Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 35: The Coveted Desire for a Submersible Superior to German U-boats

The design was similar but much smaller than the gigantic unterseeboots being developed in 1904 by the German company known as Unterseebootkonstruktionsburo.   U-20 was the two hundred ten foot long submarine responsible for the sinking of many vessels as Germany tried to invade and claim many western European countries.  Germany even planned with Mexico's help, to take over the United States.   Mexico wasn't interested but the message intercepted by Great Britain's spies showed how audacious the German plan to use submarine warfare to totally control the seas and take over the world and intercept all war supplies and even take down neutral ships. 

The sinking of the Lusitania happened two years before President Wilson entered the United States into the Great War.   It was one of the greatest trophies of the German U-20.   For a brief period, German leaders seemed to back off the killing of innocent victims, but then they came back with a vengeance believing the sinking of ships would shorten the war and make the Germans victorious.   The German submarines grew in number and power.

The submersible used by Ned and Steven was used only for peaceful means, but its innovative designs in materials and comfort, led to the unfortunate theft during the Great War.    When Sir Steven tried to get it back and sail away with it and his steam mapper device, he disappeared forever.   Miraculously, his original journal was left behind in a trunk of his belongings.  He must have forgotten it in his haste to reclaim his submersible.  Or, maybe he took the information he needed for the time being, on paper or memorized.

The coordinates and descriptions within the journal would provide invaluable information about the travels and research of Ned Land and Sir Steven.   When Sir Steven disappeared without warning, Ned Land was distraught.   Ned Land could not recall from memory all of the data Sir Steven was keeping of their expeditions.    Ned Land's memory was failing and Sir Steven had taken all of the accumulated records with him.

Because Ned Land had no proof of their discoveries, he was incapable of procuring the necessary funding and interest to start new searches.   Oil and gas were replacing steam as the primary energy source for much of energy and transportation needs.    He could not find interested backers.   Ned was a tired, old man who spoke with confusion.   Many of the voyages he described to his family seemed far-fetched, but in his lucid moments he would reveal tantalizing descriptions.  His family has always believed he was speaking the truth.   His face shone as he told with amazement all that he had seen from the small porthole of the submersible.

The family longed for proof, to justify his claims, and also because he had inspired their own interests in studying the ocean floor.  The professor's family had a student named Stef who was already preparing for an oceanographic career.  The student had grown up participating in family outings that involved environmental workshops and seminars and rescues of animals. Stef was familiar with the stories of the elusive Steam Mapper /detective that became part of the family tree when Ned Land married Sir Steven's mother, Eliza Payne.   Eliza Payne Land's sole child was Steven.   But she became step-mother to the five adult children who were Ned Land's children by his first marriage.    She proudly shared the stories of her son's adventures with these children and their children.   The old journal would be a treasured family heirloom.

The professor knew that Sir Steven's first diving with the small submersible occurred near Perth, Australia, because Ned Land would remember their voyage there and secretively moving the submersible from its hiding place in the old jail.

It seemed ironic that Perth, Australia, would also be the last known location where they could place Sir Steven, thanks to his recovered journal.  The professor would be coming to Florida to attend a conference at Harbor Branch near Fort Pierce, Florida, next month.   Could he meet Clark in St. Petersburg the following weekend?

Clark agreed, excited that his little treasure could mean so much.   He also thought he would take no chances in handing it over to someone without a legitimate claim to the journal.   Before their meeting at the downtown branch of the St. Petersburg Library, Clark took photographs of the journal and photocopied every page.   He had wondered how a science-minded professor had taken an interest in his story.  Little did he know that the scientist he was meeting had also periodically googled "steam mapper".