Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-12-10
TREASURES UNDER THE SEA,

hln W0nQ0fIul christmas Tree.
TREASURES UNDER THE SEA.
An expedition is now preparing in
New York for an errand of rare romance
in this prosaic time. Its object is to
search, with all the appliances of mod
ern science, for some of the 'unsunned
heaps of jewels with which centuries of
war and wreck are supposed to have
strewed the bottom of the Spanish main.
One of the most gorgeous of the authen-
tic tales of this enchanted region is that
of the loss in 1912 of the Spanish treas
ure ship San Pedro Alcantara with over
$6.0OO,OOo in gold, silver and precious
stones. off the Venezuelan shore. This
vessel had been sent by King Feridin-
and VII. to convoy provision-ships for the
feet engaged in subjugating to the
Spanish rule the slong the south shore
of the Caribbean Sea. There were 1900
men on board. and the chests contained
S3,OOO.OOO in silver. On reaching
Caracas, a revolution was found in
progress. and the Spanish citizens has
tened to put their property on board
the San Pedro. The gold alone amount
ed to 81 100000, and the jewels prob
ably to as much again, and this vast
treasure was increased by more than as
much more by descent on some of the
revolted towns on the coast and the car
rying away of all the wealth the insa-
tiate mariners could lay their hands on.
The acquisition of these riches COM
pletely turned the heads of the Span
iards, and officers, soldiers and sailors
prepared to celebrate their fortune by a
grand debauch. In the midst of their
revelry the cry of fire !" was heard.
The drunken mob, fighting desperately
for the life boats, made no effort to save
the treasure or to check the flames,
which soon reached the powder maga-
zine, and the huge three decker was
instantly blown to fragments, almost all
the lives destroyed, and the untold
wealth of metals and jewels strewn over
the bottom of the sea. Since that day
one of the favorlte undertakings of ma
rine adventurers has been to raise the
lost treasures of the San Pedro Atcanta-
ra. These attempts have failed from a
variety of causes, chiefly the inadequacy
of diving and dredging apparatus to
work effectively at the depth of over
sixty feet, in which the vessel lies
Perhaps S500.000 in all have been re-
covered, which is but small proportion
of the millions which undoubtedly re-
pose there among the sands.
The present expedition however,
which will start during the coming
month, has good assurance of success,
as Capt. 1. H. Folingsbee, of San Fran.
cisco, the protector, has supplied him
self with drags and dredges of the most
improved pattern and which his expe.
rience has shown him are entirely ade
quate for the purpose. He believes thai
the chests of gold were tossed by th'
explosion to much greater distance
from the vessel than other explorers
searched, and have sunk deeper in tht
sand than their instruments could pene
trate. He has obtained permission O
the Venezuelan government to search
for the treasure for six years in consid
Grafton of five per cent on all sums re
covered, and as he can examine minute
| ly all the ground necessary in eigh'
months, he starts out with the con6den
expectation of returning, within year
possessor of all the unvalued wealth 0
the ill-fated galleon.