Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-12-12

SEEKING SUNKEN MHLONs.-An expe-
dition almost as wonderful us the search
for the Golden Fleece, and in Imagination
carrying us back TO the days when the
daring nayigatOrs of Spain set sail for
unknown countries in quest of boundless
wealth, is now fitting out in New York
| city, and will next month begin search
for six million dollars in treasure which
now lies deep beneath the waves of the
Spanish main. More than sixty years ago
the three-deckcr Spanish man-Of- war, the
San Pedro Alcantara, set sail as convoy to
II number of provision-laden vessels de-
signed for the fleet then engaged in the
Caribbean sea in subjugating to Spanish
rule the States on the Spanish main.
Thirteen hundred men accompanied the
vessel, and in her treasure chest was three
million dollars in silver When the AL
cantara reached Venezuela fierce revo-
luton was in progress, and the citizens of
Caracas, fearing for their property trans
ferred to the vessel an enormous amount
of treasure, of which the gold alone was
worth over one million dollars, while the
priests of the various temples and church
es also placed on board several heavy
chests loaded with gold and silver altar
plate and gold coin. Sailing thence to
Margarita Island, the troops debarked and
defeated the Venczuelans, sacked and
burned four revolted towns and took on
board the vessel enormous spols. Excited
by success the soldiers and sailors drank
deep that night, and when Il drunken
watch dropped torch into an open cask
of brandy nothing could be done to check
the progress of the flames. The boats
were easily lowered, for the sea was calm,
but the excited crowd fought so terribly
for places that they were capsized and
sunk and few of the thirteen hundred men
on board escaped The flames soon reach
ed the powder magazine, which was i'm
mediately below the treasure-chests, IL
terrific explosion tore the Acantara to
pieces and the forward part of the ship
quietly sank beneath the waves. Such is
the history of the vessel and its treasures
we come now to the efforts that have been
made to recover some Of this vast wealth
from the sea.
In 1916 Capt. Goodrich of Newbury-
port Mass, with Il diving bell, recovered
thirty thousand dollars; in 1915 II Balli-
more company secured two hundred thou
sand dollars; in 1886 Capt. Nicholas
Town brought up twenty eight thousand
dollars, and in 1858 Capt. Whipple found
thirty thousand dollars. All the above
sums were in silver coin. Other efforts
have also been made from time to time,
but with little or no success The COM
mander of The present expedition is Capt.
|. ii. Folingsby, who has made a contract
with the Venezuelan government by
which he gives five per cent of all the
treasure he may discover for the exclusive
privilege of dredging, dragging and diving
for the Sunken wealth for II period of six
years. lie proposes to make his search
IN different manner from that employed
hy his predecessors. He believes that the
strong boxes were not broken open bv the
explosion, but only tossed to distance,
and he intends to prosecute his operations
ut some distance from the wreck, dredging
every inch of the bottom and thoroughly
testing all methods of search. He has
appliances to search five hundred square
feet Of ground per day, and is sanguine
of making Il rich haul. SO far as known
less than five hundred thousand dollars has
hitherto been recovered, and there is every
reason to believe that from four mil
lion to five million dollars still lies on the
bottom Of the sea.