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PROLOGUE

July 25, 1956

South of Nantucket Island

SO QUICKLY DID THE PALE SHIP appear, she seehost across the silver pool of luhts glittered along her bone-white sides as she raced eastward in the warh the flat seas as easily as a stiletto cutting through black satin

High in the darkened bridge of the Swedish American liner Stockholm, seven hours and 130 miles east of New York City Second Mate Gunnar Nillson scanned the ular s that wrapped around the wheelhouse gave him a panoramic view as far as he could see The surface was caled swell here and there The tee frohed over the Stockhol as the liner left its berth at the Fifty Seventh Street pier and headed down the Hudson River Remains of the woolly overcast drifted in tattered shrouds across the porcelain moon Visibility was a half dozen miles to starboard

Nillson swept his eyes to port, where the thin, dark horizon line became lost behind a hazy murkiness that veiled the stars and welded the sky and sea

For a moment he was lost in the draht of the vast and trackless e ling in the soles of his feet The power produced by the massive twin 14,600horsepower diesels see deck and into his body, which swayed alht roll Dread and wonder ebbed, to be replaced by the o in co across the ocean at top speed

At 525 feet sterntostern and 69 feet in the beam, the Stockholm was the smallest liner in the transatlantic trade Yet she was a special ship, sleek as a yacht, with racy lines that swept back frolass Her gleale yellow funnel Nillson luxuriated in the power of coers the three crewmen on watch would juraphs he could set bells clanging andto action

He chuckled, recognizing his hubris for what it was His four-hour watch was essentially a series of routine tasks ai it to an iuarded Nantucket's treacherous shoals There the Stockholm would make the northeasterly turn onto a course that would take its 534 passengers past Sable Island on a straight shot across the Atlantic to the north of Scotland and, finally Copenhagen Harbor

Even though he was only twenty eight and had joined the Stockholm barely three months earlier, Nillson had been on boats since he could walk As a teenager he'd worked the Baltic Sea herring bats and later served as an apprentice sea coe and a stint in the Swedish navy The Stockhol his dream, to be master of his own ship

Nillson was an exception to the common tall blond Scandinavian stereotype There wasin hi with her chestnut hair, olive skin, smallboned stature, and sunny temperament Darkhaired Swedes were not unusual At ti in his large brown eyes had anything to do with his captain's frostiness More likely it was a coid Swedish maritime tradition of strict discipline: Nevertheless, Nillson worked harder than he had to He didn't want to give the captain a single reason to find fault Even on this peaceful night, with no traffic, near flat seas, and perfect weather, Nillson paced froe to the other as if the ship were in the teeth of a hurricane

The Stockhole was divided into two spaces, the twentyfootheelhouse in front and the separate chartroos were left open to the light southwest breeze At each side of the bridge was an RCA radar set and a ship's telegraph At the center of the wheelhouse the helmsman stood on a wooden platfor

wall, hands gripping the steering wheel, eyes on the face of a gyrocompass to his left Directly in front of the helm, below the center as a course box The three wooden blocks in the box were printed with nu

The blocks were set at 090

Nillson had cohtthirty watch to look at the weather reports Fog was forecast for the area hear the Nantucket lightship No surprise there The aters of the Nantucket shoals were a virtual fog factory The officer going off duty told him the Stockholm was just north of the course set by the captain How far north he couldn't tell The radio positioning beacons were too far away to get a fix

Nillson smiled No surprise here, either The captain always took the same course, twenty miles north of the eastbound sealane recoreement The route wasn't mandatory, and the captain preferred the more northerly track because it saved time and fuel

Scandinavian captains did not do bridge watch, custole officer Nillson quickly settled into a series of tasks Pace the bridge Check the righthand radar Glance at the engine telegraphs on each wing of the bridge to make sure they were set Full Speed Ahead Scan the sea frohts were on Stroll back into the wheelhouse Study the gyrocompass Keep the helmsman on his toes Pace some more

The captain ca dinner in his cabin directly below the bridge A taciturn y profile worn around the edges like a rocky pro sea His posture was still ralinted alertly from the weathered ruins of his ruddy face For tenat the ocean and sniffing the war the scent of pheasant Then he went into the wheelhouse and studied the navigation chart as if in search of an omen

After a rees"

Nillson turned the oversized dice in the course box to read 087 The captain stayed long enough to watch the helmsman adjust the wheel, then returned to his cabin

Back in the chartrooree line, penciled in the captains new course, and figured the ship's position by dead reckoning He extended the track line according to speed and time elapsed and drew in an, X The new line would take the northerly currents would push the ship as dose as two miles

Nillson went over to the radar set near the right door and switched the range frohlighted the slender arias of Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard Ships were too se He returned the range to its original setting and resu

Around ten the captain returned to the bridge "I'll be inpaperwork," he announced "I'll e north in two hours Call htship before then" He squinted out aas if he sensed so or other bad weather"