The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-12-21
A Big Fortune Under the Sea.

The International Submarine Diving
Company, whose vessel, the Mary d.
Leech, has been quietly engaged in
searching for the location of her Britain
mic Majesty's brig De Brook, which;
foundered June 10, 1898, off Lewes, has.
been rewarded with unmistakable evil
dences of the lost vessel. During the
past eighty-three years no effort, with.
the exception of that made by the Brit,
ish Government, in 1910, has been made
ito recover the fabulous treasure which
is known to have been sunk. 1t has been
abandoned as being irrevocably lost,
because the depth of water is so great
that all appliances heretofore invented
for raising heavy bodies were useless
The International Diving Company,
which was organized in Philadelphia
for no other purpose than to raise the.
abandoned treasure, is fitted up with ALI
that ingenuity can devise. The most
wonderful piece of mechanism on board
is an immense diving-bell, in which q
diver might live comfortably for week.
He has Communication with the upper
world by telephone wires. He is sup
piled with the means of making his own
air, and for light in his exploration he,
is provided with a powerful electric;
flame, which, when IN operation, re-
veals to him every outside object with
vivid distinctness. At the side of the
bell is q mechanical arm, with ma
chinery so perfect that in every move-
ment it resembles the action of the hui
man arm, even unto the picking up of a
pin.
According to the papers in the pos
session of samuel S. McCracken,
pilot, whose grandfather was the only
survivor, and who was engaged in pilot
| ing the vessel in the harbor, about $52,-
0O0, 900 of specie and jewels went down
with her. The money was taken by the
De Brook from an intercepted Spanish
fleet while on her way to Halifax,
England, from a successful cruise on
| the Spanish Main. With the specie
were taken 200 prisoners. When the
vessel foundered the prisoners were in
irons on the lower deck, and were all
lost. Capt. James Drew, who COM
manded the vessel, and whose body was
| recovered two days afterwards, lies bu-
ried in St. Peters churchyard, in Lewes.
| Two wears after wreck the British
Government sent two frigates to raise
the De Brook, but without success.
/ Forty years ago, while McCracken was
/ on cruise, circulars were posted around
| Sussex County offering the sum OF $780,
| 600 for information that would lead to
the discovery of the sunken vessel. 1t
had been supposed up to the present
that the hull had been swept away by
/ the action of the tides. The Interna-
tional Company. to keep its real object
from view, had been since September
working at another sunken vessel, near
where the De Brook was supposed to
have foundered. McCracken, who is
receive majority of whatever treasure
is discovered, in an interview says that
the De Brook lies in fifteen fathoms of
water. The divers, in going down,
found long, irregular ridge, about fif-
teen feet high, eighteen feet wide, and
about sixty feet long. On each side are
piles of loose stones, supposed to be the
ballast thrown from the frigate in the
effort made to raise the wreck in the
year 1900. Rough weather interfering
with further operations, the company
was compelled to postpone further in
vestigation, and on Wednesday the div
ers returned to Philadelphia. The work,
however, viii be vigorously pushed for
) ward as soon as favorable weather sets
in.-Reading Pa. } Times.