The Indianapolis journal., 1896-03-23
HUNT FOR A MILLION
DREDGING THE SEA BOTTOM IN PUR-
SUIT OF GOLD AND SILVER.
A Remarkable Piece Of Engineering
to Recover Treasure Lost Nearly
One Hundred Years Ago.

Georges cross of the English and Admiral
Hood! What remnant of sea-craft, arse
mails, roperies, war navy France had, mas
given itself to these enemies of human ma
ture." So Carlyle wrote in his lampblack
and lightning history of the French Revo-
luton. To-day the record is about to he
completed. 1t will tell of the finding and
raising of wreck that has lain for nearly
a century at the bottom of the German
Ocean, and the salvage of probably $1,000, 900
in gold and silver.
1t was in the closing weeks of 1893 that
the Royalists of Toulon surrendered the
ships and arsenals to the English, in order
that they might not fall into the hands OF
the revolutionists. Among the vessels was
fine frigate of thirty-two guns. called La
Lutine. For six years it did service under
the Cross of st. George against its former
owners: and when finally, in 1799 it set
out on its last voyage, it was on an errand
perhaps of all most troublesome and most
dangerous TO France, for il was to convey
vast store of British gold to the continent,
for the aid and comfort of the foes OF
France.
There was at that time a commercial
crisis in Hamburg, and there was a British
army in the Netherlands to be raintsined.
To help the Hamburg merchants and to
pay the British troops it was necessary to
ship great sum of money from London.
In papers of the time the announcement ap-
pears that La Lutine duly started for Cux-
haven on the morning of Oct. 9, with up
silver" Her commander was Captain Skim
ner of the British navy. The ten tons OF
money" did not comprise the whole million
and a half pounds, however. That sum
was divided between La Lutine and two
| other ships which sailed at the same time.
| The exact amount carried by La Lutine
cannot now be aScertained; In different
| publications of those days it is variously
| stated at from $4,000 to f1,OO000O. Loyds
records would show exactly what it was.
TO doubt, since the vessel and her precious
| cargo were insured. But the Iloyds rec
| ords Of that date were DESTROYED in 1887, at
| the burning of the Royal Exchange. The
most judcious investigators believe how
ever, that the sum on La Lutine was not
| less than 100000 in gold and silver.
SEEKING THE TREASURE.
| The other two ships got safely to Cux-
haven with their freight, but La Lutine
was lost at She went down on the
night Of Oct. 9. 1899, between the islands of
| vlieland and Terschelling. off the coast Of
Holland. and of all her passengers and
| crew only one man was saved OF course.
the underwriters promptly planned to raise
| the wreck, or, at any rate. to get up the
| specie. But before they could do so HOSTILE
ties were actively resumed, and the govern
| ment of Holland, taking sides with France,
treated the wreck Spoils of war. In the
| following two years the Dutch made some
efforts to secure the bullion, with not a little
| success. By means of long poles, on the
scoops no less than f55.77O was recovered,
| mostly in gold and silver bars. Then SO
| much sand was washed over the wreck that
| operations had to be suspended, and 1t was
| not until after Waterloo that any further
| attention was paid to the gold bank" as
the spot was called
| Unsuccessful attempts to recover the treas
| ure were afterward made by the Dutch
| government, and about 1921 a company was
bell. After spending $1,000 in this attempt,
| the projectors abandoned it: but they had
| succeeded in drawing the attention of Lloyds
| TO the matter, and Lloyds promptly claimed
| the wreck, the Dutch government recogniz-
| ing the claim.
Another attempt to get the. treasure was
but without success. In 1856 Dutch com
| pany was formed for the purpose, and in
| the course of few years succeeded in Sc
curing a few coins and some bars of bullion,
! together with the rIdder of La Lutine, from
| the wood of which the chairmans chair at
Lloyds and the Lutine table were manu-
| factured. During the four years from 1856
to 1850 forty-one gold bars and sixty-four
| silver bars were recovered. with lot of
geld d. and silver coin, the total value, being
tH, IA. Half or this went TO Lloyds and
| half to the government At ABOUT this time
an act of Parliament constituted Lloyds the
sole heirs to any further property recov-
| cred. Finally, in 1856. Dutchman working
on his own account recovered f6S6 worth OF
| coin. That brings the story of the wreck
down to the present enterprise
THE PRESENT ATTEMPT.
About two years ago, under a contract
with Lloyds, a company was formed to take
hold of the matter in a scientific way and
get whatever was to be got from the "gold
|. AZ
pany, with a capital of only $4,000 Under
the contract the company is to have half OF
all that is recovered, and the other half will
go to the Lloyds, who will out of it satisfy
the Nclaims of the Dutch government. The
plan of operation decided upon by this COM
pany was decidedly novel. It was, briefly
as follows: First, to discover the site of the
wreck; then to lay down a wall or ring OF
bags of sand around it to keep the area free
for time from further drifting sand. On
the first visit made TO the spot the diameter
1 OF the ring was fixed at two hundred feet
Then powerful dredging plant was tc
dredge out the irclosed area as quickly as
possible down to the cay bed at the bottom
of the sand. Finally small suction dredgel
was to be used for cleaning up inside the
wreck and laying bare all hooks and corners
among the timbers of the vessel. SO thai
everything might be ready for the use Of ths
diver. For this latter purpose fishing boa
L
whereby dredging could be done at deptf
Of sixty feet. The dredge pipe was made
| flexible, so that diver could handle 1t and
remove the sand over any at will
sweeping up the bottom of the sea as clear
as a housemaid sweeps the floor of a room.
Work was begun in September. 1894. and
the location of the wreck was apparently
ascertained. With 5000 sandbags a circular
wall was laid around the spot. inclosing ar
area two hundred feet In diameter. Tha
was all that was done that season. At the
beginning Of May, 1895, the work of dredg
ing was begun in earnest hole eighty
feet in diameter was made in the sand
reaching clear down to the hard blue clay
Then fence Of oak posts was driven intC
the clay all around the edge of this hole
| 10 keep the sand from drifting in until the
spot could be carefully explored. After al
this labor the engineers discovered that they
were not in the right place A few bits OF
the wreck were found, with two three
hundred gold and silver coins, but the wreck
Itself, with the mass OF treasure, was no
| there After mucb trouble the wreck wa:
found about one hundred feet away from tn,
! excavation that had been made. Work wa.
at once begun. and during the summer near,
half of the wreck was freed from sand AMI
pretty thoroughly explored.
All sorts of things were found. Their,
were the remains of some human bodies,
few coins, five cannon and 165 cannon balls
When the cannon balls came up through
the pump they made a tremendous noise
tainly struck the gold bars at last. Bu
no bars came and none have yet beel
found. 1t i5 estimated by the company
however, as well as by the officers of th
Bank of England, that there must be
great many of them still in the wreck
The bars hitherto found 'ear ten differel
marks, as follows: NIB, MILL. HIS, Pc
w 81 RR HR MI. and F Each n thaS