The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-08-14
LOST TREASu RE 9.

The search for lost treasures mas always
been attractive to adventnrers with UNI
balanced minds. Quite number OF people
have spent their lives in hunt for the
treasure which Captain Kidd is said to have
secreted. Every now and then story is
set afloat of treasure which lies under tbs
waves on this coast and company 10
formed TO locate the wreck and fish up the
coin. The seekers for sunken treasure on
this coast are indebted to their imagination
and not to history for most Of their facts.
But Captain Kidd was a real parsonage ana
had n way of "cachine'' the bullion he stols,
as was proved by the actual discovery o.
some of his plumber on Gardiner lsIano,
New York. There are people in New York
to this day who are quite sure tha' tney
know the exact spot on the bank OF the
Hndson River where the bulk of his booty
jae hid They will gladly divide 1t with
onv one who will supply the funds Tor
systematic exploration of the place.
The frisate HusSar treasure, which Cap
tain Tnomas Symonds now announces that
he has found, was lost in the year 1850.
The ship was conveying coin TO New York
TO pay off the British troops and the Hes
slams who were engaged in suppressing the
rebellion of the North American colonies
She was struck BY a squall while lying OH
what is now One Hundred and Thirty-SeV-
enth street. New York City. and went to
the bottom. Precisely the sum OF money
she had on hand the British Government
has declined TO state; gossip, with custom
airy eXaggeratiOn, has stated that it
amounted to million pounds sterling.
One-tenth that sum would probably be
nearer the mark. But that she did contain
a large sum in gold Is beyond dispute, and
IL is also beyond question that it sunk TO
the bottom Of the East River, about 30
yards from the shore. within very few
miles from the City Hall of New York.
For hundred years expert dredgers and
divers have been trying TO recover it. Frag-
ments of wood and iron have frequently
been fshed up off Jones' Woods, aud an
cIent mariners have pronounced them YES
tiges Of the lost Hussar. Some 10 years
ago an explorer hauled up from the bottom
or SAID he hauled up-a handful of British
gold pieces; Whereupon the craze 10 find the
wreck of the HuSsar waxed fiercer than
ever. Now Captain SymOnds says that he
has found one gold guinea and two bars of
silver-did they propose to paw off the
troops in silver bullion?-and once more
The excitement has been revived.
1t will be very remarkable if coin which
has lain at the bottom OF an arm of the sea for
over a century should now be discovered.
In deep water. say at 500 or 1900 fathoms.
the sea is still, and a wreck will lie undis-
turbed until the wood decays or deep-water
creatures tear il in pieces. But in shallow
water the motion of the waves and tides
very quickly breaks uD a wreck ana dis
tributes Is pieces all ever the bottom and
the shores for great distances. Thus. while
in the case IF vessels which sink IN deep
water the recovery of their cargo IS i'm
possible in consequence of the pressure of
the water, vessels which sink in shall
low water are after time safe from the
diver, because there is nothing left of them
10 bring up. The ineessant ebb and flow of
irresistible currents tear the strongest fabric
TO pieces. and scatter it every direction aud
every storm DuTies the fragments under COW
ering Of sand and gravel. The sea is jealous
Of its acquisitions; what il gets 1t holds
fast When a vessel goes ashore on a sandy
beach il is generally there to stay. In two
tides the SEA will fill IL with such a load Of
sand that all the tugs in the world cannot
move il. IL the Hussar sank at the spot
where Captain SymOnds Is dredging ii is
odds that nothing OF her frame is now in
existence, and that the chests which con-
tanned her treasure were long ago broken
open by the waves, and their contents buried
under sand and gravel.
If we are to believe historical anecdote,
there WAS one treasure in the old, old days
which was buried beneath the waves and
was never dispersed, This was an enor-
nous accumulation of gold and silver coin
which it had been the delight of barbarian
Li-s - s~ll~st. Ito~sF~i.~ r.HIO 70
safe place. he diverted the waters of tie
Danubs from a narrow channel and en-
plOyed masons 10 construct stone vault on
the river bottom. The vault completed, the
treasure was placed In it. and the river re-
stored to its old channel. Then the king
carefully put the masons to death and
rested easy in the conviction that his treas
ure was safe. So, according to the story
which is current in Roumania, Ii is 20 this
daY.