Dr. Maria Clarkson and her assistant Dr. Kelly May have been study the depths of the Atlantic Ocean for the past year. They have been looking for the largest shipwreck in the world, the Magnolia. There had been many stories for the wreck but no one had ever been able to find it. The doctors felt that they had the right technology and knowledge for this mission. One day after endless hours of research Dr. Clarkson found the clue they had been missing for the past four years. A wave of excitement rushed upon her. “Hey Kelly, I found the coordinates for the ship wreck. It’s just off the coast of Key West, Florida.”

Dr. May, with excitement, went to her desk to look up the weather for that area. It is important to make sure that the weather conditions are just right.

“The weather looks good for tomorrow. We should go first thing in the morning.” Replied Dr. May.

It was a beautiful day. The water was crystal clear and Jamaica Bay blue. You could smell the salt in the air and the surf was clam. The sky was clear, baby blue with spotty clouds. Both of the scientists board onto a little submarine, about 26 feet in length and head off. They made sure that before they left they had all their supply. On board they had scuba diving equipment for both of them, their technology for finding the correct location, and all the information they managed to gather over the last four years of continuous research. “It’s time to go under. We are just about to the site.” announced Dr. Clarkson.

The submarine pulled under the water. Within seconds it went from sky to water. There were so many things to look at. Neon colored fish and coral were constantly passing by the windows of the sub. The sub was dropping in depth drastically.

The submarine was submerged for a long time. After a while, everything starts to look the same when are surrounded by a solid shade of dark blue. The girls drove the submarine around what they thought was the wreckage site until Dr. Clarkson said, “Something’s not right. We should have already been on the site. I’m starting to think that we have the wrong coordinates.”

“I do not understand. There should have been a wreckage site here. Well, we cannot just keep driving around down here. It looks like we are going to have to go back up to see if we can maybe find the correct coordinates,” stated Dr. May with confusion clearly expressed on her face.
When the submarine had surfaced, Dr. Clarkson and May studied their technology. They looked back over all of the instruments to make sure that they indeed were at the right spot and double checked the coordinates. The scientists had been at this all day, and doing everything they could to find the wreckage site.
By now, the sun was setting. Off to the west the sky was absolutely beautiful. There was blue, pink, purple, and orange all streaked together. It looked as if someone had taken a paint brush with water on it and ran the brush through the colors.
“Well maybe we just need to go back. It is getting late, it will be even harder to find at night, and we still have not found the new coordinates,” said Dr. Clarkson. They girls started packing up their thing when all of the sudden something was not right. A large old style ship was headed their way. The ship was made of wood and the sails were as black as the night sky. They could hear the clinking of the bell attached to the ship, and knew instantly that they were encountering a pirate zone. But it was too late. By the time it processed into their brains and they thought about what they needed to do the ship had already encroached upon them, so close that you could read the name of the pirate ship, the Jolly Roger.
“Treasure!” demanded the pirate captain.
“Treasure?” questioned Dr. Clarkson.
“Treasure!” demanded the pirate again. “Where is the treasure?”
“What treasure? We have none.” Announced Dr. May.
“We are on a mission to find the treasure.” answered the pirate. “It is said to have been on the Magnolia, one of the largest ships ever made, until it lost its course and collided with another ship in the middle of the night. Supposedly the ship was carrying a large chest full of treasure all worth around five million dollars. We want it.”
“Well we don’t have it. We were looking for the Magnolia wreckage ourselves but we couldn’t find it.” Dr. May told the pirates.
“That’s because no one has the right coordinates for the wreckage, except for us. We look all the time but have not been able to find the treasure, but that does not mean that we will not keep trying” hinted the pirate.
“Well how will you get there?” asked Dr. Clarkson.
“We have a mini sub on board.” The pirate answered.
“We want some of this alleged treasure.” Assured Dr. May assured.
“Well then I guess we will have to race you for it.” answered the pirate.
“Fine by us.” replied both Dr. Clarkson and May.
“Here are the coordinates.” the pirate said.
The pirates threw their anchor overboard and headed for their submarine. Dr. May and Clarkson started down with their new coordinates, courtesy of the pirates. The pirate’s sub was right beside them the whole way down. Then, they saw it, the Magnolia wreckage. It was enormous, larger than anything either one of them had ever seen. You could definitely tell that it had been under for a long time. In fact, the original coordinates that Dr. May and Clarkson had had not been far off, but just enough that they were unsuccessful the first time.
Both Dr. May and Clarkson and the pirates started searching for the treasure. Dr. May and Clarkson really wanted that treasure. Just imagine what you could do with five million dollars. However the whole reason for them even looking for this ship was not because of the money and treasure, but for the science of it.
Hours of vigorous searching had passed, and just when they thought that there might not have been any treasure Dr. May saw the pirate’s submarine heading back up with a chest attached to the back.
“It’s done.” Announced Dr. May.
“Well then, I guess five million dollars is out of the picture then. We might as well take something to remember this very interesting day we have had, since I can honestly say I have never met anyone to have raced a pirate for alleged treasure. I noticed when we were looking around the headlights flashed on some sort of shinny little box on the dresser at the front of the ship. To me it kind of looked like a jewelry box. We could take that.” Dr. Clarkson replied.
They drove their sub down father into the wreckage. There, sitting on what looked like a dresser was a music box. Dr. Clarkson extended the robotic arm out, grabbed it, and brought it back into the sub’s compartment. She then brought the sub back up to the surface.
Once at the surface, Dr. May noticed that the pirates were still there. She thought that they would have taken off.
“So what’s the treasure?” Dr. May asked the pirate.
She got no response.
By now the sun had almost gone down it was getting cooler out, but there was just enough light left to see that he did not look to happy.
“Where is the treasure?” demanded the pirate angrily, staring them straight in the eye.
Dr. May and Clarkson both shared a confused face.
“You are the one who has the chest,” Dr. May explained to the pirate.
“The chest is empty!” screamed the pirate. “Where is the treasure?”
“We don’t know. All we have is a music box. Maybe the treasure fell out as you brought the chest up, or maybe that is not the treasure after all.” Dr. Clarkson explained.
The pirates were definitely frustrated and angry. It was clearly written upon their faces. In the blink of an eye the pirate’s submarine was gone. They had submerged under the water.
“Well it is getting late. We should probably head back ashore.” said Dr. Clarkson.
Both doctors made their way back to the coast. By now the sun was gone; the sky was as black as could be.
The next day they were both back at their lab, looking through data and doing more research. It was not until around mid day that Dr. Clarkson realized something.
“Kelly. You know we never looked at the music box?”
“Oh yah, well we can look at it now.”
They bring the box over to an open, wooden table. Dr. May sat on one side and Dr. Clarkson on the other with the box in the middle. Dr. Clarkson opens it the neither one of them can believe what they are looking at. The box was wooden, dark brown. The outside was lined with light gold and was embellished with stones. On the bottom, it had the make and year on it. The ink had faded over the many years but it was still legible. It was Grand Song built back in 1876, a pure piece of history. They decide they want to know more about the box and look up information on it.
“This music box was the Queen of England’s. They had just built the world largest ship, the Magnolia, and were going to sail it down the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and up the Pacific and land on the coast of California. Before the ship left the dock, the Queen came with her music box. There she met a little girl who was boarding the ship. The Queen went to the girl and gave her the music box. She told the girl to take care of it for her, that it was very expensive. Along the journey, down around Key West, Florida, the ship’s navigation system had stopped working in the middle of the night. All of the sudden they had crashed with another ship. Both ships sank to the bottom of the ocean. There were very few survivors, but one of the survivors was the little girl and her family. The girl had lost the box in all the fear as the ship started sinking. Life boats came out and rescued anyone who had survived. The music box that the Queen had given the girl was estimated to be worth around seven million dollars. The girl and her family started a new life here in Key West. To this day, the girl’s great, great, great, great, great, great, granddaughter resides here. We should take it to her and tell her about the correlation between her ancestors and the box.” Proclaimed Dr. May
The next day they spend all day trying to find a way to contact her. Finally they found a phone number that was linked to an address. Sure enough, it was hers.
Dr. Clarkson drives to the grand daughter’s house. She did not live very far from the lab that Dr. May and Clarkson work at. It was just down the street, about three or four miles.
They reach the house. It was quaint and typical Key West with multiple bright colors. When Dr. Clarkson rang the door bell a beautiful young girl answered the door. She had sky blue eyes, long curly brown hair and freckles, and sun tanned skin. She couldn’t have been older than 25.
“Hi. I’m Dr. Maria Clarkson and this is my assistant Dr. Kelly May. We are scientists from Sandy Shore Science Laboratory. We have something that belongs to you.”
“Come on in.” the girl said and gestured them in.
They all went to the living room and started their conversation. Dr. May and Clarkson went on telling the girl about the box and how they got it and who she is related to.
“I was looking at the inside of the book and I noticed a piece of paper stuck to the top lid. After all these years and from being under water the writing is pretty hard to read but I got this out of it.” Announced Dr. Clarkson.

Hello,

My name is Laura Hampton. I am eight years old and have been given a music box form the Queen. She asked me to take care of it for her. My family and I and many more and headed to California to start a new life. I know that I am young and have many years left, but when the day comes that I am no longer with us all, I want this box the be handed down in my family. I want my family to know where they came from and how special we are.

Sincerely,


Laura Hampton


“You see, she wanted you to have this.” Dr. Clarkson said.
The young girl just smiled.
“So, will you take it and pass it down in your family, like Laura wanted?” Dr. May questioned.
“Of course, and just so you know me, my name, to, is Laura.”