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Gwynn leaned over the rear bench to recover the bag and handed it to Pitt Pitt had already slipped off his leather shoes He held one up so both driver and passenger could see it “My wife gotI would never wear Italian loafers, but they’re more comfortable than sneakers”
Froh rubber boots and an insulated high-vis windbreaker He jaaloshes and contorted his way into the jacket while penned in by the Suburban’s confines
“Here’s a story for you,” Pitt said when he clicked on his seat belt once again “Following the battles of Lexington and Concord during our Revolutionary War against the British, an inventor living near New Haven na a submersible craft that could be used to affixNew York Harbor None other than George Washington hireed to fund it
“All that summer, and into the fall, Bushnell and several dedicated orkers, ineers built the submarine About ten feet tall and barrel-shaped—or, as once described, reseether—it was made of iron-banded wood like the staves of a barrel and powered by a pair of hand-cranked screws It also had an auger that was designed to bore into a ship’s hull so an explosive charge could be affixed It had a foot-pedal bilge pu tower is the best way to describe it All in all, it was ungainly, aard, and utterly brilliant
“And also, a total failure,” Pitt added “In the sueant Ezra Lee was selected to be the Turtle’s pilot Finally, in Septeship HMS Eagle, which was at anchor below Governors Island at the mouth of New York Harbor It took Lee two hours to maneuver the subet the upward-facing drill to bite deep enough into the Eagle’s hull to set the explosives In retrospect, it’s pretty easy to see thatin that exact location was practically iiven the tides and currents”
“Not to uy must have been exhausted,” Blankenship said
Pitt nodded “The Turtle was thought to have only enough air for a half hour He could replenish his supply by surfacing as he crossed the harbor, but by the end of his attele he would have been delirious from too much carbon dioxide
“They tried attacking a different ship aafterward, the British sank the Turtle’s support ship on the Jersey side of the harbor Bushnell claied the little sub, but its fate was lost to history”
“Until now?” Thomas Gwynn hazarded
“Exactly Interesting, it wouldn’t be until almost a hundred years later that a sub an enemy warship That was the Confederate sub Hunley, which ra the Civil War”
They were approaching a large construction zone in a coround was s were brick or metal and less Several old sainst the skyline Dumpsters and rusted equips, and most vertical surfaces were desecrated with raffiti, none of which could be considered art The finein the air all day becaloomy pall for the forlorn district
Just ahead, a long corrugated hborhood A teuardho
use had been set up next to an open gate The hts looked especially bright in the gathering e crane Its spindly boom was visible as it reached for the sky
Blankenship braked at the gate The guard begrudgingly left the warm confines of his littleSUV
The Secret Service agent jerked a thuer “That’s Dirk Pitt, the head of NUMA He’s expected”