Clive Cussler - Cyclops

Pitt turned from the monitor and scanned the printout of the ship's statistics:

Launched: 7 May 1910 by William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilders, Philadelphia

Tonnage: 19,360 displaced

Length: 542 feet (actually longer than the battleships of her time)

Beam: 65 feet

Draft: 27 feet 8 inches

Speed: 15 knots (3 knots faster than the Liberty ships of World War II)

Armament: Four 4-inch guns

Crew: 246

Master: G. W Worley, Naval Auxiliary Service

Pitt noted that Worley was the Cyclops' captain from the time she was placed in service until she disappeared. He sat back, his mind drifting as he studied the picture of the ship.

"Do you have any other photographs of her?" he asked Hope.

"Three from the same angle, one stern shot, and four of the crew."

"Let's have a look at the crew."

The monitor went black for a moment and soon an image of a man, standing at a ship's railing and holding a little girl's hand, came into view.

"Captain Worley with his daughter," explained Hope.

A huge man with thinning hair, neatly trimmed moustache, and massive hands stood in a dark suit, necktie casually askew outside the jacket, shoes highly shined, staring into a camera that froze his image seventy-five years ago. The little blond girl at his side wore a knee-length jumper and a little hat, and gripped what looked to be a very rigid doll in the shape of a bottle.

"Real name was Johann Wichman," Hope briefed without command. "He was born in Germany and illegally entered the United States when he jumped a merchant ship in San Francisco during the year 1878. How he falsified his records is not known. While commanding the Cyclops, he lived in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife and daughter."

"Any possibility he was working for the Germans in 1918?"

"Nothing was ever proven. Would you like the reports from naval investigations of the tragedy?"

"Just print them out. I'll study them later."

"The next photo is of Lieutenant David Forbes, the executive officer," said Hope.

The camera had caught Forbes in dress uniform standing beside what Pitt guessed to be a 1916 Cadillac touring car. He had the face of a greyhound, long, narrow nose, pale eyes whose color could not be determined from the black-and-white photograph. His face was clean-shaven, the eyebrows arched, and he had slightly protruding teeth.

"What sort of man was he?" asked Pitt.

"His naval record was unblemished until Worley put him under ship's arrest for insubordination."

"Reason?"

"Captain Worley altered course from one plotted by Lieutenant Forbes and almost wrecked the ship entering Rio. When Forbes demanded to know why, Worley blew up and confined him to quarters."

"Was Forbes still under arrest during the last voyage?"

"Yes."

"Who's next?"

"Lieutenant John Church, second officer."

The photo showed a small, almost frail-looking man in civilian clothes sitting at a table in a restaurant. His face wore the tired look of a farmer after a long day in the fields, yet his dark eyes seemed to advertise a humorous disposition. The graying hair above a large forehead was brushed back over small ears.

"He seems older than the others," observed Pitt.

"Actually only twenty-nine," said Hope. "Joined the Navy when he was sixteen and worked his way up through the ranks."

"Did he have problems with Worley?"

"Nothing in the file."

The final photograph was of two men standing at attention in a courtroom. There was no sign of apprehension in their faces-- if anything, they appeared sullen and defiant. The one on the left was tall and rangy with heavily muscled arms. The other one had the size and shape of a grizzly bear.

"This picture was taken at the court-martial of Fireman First Class James Coker and Fireman Second Class Barney DeVoe for the murder of Fireman Third Class Oscar Stewart. All three men were stationed aboard the U.S. cruiser Pittsburgh. Coker, on the left, was sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out in Brazil. DeVoe, on the right, was sentenced to fifty to ninety-nine years in the naval prison at Portsmouth, New Hampshire."

"What's their connection with the Cyclops?" Pitt inquired.

"The Pittsburgh was in Rio de Janeiro when the murder occurred. When Captain Worley reached port, he was instructed to transport DeVoe and four other prisoners in the Cyclops' brig to the United States."

"And they were on board at the end."

` Yes.'

"No other pictures of the crew?"

"They are probably available in family albums and other private sources, but this is all I have in my library."

"Tell me about the events leading to the disappearance."

"Verbal or print?"

"Can you print it out and talk at the same time?"

"Sorry, I can only perform such functions in sequence. Which do you prefer first?"

"Verbal."

"Very well. One moment while I assemble the data."

Pitt was beginning to feel drowsy. It had been a long day. He used the pause to dial Yaeger and ask for a cup of coffee.

"How are you and Hope getting along?"

"I'm almost beginning to think she's real," Pitt answered.

"Just so long you don't start fantasizing about her nonexistent body."

"I'm not at that stage yet."

"To know her is to love her."

"How are you doing on LeBaron?"

"What I was afraid of," said Yaeger. "He pretty much buried his past. No insight, only statistics up to the time he became the Wall Street whiz."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not really. He came from a fairly affluent family. His father owned a chain of hardware stores. I get the idea Raymond and his father didn't get along. There's no mention of his family in any newspaper biographies after he became the financial whiz."

"Did you find out how he made his first big bucks?"

"That area is pretty vague. He and a partner by the name of Kronberg had a marine salvage company in the middle nineteen-fifties. Seems they scratched along for a few years and then went broke. Two years later, Raymond launched his publication."

"The Prosperteer."

"Right."

"Is there any mention of where his backing came from?"

"None," replied Yaeger. "By the way, Jessie is his second wife. His first was named Hillary. She died a few years ago. Nothing on her at all."

"Keep hunting."

Pitt hung up as Hope said, "I'm ready with the data on the ill-fated final voyage of the Cyclops."

"Let's hear it."

"She put to sea from Rio de Janeiro on 16 February 1918, bound for Baltimore, Maryland. On board were her regular crew of 15 officers and 231 men, 57 men from the cruiser Pittsburgh, who were being rotated to the Norfolk Naval Base for reassignment, the 5 prisoners including DeVoe, and the American consul general at Rio, Alfred L. Morean Gottschalk, who was returning to Washington. Her cargo was 11,000 tons of manganese ore.

"After a brief call at the port of Bahia to pick up mail, the ship made an unscheduled stop on 4 March, when she entered Carlisle Bay on the island of Barbados and dropped anchor. Here, Worley took on extra coal and provisions, which he claimed were necessary to continue the voyage to Baltimore, but was later considered to be quite excessive. After the ship was lost at sea, the American consul in Barbados reported a number of suspicious rumors regarding Worley's unusual action, strange events on board, and a possible mutiny. The last anyone saw of the Cyclops and the men on board was 4 March 1918, when she steamed away from Barbados."

"There was no further contact?" asked Pitt.

"Twenty-four hours later, a lumber freighter called the Crogan Castle reported her bow crushed by an immense freak wave. Her radio signals for assistance were answered by the Cyclops. The final words from the collier were her call number and the message, `We are fifty miles due south of you and coming at full steam.' "