The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-11-11

| SOiO 10 lIlt
harDor of New York. Iallude to the
bRush frigate Hussar, which ran
no one of the Hell Gate rocks late
iMlhe revolutionary war, was bulged
~ forward, and sunk near the spot
Where the Morrisania Gas Works are
DOW situated, in about eighty feet of
wafer She was a first class frigate,
anu, according to popular belief, car
ried about G2,00U,00O in gold for the
payment Of the British army in
America. Right where the Hussar
went down there is a very strong
toe and an eddy that renders work
very difficult; but not long after the
ciose OF the war efforts to get at her
treasures were begun, and they have
Oeen kept up, with occasional inter-
missions, ever since. In 1852 first
had the idea ofs raising sunked ships
fAN' appifed in 1857 in Sebastopol,
ana lthen thought of applying it to
tile Hussar; but in undertaking a
scheme of this sort l always want to
make sure that the treasure l am
looking for is where | have reason to
think ii is. SO | went to England
ana commenced thorough search
through the records with regard to
the frigate Hussar. I hired num-
oers OF Searhers, and made a COM
plete Investigations among the pa
perS Of the Admiralty and in the paw
department, and at length satisfied
myself that the G2,O0O,OO0 carried by
the HuSsar had been landed and duly
distributed to the paymasters.
Whether 1t ever reached the troops [
did not tax" the trouble to inuuire.
When [ came back to New York I
was called upon by friend who
wanted me to 60 into the scheme of
raising the Hussar. | laughed at
him and told him of my search
among the records, but in spite of nv
warning he quit me and put $4,000
into the scheme. For thirty years
the search after this treasure. which
does not exist, has been unremittinp-
ly carried on, and to-day if you walk
out l6Sth street to the water front, in
Morrlsania [ | won't be certain about
the street,, ynu will see a schooner
moored off the shore, equipped with
an engine and sending down divers
whenever the tide suits. The back
erS Of the scheme are a Boston COM
pany. | never heard of their recov-
erlng anything except a few wooden
cups and platters and suudry guineas
bearing the likeness of the first gem
tleman Of Europe, George III. And
yet the search has been kept uD for
thirty years. and good money has
been sunk into the wreck of the old
Hussar-thousands and thousands of
it. My friend who invested the S1O,-
900 called to see me when | returned
from Russia, and told me he was sor-
ry he had not taken my warning, but
| could see that he still hankered af-
ter the supposed treasure, and that
he still had lingering belief in its
existence, despite his sad experience.
J. went out to MOrriSania and wit
messed the diving for the treasure,
which was done without conceaIment,
and became more and more cOnVinc-
eG that there was nothing worth div
ing for. The theory of the manager
was that the Hussar's guineas had
been packed in iron boxes, and that
the material in these had been oXi-
died by the influence of the sea, and
that thus the divers We're forced to
work slowly with drills and could
accomplish no satisfactory results.
The fact is that certain persons inter-
ested in the scheme saw q chance of
making money without raising it
from the deep, and availed Them
selves of it. One man whose whole
life had been devoted to the HuSsar
and its supposed treasures has built
a row of brick dwellings in Boston, |
am told, and is very wel-to-do, but
the money did not come from the
Hussal. | need not say more. This
Is one OF the most persistentIy follow
ed searches for sunken treasure tt at
| ever heard Of, bat then, you see,
there were treasures that never had
been sunk that were availBbe for its
prOmOters.n