impromptu lecture. I hastened to correct myself.
“Don’t worry, the billions of tons I promised you will be there, even
if it does lie only one layer thick. There are lots of things we have
to find out still.” We arrived in the vicinity of the last site with
members of the crew, rather ludicrously, peering at the surface of the
ocean as if it could show them anything. Geordie said, “Right now
which way?” I drew a pencil line on his chart. “Follow that course,
please.” As we sailed I watched the trace of the echometer with
intense concentration. The line showed a gradual deepening of the
water – not a sudden drop, but a falling away as though from mountains
into the plains. After we had gone about ten miles the bottom began to
come up again from 13,000 feet. I made sure it wasn’t just a local
condition and then said, “I want to go back about two miles.” “Okay,”
Geordie said, and gave brisk orders. We were doing most of this work
under engine as it was tricky for sail, and I was grateful for the
continuing calm weather which gave us the minimum of wind and ocean
drift to contend with. I thought for just one envious moment of how
easy it would all be on land.
Campbell looked at my tracing. “What do you think?” “There’s some
sort of valley down there,” I said. “We’ve come from a ridge, crossed
the valley and begun to climb up towards the opposite ridge. I want to
go back and dredge where it’s deepest – it’s about 13,000 feet.”
Campbell rubbed his cheek. “Bit deep for commercial dredging with a
drag line.
You waste too much time just going down and coming up again.” “If the
stuff’s rich enough it should pay.” He grunted.
“That’s what we’re here to find out By now everyone knew what was in
the wind and there was a lot of tension as the dredge went down.
Ian was at the winch and Geordie himself at the wheel, keeping
Esmerelda on station. It seemed a particularly long time before Ian,
watching the cable tension meter, slipped the winch out of gear and,”
said, “She’s bottomed.” Geordie’s hand went to the engine controls.
Campbell swung round, fussing like an old hen. “Careful, Geordie, we,
don’t want any mistakes now.” Esmerelda crept forward, taking the
strain on the cable.
I could visualize the dredge at the bottom of the sea forward in utter
darkness, gathering the nodules into its maw like a vast-jawed
prehistoric creature Then the job was done and Ian had the winch. The
drum started to turn and the crew began to hand slimy cable into the
hold as it came off the drum seemed to take ages and the tension
increased unfairly twanged. Taffy said hoarsely,”For God’s sake, Ian,
pull your finger out. Geordie said calmly,”None of that, now. Take it
easy, Ian you’re doing just fine.” Thirteen thousand feet is nearly
two and a half miles. It takes a long time to haul a full dredge up
from that depth, especially when you’re not too sure of your cable and
taking it slowly. Normally nobody took any notice until the bucket
came inboard, but this time everyone’s attention was riveted, and when
at last the dredge broke surface there were many willing hands to swing
the boarding derrick out and bring the haul in.
Geordie had handed over the wheel to Danny and he ran forward to help
release the load. A cascade of nodules swept onto the deck, together
with the usual lot of slimy mud. Taffy stooped and picked up a
nodule.
“This doesn’t look any different to me,” he said, clowning
disappointment.
Ian said, “Ye daft loon. Leave it to Mike, would you? He knows what
he’s doing.” I hoped he was right.
Campbell said, “How long, Mike?” “The usual three hours. I can’t do
it any faster.” Nor did I – in fact it took longer. The lab wasn’t
very big and we had enough trouble with three of us working there. Now
Campbell insisted on coming in and watching, and wherever he stood or
sat he was in the way. In the end I bundled him out despite his
protests, but I could hear him pacing up and down in the passage-way.
At the end of three and three-quarter hours I opened the door and said,
“Congratulations, Mr Campbell. You’ve just become the father of a 9.7
percent cobalt nodule.” His eyes lit up. “We’ve hit it! By God,
we’ve hit it!” “Bang on the nose,” I agreed happily.
He leaned against the bulkhead and sighed deeply. “I never thought
we’d make it.” After a few moments his brain started to function again
and he said, “What’s the density?” “Ten pounds to the square foot.
That’ll keep you busy for the next few years.” His smile grew
jubilant.
“Come up to the saloon, all of you. Let’s have a drink on it.
Get Geordie down here.” In the saloon he opened the liquor cabinet and
produced bottles of whisky and gin, and set about pouring drinks with
great energy. Clare and I managed to linger in the passage just long
enough for a quick hug and kiss before joining him with Paula, and
Geordie arrived a moment later, beaming.
“To you, Mike. You’ve done a great job,” Campbell said,-”
expansively.
I included them all in the toast, and we drank it with great cheer.
“It isn’t finished yet, though,” I warned them. “We’ve got to find the
extent of the deposit. There’s a lot of proving to be done.”
“I know, I know,” Campbell said. “But that’s detail work.
Do you realize we’ve done it, Geordie?” “I’m very pleased for
you,”Geordie said formally.
“The hell with that. I’m pleased for all of us. How about, splicing
the main brace Geordie-with my compliments?”He waved to the
well-stocked cabinet.
“Well, I don’t know,”said Geordie judiciously. “I’ve still got a ship
to run. The lads off watch can have a dram, but those on duty will
have to wait awhile yet. There’s enough buzz going on up there as it
is.” He smiled and added, “I’m off watch myself.” Campbell laughed.
“Okay, join us.” Geordie cocked his head at me. “We’re still hove-to,
you know. Where do we go from here?” I said, “Ninety degrees from
your last course – to the south.
Tell the watch to keep an eye on the echometer and to keep tithe
deepest water they can. We’ll go for about twenty-five miles. If the
water shallows appreciably or we diverge to much off course I’d like to
know at once. And I think Clare had better give you the latest
bulletin, don’t you?” Clare produced a sheet of paper with the magic
figures, at Geordie took it up with him. Campbell turned to me. “You
trotted all that out glibly enough. I suppose you’ve got an idea.”
“I’ve got an idea of sorts. We came from a ridge and dredged in the
deepest part of a valley. Now I want to run along the valley to see
how far it stretches each way. The echometer record will give us a lot
of useful information, and we’ll dredge at intervals along the
course.”
From the deck we heard the sound of cheering.
Campbell stopped in the act of pouring himself another drink.
“Everybody’s happy.” “Everyone except Ramirez,” I commented.
“I wish he’d sink,” said Paula, unexpectedly viciously.
Campbell frowned, then pushed the unwelcome thought from his mind; this
was no time for thinking of a chancy future. Geordie came back into
the saloon and Campbell pointed to the cabinet. “Pour your own.
I’m no man’s servant,” he said. Geordie grinned and picked up the
bottle.
I rolled a nodule onto the table. “Geordie’s a bit doubtful as to the
value of this. I promised I’d get you to talk figures.” Campbell
poked at it with one finger. “It sure doesn’t look like much, does it,
Geordie?” “Just like any other bit of rock we’ve been dredging up the
last couple of weeks,”Geordie said off handedly.
“It contains nearly ten percent cobalt. We don’t know much about
anything else that’s in it because Mike’s only checked for cobalt, but
we know there should be a fair amount of copper and vanadium and a lot
of iron – and manganese too of course. Now, I’m telling you and I
speak from experience, that the gross recoverable value will run to
about four hundred dollars a ton.”
Geordie was still not convinced.
“That doesn’t seem too valuable to me. I thought it was really
valuable – like gold or platinum.”
Campbell grinned delightedly and took a little slide rule from his
pocket. “You’d say the density would be pretty consistent over a wide
area, wouldn’t you, Mike?” “Oh yes.
In the centre of the concentration you can fairly well rely on that.”
“And what would you call a wide area?” I shrugged. “Oh, several