*****
Downing was on his way out of the office when he had intercepted Andrea looking for information. As it turned out, he was on his way to meet with the owners of the very company she was looking to investigate. If she had known that, she could have followed him, although they weren’t exactly working in secret. You couldn’t work in secret on a ship that large, in the middle of a small town.
The ship they were preparing as an artificial reef was the USS Beauregard, a Sumner-class Destroyer, commissioned at the end of World War II that served the US Navy through the early-90s. It had been mothballed for years. The proper pressure applied by the right US Senator had saved it from being turned into razor blades. Now it was going to be an exciting new attraction for divers visiting Withrow Key.
Withrow Key was a small, rundown town, halfway between Key Largo and Key West. At one point, before the major highway opened up and drivers could make it to Key West in a few hours, it had been a major spot along the route. Trains would stop there and passengers would hop off to stretch their legs and have dinner and drinks. More than one celebrity had spent time in Withrow Key.
Now, however, most drivers barely noticed the withering community. It was just one more wide spot in the road to stop and get a cold drink on the way to somewhere more popular. Buildings were weathered and tired, but still solid. The locals still had pride in the town, but there wasn’t a lot of money to go around. They didn’t waste it on pretty signs and decorations.
It just so happened Withrow Key had its own deepwater dock. Passing Navy ships would stop in and take on cargo, or give the crew a rest back in the 1940s and 50s. Because of this, they were able to prepare the Beauregard to become an artificial reef locally instead of having the preparation work done in Miami before towing the boat into position. This served to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy as the crew doing the work stayed in local hotels and ate their meals in local diners. Beyond that, though, the local politicians and organizers hoped this new attraction would bring divers to Withrow Key and revitalize the economy. A lot was riding on having the USS Beauregard underwater and available to divers.
To prepare a ship to be a dive site and artificial reef, the ship had to have holes cut through its hull. Divers often want to penetrate wrecks – that is, they want to swim inside. In a natural shipwreck, whatever that was (there isn’t much natural about a ship on the bottom of the ocean), divers enter through portholes and doorways. This can be dangerous, however, as it’s easy to get turned around and lost inside. No local government wants to build an attraction for divers that ends up killing them. So when ships are designated as artificial reefs, they are prepared to allow for easier access.
But even more important than work done for access, at least to Andrea, was the environmental work. Workers must thoroughly clean ships of contaminants. They have to remove diesel fuel, oils and other chemicals that are commonly on board a warship. Again, in contrast to a true shipwreck where no one chooses what ends up on the reef, no government wants to create a dive destination that ends up killing the reef itself.
The larger the artificial reef, the more work has to be done, cutting holes, cleaning contaminants and preparing the ship. There are artificial reefs all over the world. All of them provide vital fish habitats and structure for coral animals and other marine organisms to call home. But most importantly for the people of Withrow Key, it would be an exciting place for divers to dive.
“Good afternoon,” Downing said as he stepped out of the bright Florida sun into the relative shade of the Seashore Engineering work trailer, positioned on the dock beside the massive ship. The company doing the preparation work on the USS Beauregard wasn’t spending a lot of money on trappings. They were doing this job as simply as they could. “I have an appointment to see Mr. Parker.”
“Hello, Mr. Downing. Go right in. They’re expecting you,” the receptionist replied.
“Hello gentlemen,” Downing said as he walked through the door and waved to the men in the room, before he turned to address the man in charge. “Hello, Mr. Parker.”
“Mr. Downing, come on in. Have a seat. Wow, is it hot outside or what?” Parker said making small talk as he pointed to a chair in front of his desk. The other men, Parker’s assistants and key team leaders, rocked back in chairs against the far wall. “Before we get started on our weekly progress report, I just want to tell you how impressed we all are,” Parker continued.
He swept his hand toward the three men in the room, and they all nodded their heads. “You’ve done a tremendous job organizing community support, getting the dive operations involved and keeping the city people excited as well. This is as good a project as I’ve seen anywhere.”
“Thanks, Mr. Parker, I appreciate that. I’ve been thinking, actually, about hiring myself out after this all said and done to communities interested in bringing in an artificial reef of their own. This program has run so smoothly, I think other people could benefit from my expertise,” Downing said, gushing at the high praise. “You know, I really believe projects like this are important for the economy and the environment at the same time.”
“It’s a rare individual like you that understands that. And it’s great to see someone as bright and enthusiastic as yourself who sees how the needs of the environment and the economy can work hand-in-hand,” Parker said. “As for the project, I want you to know that everything is going just fine. We’re right on schedule and things are going smoothly. Nothing special to report, as a matter-of-fact.”
“That’s great to hear, Mr. Parker. That’s why I’m so pleased with your company. I just love to work with professionals like you,” Downing said.
“We’d be happy to take you on an inspection tour of our progress. The ship is pretty big, but we can probably cover all the important areas in about three hours or so. Of course, there isn’t any air conditioning inside the ship so it’ll probably be pretty hot,” Parker volunteered.
“Oh, that won’t be necessary at all. You gentlemen are the experts at this. I’m just a diver and a community organizer. I’ll leave it up to you to do your job. Besides, I have several other meetings today with the mayor and key business people in town. We’re making final arrangements for the ceremony to sink her. I just won’t have time to do the inspection tour today,” Downing explained. He really didn’t want to get hot and sweaty on a day like today. He needed to make some more plans. If this all worked out the way he expected it would, he was planning on taking his success on the road. He imagined other towns around the country would pay him very well to duplicate his accomplishments.
“Sure, I understand,” Parker said. “A busy man like you can’t worry about the details. You hire people you trust to do a job and let them do it. That’s the mark of a great administrator.”
“Thank you, Mr. Parker. I pride myself in being a good manager and being in control of the big picture,” Downing preened as he stood to leave. He didn’t realize it, but he was actually the one being dismissed. “And that’s just what I was telling that young environmentalist girl who was snooping around today at city hall. You men are the experts and you know exactly what you’re doing. Listen, I think I’ll be going now. If you gentlemen need me for anything, just let me know, but I’ll leave you to your jobs.”
“It was good to see you again, Mr. Downing,” Parker replied as he showed him to the door of the office. “We’ll be ready in three days for the final sinking. Everything will be perfect. Don’t you worry.”
“I appreciate that, Mr. Parker,” Downing said as he left.
Back inside the office, Parker closed the door behind him, raised his hand to signal “Wait” and walked to the window. He watched Downing walk to his car, get in and close the door before he said anything.
He lowered his hand and chuckled to himself.
“Is he always like that?” one of the men in the room asked.
“You mean an idiot?” Parker asked, lau
ghing fully. “Yeah, pretty much. He doesn’t have a clue who we are or what’s going on. He’s never been on the ship, other than just to glance around the upper deck. It’s simple really. You flatter him a little bit, blow a little smoke up his skirt and he goes away. It is much easier than bribing him.”
“And what he doesn’t know, or isn’t smart enough to ask, won’t hurt him” one of the other men continued.
“You got it. We clean it up, carrying barrels on board to remove contaminants, except some of them go on already full. And they don’t seem to make it off. No one will ever know where it comes from,” Parker continued. “It was a stroke of genius to take the waste from the chrome plating factory in Miami and get rid of it this way. We make tons of extra money charging to dispose of the chemicals up there and then this genius pays us to get rid of it down here. Glad I thought of it all.”
“And if it kills a few fish in the process, well that’s just too bad.”
“Not my problem. We’ll be finished up and out of here by then. The company will be dissolved and we’ll be doing this again somewhere else. Or maybe I’ll retire this time to my home in Costa Rica,” Parker laughed.
“What about the environmentalist he mentioned?”
“Check around and see if you can find out who it is. If you can, encourage the girl that it’s time to leave town,” Parker said.