GHOST OF THE STREAM

Hannah stopped dead in her tracks, placed her hands on her hips and leaned towards Jonesy.  "Say that again!" she demanded.   

"Oh, it's designed as nature might make it, but the foundation of the entire island and the main stays of the ridge are constructed of concrete.  Much of it covered by deep layers of different types of soil, conducive to the healthy growth of certain plants, trees and shrubs.  That's one of the reasons for the lush sub-tropical vegetation.  The sub pens, constructed of coquina and concrete, are beneath us, where we now stand."  For emphasis, he stomped the surface of what Tuck, Billy Jim and Hannah referred to as the "dome"

Having toured the Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos, at St. Augustine, Tuck knew coquina to be an unusual rock made up of seashells and corals and of its abundance             

in that area of northeast Florida.  Looking at Billy Jim, he turned his thumb downward and laughed.  "Well, so much for the caves and Black Caesar's gold.  It's back to the sweat shop for both of us."   They had to explain to Hannah and Jonesy about their hopes of finding pirate treasure in the caves on the ridge. 

Waving his arms indicating the island, Billy Jim noted, "Jonesy, it musta taken years to do all of this."  

"I can tell you one thing," Hannah said, "I know most of the plants, trees and shrubs growing here, grow in the islands and Florida.  But it usually takes lots of care and water.  Here they seems to grow without nobody tending to them." 

"I'm not certain how they did it, but I think the Germans set this up as a combination greenhouse, laboratory and submarine base, probably back in the late thirties."  Jonesy hesitated for a moment, looking out over the Gulf Stream, as though he were weighing something.  "It's difficult to believe they could have been so advanced in their planning for the future.  But, I'll bet you a pretty, history will prove this island came in very handy when the U-boats began attacking our convoys as they sailed to Europe with critical war supplies." 

Having digested Jonesy's explanation, Tuck stood mesmerized, simply scanning the ocean north to south.  For some reason the words from Longfellow’s poem Hiawatha’s Departure came to mind: “By the shore of Gitche Gumee... Shining Big-Sea-Water...”  Let’s hope it doesn’t end for us as it did for Hiawatha, he concluded.

Jonesy, watching the faces of his audience, understood their lack of knowledge and continued.  "Don't you see after we entered the war, this island would have been a vital link as the Nazis turned their attention to the shipping in the South Atlantic, especially oil tankers.  Additionally, what they learned here would give them a hands-up when they occupied the Caribbean basin and Florida.  And it also became a convenient stepping off place for Nazis to escape to South America during the final years of the war.  Some of its uses were planned, some just happened, I suspect."

"How you know all of this?" asked Hannah.  "Most of us know about the oil slicks and saw the glow from several tankers burning off Miami.  Boys, you remember the little cans of kerosene at the beaches used to clean the oil off our feet?"  Billy Jim and Tuck nodded.  The three had become so mesmerized with Jonesy's tale; they had stopped on the dome, over top the sub pens, but gradually edged towards some shade under a huge sea grape.   

"Well, Hannah, I don't know for certain, but I'm a history buff and everything I've learned during and since World War II, points to what I've just told you.  At the beginning of the war, the U-boats operated alone most of the times.  Becau