The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-05-31
AN ANCHOR CENTURIES OLD.
ITO oked by Some Fi.hormen off Chat.
ham.

About year ago, when Captains "Web'
Nickerson, Albert Kendrick and J. N.
Bloomer were outside the beach on their an
nual spring cruise after anchors lost by YES
sells during tho winter just passed, they
raised large anchor of curious shape and
antlQuated design, about a mile southeast
from where the Chatham life-saving station
row stands. Soon afterward, on the same
SPOT, they hooked something of such extreme
weight that it broke their grapplings after
being raised some distance towards the sur
face. As this "something" went down these
captains curiosity rose, and as they found
marks of metal on their grapplings they
could not keep back the hopes that
it might be something of value, perhaps
metallic chest, full of specie from some un
Known wreck Tie anchor raised made it
quite certain that the vessel it belonged to
must have been of an Gent build, and who
could tell that much stuff of value might not
wash out from under tho sand with this an
Choir. They took the ranges and kept their
own counsel, and this spring Captain Bloom
er went to Boston and related the circum-
stances to W. D. Duncan, diver who is
| known all along the Atlantic coast He de-
cded to come down, and if they could 10
cate it again he would vesti!ate, he to
have a share of the treasure when found.
He arrived in town on Monday, the 14th
| li!ob. luty lTlel III vain W lDCduo ull5 tiedo-
ure, but were not able to hook any
thing until few days ago, when they
! found themselves over tie un.
known "something" Diver Duncan de-
scended and found another immense anchor
o. altiquated pattern without any stock, ths
shank being 10 feet inches in length, and
the ring 80 inches in diameter. 1t had no
stock, which accounts for their being unable,
| to hook it. He next found near it part OF
the ribs of wreck and that p1rt of vessels
bottom that contained her ballast, the ball
last being of pig iron in large chunks. which
| had been there so long that the chunks had
become welded together wi h rust. The
diver says that what they hooked last year
must have been some of this ballast which
their grappings got hold of and lifted till its
| extreme weight broke the grappliDgs. The
diver next found two iron cannon Of per-
haps 1000 pounds each of verv curious and
extremely ancient pattern. They were very
thickly crusted over with deposit from the
ocean and with rust, and the iron was as soft
as lead, where u piece of this crust was
broken off in being raised to the deck of the
schooner Emulator. These cannon are Curl
GUS looking objects as they now lie,
covered thickly with barpaclas, shells, etc.
The diver and the others firmly claim that
they found nothing of very great value, but
their self-satisfied looks and actions and
their every movement give people the idea
that they found much more than they are
willing to divulge. A part of the wood
work of one of the gun carriages is in good
state of preservation, having been covered
up in the sand for perhaps more than three
centuries The question now uppermost
here is: "What vessel was it? What was her
nationality. and when was she wreckedF
The Oldest men living have no recollection
of ever hearing their parents speak of any
foreign frigate ever having been wrecked
there. Some think the anchor is of French
style of manufacture; some say it is Dutch
but how many years ago this vessel met hel
doom on Chatham beach no one can tell