The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-01-21


down, carrying more lead, and by no
displacing so much water as johnson,
Jared better.
UNDER THE WAVES.
BY moving around fiat on my aldo
men to avoid being knocked around b,
rollers, only had the undertow to con
tend with. examined everything will
which my hands came in contact. Short
ly after reaching the locality of the bro
ken end of the keel-which was confined
in the sand under the engine ed-plate-
l was violently forced along the bottom
by the undertOw. After being dashed in
shore by a huge breaker, came in con
tact with two square ends of wood stick
ing out of the sand about six inches; but
before l could make an examination oil
them 1 was dashed away. When again
found them 1 clasped both arms around
them, while the surf and uhdertow would
swing me around in q circle. l did not
know what l had hold of, whether the
ends of timbers or boxes OF gold, until
the undertow running under my arms
cut the sand away around the boxes, so
that they tilted over. l then realized
what held in my arms. l shouted and
cheered to myself, as knew all would dc
when the boxes would reach the lighter
Now, 1 did not know what to do with
them; could not handle them both, and
was afraid to leave one, lest the Mexican
divers might find it, or 1t might become
buried before l could return for it. l
finally took one in my arms, and gave a
quick, strong pull on my lifeline, which
Is the signal of distress, and is never given
except when the diver wants to be drawn
up in haste. / lay about three hundred
feet from the lighter. The bottom was
winrowed in small waves of sand,
running parallel with the shore. Over
these drifts l was dragged as fast as
four men could haul me with an inch
rope around my waist. On being hauled
up under the end of the lighter, my back
came out of the water first, my feet being
loaded with loaded boots and The box of
gold in my arms. l could family hear
excited words-that l was dead. In the
excitement, the men ceased pumping air
to me. The skitf came around where l
WAS suspended, and | could distinctly
hear the men say l was dead. One of
them reached under my head to unscrew
nv face glass, and discovered the box in
nv arms. Then all was changed
FROM SADNESS TO EXTREME JOY,
And three cheers went up for the diver.
After beng relieved of my burden, l
waved my hand to be lowered to the bot.
tom again, and soon found the other box.
| gave the same signal on the life line,
but received kind treatment compared
with my first trip to the lighter. lnever
want another such ride as | had over
these sand ridges with box of gold
weighing one hundred and seventy.fve
pounds in my arms, lying on my side and
dragged at the end of rope. l thought
every bone in my body would
be broken. We recovered one or
two boxes the next day, the total
value amounting to 100000. No
more treasure would ever have been re.
covered. as there were same broken
blanks under these boxes, which pre-
vented them from sinking in the sand
with the rest, had it not been for an in
vention of our carpenter. We had
nothing to penetrate the sand with.
Feeling confident that the rest OF the
treasure was there in the sand, near the
same place, all hands set their wits at
work 10 devise some means to recover it.
After lying idle week or more, l was
talking one evening with the carpenter,
A.. hn,v 81 r. m nf
would affect the sand. l saw at once
that it was just what was needed, and
told him So. Then he made wooden
force pump, and hose OF canvas, with a
nozzle made by rolling piece ofsheath'
in metalup. We also built another lighter
to work the force pump on. We had a
small donkey engine which was prepared
and put on the lighter and towed to the
shore to be tried. AS Il force pump
i, was failure. However, | thought
| would try it; in the sand before con-
demning it. l dressed and went to the
bottom under the boat, with the
understanding that if it would drill hole
in the sand to take it into the surf and
try it. Ii did not like it they were to
haul the hose up and condemn it. Thus
on my decision hung the fate of 81 800
600 in gold, worth $4,000, 900 at the time
in greenbacks. | found on forcing the
nozzle into the sand that it confined the
water in the hose, and gave it force to
cut into the sand; and with that rude
pump we
RECOVERED OVER 100000,
making $4,000 in all. A little while
after gale came on in the night which
piled our lighter in ruins on the beach,
and sunk the engine in the sea, which so
crippled us that we had to leave tor San
Francisco. As the working season was
far spent, we could not return until
another winter. In the mean
time | made rs perfect preparations as
possible and when the season arrived
was early on the ground with two vessels,
one small schooner having twenty
horse power boiler in her hold and d
steam pump throwing 700 gallons OF
water per minute. As had control oil
the expedition, with everything needfu.
procured five hundred feet of six inch
rubber hose and about the same OF z!
inch rubber hose. l had variety OF
nozzles made, some for boring in the sand
and some for working ahead when down in
the sand. | also fitted upa twelve sec
ton Groves battery for blasting purposes
| will here state that went with new
parties the second time, moi
liking the Management oil
the first parties in settling
the salvage; consequently there were two
expeditions the second trip. The old
parties arrived at the wreck soon after
did with large and we'll fitted e1pedi
ton. with four old and experienced
divers in common kinds of diving. They
however, met with trouble they little ex.
pected. 1t was such perilous work tina,
/ had to take my life in my hand and
risk 1t with perfect recklessness, and
suppose the opposition that existed be-
tween those two expeditions was as bitter
as could be. The old parties were sorely
yexed because | had left them, So we ex'
pected no help from them in case of ae'
cident or trouble fanny kind. Both par.
ties were armed with cannon, rifles and