The Simeon Chamber by Steve Martini Read Free Book Online Page A

waitress returned with two beers. With obvious reluctance Nick handed the parchments back to Sam, who placed them in the briefcase for safekeeping. Nick took a sip of beer.
    “Drake’s most famous exploit was his voyage around the world that started in the late fourteenth century. Unlike Magellan, who ended up on the business end of a Philippine spear, Drake actually finished the trip.” He took another sip of beer and wiped some foam from his beard.
    “When you talk about treasure galleons most people think of Cuba or the Gold Coast of Florida. It’s true that most of the Spanish sea traffic of the day was concentrated there. What most people don’t know is that Spain’s Manila galleons, the largest sailing ships ever built, sailed from the Philippines to the area around Alaska and then south along the Pacific coast of North America. For more than two hundred years they passed within sight of the Golden Gate, hauling gems, china, silk from the Orient—carting it all south to ports near Acapulco in Mexico.
    “From there the cargo was carried overland by mules for transatlantic shipping. But many of those galleons never made it down the coast. They were swallowed up by storms, lost on the rocks in the fog—or just disappeared with no record.”
    “Are you telling me that treasure ships piled up on the rocks off the coast and nobody ever found a hint of treasure?” asked Sam.
    “You have to remember this isn’t the soft sand of the Caribbean. And the ships weren’t carrying precious metals that would wash up on the beach in heavy storms.” Nick raised his half-empty glass for another drink.
    “It’s a fact. While scholars and local historians continue to argue whether
    Drake ever landed at the bay that bears his name near Point Reyes, documents on file in the Archive of the Indies at Seville confirm conclusively that for more than two centuries the Manila galleons put in at that very spot to careen and provision their ships before heading south.
    In fact there have been plans in the works to dive on one of the wrecks for years—the San Augustine. Marine archaeologists believe it went down in less than fifty feet of water a quarter of a mile off Drake’s Beach in 1595. The only thing stopping them is the capital for the venture.”
    Lunch arrived and Nick hovered over the large broiled hamburger on a sourdough roll. It was easily four inches thick but he had no difficulty crushing it down to mouth-size.
    Sam took delight in watching Nick eat. He couldn’t help but envy anyone who could gain so much satisfaction and obvious pleasure from the single act of consuming food.
    “This is good,” said Nick. “I was getting pretty hungry.”
    “Is there ever a time when you aren’t hungry?”
    Nick winked and ignored him.
    “As I was saying, those papers could be quite valuable. Assuming they’re the authentic originals.”
    “If they are—authentic, I mean—what do you think they’re worth?”
    “I couldn’t put a price on them. Only a cash buyer at an auction can do that. But I know Drake men, scholars who have spent the better part of their lives studying Drake’s life, his exploits at court and his various voyages.
    These guys would kill for a five-minute glance at newly discovered parchments, especially if they shed any light on Drake’s holdover in `Nova Albion.`”
    “You know,” said Nick, “the blue bloods in Cape Cod have to live with the fact that they play second fiddle to the real `New England,` which actually sits out there”—Nick waved his arm out toward the bay—”probably in Marin County, according to all of the records that are available. That’s the area that Drake called his `Nova Albion` —`New England`—thirty years before Jamestown and forty years before the Mayflower.”
    “What possessed him to come up here?” asked Bogardus. “I thought all of the gold in 45
    the Americas, at least at that time, was in Mexico with the Aztecs or in Peru with the Incas.”
    “True,