The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-08-23
Experiences of a Diver,


tWcnty-tw" years and who has now
retired afer long active SER
vice.
Mr Wood made his fir. t start in
litcby an Extraordinary, and as it
turned out very lucky, piece of di-
wing. If the reader will look at the
map Of Ireland, he will see that
outside of Belfast Longh, and a little
10 the southwest opposite Donagha
dee, ale situated the Copcapd L..
lands. 1t so happened thata Whit
stable man was coastguarl in this
district. lie heard legend that
ship laden with II heavy cargo Of
silver had been wrecked off the Gone.
land Islands some half century ago.
lie tborefure com mmunicutcd with
some of his friends at Whitstablo
who were divers. Accordingly MIR.
Wood and four others put their di-
vIng.drcSscs Oh board vessel,
and sailed from Whitstablo to Don.
hghadec. The story they heard when
they got there was that tho wrecked
vessel was in the slave trade aud that
fhc had Oh board when she struck on
the rocks large number of slaves,
aud considerable sum OF money in
tho form IF silver dollars. Nothing
would have been known of tho wreck
having taken place had not somebody
discovered human legs projecting
above the surface Of tho water. 1t
appears that tho people on board
the ship had tried to escape; they
had filled their shirt.slccvcs with dol.
lars, but III getting up tho rocks
many Of them had fallen back and met
with an untimcly end, as tho weight
of the dollars had kept thci, heads
under water. No one had ever Gis.
turhcd the wreck since it happened,
20 Mr., Wood and his friends set to
work to find out where it was Thay
put on thicr diving dresses, and for
two or three days walked about to
and fro ut the bottom of the sea, in
about forty feet of water, searching
for the treasure. This they did by
clearing away the weeds and turning
over the stones with crowbars, and
feeling for the dollars with their
hands, rs the water was too thick to
see. The wreck itself had entirely
or'Shcd through tho lapse of time.
Altcra long and cheerful search
last they came upon the dollars they
were spread about among the stones.
but many had slipped down among a
heap OF iron orc which formed tho
ballast of the ship. Many of the dol
lars were worn away thin by the ac-
ton OF the waves. Some lying scpa-
rate, others in great Jumps like rocks
soldcrcd together by iron, certainly
IN some eases the handouts used for
the slaves. Some days the divers
got two hundred dollars, somotim, \
three hundred, sometimes n thousand +:
the best day they got five thousand
lnall, the number of dollars they rot
up from tho wreck was about twenty
live thousand, a considerable sum of
money when reduced to English
po"nds.
MIR. Wood showed me one of the
dollars, which he always carries
about with him. The following is
the inscription On one side,
"C,rnlux ~; H.; r.: ,1n, ~.
n,n -, Ind H. W ~ "'''' n ,i,, %,' ir,S' ~,
rnin i ,h,,n, ~, y" w. w. 'n DC
sh;Il;na H N;"oo '"c Tl S'"' 19n 81 ah ola hVc,
,o,r p r raIaa,. Nv ,'''u'S, arms
Of wh;rh Mr waa, ''o'"o n'S'
o,.o. -, "" proprietor,
thcsn dn,I,rs NJ, " W., W. "'so1'c'y y ol
orc,.;nn 49,; w.. :" oo" ''ao on inns
tnrc Ononi 'J"' U.s. u;"o' water ao'eh,
that he wos annovcJ ~ "T'' p.''no1
couldn,t wn,I. AZ W., 'y 'JpSso'' I' ani .,
wherc,bon,s " ,hn " it "o" '''rn'a , lne
down ,rtor ill.,, III liz ,o'S',I' ,' "''' %cn' 1
I,obstcr s;t,;n, un,,"" 49,. ,u''' "'seo'1'o" ' Mr
na s,v,co ,h,.o I'to. n'IA' looNlne
frrlr,. woro w. is,o' '>';",n, '"'' ,o'N. us
md ho hsId p''"to" "t ~e,. 'orwaro'
'I. ~" o"' MS TWO great