenings?"

"You won't find a stern-centered rudder," said Sam Hoskins.  "They

didn't Turn up for another eight hundred years.  All early Mediterranean

merchantmen used twill steering oars that extended from the aft

quarters."

"Do you want a reserve 'come home' air bottle?" Giordino interrupted.

Pitt shook his head.  "Not necessary for a dive this shallow as long as

I'm on a lifeline."

Giordino lifted the Mark I mask and helped Pitt pull it down over his

head.  He checked the face seal, adjusted the position and cinched up

the spider straps.  The air supply was on, and when Pitt signaled that

he had proper air flow, Giordino secured the communications line to the

mask.

ANie one of the Navy men unreeled and straightened the air-supply hose

and communications line, Giordino tied a manila lifeline around Pitts

waist.  He performed the predive checkout and then donned a headset with

microphone.

"You hear me okay?" he asked.

"Clear but faint," Pitt answered.  "Turn up the volume a notch."

"Better?"

"Much."

"How do you feel?"

"Nice and cozy so long as I'm breathing warm air."

"All set?"

Pitt answered by making an okay sign with his thumb and forefinger.  He

paused to hook an underwater dive light to his belt.

Lily gave him a hug and gazed up through his face mask. "Good hunting,

and be careful."

He willked back at her.

He turned and walked through the entryway of the shelter into the cold

outside, trailed by two Navy men who tended his lines.

Giordino began to follow when Lily clutched his arm.  "Will we be able

to hear him?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes, I've connected him into a speaker.  You and Dr. Gronquist can stay

here where it's warm and listen in.  If you have a message for Pitt,

simply come and tell me, and I'll pass it on."

Pitt walked stiffly to the edge of the ice hole and sat down. The air

temperature had dropped to zero.  It was a crystalline November day with

a biting edge, courtesy of a ten-mile-an-hour wind.

As he slipped on his fins he looked up at the sheer sides of the

mountains that soared above the inlet.  The tons of snow and ice

clinging to the steep palisades seemed as if they could fall at any

moment.  He turned to the upper end of the fjord where he could see