First of all, if you know the location of buried gold, would you sell it for about $50?

But really, the bottle would float, not sink.

Wouldn't a sealed bottle float, not sink? Just guessing ....

Caution, Lance Lawson spoiler alert (although not much of one, this one was easy).

The bottle should have floated, not sank. The story must have been bogus.

But, really, what kind of idiot would buy a German treasure map anyway?

I can't make it out, what is the title of the book Lance is reading in frame one?

But I think Lance knows that the map and the bottle together weigh the same as a duck.

EDIT: Crap! Ninja'd by jacoby!

I never get these things - I thought it was impossible to dive that far.

So much for my logic.

This is the City, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was working the day watch out of Frauds and Bunko Division, Pawn Shop Detail. The boss is Jimmy Lileks. My partner is out sick today. My name is Lance Lawson.

There was a rash of bad merchandise being pawned off as valuable in the local shops. I was assigned to investigate....

-I got nothin! Jacoby had it right, right out of the box!

Just who did Lance torque off to get demoted to such a lousy job?

Europe still had some beers bottled in ceramic bottles back then, which would sink. It would then shatter from from water pressure. You will also note that the man on the conning tower of the U Boat is not wearing a Kriegsmarine uniform. Follow the wise advice of Lance, good fellow.

Lance knows the Germans didn't bury their gold - they put it into Swiss bank accounts.

Quick, whistle up Tiny! cuff the cur!

besides, those Germans would have preferred to let the gold sit on the bottom. they knew where the subs were working, or close enough to come searching later.

Where is this taking place? A pawn shop? What's Lance doing, just hanging out, hoping to catch somebody wrong-doing?
The answer is going to be that the bottle wouldn't sink. But it could, of course, if the cork leaked. And maybe the map was salvaged and dried out, depends on the quality of what it was printed on. I'm just glad the bad guy didn't get caught by quoting overly specific times and dates that couldn't be right.

Besides, everybody who's seen Raiders of the Lost Ark knows that the gold map was hidden inside the Ark. (Along with the remnants of the German nuclear weapons program, judging by what happened when they popped it open ... 8^)

I'll go with the bottle should float theory, although it is pretty dumb, if the U-boat commander thought he could find the bottle later, you would think he could also find the gold without a map. The faux diver is a liar anyway you look at it.

For rbjacoby1, This is a pawnshop, Lance is check the log for hot items. Presumably the diver is pawning, not sellling, he could claim the map later if it were authentic. Also dumb because it could be copied by either party.

SCOTTtheBADGER, I like the idea of Lance being able to see discrepancies in the flashback: Lance Lawson, snap judgments and psychic detective.

And I think the Germans had that technology, unless I am mistaken or making that up. Lance picked up on the con-man's willingness to take $50 for a treasure map. He should have held out for triple digits.

We don't actually know that the gold was (theoretically) buried at sea. The map was (theoretically) buried at sea. The gold could have been (theoretically) buried in the Rheinland, or Bavaria, or occupied Denmark (where the inhabitants were too busy running around in their underwear in winter to notice what the Germans did).

Everyone knows that Nazi German U-Boat Captains only drink their beverages from cans, eat their vegetables from cans, and get their sweetened condensed milk from cans. They also happen to be driving a can that is submersible. Therefore, it is impossible that the captain could have had a bottle to load the map into and the "diver" is a confidence man.

The Triumph of Logic over Chaos!!

Surely it's because divers back then couldn't go very deep. What would a submarine being doing in so shallow a part of the ocean?

Since everybody else already mentioned the obvious answers, I have to look a little deeper to contribute anything that hasn't already been said.

First of all, the bottle could've been filled with lead or sand or something. That'd get it to sink without having to fill up with water.

But most importantly, how the heck did the diver know who threw it into the water or why?

Assuming that the gold in question was worth $500 million US, based on recent contacts I've had on gold on deposit in Nigerian Banks, and the grifter will settle for $50 and there is only a 1 in one million shot that the story is true, then how is it a bad investment? Shouldn't Lance be hanging around where they sell the Lotto tickets instead of a sleazy pawnshop if he is going to be giving "investment" advice. By the way, unless he has been licensed by the SEC, the giving of investment advice is a federal offense so Tiny should turn him in.

Acme Diving Suits had, of course, lenses made of leftover crystal ball material. the diver, just following usual Navy rules of tethered deep-sea diving while a battle raged overhead, could clearly see Ault Heinze throwing the bottle off the conning tower, since the wolfpacks always fought surfaced.

it's really quite simple. once they scoop your head empty, it all makes perfect sense. th-th-th-that's all, folks!

That would be the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the same year as the Nazis invaded Denmark. Coincidence?

notice, "Register and Tribune Syndicate?" that's the Des Moines Register and Minneapolis Tribune, both Cowles papers. at the time this split up a few years ago, I seem to remember an article in the Trib at the time saying both papers would have continuing rights to all past material.

so reuse with glee, James, it's free for thee.

Well, there has to be some good side to being sick at home all week.

The key was "sealed bottle". And if the captain had weighted it down, how in bloody heck was he going to find it again after the war. The ocean's a big place. And I agree about Lance being demoted to pawnshop duty -- maybe he broke up with his dame, whose daddy happens to be Lance's boss.

This one gets less and less plausible the more you think about it. Why the heck would someone throw his treasure map into the sea? How's he going to ever find it again? No wonder they lost the war.

I'm not sure how much of this stuff there is in the microfiche, but how long would the Strategic Comic Reserves hold if you ran these daily? Unless someone could manage to convince the Strib to dig up some guy to make new old detective comics, Lance is a non-renewable resource here. Shouldn't we be creating a policy of seeking more sustainable unfunny comic amusement here, rather than recklessly depleting our finite Lance supplies? And let's not forget about our carbon footprint* here either...

*I'm sure at some point there was a footprint in one of these things, and the ink used to print the stuff most assuredly contains carbon in it...