New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-15
DREDGING FOR A MILLION.
A REMARKABLE PIECE OF ENGINEERING
TO RECOVER TREASURE LOST
100 YEARS AGO.


On Toulon arsenal there flies fag-nay not
even the Fleur-de-lys Of Louis Pretenoer, 'neie
flies that accursed ST. Georges Cross Of the English
and.Admiral Hood, What remnant OF sea-craft.
arsenals roperies, war-navy France had has given
itself to these enemies OF human nature 80 Cariye
wrote his lampblack and lightning history OF the
French Revolution. To-day the record Is aDou' u
be completed 1t will tell of the finding ana raising
of wreck that has lain for nearly century at inc
bottom of the German Ocean. and the salvage OF
probably 100000 In gold and silver
1t was In the closing weeks of 1893 that the Royal
lists of Touon surrendered the ships and arsenas 10
the English in order that they might not fall into
the hands OF the Revolutonists. Among the Vesseis
was fine frigate of thirty-two guns called La
Iutne For six years IL did service under the Cross
of St George against its former owners; and wheh
finally In 1899. II out It's last voyage II was
on an errand perhaps of all most troublesome anu
most dangerous to France. for it was to convey a
vast of British gold 10 the Continent Ior 'ne
aid and comfort of the foes of France
There was at that time commercial Crisis IN
Hamburg. and there was n British army III 'he
Netherlands to be maintained. To help the Ham
burg merchants and pay the British troops IL was
necessary 10 ship a great sum OF money from Lon
don In papers of the time the announcement ap-
pears that La Lutine duly started for CuxhaVeh on
the morning of October g. with upward OF ten tons
OF money. both gold and silver Her conman'ei
was Captain Skinner. of the British Navy Inc Ten
tons of money" did not comprise the whoie Hliio"
and a half pounds. however That sum was oi''ueu
between La Lutine and two other ships wh'ch saieu
at the same time. The exact amount carried py La
Iutne cannot now be ascertaned; in different pub
locations Of those days IL is variously stated at from
10000 10 nOODO 600 Loyds' records would show ex-
acty what 1t was, no doubt, since the vessei anu
her precious cargo were insured. But IAoyds rec
ords Of that date destroyed in 1884, at the burn
ing of the Royal Exchange. The most judicious in
vestigators believe however. that the sum on Id
Lu,ine not less than $780, 900 In gold and silver
The other ships got safely to Cuxhaven with
their freight. but La Lutine was lost at sea- she
went down on the night of october 9. 1199 between
the islands of Vlieland and Terscheng. or the
coast Of Holland and of all her passengers and crew
only one man was saved. OF course the under
writers promptly planned TO raise the wreck or. al
any rate to get up the specie. But before they
could do hoeti,ities We're actively resumed ana
the Government of Holland. taking sides with
France treated the wreck spoils OF war. In the
following two years Dutch made efforts to
secure the bullion. with not a little success by
means of long poles. the ends OF which were
tongs and hooks and scoops no less than f55'O was
recovered. mostly in gold and silver bars Then so
much sand was washed over the wreck that opera
tions had to be suspended. and 1t not until after
Waterloo that any further attention was paid TO
the "gold bank the spot was called.
Unsuccessful attempts to recover the treasure were
afterward made by the Dutch Government, ana
about 1921 a company was formed TO secure it by
means Of diving bell After spending 5000 in the
attempt the projectors abandoned 1t; but they had
succeeded in drawing the attention of Lloyds TO
the matter, and I.loyds promptly claimed the wreck
the Dutch Government recognizing the claim.
Another attempt TO get the treasure was made in
1873 by a party OF English divers. but without sue
cess. In 1856 a Dutch company formed for the
purpose and in the course of few years succeeded
in securing few coins and some bars Of bullion to-
gether with the rudder of La Lutine. from the wood
of which the chalrmans chair at LOyds and the
Lutine table were manufactured During the four
years from 1856 to 1860 forty-one god bars and sixty
four silver bars recovered with a lot of gold
and silver CON- the total value being GAIA Half
OF this went TO Lloyds and half to the Dutch Gov
eminent. At about this time act of Parliament
constituted Lloyds the sole heirs 10 any further
property recovered. Finally. in 1886, Dutchman
working on his own account recovered 1855 worth of
coin. That brings the story Of the wreck down to
the present enterprise.
oVS was formed TO take hod of the
matter in n scientific way and get whatever was TO
in the company. with capital of only $4,000. I'm
der the contract the company is to have half OF all
Lloyds who will out of 1t satisfy the claims OF the
Dutch government. The plan Of operation decided
briefly. follows First discover the site Of the
wreck; then to lay down wall or ring OF bags of
further drifting sand. on the first visit made to the
spot the diameter Of this ring was fixed at zoo feet
Then powerful dredging plant was TO dredge out
clay bed at the bottom of the sand Finally small
suction dredger be used for cleaning up In
side the wreck and laying bare all hooks and corners
ht be ready for the eye Of the diver For this
latter purpose a fishing boat was fitted up with a
Done depth Of sixty ee The dredss ppe was
made flexible, so that diver could handle it and
remove the sand over any at will. sweeping up
the bottom OF the sea as clean as a housemad
Wo Was Segu Gi IN sepiember 1884, and the
ton OF the wreck was apparently ascerained. With
spot ncosing an area 200 feet IN diameter That
was al that was done that season. At the begin
in earnest, A hole eighty feet in diameter was
blue clay Then fence Of oak posts Was drSen
into the clay all around the edge of this hole, 10
keep the sand from drifting in until the spot could
gineers discovered that they were not in the right
two or three hundred gold and silver coins. but
the wreck itself with the mass OF the treasure was
about one hundred feet away from the excavation
that had been made Work was at once begun IN IN
the wreck was freed from sand and pretty thor
All sorts of things were found. There were the
remains Of some human bodies. few coins. five
cannon and l6o cannon balls. When the cannon
balls came up through the pump they made tre-
mendous noise. and the workmen thought they had
certainly struck the gold bars at last. But bars
came, and none have yet been found. 1t is esti-
mated by the company, however. as we'll as by the
a. grea, many OF them still in the wreck The bars
Hitherto found bear ten different marks, follows
Each of these letterngs has its own set of numbers
which appear to have run in each case from to 100
That would make 1000 gold bars Silver bars have
been found OF at least five different markings max
Ing 500 of them On this basis is estimated that
there was at least Sl5O0.0C0 in the original cargo
About $4,000 has thus far been recovered What
the company now hopes to do is to secure the re-
naming 100000.
Work FOR the year vas stopped cary in November
last II being impossible TO conduct dredging opera.
lions during the storms OF winter Preparation are
now being made TO resume 1t as soon as the
weather will permit. probably by the first of May
The work Is necessarily slow. for the spot Is dan.
gerous and the crews Of the boats will not re-
main out there at night Last year only dredg
ing-b boat used at a time. This year, however
two boats will be used. and II is expected that by
the end OF the summer the last fragment OF the
wreck will be cleared up and the last bar OF bullion
recovered. Thus will be ended the story of La Lu
tine.