Crescent Dawn (Dirk Pitt 21)

Dirk forced a smile, then hugged his dad before sitting down at the table. “Summer tells me you’ve found an Ottoman shipwreck,” he said. The tone in his voice made it clear his focus was elsewhere.

“One that’s caused us a lot of trouble,” Pitt replied. “She dates to around 1570, and came with some unusual Roman artifacts aboard.”

“Unfortunately, all that’s left of those artifacts is some photographs,” Gunn added ruefully.

“Of course, it all pales in comparison to Summer’s discovery,” Pitt said.

Dirk turned toward his sister. “What was that?” he asked.

“You mean she didn’t tell you?” Giordino said.

Summer gave Dirk a sheepish look. “We ran out of time, I guess.”

“Such modesty,” Gunn said, rifling through a stack of papers on the table. “Here, I made a copy from Summer’s original,” he said, handing a sheet of paper to Dirk

He held up the page and studied it carefully:

University of Cambridge

Department of Archaeology

Translation (Coptic Greek):

Imperial Vessel Argon

Special Manifest for Delivery to Emperor Constantine

Byzantium

Manifest:

Personal items of Christ, including a small wardrobe with:

Cloak

Lock of hair

Letter to Peter

Personal effects

Large crypt stone

Altar—from Church of Nazarene

Contemporary painting of Jesus

Ossuary of J.

Assigned to 14th Legionaries, at Caesarea

Septarius, Governor of Judaea

“This is for real?” Dirk asked.

“The original is written on papyrus. I saw it briefly,” Summer replied with a shake of her head, “so I know it exists. This was a translation performed by a well-known Cambridge archaeologist and etymologist in 1915.”

“It’s incredible,” Dirk said, his attention fully grabbed by the document. “All of these items personally related to Jesus. They must have been collected by the Romans after his death and destroyed.”