The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-01-21
MILLIONS BENEATH THE SEA,
Organization of a Syndicate to Search for
Suhken Treasure.

Organization of a Syndicate to Search for
Suhken Treasure.
syndicate of English and conti-
mental capitalists has recently been
formed by Capt. Temple, of the royal
navy, for the purpose of recovering a
vast treasures, estimated at the least as
amounting to $4,O00,oO0,O00.
For 1000 years at least the great sea
route for trade between India and west
ern 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 cas-
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
iraught with the gravest perils. AS the
centuries went by thousands of treas
ure-laden ships were sunk along the
trade route in the comparatively shall
low waters of that sea.
The moderns as we'll as the ancients
have found the navigation of the Red
sea most perilous. 1t is long, narrow
trough, in many places less than 90
miles wide and nearly two miles deep.
The Red Sea is 1900 miles long, but it's
bottom is thickly strewn with wrecks.
1t is always full of craft at all times
and has been for centuries. Until tho
use of steam considerable proportion
Cf the craft that sailed there went to
tie bottom. And not a 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
tastrophes in historic time. The actual
records show that this sum has been
lost in that trade route. 1t is safe to
say that this gigantic sum represents
only part of the treasure really there
Buried under sand and shells and
hcnes of ships as old as history and al
nav 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 abysma!
plains you could see tall ships of the
we'll 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 despise the gains of trade, the
chooners of the merchant sailors of
hat period of which Columbus is the
chief figure and, last of all, the two
funneled steamships of our own
century.
Capt. Temple will try first the shat.
low waters OF the Arabian sea. Until
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 minutely the floors
Of these tablelands which lie so much
nearer the surface of the sea than the
mann bottom. AS the area is limited
and as the wrecks are so very numer-
Gus, he 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
even the depths Of the Red sea. It is
there that he expects to, find the most
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
boxes of the syndicate ten times as
much gold as the mines of America
have produced.-N. Y. World.