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of course, but as we weren’t even moving, they wouldn’t likely consider us a threat. They had bigger things to worry about.
    The coastguard entered the screen two and a half miles to the west. We were, in a sense, surrounded. But I was not concerned. The coastguard already knew we were in the area and had shown no interest in us. Whoever they were chasing was obviously a priority. Besides, if any vessel did come too close, we could simply dive, switch to battery power and slip away.
    The ships of the coastguard passed within half a mile of us and I never saw them. The fog was too dense. The radar revealed that the fleeing ships had come together in a cluster, close enough to exchange something — crew members perhaps? — and then split up in all directions. They were obviously trying to confuse the coastguard and escape. I wondered what the coastguard would do. Would they split up and chase down two of the four ships, or stay together and chase down one?
    The coastguard split up and went after two. It took a while for the radar to reveal what the fog was hiding so well. Two of the fleeing ships turned sharply north and sailed apart. One of the coastguard ships went after one of them; the other stayed behind and continued to follow one of the ships closer to us, which was headed due east. The fourth ship veered south. In a sudden burst of impulsiveness, I decided to chase it.

Chapter Seven

    I DIDN’T KNOW WHY I was chasing them except that, if the coastguard wanted them so badly, they must have done something wrong. Besides, I was really curious. But we were all outside the twelve-mile zone. The only rights Canada had in the two hundred mile zone were commercial, and the only commercial interest in the Grand Banks, as far as I knew, was fishing. Was that it? Was the coastguard chasing foreign ships fishing in Canadian waters? But if we were right on the edge of the two hundred mile zone, why would they bother? Couldn’t foreign ships simply slip across to the other side of the zone and snub their noses at the coastguard?
    I guess not.
    She wasn’t very fast. With all the changes to the sub, we had no trouble catching her. The coastguard must have caught at least one of her sister ships by now. I could also tell they were not very big, nothing like freighters, because they could turn so easily. And yet, in the heavy fog I couldn’t get close enough to see exactly what kind of ship she was, unless … I did what submarines were designed to do.
    Just when she must have expected us to catch her, I cut the engine, shut the hatch and dove to one hundred feet. I engaged full battery power and continued to track her on sonar. We would have disappeared from her radar instantly, which must have made them wonder what the heck was going on. Perhaps they had some sort of fishing sonar on board, perhaps not, but I doubted they had any idea they were being chased by a submarine.
    On battery it took almost an hour to catch and pass her. We went under her like a whale. In the meantime, I watched the sea floor drop from five hundred feet to an unfathomable depth. We had crossed the continental shelf! Cool! But our renegade ship showed no signs of stopping. She was going to get away! Assuming the coastguard had good reason to chase her, I decided to cut her off.
    That wasn’t hard to do. We sailed about a quarter of a mile in front of her and surfaced. As soon as we broke the surface I turned on our floodlights and coasted to a drift. In the fog she would see our lights before she would be able to make out what sort of vessel we were. Most importantly, wewould appear on her radar instantly, directly in front of her! That ought to be enough to convince her to stop. If it wasn’t, I was prepared to dive out of the way in a hurry.
    Closer and closer she came. I was beginning to feel nervous. I didn’t want to get rammed by a ship. Through the periscope I could barely make out her lights. It seemed as though she was slowing down but I