Chapter 1 Raising the Resurgam.

It was only a few days ago Gaby as queen of Northumbria had decided to re-open the Teeside shipyards and start an underwater archaeological unit. Dr Wendy McCain of this unit stood before Queen with a proposal.

“Yes your majesty it is my dream to raise the Resurgam which went down in Barmouth Bay. Unfortunately I could never get the funding & it is protected now by Welsh heritage.”

Gaby, “Well consider it a present from us all as your incentive to do a good job with Northumbria Heritage. To be honest we could do with it in the naval museum we are thinking of building. Can you tell me a little the history of the Resurgam?”

“Well the Resurgam was built at the Britannia Iron Works in Birkenhead. She was launched in 1879, and was the first mechanically powered submarine. The Resurgam was the idea of the Reverend George Garrett. After testing the Resurgam in Liverpool bay he hired a yacht to tow her to Portsmouth to demonstrate her capabilities to the Royal navy. In December 1879 the Resurgam was caught in a great storm off the Great Orme’s Head. The crew of the Resurgam had to flee for their lives as the tow rope broke and the Resurgam took in water. I tried previously to get the funding to recover the first powered submarine and failed.”

Ariel, “As to raising the Resurgam that is no problem to us. A crane & a couple of slings will soon have it up.”

Wendy, “The diving team alone will cost a fortune your Highness.”

Lorelie giggled, “You do you not think we could work in the river Wye which is fast flowing with out being expert divers. In comparison to down there this is a training exercise.”

Gabriel, “The only fee we ask Wendy is for you to give your very best in your job.”

Wendy could hear voices in her head. She heard the voice of Lorelie telling her not to be afraid.

She replied, “I will always trust you & your judgement although I think something must be wrong with me though, as I am getting all sorts of weird messages in my head.”

Gabriel, “Like what?”

“One telling me it was high time I had my swimming lessons from the professionals. Another telling me to trust you. There was another one that appeared to speak with authority & it was saying to the other voices stop teasing her & leave her to Lorelie to train.”

Wendy looked at Gabriel & said, “Thank you your Majesty. Are you the one who spoke with authority in my head? You are also the one that some of the others refereed to as the Empress.”

“I have has many names & titles. Most of the time though to my friends I am called Gaby or Gabriel occasionally I may even be called Drew which is a nick name. Occasionally though on official occasions I will have to be referred to Empress.”

Tiny. “Wendy you are one of the best receivers we have in our midst. All the Tiny’s need somebody to hone their skills on. We could do with you to help train the new ones as you have no resistance to us. We in turn will teach you how to use thought rather than speech.”

Wendy looked at Gabriel for guidance. “Wendy still has her job to do. If you use her to help the others then you must help Wendy with her tasks.”

Tiny.”That is fine with us Tinys’.”

Jools.”Remember Tiny though the Empress has already decreed that you must also start attending classes like the remainder of us.”

“Oh pooie I am too young to go for lessons.” Tiny sticks her thumb in her mouth and climbs on Gabriel’s knees.

Wendy.”It sounds like you all have to be taught something very important. Princess you should obey your mummy.”

Lorelie laughed. “We will both be having lessons, but I think you are in for the worst time.”

Ariel.”We can start with your swimming lesson in Colwyn Bay.”

“But I have never used diving equipment before and don’t have a Padi. Certificate.”

Gabriel. “You will be accompanying your team to the Resurgam & help us bring the Resurgam to the surface. Then it will be taken to Teeside to be restored. After that it will go in a new museum of ships that is being created near Scarborough.”

“But I have not got permission from Welsh Heritage to recover it from the bay yet. I only came to see if you would be willing it to fund the recovery.”

Gabriel. “You may not have permission, but I certainly do. So you go ahead with the recovery of the Resurgam. Even if it is only to alter the history books slightly.”

Wendy. “If we could prove it actually worked then it would be the oldest surviving mechanically operated submarine in the world.”

Gabriel. “As you seam eager to go to the Great Orme Head, and there collect your present. You had better go their now with Ariel, Lorelie and sisters. One of our Helicopters is waiting to transport you all.”

Wendy. “I must admit I would like to dive the Wreck. But it will take weeks to raise it as it will need freeing from the sea bed & then transporting to the shore.”

Gabriel. “Ariel & sisters will you look after you Wendy, as you will be diving soon.”

After the helicopter ride Wendy found she was boarding a ship bound for the wreck site.

Wendy looked round as her head was spinning. She could not believe what had happened in such a short space of time. Her ambition to raise the Resurgam was about to come to fruition. She did not remember much about the earlier events of the day, or even the helicopter ride.

Ariel. “These shorts should fit you.”

Wendy put them. “They look rather like scales to me.”

Ariel & Lorelie stripped off & jumped into the sea pulling Wendy with them. Wendy got a shock when she found she could breathe under water with out the use of an aqualung. The girls lead her to the wreck of the Resurgam. The wreck was laid on one side had rather a lot of concretion & sea debris on it. Wendy thought to herself, this looks beautiful down here & there are certainly a lot of fish.

Another thought came into her head, “We agree with you it is beautiful down here, but we do have a job to do and that is to recover the Resurgam.”

Wendy watched as Ariel & Lorelei attached slings under the ship. Then they came over & waited with the others as Gabriel pointed her trident at the base. A second or two later a blast of energy hit the ground under the ship. The submarine turned sideways & floated free of the seabed. The slings took the strain as it was slowly lifted out of the water. Water poured out of the conning tower. As most of the water was drained away it was lifted on to the waiting barge. Which then set sail for Teeside.

Gabriel, “Wendy the Resurgam has lived up to her name and now is going to be taken to the Teeside shipyard where she will be dismantled cleaned & restored to how she originally looked.”

Ariel, “We already have made digital film of how she was on the sea bed & the rescue operation.”

Wendy. “I have just realised something, my costume appears to have stretched to cover my top half.”

Ariel, “Lorelie has she not yet explained it to you yet. You did no longer need a costume other than to hide your body. We all grow a new costume each time we go swimming.”

Wendy, “I still have rather a large chest.”

Lorelie, “Do not worry over that as it makes no difference to us.”

Wendy, “I was considering breast reduction surgery as I am so large.”

Lorelie. “Not any longer you will just have to do the same as us & wear a bra when on land. Now you have become one with us you no longer need that certificate to dive”

Wendy, “My boss will probably be OK with what has happened to me, but I am not sure about others working in the office with me would be keen on working with a mermaid. That is what I have become is it not?”

Lorelie, “Remember Wendy you will be in a new location with new staff. We have anti discrimination clauses in all our staff contracts & there should be no problem. I doubt very much that you are going to inform others you dived the Resurgam with the daughter of Neptune and became one with them.”

Tiny. “Lorelie, Wendy has to help me and the Tiny’s out & I or one of my sisters will be there to ensure there is no problem.”

Several days later in Teeside the Resurgam had arrived & was cleaned of all concretion & marine life. After shot blasting the remaining metal work the rivets where removed and each section was measured cleaned & then reassembled. Joiners came to replace the missing wooden interior. The Engineering department stripped the engine down & reassembled it. The only alteration to the original design was they made was to ensure the conning tower could be opened from the inside and outside. They tested the engine & it appeared to run perfectly. The engine was fitted back in the submarine & the wooden planes where placed on the outside.

The Works Foreman decided to test the ship in the deep water tank. They had already done computer simulations, which gave them the optimal size for the wooden planes & this matched the original sizes which where on record.

The engineers said, “The original designer must have had a brilliant mind as the specifications match the ship exactly.” The submarine was brought back up from the deep water tank & they worked out how long it could stay submerged before the air supplied had to be replenished. The engineers discovered that the Rev Garrett had designed the Resurgam so it could carry two spring mounted torpedoes. It had a top speed of three knots and a range of 12 miles. There was quite an inventive system to recycle air that used caustic soda.

Wendy meanwhile was helping the Tiny’s as requested. She spent the morning in Tiny's Class & then the tiny girls all spent the afternoon helping Wendy do her work.

Tiny. “Why is there such a delay on checking these out Wendy?”

Wendy. “Planning permission can not be granted until all the sites have had a full survey & are clear of any archaeological artefacts. Until recently there was only me & three office girls to do the entire work.”

Tiny, “I presume they have to pay for a search?”

Wendy. “They have to cover all the expenses before planning permission is granted.”

Each of the Tiny girls along with a Fae sister took a site & very soon they where all doing radar scans of the sites. Within a week 75% of the applications had been cleared & given the go ahead. The remaining 25% needed further investigation before building permission could be given.” Lorelie called to see how things where running.

Wendy.”They have already helped me cleared most of the back log the remainder though need qualified archaeologists to investigate the remaining sites.” Within the week another 15% had been cleared the remaining 10% though required extensive investigation.

Wendy went back to see Gabriel. “The Tiny’s have helped me clear the backlog of sites to inspect. I was wondering if perhaps the diving unit could be used to salvage ships that have sunk over the years. I was thinking of such ships like the Viking you recently helped save the crew and passengers from the jaws of death.”

As Wendy was talking to Gabriel she took a phone call. It was from her cousin in the Rhine Valley informing Wendy that her cousin’s daughters were coming to Yorkshire on a school exchange visit.

Gabriel. “Wendy calm down. I wanted to see you to ask you to join our special club.” Wendy found two of the Titan girls stood either side of her. “As you may have gathered by now I am far more than Queen Gabriel. It is only a relatively short time since I discovered what I actually was. Until that point I thought I was a boy who looked like a female.”

“Oh you know about me.”

“As I said previously I want you to join our special section I also knew about your cousins children coming to visit. As yet the children do not know the move will be permanent