The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-09-18
From the n. y. Evening Post.
The Romance of the East River.

From the n. y. Evening Post.
The Romance of the East River.
OF all pursuits which Il kind DISPENSE
ton permits the human creature to follow,
that OF gold-mlning is the most cnticing,
seductive and maddening. The thirst, or
rather the hunger, for the secrets Of the
next spadetul, when once implanted in a
mans spirit, never quits it. 1t follows
him to the end of his days; it haunts him
in the night in his old age, in his bed Of
sickness, and it generates within him Il
love Of the ''chances'' that he is never able
to shake Off and destroy
10 the people of a city like this the
''miner" has that about his name that is
mystical; nobody understands him; the
advent Of Miller in his blue shirt aud fla
grant boot-legs, together with his reputa-
ton tor verses, bore out the illy-detined
fancy that digging for gold and iambc
tetrameters have something in common
70 the metropolitan idea the sentiment of
a placer-tield or Of a paying lode is indis-
solubly coupled with the tar-ott and unat-
tainable Few hope ever to look upon
shait or nugget or a tripan. The search
for gold amid wild and beautiful scenes,
IN rocky cletts, in the dripping and gloomy
excavations Of subterranean labyrinths,
must ever be beyond their ken, and they
must never know of the Wild ntamed,
romantic spirits that, with all the attain
ments of camp fires, ''finds' song and vio-
lence make up the burdens of enhancing
poetry 1t is a long step to California,
and one does not care for Nova Scotia,
and as Australia is far more distant still,
native gold in the rough, and native gold
/ iii +L, ,0l IL s,,
their solitudes unviewed and mappreciat-
| THE MINE.
But here sweet compensation steps in to
soothe the civic desires. The fates brought
a gold mine to the East River and quietly
| sank it i'll the water and LETT it to them,
and it is there yet undisturbed, though
Heaven knows attempts to disturb it have
outnumbered the planets 1t is really as
tonishing how few people in New York
know Of this matter, though when one
questions his friends upon their most init
mate surroundings, his surprise that they
never have heard of the trigate Hussar
anu her e> >eniiui story dwin,iies 10 the
| minimum.
the sandy bed of the East River, close to
| lut NEW 1Olh tlllt against Il lollN
cliff of stone, around which the currents
of water sweep with prodigious force. the
wreck of an English trigate.
Her name is the Hussar She was a
corvette mounting thirty-two guns, and
was fully armed and equipped She was
sent from England to bear treasure to the
paymasters of the English soldiers in this
country, and in her run she had $50, 900
guineas packed in strong iron boxes.
Lord Howe was then in possession of
this city, and Washington, at about the
time of the arrival Of the Hussar was
about to begin operations against it, 1t
was therefore deemed ineXpedient for the
treasure ship to remain in the harbor, for
fear that, if the city fell into the hands of
the rebels, she and her gold might share
! the same fate.
She therefore received orders to proceed
at once to New London, Conn, which was
| then Il rendezvous for the British naval
| forces.
| TIE PRISON SHIPS.
The Jersey prison ships We're then over
| flowing with captives, and as the impend-
ing military operations rendered it eX-
tremely probable that more wretches
would be added to the unhappy throng Of
| I)IiSpIitio tIlC IluSSilI NttS oi'lclttt "
from the hulks seventy of the poor lel-
lows and to deliver them to the British
authorities at New London upon her arri-
val there.
| The transfer was accomplished From
out the nosome depth of those terrible
holds nearly five score of lame, blinded,
sick, starved and helpless men Were led
and We're transferred to the Hussar, and
We're secured in her hold with chains and
| bars. Their method of confinement was
peculiar. Each man was seated upon the
deck and his wrists and ankles were
| brought together and his shackles were at
| tached to a long bar securely fastened.
| The whole of the throng was thus chained.
| They sat in rows in the almost absolute
| darkness, each one being able to catch
| feeble view of the faces and forms of his
nearest neighbors.
| In addition to this strange and ghastly
| freight the Hussar took aboard more gold,
| The Mercury, which was also treasure
| ship, transferred to her the guineas that
were in her run, and therefore the IIussar
has on board, besides the prisoners, five
millions Of dollars in British coin, fresh
from the mint
| THE WRECK.
| VII IHC Aolll VI ANoN lipp, SllC SUI
sail from New York for her destination
She had all her canvas set, and she start
ed up through He'll Gate, whose terrors in
those days were much more formidable
than they are now She had for a pilot a
negro who knew every rock, current and
shoal. He professed his ability to carry
even 50 large Il ship unscathed through
the narrow strait; but he miscalculated
either her wieldincss OF his own skill.
| When midway in her passage she struck
very heavily upon the dangerous Pot Rock.
, The currents and her sails hurled her
upon the Jagged obstacles with incalcula-
| bic force.
The tide began to rush in. She was
borne past the spot and her sails We're set
to carry her upon what seemed to be Il
shoaling spot to the northward, a mile dis
tsnt
She was run up to the shore, head ON.
She struck savagely and held. Hawsers
We're run out and thrown around large
trees with the hope that they would hold
her to the spot.
| But meanwhile the tide was filling her
| The lower deck was flooded almost in
stantly Every one of the ninety prison.
ers were sutfocated at the very outset.
Their struggles bound as they We're,
must have been something beyond COM
prehension for tierceness and violence
From their position they must have
known of the danger to the vessel and of
their certain fate at the very beginning.
| The swift inroad of the stlrging tide
roaring with its own force doubtless over
whelmed them like a cataract, and sub
dued the straining and shrieking group in
a brief, but indescribable moment.
The Hussar sunk with all her guns,
stores, treasures and prisoners in ninety
feet of water, with her bows pointing to-
wards the west All her officers and crew
escaped to a man. Some lady passengers
who We're on board were gotten off first
and landed without disaster.
In this way, then, does it come about
that within six miles of the City Hall
there is a mine of gold.
| EFFORTS TO RECOVER THE GOLD
! The British government of course lost