Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

"From the famous French liner Normandie," Perlmutter explained.

"Found it all in a warehouse where it had been packed away since before the ship burned and rolled over in New York harbor."

He served them a German breakfast, beginning with schnapps, thin-sliced Westphalian ham garnished with pickles and accompanied by pumpernickel bread. For a side dish he'd whipped up potato dumplings with a prune-butter filling.

"Tastes marvelous," said Loren. "I love eating something besides eggs and bacon for a change."

"I'm andicted to German cooking." Perlmutter laughed, patting his ample stomach. "Lots more substance than that candy-ass French fare, which is nothing but an exotic way to prepare garbage."

"did you find any information on the San Marino and the Pilottown?" asked Pitt, turning the conversation to the subject on his mind.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." Perlmutter hefted his bulk from the table and soon returned with a large dusty volume on Liberty ships. He donned a pair of reading glasses and turned to a marked page.

"Here we are. The San Marino, launched by the Georgia Shipbuilding Corporation, July of 1943. Hull number 2356, classed as a cargo carrier. Sailed Atlantic convoys until the end of the war.

Damaged by submarine torpedo from the U-573. Reached Liverpool under her own power and was repaired. Sold after the war to the Bristol Steamship Company of Bristol, England. Sold 1956 to the Manx Steamship Company of New York, Panamanian registry.

Vanished with all hands, north Pacific, 1966.

"So that was the end of her."

"Maybe, maybe not," said Perlmutter. "There's a postscript. I found a report in another reference source. About three years after the ship was posted missing, a Mr. Rodney Dewhurst, who was a marine insurance underwriter for the Lloyd's office in Singapore, noticed a ship moored in the harbor that struck him as vaguely familiar. There was an unusual design to the cargo booms, one he'd seen on only one other Liberty-class ship. He managed to talk his way onboard and after a brief search smelled a rat. Unfortunately, it was a holinay and it took him several hours to round up the harbor authorities and convince them to arrest the ship in port and hold it for an investigation. By the time they reached the dock, the vessel was long gone, steaming somewhere out to sea. A check of custom records showed her to be the Belle Chasse, Korean registry, owned by the Sosan Trading Company of Inchon, Korea. Her next destination was Seattle. Dewhurst cabled an alert to the Seattle Harbor Police, but the Belle Chasse never arrived."

"Why was Dewhurst suspicious of her?" Pitt asked.

"He had inspected the San Marino before underwriting the insurance on her and was dead certain she and the Belle Chasse were one and the same."

"Surely the Belle Chasse turned up in another port?" Loren asked.

Perlmutter shook his head. "She faded from the records until two years later, when she was reported scrapped in Pusan, Korea." He paused and looked across the table. "Does any of this help you?"

Pitt took another swallow of the schnapps. "That's the problem.

I don't know." He went on to briefly relate the discovery of the Pilottown, but omitted any mention of the nerve gas cargo. He described finding the serial number on the ship's boiler and running a check on it in Charleston.

"So the old Pilottown's been tracked down at last." Perlmutter sighed wistfully. "She wanders the sea no more."

"But her discovery opened a new can of worms," Pitt said. "Why was she carrying a boiler that was recorded by the manufacturer as installed in the San Marino? It doesn't and up. Both ships were probably constructed on adjoining slipways and launched about the same time. The on-site inspector must have been confused. He simply wrote up the boiler as placed in the wrong hull."

"I hate to spoil your black mood," said Perlmutter, "but you may be wrong."

"Isn't there a connection between the two ships?"

Perlmutter gave Pitt a scholarly gaze over the tops of his glasses.

"Yes, but not what you think." He turned to the book again and began reading aloud. "The Liberty ship Bart Pulver, later the Rosthena and Pilottown, launched by Astoria Iron and Steel Company, Portland, Oregon, in November of 1942-"

"She was built on the West Coast?" Pitt interrupted in surprise.

"About twenty-five hundred miles from Savannah, as the crow flies," Perlmutter replied indirectly, "and nine months earlier than the San Marino." He turned to Loren. "Would you like some coffee, dear lady?"

Loren stood up. "You two keep talking. I'll get it."

"it's espresso."

"I know how to operate the machine."

Perlmutter looked at Pitt and gave a jolly wink. "She's a winner."