Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1838-187?, 1872-02-23
VOL. XIV.

day as we were sailing along the Cornish
coast
"What ships ?-where?" said the other.
Do you see those breakers Wonder, u
said the captain, "about half mile to
the windward of the southern point of
that low, rocky little island That's
called Galcon Reef, and it is said that a
/ fleet of Spanish trcasure-ships were sunk
there, to prevent their falling into the
hands Of our mcn.Ofwar that were after
| Them
"Has any Of the money ever been
found" asked TurtOn.
Yes, few pieces now and then.
There was company started once-by
some such speculative madcaps as you-
but somehow or another it all came to
nothing"
"Egad! don't see why it shouldn't
be done nowadays, with all our modern
diving inventions"
con, if you're for diving" said the
captain, there's your man." and he turn
ed to me- had come aft to relieve the
man at the wheel. was bit Of a fay
vorite with the captain for steadness and
sobriety, and he had asked me ques-
tions, and had told him who and what !
was.
"Are you a diver, my man ?" said Tur-
| ton.
81 believe you-John Hurst is one of
the best and most skillful divers we
have" said the captain, who then called
for another hand to take the wheel in my
place.
Turton asked me many questions, and
often during the rest of the voyage would
come to me and talk about the probabili-
ties of recovering the treasure from the
Spanish wrecks. He left us at Swansea,
where we had to take in our cargo, after
landing the freight we had brought out.
/ In due time we returned to LOnden, and
my engagement being up, ! left the ship,
Spanish galleons.
One day, however, as | happened to be
passing across Tower Hill, heard some
one hailing me- looked across the street
an saw it was my late captain. | went
over to him, when he took out of his
pocket a bit cut from the Times, contain
ing an advertisement, in which | was re
uuested to communicate at once with T.
II. at his offices insOld Broad Street.
"That's TomFTurton, said the captain
"he's going to fish for the treasure-ships
Lose no time in going to him. If he's
fool enough to throw his money into The
sea, you may as well get the benefit as
any one else
I set off at once as he4A oto" 80
saw Mr.. Turton who shoWedn ... ios
pcctus of a company which he Lad raised
for the purpose of trying to recover the
money in the lost trcasure-ships. The ed
venturers were not many in point of mum
bers, he told me, but they were al
wealthy, and, like himself, they delighted
in speculation for its own sake. lie
wished me to report what would be re
quircd to set about the search with.
In a few days | sent in what | estimated
as necessary for the attempt. | proposed
to begin in as economical a manner a.
possible, and with small staff A couple
of divers would be sufficient to examine
the reef, and see what truth there was il
the report, and if it proved true, to calCu
late what amount of money could be go
out of the vessels. 1t would then be easy
to send as many additional hands as nee
CsSary.
Mr.. Turton declared himself greatly
pleased with my scheme, and offered nj
the command of the divers, with very
good wages. He said that should be ac
companied by Il diver on whose bchal
one of the shareholders had applied tt
him for a post.
He told me that in order to carry on
the exploration with as little delay anC
intermission as possible, they had renteC
the small island situated near the reef
and that they would send out huts to bt
erected on it for us and the crew, ant
would forward at the same time an ampl
supply of all sorts of stores and nccessa
ries
This all seemed very hopeful to me
and | began to think my chance haC
come at last. | wrote and told Polly SO.
Ionly discovered one drawback in til,
affair. 1t turned out that my partner wa!
diver of the name of Bleggs-a quar-
rclsomc, ill.conditioned fellow, with no
the best of character. | felt it my dut,
to tell Mr.. TurtOn thus much, but hi
said it couldn't be helped, for Blegg'
patron was one of the largest and mos
influential share holders, and that h
wanted Bleggs appointed to the post
had and Bleggs would have had it bu
for Mr.. Thrton's tact and energy ant
the respect the other adventures felt TO
him.
Bleggs knew this for, the first time W
met, he said something about my luck il
having friends at court to get me abov
the heads of better men. "Well," he con
, tinued, gruffly, "its no odds. We shal
h see soon who does best for the company
skipper or man and then perhaps med
j ding secretary may get a wigglng"
meaning Mr. Turton; who had been hon
, orary secretary pro tenn. | didn't wish
in the interests Of the adventure, to quar-
rel with Bleggs but gave him to ur
! derstand that wouldn't have such lar
guage, and that once on Spanish Island, a
our location was called | should eXpeC
implicit obedience to orders.
In due time the island was reached, tn
stores were landed, and the huts bull
We had good sized stcam-launch to tax
us out to the reef. She was fitted wit
two powerful air-pumps. Our diving
dresses were of the best and newest pat
tern. Every thing looked well for SUI
cess. The only thing that presented al
obstacle was the frequent occurrence 0
bad weather, We could only take tn
launch among the rocks when it wa
was pretty smooth, and indeed, coul
: not have made descent without grea
risk when it was very rough.
Selling every opportunity, | began tn
search We were not long in discove
ing the remains of the wrecked ships.
was impossible to tell how many vesse
there had been, for they had broken u
and fallen to pieces, and the winter storm
5 had spread dire havoc among them. Onl
one hulk, which lay comparatively she
4; tered between two perpendicular wal
{ of rock, retained any semblance of
: ship.
We explored the ocean bed CAREFUL,
: I meant to examine the hulk first, but in
) weak moment allowed myself to be di
| suaded by Bleggs, who urged that as whi
we wanted was to learn as quickly q
: possible if there was gold, we had bette
examine the ships which the sea ha
, broken up for us, and so save ourselvt
the trouble Of breaking up the hulk.
The work was exhausting and fatiguinE
9 and found to my chagrin that Blegg
1 surpassed me in strength and endurance
f My illness had shaken my constitution
r and | suffered very severely from pain /
d. the leg that had been fractured; but