San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-04-11
POSTSCRIPT.

Here concludes the remarkable narrative
of Mr.. Paul Rodney. 1t is to be wished that
he had found the patience to tell us little
more. The circumstance of his dying in
1928 worth S3l 900 leads me to suspect that
his associate, Tassard, greatly exaggerated
the value of the treasure. | am assured that
he lived very quietly, and that the lady he
married, who bore him two children, both of
whom died young, was of nun-like sim
plicity of character, and loved show and ex-
travagance as little as her husband. Hence
there is no reason to suppose that he squan-
dered any portion of the fortune that had in
the most extraordinary manner ever heard Of
fallen into his hands. | have aScertained
that he very substantially discharged the
great obligation that his relative Mason laid
him under, and that his three men received
81 900 apiece. 1t is possible then, that the
pirates were themselves deceived; that what
they had taken to be gold or silver ingots
were not all 50; or it might be that the case
of jewelry was less valuable than the admir-
ring and astOnished eyes of plain sailor,
who admits that he had never before seen
such a sight, figured it, Be this, however
as it may, it is nevertheless certain, as proved
by Mr.. Rodney's last will and testament, that
he did uncommonly well out of his adventure
on the ice.
Whatever may be thought of his story of
the Frenchman'S restoration to life, in other
directions Mr.. Rodney's accuracy seems I'M
Improbable. 1t is quite conceivable that a
stoutly built vessel locked up in the ice and
thickly glazed, should continue in an excel
lent state of preservation for years. The
confession of his superstitious fears exhibits
honesty and candor. 1t is related that a
Capt. Warren, master of an English merchant
ship, found a derelict in August, IT'S, that
had long been ice bound, with her cabins
filled with the bodies of the frozen crew.
His own sailors, however, would not suffer
him to search the vessel thoroughly, through
superstition, and wished to leave her imme-
diaT a A pity they did not try their hands
az .RSpg one of the poor fellows; the result
Nce we kept Mr.. Rodney's strange ex-
20 countenancel
of vast bodies of ice, such as Mr.
Ro~ in with, will be found in the
"South utic Directory" For instance:
''Sir JAN c. Ross crossed Weddel'sf ack
in lat. IS dogs. S., and where he had und
an open sea Ross found an ice pack of al i'm
passable character, along which he sailed for
100 miles; and again, when only deg be
yond the track of Cook, who had no occasion
to enter the pack, Ross was navigating
among it for fifty-six days.
''But these appear insignificant when com.
pared with body of ice reputed to have been
passed by twenty-One ships during the months
of December, 1854, and January, February,
March and April, 1855, floating in the South
Atlantic, from lat. A dogs. S., long. 2S dogs.
W., to lat. 40 degs S., long. 20 degs w. Its
elevation in no case exceeded 300 feet. The
first account of it was received from the
Great Britain, which, in December, 1854, was
reported to have steamed fifty miles along
the outer side of the longer shank One ship
was lost upon it; others embayed"
THE END.