The Saint Paul globe., 1898-11-20

IN whaI was years ago the aristocra+;o
PortIon OF Phlladelphia, is a mon,lr5a,,, sle,I
bearing this inscrintion ne III
! 1o,-L.e- IesI the remains of Can't. Holm
~, VINO commanded His Britannic
49, ioop-of-war De Braak. i'm
| nraS -H lie ioSt ms life when she found
| Saeu Ecu al the Capes of Delaware +So
IVth OF June, A. d. 1898. He was he
| toveo Tor his virtues and admired for
/! nls bravery. His affectionste reIirt he .
e eiecteo this monument to perpetuate ATE
his memory" - Pei ia &c
s4dS pretty and romantic, but tomb
! AZ - t.>cl lPtions often juggle with
bie 6tt capt. Drew at the time Of
-Io oedtn uld not command a. sIoop-of-
| val, put was on a privateering ex-
peoIuion which was in reality little re-
moved from actual piracy. England
vas coping with Napoleon on land and
hosgi' sT-' ana george III. needed money
,,,era,,o i1shce ne granted letters of
ii'e'i 4ue anu feprlsal to all who asked.
THE DE BRAAK's HISTORY
James Drew, who belonged to a dar-
irg family of Irish sailors, s. cured si,cb
papers in January, 1898, and PROMPTLY
salied for the Spanish main in the De
braak' which was equipped with a
oozen brass cannon, and was manned
by daredevil crew consisting Of
thlrty-eight officers and men.
On May 70 she appeared off the Della
ware Capes, having in tow the Span
lsh gaIIeon La Plata. She was bound
TOT HallraX, but was obliged to put IN
Ior water. Pilot Andrew Allen board
ed her, and there was considera BILE
caroCsing. Nearly all went to the bot
tom IL gale, along with fifteen Span
ish prisoners
Here IS where the rainbow began
Those who escaped bemoaned the loss
OF countless treasures which went down
wIth the De Braak. They said they
had taken two Spanish galIeons laden
with gold and precious stones bound
from Mexico and Peru, and in order
10 iend color to their story they paid
their bills with Spanish doubloons
Ihey said the hold of the De Braak
was nlled with casl1ets laden with gilt
tering yellow boys.
The efforts to locate and remove ths
De Braak's treasures have been many.
During our second war with Great
Britain an English frigate and a sloop
came and tried to raise her but al
though they located the wreck they
were unable to do more with theii
primitive apparatus
In 1915 1t is recorded that Gilbert Mo
Cracken, a chum of Pilot Allen, in COM
pany with his son Henry, set the bear
ings or the wreck for future reference.
The bearings were faithfully recorded.
and the old residents of I,ewes. Del,
VIII tell you that the documents are
still In the possession Of the old pilot 5
| descendants.
SANGUINE SEARCHER.
Of all the attempts to recover the De
Braak's treasure the most determined
was that instituted by DR.. Pancoast.
He organized the International Subma-
rdne company. but it was an open Sc
cret that he held the bulk of the stock
himself In July, 1877, the schooner Orr
was sent to the breakwater from Phil.
| adelph1a with a working force Of ten
| men, under the personal direction of
Or. Pancoast, with divers and pumpjnq
| apparatus complete.
For two months there was a system
attic search. Day after day the old doc.
| tor lebored on the deck of the sohoon,
er, carefully examining every bit O.
sand pumped from the bottom. Tha
OFT was equipped with a large steam
crane, designed to remove the iron
bound oaken boxes which contained the
| Spanish treasure.
| He said he expected to secure from
SSooo,O0O to T,0OO,0o0 by the operation.
| 1et, the doctor once said in an IN.
| tefVlew, the amount depends upon the
| nuiIRoer or galleons captured by the De
| Braak. A galleon usually contained
some S5Ooo'O OOO. and I estimate that dur,
ing the last years Of the last century
| Spanish America sent home II Issa
than ST. 800, 900 600 4" -
what p big pot of gold at the end
u such an ephemeral rainbow! In Sep,
| temDer the search was ''temporariIv
abandoned" While 1t was not resumed
the old doctor never quite realized
! that the rainbow had entirely disap.
| peared from his sky. He died firmly
convinced that the pot of gold was al
! the end. but that he had fallen by the
! wayside.
OTHER FAMOUS FORTUNE SEEK
ERS.
Another famous old rainbow chaser
was Jacob Blancke, the treasure hunt
er Of the Highlands, who died in 1890
! There is scarcely a spot in the Hudson
valley, from the Skinnemunk noun
tains to Storm King, that he has no3
tested with his magic 'fblomb- bob" He
was never without It, The buried
treasure Of Capt. Kidd was the source
or his inspiration, but IL he ever found
! any he kept it to himself
He boasted that with the air Of his
! bob he had located two rare finds. i'm
| one of which was fS6 900, buried dur
| ing the Revolution. In one case the
/ owner Of the land wanted half which
! Jacob regarded as a preposterous prom
! osition, and one TO be totally ignored
! In the other instance the find was To-
! Gated on government land at West
| Point, and permission to dig for the
! treasure was withheld.
! Capt. Veder Fox. known as 'the An
/ cient Mariner Of Staten Island" was
/ another famous treasure seeker. Among
! other secrets, he claimed to know the
/ exact location Of the De Braak. II
! came 10 him from Capt. John Sanders
/ a nephew OF Pilot Allen. Sanders was
/ one of a party which located her. but
/ with the limited apparatus of that day
/ could not raise her. He said that in
1S4l the British government offered
/ 100000 for information that would lead
/ 10 the discovery of the sunken vessel.
/ Away back in 1888 Capt Allen was
/ chasing rainbows up in the Lake
/ Champlain country. He was looking
/ for five cannon filed with gold dollars
/ ard sunk. by Gen. Burgoyne when he
/ vas closely pursued near the mouth OF
! Mud creek. They had no divers suits
/ in those days, but he went to the bot
/ tom in bells. The five cannon are still
/ there.
Manchester Canal.
The Manchester shin canal zras "A