The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-30
MILLIONS BENEATH THE SEA,
Organization OF Syndicate 10 Search 70,
6unken Treasure.


Organization OF Syndicate 10 Search Ton
sunken Treasure.
A syndicate Of English and CONT
mental capitalists has recently beer
formed by Capt. Temple, of the roy1i
lazy, for the purpose of recovering &
vast treasures, estimated at the least az
amounting to $4,000, o00, 900.
For 1000 years at least the great sea
route for trade between India and west
crn Asia and Europe has been through
| the Arabian sea to Alden and thence up
| the Red sea to Suez. AS every schoolboy
| knows, the source of all the gold and
silver and jewels of the ancient world
was Asia. And the richest and most ia
nous mines were in India.
Ever since the formation of civiliza-
ton in the countries around the eas.-
crn end of the Mediterranean ships
laden with the most precious commodi-
ties known to man have been sailing
over this route and laying down in Eu-
rope their splendid cargoes.
To the ancients the Arabian sea was
fraught with the grayest perils. As the
centuries went by thousands of treas
ure-laden ships were sunk along the
trade route in the comparatively shnl.
low waters of that sea.
The moderns as we'll as the ancients
have found the navigation of the Red
sea most perilous. It is long, narrow
trough, in many places less than 20
miles wide and nearly two miles deep.
The Red Sea is 1900 miles long, but its
bottom is thicllly etreyvn with wrecks.
1t is always full of craft at all times
and has been for centuries. Until the
use of steam a considerable proportion
Of the craft that sailed there went to
tie bottom. And not few Of these
were treasure ships.
The estimate that there were $4,000.
100000 of treasure at the bottom of the
two seas is based upon the known ca
tsstrophes in historic time. The actual
records show that this sum has been
lost in that trade route. Il is safe to
cay that this gigantic sum represents
only part Of the treasure really there.
Buried under sand and shells and |
bones of ships as old as history and az |
new as the latest disaster there lie tons |
of gold and silver, huge bags and boxes
of diamonds and rubies and emeralds. |
Every year of the history of the civilized |
world is represented there.
If you could walk over these abysmal |
plains YOU could see tall ships of the
well-greaved Greeks of whom Homer
sang, the gallant vessels Of the Phara.
obs lying under the pyramids these
5000 years, the galleys of Carthaginian
merchants, of Roman senators who did
not despfse the gains of trade, the
Echooners of the merchant sailors of
that period of which Columbus is tho
chief figure and, last of all, the two
funneled steamships of our own
century.
Capt. Temple will try first the shall.
low waters of the Arabian sea. Until
a few years ago deep sea diving was i'm.
possible. But science has discovered
some rev modes which make it possible
for divers to go down several hundred
feet and work with ease. As the Arabian
sea is very shallow in some places di.
rectly under the trade route, Capt.
Temple will send his divers down there.
They will explore infinitely the floors
Of these tablelands which lie SO much
nearer the surface of the sea than the
nam bottom. As the area is limited
and as the wrecks are so very numer-
Gus, ne has good hopes that he will soon
have something to show that the con-
fidence in his theory was not mis-.
placed.
With the experience he will gain in
those attempts he hopes to penetrate
wen the depths of the Red sea. It Is
there that he expects to find the mos.
treasures. For even within the few last
years many treasure ships have been
lost in those dangerous waters.
There is not the slightest doubt that
fabulous treasure, equal to the total
wealth of many great nation, lies in
The depths of that very narrow canyon.
All that is needed, in Capt Temples
opinion, is patience and assiduity. he
fully expects to pour in the strong 4
boxes of the syndicate ten times as
much gold as the mines of America
NJ va rrnGuced N " Would |