Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-09-01

xniaAshLfhlh, SeptemDer 1.-The Times
publishes the following report Of the opera
uons Of the steamship CITY of Long Branch
which is now anchored of Cape Henlopen,
outside the breakwater, searching for the
treasure which went down on the British
sloop Of war DeBraak, in Nav, 1913 The
work is being done under the direction of
DR.. Seth PaDeet and Charles Adams. u. S.
navy, who has been detailed by the govern.
msnt for the work. The discipline on board
the steamship Is very strict and every thing
d done IN systematic manner. The bot.
tom of the ocean has been dredeed and ex-
plofed by the divers for considerable dis
lance and every elevation carefully noted
on the coast
After going over the bottom for n mile
square from the point where Pilot McCrack-
ems notes said the De Braak sank. a mound
bve ieet high, one hundred feet long and
forty feet in width was found in sixty feet
o. water. No other marked elevation was
discovered within a redius of one mile.
This mound Is about seven hundred feet
south Of the location named by McCrack
en-. When the graphing irons caught ON
this mound the points showed slight
trace OF yerdegris. This was considered a
favorable sign rs verdegris is due to COP
per. An anchor was put out and a buoy
marks the spot Diver Charles +. Pedrick
was sent down to make an examination
and probe which he drove into the mound
was brought up with its point covered with
verdegris
The records show that besides the treas
ure the De Braak has seventy tons OF cop
per in her hold when she sank. and vas
coppercd above the water line This was
something unusual in ships of her day.
The City of Long Branch is now anchored
directly over this spot The steamboat is
fitted out with ali the modern machinery
Tor ra. ing sstnSeh \, Ssels. A large Bush
wrecking pumr which makes 600 revolu tons
minute AID discharge from eight to
ten tons of solid matter per hour, is placed
amidships, and is under the especial charge
of Submarine Engineer, Charles F. Pike,
and his assistant, Lewis Pike. A twenty
horsepower engine is used to run the pump
while another engine supplies the divers
with air.
The old style hand air-pump has been
entirely discarded. Air is forced through
the water into q receiving tank, and reg
uiar pressure of sixty pounds to the square
inch is kept up. All, sorts of grappies,
drags and probes have been provided, and
the outfit of the expedition is said 10 be
the most complete ever sent out. Diver
Pedrick while exploring the mound found
his probe imbedded in small piece of
wood He signaled for a rope, and while
waiting for il to be lowered sat down on
the mound. His hand came in contact
with another piece of wood, about i've feet
long. These pieces were sent to the sur
face and dried. In the larger piece several
bolts of the style used by ship-builders of
hundred years ago were found. The iron
had oxidixed considerably, but enough re-
mained TO show that they were made by
hand A chemical analysis of these bolts
showed the presence of copperas, which is
thought to be due to the galvanic action of
the salt water, and iron and copper some
where in the immediate vicinity.
The wood, experts say, is oak aud teak
wood, of which the De Braak was built. A
sounding pipe, which was lost during the
preliminary soundings, was recovered i'm
the mound by Diver Pedrick on Monday.
The big suction was run down, and the
work OF pumping the mound out was COM
menced- As the tide runs very strong be-
tween the capes. and q diver must direct
the big suction at the bottom, the work can
only be done at slack water and is neces-
sarily slow. Diver Edward Hickman agrees
with his colleague Pedrick. who says the
mound could be pumped out in five DAYS
il they could work at il steady, but as they
can only work about three hours per day,
it will probably take week to find out
what is there. Both Captain Adams aud
the divers feel satisfied there is q wreck Of
vessel lying under the mound.
In speaking OF the matter YESTERDAY
Captain Adams said: I'VE are all satisfied
the De Braak wxs sunk on May 25. 1888
with its prisoners and treasure, and while
many vessels have gone down near there,
we know Of no large vessel except the De
Brsak, anywhere near this mound. Its
an established fact that wreck or any OBJ
struction, will, in course of time, become
covered up by the wash of the tide back
and forth. and bar is formed. There is
90 feet Of water over the mound, and of
course Ii is too deep TO form q 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 below the level.
II cannot swear that this vessel Is the
DeBraak until we bring up something
marked with the broad arrow, but every
thing leads up 10 that belief. We know
she had a large amount ON board, and q
copper bottom. Every thing brought to
the surface so far shows the presence of
copper. Although we have carefully ex-
aiained every foot of the bottom within a
radius of mile from the bearings taken by
Pilot McCracken, no trace of copper is
found al any other point, and We therefore
think we are now over the right spot. IL
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 il at the bottom of the ocean,
Soon immense volumes of water came out
Of the ax-inch discharge pipe, and was
caught in a screen which allowed the
smaller particles to run through. When
Hickman jammed the suction into the
mound great quantities of shells were
brought UP and deposited in the screen.
The visitors stood near watching the mud
and water. Two of the crew. armed with
SCOOPS, were kept busy shoyeling the shells
from the screen to the deck.
Suddenly one of them called out
ssHere's wood" In an instant everyone
was excited. The man picked piece of
black substance which looked like mud
from his shovel and handed it to Engineer
Pike, who turned it over to Captain
Adams. After careful examination he
broke piece of and said: Eyes, gentle
men. that is wood. Perhaps it is piece of
the Braak." The lump brought up was
about the size Of a mans fist. Under the
microscope the fiber could be plainly
traced, aud everyone pronounced it teak
wood. As the tide was. running very
strong, diver Hickman had TO come up,
AND the pump was stopped. Engineer Pike
estimated that between four and five tons
of solid matter had been discharged
through the pipe during the half hour 1t
was at work, and said il was working salts
factorily, about 40 per cent. of the dis
charge being solid matter.
After Diver Hickman had put on his
everyday clothes. and solsced himself with
his pipe, he said: Il think if / could have
stayed down at the bottom Cor another
hour would have found something. I've
got hole in the edge of the mound five
feet deep and think | will soon find out
what's down there. II we only have good
weather for week / feel sure something
win turn up to pay us for ali our trouble.
If weget the treasure, aud ] think we are
pretty close TO il now, both Pedrick and
nyseh will be rich men. It was impo 81
kle for me 10 stay down any logger as tue