The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-05
WORKING FOR MILLIONS.
me Divers Who Are Seurching for the
Braak's Treasure.
Fronl the Philadelphia Times.

1ewes. Del, last night, contained q party
Of Philadelphia capitalists who for two days
bave been watching the operations of the
stearner City of Long Branch, which is now
anchored off Cape Henlopen, outside the
Breakwater. searching for the treasure
which won't down on the British sloop-of-
war De Braak in May, 1875. The party
,,ns.,led OF James j. Kane, S. IL. BineS,
s,nn ii. Schre ner, Oimont Rtmbo, William
n Murphy, &. De Luca, ValeEline B. Finn,
1nioes +. Scravenlyka. John ii. Wilkinson,
NJ Pnonixville; Robert Walzl, of Baltimore,
and Harris Gratrcn.
They spent the day on board the steamer
and made n thorough inspection of the
wo K, which is Icing done under the direc-
tlo4 Of DR.. Seth Pancoast and Capt. Charles
n Adams, United States navy, who has
Inan detailed by the government for the
work The discipline on BOARD the steam
a. IS very strict and every thing 10 done in
. systematic manner. The bottom of the
~ct,tl has been dredged and eXploro1 by the
c,r.rs Cor a couSlde raDle distance and every
a,eyatioa carefully noted on tie chart.
Gits. qoiug over the bottom for a mile
suore from the point at which Pilot Nc
tracNen's notes snid the De Braak sank q
mot,nd 5 feec high, 100 feet long and 20 feet
~ uifiti, was fuuud i'll 60 feet OF wate.' No
within a radius of one mile. This mound
is no nut TOO feet south of the location named
by McCracken.
FAVORABLE SIGN.
When the graphing irons caught on this
roou0d the points showed slight tracs of
yor,jil.ris. This was considered a favorable
sign. as verdigris is duo only to copper. An
anchor was put out and buoy marks the
snot Diver Charles F. Pedrich was ssat
Gown t. make an examination, and probe
which he drove into the mound was brought
10 with its point covered with verdigr,B.
the records show that besides the treasure
the De- Braak had 10 tons OF copper in her
hold when II, sank and was coppered above
the water line. This was something un-
usual il ships Of her day.
The City of Long Branch is now anchored
directly over thi, SPOT. The steamer is fitted
out with ali the modern machinery for
raising sunken vessels A large bush wreck
n.e pilnp. which makes 600 revolutions
mi ute and can discharge from eight to ten
rs of SOLID matter per hour, Is placed
smidships, and Is under the especial charge
of Submarine Engineer Charles 4. Pike and
lis assistan Lewis Pike. A 20-horse-pow-
er engine is used to run the pump, while
lnothcr engine supplies the divers with air.
the old style hand air pump has been entire
II discarded The air is forced through
water into a receiving tank aud regular
rressure If GO pounds to the square inch is
kept up. All sorts of grapples, drags and
trJbes have been provided, and the outfit OF
tle expedition is said to be the most
complete ever sent out.
DIVER PEDRICK'S FIND.
Diver Pcdrick, while exploring the
mound, found his probe imbedded in a
FmnH piece of wood. He signaled for rope
AID while waiting for it to be lowered sat
down on the mound. His hand came in
contact with another piece of wood about
Ave feet long. These pieces were sent to
the surface and dried. In the larger piece
rev raj bolts of the style used by ship-build-
ers of 100 years ago were found. The iron
had oxidized considerably, but enough re-
manned to show they were made by hand.
chemical analysis of these bolts showed
the presence of copperaS, which is thought to
be due to the galvanic action of the salt
water, iron and copper somewhere in the
Immediate vicinity. The wood, experts
Say. is oak and teakwood, of which the
De Braak was built. A sounding pipe,
which was lost during the preliminary
s0undings, was recovered in the mound by
Diver Pedrick on Monday.
PUMPING OUT THE MOUND.
The big suction was run down and the
work of pumping the mound out was COM
n1enced. As the tide runs very strong be-
tween tho capes and diver must direct the
Zig suction at the bottom the work can only
bc done at slack water and Is necessarily
slow. Diver Edward Hickman agrees with
his colleague Pedrick, who says the mound
could be pumped down In five days If they
could work at it steadily, but as they can
Unly work for about three hours day it
will probably take a week to find out just
what is there. Both Capt. Adams and the
divers feel satisfied there is a wreck of a
vessel lying under the mound.
In speaking of the matter yesterday Capt.
Adams said: 1--WE are all satisfied that the
De Braak was sunk on May 2S, 1898, with
It's prisoners and treasure, and while many
vessels have gone down near there, we know
Of no large vessel except the De Braak any
where near this mound. 1t is an estab
ished fact that q wreck or any obstruction
will, in the course of time, become covered
40 by the wash of the tide back and forth,
and a bar is formed. There is 60 feet of
awter over the mound, and of course it is
too deep TO form bar, but the tide has
washed back and forth until the wreck has
been covered and the mound formed. The
wreck itself may be found some distance be-
low the Level.
CAPTAIN ADAMS HOPEFUL.
81 cannot swear that this vessel is TIE De
oItuk uiftla we DrlAS up SOlucOLiilS HiaI hou
with the broad arrow, but everything
leads up to that belief. We know she had
q largea mount of copper on
board and copper bottom, Every
thing brought to the surface so far shows
he presence of copper. Although we have
carefully examined every foot of the bottom
within radius of mile from the bearings
6aken by Pilot McCracken, no trace of cop
per is found at any other point, and we
therefore think we are, now over the right
spot. Ii we are there is no doubt of our
getting everything that was in her when
She went down.
Yesterday the big suction was sent down
again and the pump started. Diver Hick-
man directed it at the bottom of the ocean.
Soon immense volumes of water came out
Oh the six-inch discharge pipe and was
caught in a SCREEN which allowed the small
Ter particles to run through. When Hick
man jammed the suction into the mound
great quantities of shells were brought up
end deposited in the screen. The visitors
stood near watching the mud and water
Two of the crew, armed with big scoops,
We're kept busy shoveling the shells from
the screen to the deck. Suddenly one OF
Them called out: Here's wood! In an in
slant everyone was excited. The man picked
apiece OF black substance which looked like
mud from his shovel and handed it to Engi-
Deer Pike, who turned 1t over to Capt
Adams. After careful examination he
broke piece off and said: "Yes, gentle
men, that is wood. Perhaps 1t is piece of
the Braak."
The lump brought up was about the size
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