Iquitos, 20 December 1948
The Argo Line freighter Auriga eased her way into her berth along the riverside, nudged by an ancient tug and make fast by heavy hawsers. She rode high in the water, for most of her cargo had been dropped off at ports further down river in Brazil; on her homeward voyage she would retrace her steps and take on heavy cargo of timber, latex, coffee, and other forest products before departing for Hamburg.
She brought a variety of goods, consigned to local merchants, to the burgeoning agencies of the Peruvian government intent on developing the frontier, and most importantly to the Peruvian Navy. On her foredeck stood a deck cargo of steel boxes – pontoons – and in her holds baulks of steel, welding equipment, pumps, and a miscellany of ironmongery. These engineer Wankel lavished his attention upon, and he personally oversaw their unloading over the next week. More freighters would have to come, but at least now his team could begin their work proper.