Chapter Nine
Tankage
Altuna left the Port of Miami at dusk with all crew and passengers accounted for. The owners stayed in Fort Lauderdale until the last moment, then called for a helo to bring them back to the ship. The launch that was on stand-by in the port returned to Altuna and was loaded aboard. Ingram, anxious to get to sea before nightfall, left the pier as soon as Fast Boat was aboard, then steamed cautiously through the Miami harbor traffic and had the ship well outside the sea buoy before the helo pilot checked in on the radio and landed three minutes later without any trouble in the calm sea. The owners went to their sea cabin and Ingram set up the evening watches.
In her early days, Altuna, under another name, had been built in Germany for a foreign government to transpor
