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we would first investigate the mysterious Navicula target, which was located in an area called "the Rip" about one and one-half miles south of Outer Island. It was known for its fast current, due in part to the natural tunneling effect of the waters pouring back out through the sound during tidal ebb. Records showed that was what the tide had been doing on that night twenty-eight years earlier. While we were gung ho for the Rip, Bruce Ad-dams, the skipper of Murphy's Law, was warning us against it. Although conditions in Shag Harbor and into the sound were quite fair, he felt that the sea would be much rougher there with the wind coming out of the south the way it was. We decided to continue, and asked Bruce to give it a try. He reluctantly swung the wheel and headed south out of the sound. Gradually, as we came closer to the Rip, the seas began to build up into heavy rollers and it wasn't too long before heavy spray was being whipped by the wind into our faces. The boat began a monotonous rolling-and-pitching motion, while Bruce steered her through one crest and trough after another. Once fully into the Rip it became even worse, and it was evident that we could not do any work there that day. We almost lost one of the Sony cameras overboard and one of the Canadian Seabed Research techs was growing increasingly concerned that the towfish cable might sever due to the boat's heaving and surging, and an expensive piece of equipment could be irretrievably lost. I planted myself securely on the stern, feet braced, and was shooting the whole thing on a handheld HI- 8 video camera, enjoying it all immensely. For Bruce, our skipper, and the fishermen along Nova Scotia's southwestern shore, these were typical working conditions, acceptable for fishing or slugging around lobster pots. But it was too much for scientific equipment. We could not hope to do any work out there that day. It would be impossible to do track lines, or put a diver over the side. We could not hold position or even attempt to anchor in those seas, for fear of dragging the anchor through the very site we wished to explore, and possibly disturbing or damaging any artifacts that might be there. Reluctantly we decided to postpone this attempt until the winds and weather were more favorable. Our second option was to return to the sound, where the waters were not nearly as rough. In the lee of Bon Portage and Outer Island, the sea was relatively calm. Our expedition's resources were limited, especially with regard to time. This fact would cause the survey's worst disappointment. We would never get to return to the Rip. The complete sonar survey of the sound was completed on September 20, our last day on the water. Conditions beyond Bon Portage Island remained poor until the end. While it should be noted that our only indication that the Rip location had any possible connection to the Shag Harbor incident was the "May not be boulders" annotation on the Navicula's sonar survey chart, this was still a major disappointment. Any future attempts to discover that questionable location would require considerable time laying down a sonar grid search to accurately locate and confirm the Navicula's unusual target. The weather and time constraints made only one course of action reasonable, and that was to survey the sound, where the Dark Object had landed on October 4, 1967. On that first day we were fascinated by the data as it unscrolled on thermal paper at the cost of $125 a roll, each roll lasting forty minutes. John Mercer, from Canadian Seabed Research, was busy keeping things running smoothly in the cramped quarters in the cuddy of the boat. He assured us that the data