The Portland daily press., 1892-07-22
SIGNS OF THE HuSSAR.
But None as Yet of the Treasure That Went
Down with Her.


The progress of the work of the dredge
Little Giant at He'll Gate, is slow. Capt.
Thomas Simonds has been anchored off
Port Morris more than a week, but so
far he has not been able to fix the spot
where the British ship Hussar was sun
with 81 100000 in gold on board in 1850
He is confident, however, that if there
is any gold there his hydraulic dredger
will be able to bring it to the surface.
In the Sun of last Sunday there was an
account of the loss of the Hussar and of
the various attempts which have been
made in the last hundred years to re-
cover her treasure. The Little Giant is
provided with the best dredging appli-
ances, and Capt Simonds is full of that
New England determination which
characterized his forefathers. He means
to stick to the work until he is sure there
is nothing left at the bottom of the
Sound but rock.
The principal difficulty encountered so
far has been the force of the tides. The
water is 80 feet deep where the dredging
is being done, and therefore it is only at
slack water that the bucket can be used
with any success.
Slack water occurs twice day. and
lasts not longer then forty minutes. Capt
Simonds has lowered the bucket once
each morning for the last few days, but
SO far he has not met with much success.
He has brought few tons of rock and
mud to the surface, and with these a
number of unimportant objects. He
feels confident that he is anchored very
near the position of the wreck, because
OF several pieces of iron, brass, and cop
per that have come up in the bucket
These are all covered with rust and bar
nacles, SO that it would be difficult to de-
termine whether or not they ever be-
longed to the sunken Hussar, or, if they
did, what part of the ship they came
from. A piece of sheet lead about six
inches square, punctured with holes
and covered on one side with a black
substance, Capt. Symonds thinks is
part of the lining Of the Hussars powder
magazine. He says the black substance
is gun-powder.
Day before yesterday two or three
grape shot were brought to the surface,
and yesterday piece of bolt Every
scoop brings up several pieces of
flint. 1t is said that the Hussar brought
a cargo of flints from England to be used
by the British army here, as flint was
difficult to obtain in this country. The
flints found by Capt. Simonds are sup
posed to be portion of this cargo.
Two things were found yesterday that
did not belong to the Hussar, one is
divers rubber shoe, the other an UNI
brella handle. Old Uncle John Grimes,
who diyed in search of the Hussars
treasure thirty years ago, is still living.
A reporter saw him in Port Morris yes
terday. He said the umbrella handle
was one he had dropped overheard at the
time he was in search of the wreck, and
that the rubber shoe was similar to the
kind the divers used in those days.
Capt. Simonds says that the finding of
these things shows that the current at
the bottom has probably not washed
away the treasure, he is searching for.
1t has not been determined yet when
Capt. Simonds's diver will make his first
trip to the bottom. The submarine
electric search light has not come yet,
but as soon as it arrives descent will
be undertaken. Each of the divers
shoes weighs fifteen pounds. Besides
these he will wear 100 pounds of lead
about his waist to sink him to the bot
tom.
Several stockholders in the Little
Giant Hussar Wrecking Company have
come here from New England. and will
visit the Little Giant and Capt. Simonds
to-day to see how the work is getting
along.-New York Sun.