The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-02-07

canu Dey IecOV6Iys
The fact, h9weyer, as afterwards
proved, was that when the stern broke
off the break was tn and threugh the
treasufe-room; consequently the treas
ure dropped where her bones lay. all In q
small space about one hundred and fifty
| feet from the shore In ordinary wea-
ther, and three hundred feet in
rough weather. The heavy seas rolling
high on the beach, In their return wotsld
carry the sand off shore and deposit 1t
over the money. In ealmer weather the
waves would carry the sand back to the
beach again; and thus through alter
| nate changes the treasure had worked
itself deep into the sand In the years II
had laid there.
We left San Francisco in q
schooner OF one hundred and fifty
tons, with all the appliances that
could be thought Of to experiments in
digging sand under water. We had car
penters, blacksmiths, oaulkers, q stock
| OF iron, endless chains, with buckets at
| tached, to be used as elevators from the
top OF the engine frame to convey the
| the sand ashore to be worked over for
loose money. We also had cargo OF
Lumber to build lighters, in which we
were to work when driving. We had a
working crew of twelve men, with two
divers-one, Duncan Johnson, y mus
cular man weighing two hundred pounds,
and myself, weighing one hundred and
fifty pounds. We reached the harbor OF
Manzanillo in due time, procured q
permit from the commandant of the
port to wreck on the coast, and next day
sailed for the scene of ruin or fortune,
as many had there all invested in the
expedition.
Arriving off the wreck, we dropped an
| chor in twenty fathoms OF water, mile
Oft shore, and commenced to build a
| lighter, which was finished and launched
| from the vessel in few days. About
| this time slOOp came down the coast
| from Mazatlan with seventeen native
pearl divers, all stalwart fellows, who
afterwards gave us much trouble. john
son made the first dive. He was down
about half an hour. He went down out
side OF the surf, and crawled in shore on
his hands and knees, carrying only the
| ordinary weights that divers use. He,
however, did not accomplish anything,
and was drawn up somewhat scared,
having been roughly handled by the surf.
then dressed myself and went down.
carrying more lead, and by not displac-
ing so much water as Johnson 1 Jared
better.
BY moving around fiat on my abdomen
to avoid being knocked down by rollers,
| | only had the undertow to contend with.
| examined everything with which my
hands came in contact. Shortly alter
reaching the locality OF the broken end
OF the keel-Which was confined in the
sand under the engine bed-plate--l was
1 violently forced along the bottom by the
| undertow. After being dashed in-saore
| by huge breaker, / came in contact
with two square ends OF wood sticking
| out OF the sand about six inches; bnI
before could make an examination OF
them was dashed away.
When again 1 found them eiasped
both arms around them, while the surf
and undertow would swing me around
In circle. / did not know what had
hold OF, whether the ends of timbers or
| boxes of gold, until the undertow run
ming under my arms cut the sand away
1 around the boxes, so they tilted over. ]
l then realized what held clasped in my
arms. / shouted and cheered TO myself,
as / knew all would do when the boxes
would reach the lighter. Now, l did not
1 know what to do with them; l could not
handle them both, and was afraid to
leave one lest the Mexican divers might
find it or it might become buried before
could return tor it.
| o quick strong pull on my lifeline, wtiet
is lhe signal OF distress, and is never
given except when the diver wants ts
be drawn up In haste. lay about three
hundred 1eet from the lighter. The
bottom was winrowed in small waves Of
sand, running parallel with the shore
lover these drifts was dragged as fas
as four men could haul me with an Incl
rope around my waist. On being haul let
up under the end of the lighter my bacl
came out of the water first, my feet beinl
| An srxrtf a1 ntp ha hax
gold in my arms. l could family hea
excited words--that was dead. In th,
excitement the men ceased pumping ali
| to me.
The skiff came around whore wa
suspended, aud / could distinctly hea
the men say / was dead. One of then
reached under my head to unscreW m,
face-glass, and discovered the box in m,
: arms. Then all was changed from sad
ness to extreme joy, and three cheer
went up for the diver. After being re
Heyed Of my burden;I waved my han,
to be lowered to the bottom again an,
/ soon found the other box. l gave th
. same signal on the lifeline, but received
kind treatment compared with my firs
trip to the lighter. never want anothe
: such a ride as / had over those sand
ridges with box OF gold weighing ON
. hundred and seventy-fye pounds in m,
arms, lying on my side and dragged a
the end OF a rope. though every bon
in my body would be broken.
We recovered one or two boxes mex
tday, the total value amounting to $1Q0,
600. No more treasure would ever hay
been recovered, as there were som
broken planks under these boxes whicl
prevented them from sinking in the san,
with the rest, had IL not been for al in
! vention of our carpenter. We had moth
!, ing to penetrate the sand with. FeeIin,
confident that the rest Of the treasur
was there in the sand, near the sam
!, place, all hands set their wits at work tt
, devise some means to recover it. Ate
lying idle a week or more, was talkini
one evening with the carpenter, when III
asked me how stream OF water woult
affect the sand. saw at once that i
was just what was needed, and told hin
SO.
Then he made wooden force-pump
J and q hose Of canvas, with d nozzle, wat
made by rollingup piece Uf sheathinl
metal. We also built another lighter I,
work the force pump on. We had 1
small donkey engine, which was pre-
pared and put on the lighter and toweC
In shore to be tried. AS q force pump il
Twas failure. However, 1 thought
Iwould try 1t in thesand before condemn
Il ING il. | dressad and went to thp hot,