Modern Martian Dredger

During the years following the first expeditions to Mars, many great minds tried to explain why the canals of the past had dried up and were no longer used as the main transportation medium. One such inventor - Professor A.J. Copperthwaite even went as far as to design and build a steam powered dredging vessel, the design based on the ill-fated Wentletrap was used for a short time to clear the main intersections of the Martian Plantiana canal system.

The actual plans and design for this vessel have been long lost, however these recently unearthed blueprints (actually a facsimile of a damaged and as such incomplete set of drawings of the Wentletrap) go some way to hinting at the design of the Martian dredger (believed to be name Henrietta, after Professor Copperthwaite's mother Henrietta 1817 - 1885).

The shallow draft dredger would have been used between 1893 - 1895, during which time it is believed that a number of unusual and quite valuable artifacts were recovered from the bottom of the canals.

It is believed that one such artifact - the Golden Toc of the sun god Ra is still within the possession of the Copperthwaite family. Recent threats against the lives of the family and attempts at theft from the ancestral home have meant that any official recognition that this item even exists is becoming very difficult to prove.

The Steam yacht, Honey, a 40ton Aeronef now used by the Inter-Harmony, Exploration Force based on Mars is believed to be powered by the same steam engine that originally powered the Henrietta.

I hope that this small history lesson will inspire other Martian archeologists to continue their search for other Martian artifacts.

Tony

The facsimile is taken from; The Secret Scrapbooks of Professor A. J. Copperthwaite