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

Col. James h. GOWen, whose de-
parture for Europe was chronicled
last week has made special duty OF
Sunken treasures, and has many
strange and interesting stories to tell
of men who have vainly sacrificed
wealth, time and labor, and some
times even life itself, in the search
for them. On recent occasion, after
he had told the story of the sinking
of the Spanish treasure galleons in
the bay of Vigo, and announced his
intention Of going to recover them,
he recalled many r9miniscences of
treasure. seeking that are all well
worty of record.
mot many years ago." said the
Colonel, "the rage for treasure-seek-
ing was SO prevalent in all our large
cities that-no scheme, however i'm.
probable, could fail Of finding sup
port and patronage. Many of the
schemes were so blazenly fraudulent
that no man of ordinary common
sense should have embark ed a dollar
of money Cr an hour of time, while
others, which We're seemingly well
backed with documentary and other
evidence that was seemingly correct,
were equally fraudulentand delusive,
since they referred to schemes that
had been exploded years before. One
of the expeditions which were organ.
lied at that time was to the island of
AbOcO, Oil the coast of Venezuela,
where treasure ship was sunk late
! in the seventeenth century. The coast
was rough and rocky, and the break
ers heavy, so that the schooner sent
with the first expedition was dashed
to pieces, and the searchers narrowly
escaped death, but the second was
| more successful, as it found some of
| the timberS of the sunken vessel, and
established the fact that the gold, if
she contained any, had long since
disappeared. This search cost SO, 900.
"Venezuela draws steady income
from American seekers of sunken
treasures, as tradition says that many
of the treasure-laden galleOns bound
for Spain were lost upon her rock
bound coast. There is scarcely a year
that she does not grant search con-
cessiOns tC adventurous Americans
who have been convinced BY interest
ed parties that all they have to do is
to get the necessary authority aud go
at once and rake in the doublOOns and
ingOt5 and numberlesS pieces of the
/ unfortunate Spaniards who lost their
| lives in trying to save them. Some
| of these concessions were for places
| that had been so often and so thor
| oughly searched that the chances for
"find" We're worse than one in
million still the shreWd Venzuelans
raked in actual American dollars in
pay for prospective doubl0Ons and
pieces-ot eight and ingots, and smi-
ed. One of these adventurous expe-
ditions was headed by a journalist
and backed by mo1eyed men. who
ought to have studied the question
closely before investing.
at was instigated by q dried-uD,
generally worn out mariner, who was
widely known in New York as THE
Captain,' who led a life that was
a constant series Of shifty expedient.
To-day he would be flush of money,
dining at the best restaurants, and to-
morrow playing the degraded part of
lunch tiend. However, he fell in
finally with the journalist, stuffed
him full of his Venezuelan scheme,
and finally persuaded him to embark
in the speculation. Money was OBJ
tanned, vessel manned and fitted
out with diving apparatus, and the
journalist and the captain sailed
merrIy forth for South American
waters in search Of untold wealth.
Somehow or another the "Captain'
had lost his bearings, as it were, al
though when he was in New York he
knew to the franction of an inch ex-
actly where the sunken treasures lay,
and the report was that the exploring
vessel tloated leisurely along the
biggest part Of the coast of South
America, dredging here and sending
down divers there, and finding moth.
ing. 1t was a good thing as vaca.
ton, the journalist thought, aud
interesting as developing the lgpp.
graphical character of the bottom of
the sea, but as speculative invest
ment 1t was most decided failure.
Finally, after about three months of
a WearisOme search, during which
the Captain was always Sanguine of
rich find, the journalist cornered
him one day and forced him to con-
fesS that his sO-called KNOWLEDGE of
the hiding-place Of the sunken treas
ure was purely coniectural, and that
his whole scheme had been devised
| for the sake of "A plpaSant cruien aud