Steven Becker's Blog: Steven Becker's Storylines, page 2

The Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

The locations in Storm Keep come from our trip along the canal running through the Alsace Region of France. We saw the area from a rented boat, starting in Boofzheim and ending in Hesse

The Marne au Rhin runs 195 miles from Vitry-le-Francois to Strasbourg, passing through the amazing Arzviller transversal inclined plane completed in 1968. It replaced 17 locks and raises boats 147 feet. Along the way were many locks, which we operated ourselves, and several tunnels.

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Navigation was straightforward, except for an area around Strasbourg where the canal interacts with the Rhine and Ill Rivers. This area is featured in the opening chapter.

Several castles, one in particular that I used for a location, were within an easy hike from the canal. Using anchor pins, we were able to secure the boat by the trailheads and hike up (always up).

With the exception of Strasbourg, the towns were all small, scenic, and friendly. Say what you like about the French, the food was indescribable—and I’m no foodie. A simple hamburger is a gourmet meal. Many great restaurants were within an easy walk from the towns we passed.

The trip was a great experience, and I got some really good stuff for John and Mako Storm to explore in Storm Keep.

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Submarine Pens - Part III

I planned on using the area on Boca Chica Key known as the Submarine Pens in my next Early Adventure of Mac and Wood, but ran into the wreck of the Isaac Allerton that is going to be the main local. The Pens (whether they are or not is TBD) will be in the next Mac Travis Adventure.

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The story is going to be based around the Lower Keys, specifically the area around Boca Chica, Sugarloaf, and Cudjoe Keys. I saw what has locally come to be referred to as the submarine pens while on a flight out of Key West and a subsequent kayak trip through the area.

Now, I've got to decide how to use them in the story. I could use your help here, if you have any ideas please leave a comment. Anything I use in the book will get you a free signed copy.

The layout is much like a neighborhood. Abandoned developments like this are not uncommon in South Florida and the Keys. There are several distinguishing factors that make this one different. I’ll list out the two sides of the conversation below.

In favor of Submarine Pens:

The canals and lagoon are much deeper than needed for a residential canal system. The one’s I’ve lived on, in Marathon and Big Pine, are between five and eight feet deep, plenty of draft for power boat or moderated sized sailboat. As we took the kayak to check out the Pens, I didn’t have a depth sounder, but I can tell the water Depth is well in excess of a residential canal. The water is extremely clear and I was unable to see bottom. This would lead me to believe that it is in excess of 20’ deep. I checked Navionics on line maps and there are several spot soundings of 17’. Dredging to that depth would be very expensive, and beyond the scope of what a residential developer would consider.

Digging lakes to provide fill for building projects is common in Florida. The resulting excavation site beceomes a scenic lake. If that were the case here, that would provide a reason to incur the expense. There is no evidence of fill being used here.

The lagoon is much larger—and deeper than needed. The expense to dredge the open water lagoon, would have been huge. Especially as it appears the soils have been moved off site. A thin strip of land remains. I read that it was formed with the fill, but from my firsthand observation it appears to be native material. My guess is that it is what remains of what was probably solid land at one time to protect the lagoon and canals.

The barrier island is barely wide enough for the paved road running through it. A residential developer would have no need to put a road there. If he had created the barrier from the excavation soils, it would have been built wide enough for homes. Facing West and open water, these would have been the most expensive properties in the development.

The bridge leading to open water has a twenty foot vertical clearance. That is too low for a sailboat, but much higher than many of the bridges connecting the Keys.

The geology is what is referred to as cap stone. a layer of limestone and coral below a thin layer of topsoil. The canals were cleanly cut, and in areas appear to have had concrete caps that run well below the surface. In residential canals with this type of geology, there is usually just a thin strip of concrete to create a seawall.

The entire island is owned by the Navy

In favor of residential development:

The canals are skinny and several are short.

The dredgec channel leading to the developement is skinny and does not maintain depth to the main channel. This could have occurred naturally over the years.

The area is very close to Cuba, which was the main reason much of this infrastructure was built. Submarine pens do not need to be this close to their area of operations, especially and island chain dependent on one road for supplies. There are many areas on both coasts that would have been closer to infrastructure, drydocks, etc.

The area appears similar in design to many other residential neighborhoods in the area (including mine).

There is no sign of any infrastructure, though there were several piles of concrete debris observed.

Submarine pens are generally bunkers to protect from overhead bombing attacks. There was no evidence of any kind of additional reinforcement to support such a structure.

I’ve got my theory, but I’m going to hold it close right now, so I can hear your ideas.

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Submarine Pens, Part II

I wrote about an abandoned neighborhood on Boca Chica Key. After spotting the development from an airplane, I did a deep dive into what I could find on the history. Check it out here.

We stopped on our way to Key West the other night to check it out from the road. The entrance was blocked with a gate.

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With no way to check out the property from the roadway, we took the kayak (and dog) down this morning. We were able to put in on the east side of the Boca Chica Bridge and paddle to the deepwater inlet providing boat access to the area.

The round trip paddle was about 4 1/2 miles. On the way we saw a couple of turtles and a large stingray. An unexpected bonus was the airshow out of the Naval Air Station on the south side of Boca Chica Key. The Navy owns most of the land on the island including what are locally known as the submarine pens. (More on that to come).

From what we saw there has definetely been some “unauthorized” activity here, though there were no signs posted on the water or adjacent land to keep out.

Whether they were really built to house and service subs during the Cold War is debatable. There are definitely clues that offer either explanation. In my next Storyline, I’ll go into both sides of the discussion.

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Your Guess?

As part of our ongoing move, I drove our camper van (Travato) to our place in Big Pine, which will soon be our only place, last week and flew back to Tampa from Key West.

I always look out the window flying in and out of Key West to see if there’s anything interesting I can use in my stories. I wasn’t really expecting anything this time as I’ve flown over the Keys multiple times, but I was wrong.

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Area of interest

On the northern (gulf side) of Boca Chica Key I saw what appeared to be an abandoned construction project. The setup is pretty common to the Keys. There are many neighborhoods, including the one we live in, that have been excavated to create waterfront property. In most cases the developer digs, or blasts, canals that form a grid and feed to a single point which allows access to the waters of the Keys.

Our neighborhood with access to Pine Channel on bottom

When I got back, I was curious and googled “abandoned neighborhood in Boca Chica Key.” Here’s the headline of one of the top results.

The “Submarine Pits” on Boca Chica Key

I ran this by one of my BETA readers who lives in the Keys and we threw around some ideas. He pointed out that the area above the “neighborhood” might have been an old SAM missile site. He also found the property record which shows the area in question as being privately owned. That makes it the only parcel on the key not owned by the Navy.

We came to the conclusion that there are several reasons this story is probably embellished, but it is fun to speculate.

I’m just getting ideas set down for the next Mac Travis, which will be an Early Adventure of Mac and Wood. This place will definitely be in it.

If you’ve got any ideas, please send a comment. If there is anything I use, I’ll send you a signed copy of the book.

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X Marks the Spot

Pirate means different things to different people. Before Hollywood rehabilitated their image and romanticized them in the past century, they were known and feared as despicable humans. When the job requirements are rape, pillage, and plunder the candidates don’t add up to much. Privateers, pirates under a different name often get a pass, especially when their sponsors write the history books. Operating under a letter of marque, they traded their anonymity for legal protection in exchange for a percentage of their loot. Sir Francis Drake may be the most famous of the group which includes notable names such as Edward Teach, William Kidd, Calico Jack, and John Paul Jones.

Photo by Sergey Semin on Unsplash

Pirates and privateers needed safe ports to hang out, spend, and in some cases stash their ill-gotten gains. Port Royal Jamaica and New Providence in the Bahamas were famous as pirate havens. They were not alone. In the late 1600s, under the protection of the Dutch governor Adolph Esbit, St Thomas in the US Virgin islands harboreded several pirates. Jean Hamlin, captain of La Trompeuse, was known to have a business relationship with the governor. He was even known to dine with him and sleep in his house.

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In Wood’s Justice, I use that friendship, which is laid out in a book: The Burning of a Pirate Ship. Though Hamlin’s ship was rumored to have been burnt and sunk along with another ship taking a large cache of silver to the bottom, the treasure Mac searches for is from a sentence-long entry from 1683.

Esmit sent Hamlin with a barque and fishing net to mosquito bay. Riffles, ammo, provisions, five chests and boxes carried by 4 slaves.

This was immediately after Hamlin and his crew took a ship off Jamaica and captured 500 lbs of gold. I combined the events to create the cache Mac searches for.

Copy of chart from The Burning of a Pirate Ship

Mac’s main hurdle was in locating Mosquito Bay. The chart shown above taken from the book clearly shows the bay with an arrow pointing to it. As he discovers the name of the bay was changed to Lindbergh Bay, shown below.

Screenshot from Navionics

Finding the bay is not the last hurdle. As evident from the two maps, the shoreline has been altered and filled over the years.

Once he locates the bay, Mac has to think like a pirate, something Trufante is more suited for. The Cajun didn’t make this trip though, so Mac is on his own.

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The Wreck of the Cartanza

In Location, Location, Location I wrote about our trip to the USVI. One of the dives we did there was on the wreck of the Cartanza. Both the dive itself and the wreck are featured in Wood’s Justice. Mac uses the same charter company and does the same dive that we did.

Bow Section of the Cartanza

As with many shipwrecks, the Cartanza’s story follows a familiar theme. The 190 feet WWII freighter was later recommissioned as an agricultural transport. The local authorities got wind that some of the ‘agricultural products’ included some illegal drugs, and they were getting ready to raid the ship but somehow the captain and crew were one step ahead (the grapevine at the local bar is credited). They decided to abandon the ship before the raid took place leaving with their cargo in the tender boats and sinking the ship in St. Thomas Harbor.

The wreck in the harbor was deemed a navigational hazard and the local authorities called in the Army Corp of engineers to demolish the wreckage and free up the channel to boat traffic.

Local dive shops led by owner Bill Letts started to protest with a movement to save the wreck in the hopes of adding a recreational dive site. Money was raised to hire a crane to move the wreck to a shallow location that would facilitate diving and snorkeling. As this was taking place, the local dive shops held an underwater protest, basically having each of the dive shops doing dives day and night to keep the wreck site occupied to prevent the army from blowing it up. I guess we could call this a ‘dive-in’ protest!

Ultimately, it worked, and the army abandoned their efforts to demolish the wreck. The barge with a crane was hired to move the Cartanza to an area around Buck Island on June 16, 1979. While the idea was to bring it into a shallow cove, the money ran out and the wreck was dropped into 50 feet of water, making it unsuitable for snorkelers but still good for recreational diving.

The idea to use the wreck and Bill as a historical character (he passed in 2005) came from our dive. In between two sections of the hull is a memorial to Bill which Mac visits. Their relationship is purely fictional, and I have no idea if Bill ever spent time in the Keys. I tried to do him justice as a leader in the USVI dive industry.

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Location, Location, Location

Locations are a critical part of the structure of an adventure. A mystery can take place in an old mansion, on a train, or almost anywhere. Unique and exciting locations are part of what makes an action / adventure novel work and it doesn’t hurt for a mystery either. The norm is to set these kind of stories in exotic, historical, or often places most call paradise. But as Mac and Kurt discover, paradise isn’t always paradise. I learned from a recent trip that there are no hard rules that the author or protagonist like the setting and it might be more powerful if they didn’t.

After a family reunion on St. Thomas earlier this year, I decided to use the USVI as the backdrop for both a Mac Travis Adventure: Wood’s Justice and a Kurt Hunter Mystery: Backwater Virgin. It’s a change in scenery for all three of us.

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I’ve been to the Virgin Islands before, bareboat sailing on the British side of things. This time it was a resort. The difference between a land-based trip and one spent on the water was bigger than I expected. For me, this wasn’t the idyllic destination that attracts millions of tourists a year.

Being stuck on the tourist treadmill is not my thing. I can’t sit on a beach for more than a few minutes, I’m most certainly not a shopper, and I hate crowds. Eating every meal in a restaurant is painful.

I’ve used Mac and Kurt before to express both my love and dislike of different things. From the behavior of people at boat ramps, to sandbar parties, to overrun resources, I’ve used both of them to vent and hopefully rally my readers to the cause, or at least make them think about things.

The Florida Keys have been called “The Caribbean you can drive to.” I’d add “and bring your own stuff.” That’s part of what makes the Keys special for me. From the days when I used to trailer a boat down and stay in a campground to becoming a part-time resident (soon to be full time), that has been the secret sausce. Whether it’s a boat, a fishing rod, or dive gear I like having my own stuff and don’t like relying on other people, especially charter operations.

The Virgin Islands are as different from the Keys as the Midwest from the mountains. Volcanic in nature the terrain is mountainous instead of flat. Instead of sandbars and shoals, the water is deep right up to the shoreline. The geographic differences make for an interesting change of scenery.

The culture is different as well, especially driving on the wrong (left) side of the road. It wasn’t as hard for me as the Cayman Islands where they use British-style vehicles, but still challenging. Instead of the typical cast of characters in the Keys, most of whom have drifted down US 1 seeking relief for what ails them, the residents have been here for generations. Their accents and pace is different as well,

All this adds up to a chance for adventure, commentary, and a chance for Mac and Kurt to experience new things.

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Wood's Justice

Wood's Reward

Wood’s Reward is the second full-length novel in my Early Adventures of Mac and Wood Series. The first is Wood’s Relic available here. Wood’s Ledge is a free prequel and is available here.

Here are the articles and maps associated with the book.

Google Map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1BlT7NAgIHimrwKnu-EdWwqlg77te5kk&usp=sharing

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Key West: My Way

I’ve probably been to Key West a hundred times and have a serious love-hate relationship with the island.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Thirty years ago, when I first started going to the Keys, we always went to Key West for at least a day. It was for the usual tourist stuff: T-shirts and drinks. There were a few nights of drunken debauchery mixed in as well. Ten years ago I started taking my daughter diving and we always spent a day there doing the family thing.

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Then we bought a vacation rental in Marathon. At about the same time my daughter turned 21 and my visits to Key West changed again. At least one trip to the Half Shell Oyster Bar and some shopping became a mandatory excursion.

We started to spend more and more time in the Keys. Friends came down and we’d usually head down to Key West. This was when we discovered the city on bicycles, by far the best way to see it. We visited some of the tourist spots like Fort Zachary Taylor but also found some hidden gems like the West Martello Tower, an old fort turned into a garden.

Several years ago we sold the vacation rental and bought a place in Big Pine. Key West was closer and Home Depot runs and trips to the sewing store for my better half became the new Key West outings. Along the way, we found some other hidden gems.

One which I featured in Wood’s Reward is the Audubon House. Located in the shadow of Duval Street, the quiet property is unique and worth seeing. My interest came from my research of John Geiger, a famed wrecker from the mid-nineteenth century featured in the book.

The house and adjacent gardens were never Audubon’s though they were made famous by his stay there during the 1830s when he worked on his Birds of America book. The tour as I described it in the book highlights some of the architectural details as well as Audubon’s works. As a contractor the construction techniques were interesting. Built by a shipbuilder named Alfred Evans who used a special shipbuilding technique of gradually bending the wood for circular archways and stairways.

Though I enjoyed the house and property, what I wanted to see was the replica of Geiger’s study where Wood finds the chart he used to try and locate a lost wreck. The study is also featured in the book.

Captain Geiger raised many children in the house, and planted beautiful tropical vegetation on the property. It was the beautiful plants which drew Audubon to it during his visit in 1832. Audubon took cuttings from the plants growing on the property, and used them as backgrounds in many works, including the White crowned Pigeon, which has the "Geiger tree" in the background.

This was the first restoration project in Key West and is still considered the gem of the island's restoration movement. Antique enthusiasts who tour the house appreciate the unique quality of the furnishings, which were typically found in a prosperous Key West home in the 1800s.

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