Page 96 of Summer in Greece

After breakfast, Shelly went out with several of the dive team, including Harry and his eldest son, Elias, in the sea research boat.

‘What are we doing today?’ Shelly asked as they rounded the lighthouse.

‘We’ll detect and mark the wreck,’ Harry replied.

She stood next to him and studied the SONAR screen. Soon, the echo-sounder displayed a steady depth of a hundred and seventeen metres. ‘It’s very consistent now, what are we picking up?’

‘The sandy bottom. We should be about . . . ah, yes! Here we are now, a reading of eighty-six metres. We’re over HMHS Britannic right at this moment.’

Shelly’s heart skipped. ‘How thrilling!’ She imagined a frightened, eighteen-year-old Gertie in her drenched nurse’s uniform with the torn apron, and Corporal Perkins’s head resting in her lap as they bobbed about in the overcrowded lifeboat.

‘We’ll drop a line to read the strength of the current at various depths,’ Harry was saying as Shelly pulled herself back to now. ‘When that’s established, we’ll drop an anchor line to the actual wreck and mark it with a buoy to warn passing shipping we have divers down. The Kea Channel’s a busy enough shipping lane. We must work with the local fishermen too. It’s their main fishing territory and they’ve had to abandon it for less prolific fisheries while we prepare for tomorrow. We’ll employ as many of them as we can while the dive’s on.’

‘What can they do to help?’

‘Supply us with over-priced fish to start with.’

Shelly laughed. ‘Public relations, hey? It’s odd to think my great-grandmother almost drowned, and was pulled back into a lifeboat right here, over a hundred years ago. And the ship she worked on is below us right now.’

He read the excitement in her eyes. ‘For the decompression stops on the divers’ return, we’re going to anchor a shot line with several large buoys that will hold vertically in the strong current.’

‘This is back-up for the diving bell?’ He nodded. She went on. ‘The boat’s extraordinarily well equipped, is it yours?’

Harry made a ‘tsk’ and raised his chin, the Greek expression for ‘No’. ‘It belongs to Oxford University. A couple of their graduates are on the team. Familiarise yourself with everything aboard, Elias gets impatient when things aren’t going his way.’

Shelly nodded. ‘Will do.’ Her body was almost levitating with happiness. ‘I’ll be meticulous. Certified safety officer, remember.’

He nodded, eyes dark, narrowed, hot.

‘You’re so bad, Harry. Don’t look at me like that. I need to concentrate.’

‘Me too.’ He grinned, leaned in and kissed her neck. ‘But you make it hard.’

‘Get a room, you two,’ Elias muttered, scowling at them as he approached the console. ‘We need to be single-minded today. Can’t afford mistakes, right?’

*

Harry was busy with one of the technicians, so Shelly started working through her safety checklist.

‘What are you doing?’ Elias demanded. ‘Please, I’ve asked you not to touch the equipment!’

She blinked at him, shocked by his aggression. ‘I’m just checking battery life on the sea-scooters.’

‘They were checked yesterday.’

‘Well, I'm sorry to tell you, this one’s almost empty.’

‘What?’ Elias stormed over.

Harry was alerted by his son’s raised voice. ‘Must be faulty. Well done, Shelly.’

She held her breath and counted five. ‘Can’t have too much checking when people’s lives are at stake. Also, one of the rebreather batteries has a fully-charged tag, but appears to be almost flat this morning.’

‘This is serious.’ Harry glanced at Elias this time. ‘Could you go over everything?’

‘Of course! Don’t I always, Papa?’

Shelly put in, ‘There’s possibly a simple explanation. Shall I check the cylinders?’