Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 32: The Steam Mapper Resurfaces

Although MYKA was familiar with Robert Fulton's inventions and Ned Land's reports of traveling with Prof. Pierre Aronnax, especially about being aboard the famed Nautilus, Steven Payne's history of early discovery of hydrothermal vents was not a story MYKA had ever heard.   StLF was happy to share the tales of "The Steam Mapper".

Most believe that deep sea hydrothermal vents had first been discovered in 1977 along the Galapagos Rift, a rift along the mid-ocean ridge in the eastern Pacific.   Scientists were using the submersible Alvin to explore the rift and discovered the vents releasing heated water into the icy cold waters.   Another exploration revealed unique life forms around these vents, and the excitement of these discoveries has continued ever since.

Sir Steven Payne's discoveries at the very turn of the twentieth century, back in 1904, would have been lost to the ages, had his leather journal not been discovered twice by seamen aboard the USS Carl Vinson.   Apparently, an unknown Carl Vinson sailor had first discovered it in an old trunk, which had been housed in the billiard room of the basement of the Palace Hotel in Perth, Australia.    A note stuffed in the journal indicated that seaman had planned to return to the Palace Hotel to seek out more discarded "treasures".

The USS Carl Vinson was on its maiden deployment in 1983, with a stop in Perth.    Someone aboard the carrier had found the journal in the bottom of a trunk that had been cast aside as renovations were underway at the Palace Hotel.   The Palace Hotel had been a historical jewel of Victorian hotels and to save it, a developer was renovating it into a bank and offices.   In haste to get work done, "junk" was cleared out of many hiding places of the basement area.

The trunk was ignored in a mountain of debris according to the note later found with the journal by another seaman named Clark Sumner Edwards.   He surmised that the anonymous finder of the journal, had stashed it away aboard the carrier, with plans to return and study its contents at a later date.  The note indicated that the seaman had been on a day's leave and planned to return for more unclaimed loot- small mementos of a day of exploring.   Why the seaman did not return for the journal will always be a mystery.   Perhaps, he had visited a pub and had consumed enough to dull his memory.

"Data Specialist, Second Class" Edwards was amazed with the contents of the journal, and also amazed that he could find it almost eight years after it was first stashed, still crammed into the bottom drawer of files in the chief petty officer's office.   The leather journal was small and bent and had slid beneath some old files.  So much for tidiness by his predecessor.   Clark Edwards was always fascinated with old books, and oddities that dealt with the Victorian and Edwardian eras.   The dates in the journal revealed that he had found a treasure.

As he carefully turned the pages of the old journal, Clark was certain that its paper and the ink used were more than 80 years old.  The entries were faded and in a few places water damage was evident.  The dated entries went back to 1904 and included a brief bit of autobiographical material about a British citizen named Sir Steven Payne of London.

On the first pages, Sir Payne included a few facts about his childhood, boasting that he went from being a London street urchin in the 1880s to having become London's foremost detective, in demand to assist the royals and to travel with top secret information.  He traveled aboard ship from London, England to Australia, by way of the Cape Colony in South Africa and across the southern most part of the Indian Ocean to finally reach Australia's largest harbor, Sydney Harbor.   It is actually known as the world's largest and deepest natural harbor although it was first named "Sydney Cove" back in 1788.

The huge ship Sir Payne traveled on carried other forms of transportation on board causing the necessity of using the deep, thriving harbor to dock the massive ship, which had tarps covering its secret cargo.   On deck, under the tarps, rested a gaseous ship (according to Sir Steven).   The description of it told Clark that it was a dirigible.   Below deck, also wrapped in tarps, was a submersible, much smaller than Captain Nemo's Nautilus but able to travel to depths of many fathoms.   It was a secret invention brought to Australia to test new equipment designed by the secret laboratory of scientists working for the firm of R. W. Munro.

The notes in Sir Steven's journal revealed that he was in contact with French scientist, Professor Pierre Aronnax.   The mention of this scientist piqued Clark's interest.   Wasn't that the name given the supposedly fictitious scientist searching for the strange destructive creature which turned out to be "The Nautilus" commanded by the infamous Captain Nemo?   Clark was a fan of Jules Verne's books believing them to be science fiction that foretold of explorations yet to have occurred.  Could any part of these famous books by Jules Verne tell of true adventures of real scientists?

Most names and places mentioned in the old journal could not be verified by internet searches. Only London, Melbourne, Sydney, Paris and Perth were cities that were undeniable.  The names of ships, and ports, and scientists and their benefactors, all seemed imaginary.   Was the journal the piece of work of Sir Steven Payne, writing of imaginary adventures?    Was Sir Steven Payne a pseudonym for an anonymous writer?   Could this have any secrets of actual events hidden by codes and deception?   Clark spent years wondering about this person who called himself  "The Steam Mapper".