Sam Bishop, having stolen the Jettison Salvage research by placing a bug on Mack, had won the contract to supply the iceberg to Santa Lea which would solve their water shortage problem. Bishop's team managed to cut off an immense iceberg and get it towed, however, after the huge tugboat that he hired was unable to control the berg, it was abandoned more than five hundred miles from its destination. Harry and crew had been alerted by young Michelle whose research had revealed the existence of the Sariego Current, a deep and powerful current flowing some eighty feet below the surface. Due to its depth, few people knew of its presence, including Bishop and the tugboat captain. The iceberg, with more than a hundred feet of mass below the surface, was an easy catch for the current. Now the iceberg is legal salvage. The Jettison people had already devised a plan to break the iceberg free of the current using engines from the vulture. They now set about putting their plan into action with the cooperation of the navy, who remain in position, if needed, to destroy the iceberg before it enters the main shipping lanes, which should take roughly four days.
—Harry Tumilson