Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-01-31
SUNKEN GOLD.

OF 1t, but until | was sent 1Or Oy q Ilru
of London marine contractors with ref
erence to it knew nothing of the ia
nous shipwreck of the British mail
steamer Pondicherry off the Chinese
coast.
1t seems that in the year 1856 the
Pondicherry, en- route from London to
Shanghai with cargo of goods and
e50,00 sterling in treasure, ran upon
sunken ledge off Cape Yang-Tse in
thick fog. The steamer rested upon the
rocks long enough to enable the passen-
gers and crew to get off, and then she
parted amidships.
The forward portion rolled inside the
ledge into comparatively shallow wa
ter and was easily reached, but the aft
er part went down into very deep water
outside, and no trace of it could be
found.
Unfortunately it was the after part
of the wreck which contained the bull
lion room, and with it ESQ, 600 in Eng
lish gold had gone out of sight, SEEM
ingly forever.
That is to say. it was still out of
sight when, 80 years after the Pondi-
cherry was wrecked, was summoned
to the office of Barbold & Co., in Lon
don. and asked if | could go to Shang
hal | suppose my good luck in getting
up, from depth of more than 25 faith
oms, great part of the treasure that
went down with transatlantic steamer
off the Azores had something to do with
the call | received from Barbold q Co.
The newspapers were full of it at the
time.
Of course | was ready to go to Shang-
hal or to the north pole if | received
my transportation thither and a fair re-
muneration. Within week | embark
ed, with my diving apparatus, for
China
Our little expedition was in charge
of Captain John Reese, an enterpris-
ing Welshman My companion diver,
George Cowles, accompanied us, and
with us went several other men and a
good deal of apparatus. We chartered
a tug at Shanghai and proceeded down
the coast to the scene of the Pondicher-
ry's wreck.
We found that, owing to the danger
GUS character of the ledges here, it was
impossible to work from the steamer.
We had to send back the tugboat and
replace it with large, open whaleboat
propelled only by oars, in which we set
up our windlass and other apparatus.
put on my diving dress-a close one,
of course, inclosing the whole body
and new helmet of the improved pat
tern, provided with three plate glass
windows and outlet and inlet valves at
the back.
l went down slowly to depth of
about 140 feet before | found the bot
TOM 1t was as rough and rocky as the
reef at the surface.
had great difficulty in moving about
and working at this depth. The pres
sure was tremendous. felt much as
old Atlas must have felt when he had
the world on his shoulders-only the
pressure was all over me instead of
merely on my shoulders. The hum
ming in my ears was like dozen trip
hammers working all at once.
However got used to it after lit
tie. Presently, prowling about with
my lamp, | saw dimly, rot 10 feet
away, great dark object which evil
IDENTIFY was not a rock.
lunged slowly toward it-one can
almost walk in the water at such a
I depth-and saw the object take the
form of the stern of vessel. Coming
right against it, made out four raised
| letters, Pond
All the rest of the steamers name
ably when she made her rough descent
into the deep, but that was enough. l
! felt as light as feather for about five
minutes.
looked the wreck over a little and
then started slowly up to the surface to
report to Reese and get Cowles to come
down and help me.
After he had joined me we ripped
| up the deck, blew out quantity of
wreckage with submarine cartridge
and opened passage straight down to
the treasure room. Then | set at work
alone taking out the boxes of bullion,
which | sent up by a rope worked upon
the windlass in the boat above.
Though it was thrilling work to lift
out these solid boxes of sovereigns, | am
afraid it would not be interesting to tell
the story OF our toll for the next two
days.
But we worked steadily on-only two
or three hours day, the pressure was
so terrible-excited by the thought OF
the thousands of pounds we were getting
up from the bottom of the sea, though
but small share of it was to be ours.
| One day, just after had got down
and had begun my work in the bullion
room, ielt a great jerking on the life
line attached to my waist. jerk! jerk
The rope was drawn in hard, quick
pulls that once or twice quite lifted mt
off my feet.
| thought at first that shark wal
taking series of headers against th'
line, but presently, by the steadiness o
the pulls and certain kind of human
nervousness that was in them, ! made
out that | was being signaled from
above to come up. though the pull wa
not the come up signal that had beel
agreed upon.
While was getting ready, in no geo.
bumor. to ascend, felt myself sudden
y raised and drawn up quickly throug
the water. Then. | confess | wa
frightened. To draw up a diver quickl
from such depth is ordinarily certai
Ieath to him. He must rise slowly an
nccustom himself by successive stages t
the change Of pressure.
signaled desperately by jerks upo
the rope, and for Il moment the upwaf
pull ceased | collected my senses an
began to rise slowly.