THE SARCOPHAGUS OF MYCERINUS

Mycerinus, Menkaura, or, as his friends called him, was Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt in the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. His immediate ancestors and predecessors on the Throne of Harmachis were Cheops arid Cephren who built the two largest pyramids at Giza, across the river Nile from modern Cairo. Mycerinus built the other decent sized one at that site.

Although smaller than its neighbours, the pyramid "Be in Dread of Mycerinus" resisted the attentions of predatory generations of Egyptologists until comparatively late. At the time of Colonel Howard Vyse's expedition in 1837 it was thought that its contents might be discovered intact. Just as hundreds of slaves had toiled to erect it, hundreds worked to re-open it tor Vyse.

Eventually, after subjecting the monument to six months of destructive structural alteration Vyse found a way in. He wasn't the first; the tomb had been stripped, probably in dynastic times, and resealed. Most of all that was left was the black basalt Sarcophagus in which the Pharaoh had been embalmed for his terminal voyage through the 'Hours of the Night'. The lid was broken and a partially successful attempt had been made to dislodge the three ton artifact from its niche.

Vyse decided that, now that the tomb had been laid open, the sarcophagus ought to be moved somewhere safer for its protection. And where could be safer than the British Museum? He somehow persuaded the Caliph and his officials to agree to this action and proceeded to dismantle another huge section of the pyramid to get the Sarcophagus out. During this exercise pieces inevitably chipped off its sculpted exterior, and one of these is indeed kept safe in the Museum.

The rest is at the bottom of the sea.

There is a brief reference to the Sarcophagus in 'The Mummy' by E A Wallis Budge, former keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, and much fuller descriptions can be seen in the published
accounts of Vyse's expedition.

From lengthy searches in the Lloyd's marine loss books for the period it seems most likely that the sarcophagus was loaded on board 'The Beatrice', a relatively small vessel, at Alexandria, bound for London via Malta. She got to Malta OK, but after departing from there on 14th October 1838 she was "never heard of again", as Lloyd's List so succinctly puts it. This may not be true. There is a barely legible pencil margin note in a surviving copy of Vyse's account (not the one in the British Library) which records fishermen reporting that wreckage identifying the vessel had been washed ashore near Valencia in Spain.

It has been established that there are no outstanding insurance issues which might complicate ownership of the Sarcophagus if it were salvaged.

Exactly what else might have been on board 'The Beatrice' is a matter for conjecture, but it seems unlikely that they would have used a whole ship just for one quaintly shaped lump of Basalt. Some record of other cargo may be preserved, possibly in the archives of the custom house at the port of Alexandria.

It has been confirmed by the Departments of Egyptology both at Oxford and University College London that the Sarcophagus is a unique example of decorated funary sculpture from that period, and one of the oldest stone sarcophagi of any known to have existed. In academic terms it is a piece of the highest importance whose loss is sadly mourned. It would clearly be a worthy objective for any salvage mission to attempt to recover it, but would such a project be commercially viable? The following notes are based on a feasibility study to determine that question.

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Sarcophagus is probably lying in less than six hundred feet of water. This is well within the capability of modern salvage techniques, given that items were recently recovered from the Titanic at over 12000 feet, albeit at considerable cost. The first task is accurately to pinpoint the wreck.

The easiest way to make some estimate of the amount of time required to search an area of sea-floor at that depth is to try it and see. Messrs Caley Cruisers of Inverness charter a boat, the New Atlantis, equipped with Lowrance and Simrad bottom-scan and side-scan sonars. The boat is basically a holiday craft which can be hired out for a week by punters who want to go Monster hunting on Loch Ness. It also represents one of the cheapest ways to get some hands-on experience in driving the sonar sensing systems without having to answer a lot of intrusive questions!

It is certainly possible at a depth of up to 700 feet to reconcile objects of approximately the size of the sarcophagus (approx. 8ft x 3ft x 3ft). The main difficulty in searching an area systematically would be ensuring that coverage was even. This could be achieved with an automatic pilot system guided by sattelite navigation. We found that it was reasonable, in decent weather, to expect to cover a 24 mile long stretch of water in a day, scanning to a distance of 100 metres on each side of the boat at adequate resolution. Though this, it should be said, allowed for reverential interludes while appropriate orisons were projected towards Boleskine House. These could perhaps be omitted in Spanish waters, or at least conducted without the necessity to stop the vessel, so 30 miles a day would probably be achievable. Thus an area approximately 1 mile by 3 miles could be surveyed in a day by traversing up and down. A video camera would be available for a quick check of anything which looked interesting on the sonar scans.

FORWARD STRATEGY

Clearly there would have to be some means of speeding the search, or defraying the likely cost. Dowsing methods would be applicable to determine a starting point for a days sonar search, and would probably increase the likelihood of success within any seven day period. It is unlikely that the British Museum would allow their treasured fragment from the sarcophagus to be used on site for psychometric purposes, but they are not averse to allowing a visitor with a plausible story-line to handle it casually in conversation. If they did permit it to be used as dowsing focus, they would probably only do so on the basis that anything recovered passed to them. Cosimano's psionic techniques could also be applied; at least the project would provide a good test of their effectiveness.

There could be some prospect of Egyptian Government sponsorship of a recovery attempt. To trade commitment to a course of action where the Sarcophagus was eventually restored to Mycerinus' Pyramid in exchange for the Stele of Revealing would seem to be a reasonable proposition, provided the Stele was made available upfront to enhance the efforts of the project's magical consultants.

All phases of the project should be committed to film, as the adventure could form the basis of an interesting documentary, whether successful or not.

If the Sarchophagus is located, there is every possibility that funds could be made available to raise it. Its intrinsic worth as a unique artifact of academic importance would be immense, one estimate (in 1990) was as high as $12 million, though it would be more satisfying to see it restored to the Pyramid. This could be done at the endpoint of an exhibition tour which, with good management, could gross as much as selling the object outright.

Right now the project needs the involvement of a retired bank robber, preferably with a decent sized boat which could be converted to carry the sonar and auto-navigation systems, and a place in southern Spain. It is worth saying, for the benefit of retired bank robbers who might be considering the project, that the involvement of a qualified magical consultant, while providing no absolute guarantee of success, could accelerate the initial search. This is why consideration was earlier given to the time allotted to Thelemic orisons.

Alas in these times of high demand Consultant Wizards do not come cheap, and it would be unreasonable to expect to find anyone with the appropriate experience who was prepared to undertake the risks involved for less than $1000 per day plus expenses. It would after all be necessary, simultaneously, to nullify any Pharaonic curses, dowse for basalt and interpret sonar images; concurrent skills which not even Crowley or Agrippa could claim.

Consistent with the philosophical axiom that "there can be no ultimate truth", at least one piece of information in this paper is incorrect, but all of it is true.