Chapter 25: The Sargasso Sea Part 1

Whatever Cal had expected of the Sargasso Sea, this wasn't it. The ocean spread wide and blue under a cloudless sky, only the slightest of swell disturbing the water. She swayed instinctively as she sketched.
"What are you sketching?" Dr. Franklyn came up behind her. "There is nothing to see." His white eyebrows lifted.
"That's what I'm sketching." Cal didn't turn to look at him.
"What?"
"Nothing." She held the sketchbook so he could see, then put the book away. "I'm supposed to record what we see and do." Cal put her hand up to shade her eyes and peered out over the water.
"At this point, the Sargasso Sea is mostly empty water with a few clumps of seaweed. As we get closer to the gyre, the clumps will get thicker and closer together. In some places, it may pose a hazard to the prop, but we'll see."
"The gyre?" Cal looked at him.
"Where the currents of the ocean circle and pull anything in the area together."
"Sounds dangerous."
Dr. Franklyn laughed. "It's nothing to worry about. It's huge, but not strong."
He clomped off down the port side of the Peregrine.
They sailed through the day. When the sun reached its zenith, she pulled a hat from her satchel and covered her head. The sun had dropped halfway to the horizon when excited voices rose to the starboard. Cal walked around the deck to where Dr. Franklyn and his assistant, Hank, pointed out over the water.
Far away, tiny shapes disturbed the calm surface. They got closer until Cal could tell they were fish with enormous fins, leaping out of the water to glide an astonishing distance before splashing back into the ocean.

Behind them, a single black fin broke the surface, then vanished. Cal's fingers flew across the paper, catching the grace of the flying fish and the ominous fin. As she drew, the pictures in her mind showed how the size of the fins related to how far they glided. The double vision could be annoying when she was only interested in recording the scene. Annoying or not, her fingers insisted on adding the equations.
They saw several schools of the fish, and one fish even landed in a lifeboat on the port side. Prof. Orthin clambered down to fetch it.
"I would like to get a photograph." Pentam leaned over the side. "And record it exactly for science."
"Very well." Prof Orthin grinned up at them. "You can take its picture, then I will dissect it before giving it to the cook. They are delicious."
Pentam took photos from every conceivable angle, even when cut open and splayed on the dissection table. Cal stood back and recorded the process in her sketchbook. Pentam only spoke to her to complain she was in his light.
"It is a common enough fish." Prof. Orthin delicately took the fish apart. "But it never hurts to check."
"Besides, it keeps you both in practice, and well fed." Dr. Franklyn leaned against a wall watching Pentam more than Prof. Orthin.
"Nothing wrong with that." Prof. Orthin didn't lift his head from his work.
Cal took the opportunity to inspect the lab, which she'd not had reason to explore previously. The dissection table took up one wall, comically huge for the tiny fish, but she imagined they'd need that size later. A collection of chemistry equipment was stowed on the wall opposite, over in the corner. Shelves lined another wall with boards holding books against possible heavy movement. Presses of different sizes were ready to preserve botanical samples. Jars with formaldehyde for animals.
The days continued in that manner, mostly empty ocean broken by glimpses of fish or other creatures. Cal spotted the first mat of seaweed and Captain swung the Peregrine to pass close by. The plants were brownish with white nodules acting as floats. Pentam hooked some up onto the deck for recording with his camera. A tiny crab scuttled across the deck before escaping over the side. Lahdin argued with Dan about whether it was a new species.
The mats grew closer and thicker until they were rarely out of sight of any. Several times they'd stopped while the boat was lowered for closer examination. Sir Shillingsworth kept careful track of who'd been out on the boat until they'd all had a chance.
Cal went out with Dr. Franklyn.
"It looks like a marsh." Cal scanned the mat.
"You'd be in trouble if you tried to walk on it." Dr. Franklyn pulled a weed up to look at then tossed it back. "It would let you drop through, but would very likely trap you underwater."
"So it is like a marsh - not quite water, not quite land."
"At least marsh has a bottom." Dr. Franklyn held out a strand of seaweed. "Sketch it quickly before it dries out."
***
Captain Cully sat beside Cal at the supper meal.
"How is the transition back to scientist working?"
"I'm no scientist, just an artist. I draw and let the scientists do the thinking." Cal spooned fish soup into her mouth.
Captain Cully laughed and attacked his own soup. "Back in the day of sail, ships would get caught out here. Not much wind, and the seaweed can gum up a rudder quick enough. You'd have noticed us going around, not through. Don't want to send a man over to clean the screw."