Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-12-22

a vieeregal province theE, and the
Philippines was a subdependency TIE
return galleon brought the proceeds
of these specaiatioDs; though, as the
holetas. or shipping permits for trans
portaticn space, were issued By the
gobernsdors for revenue. they prac-
tically amounted to a Philippine sub
,idy."
That's about as remember it.
There were a good many galleons
wrecked on the coral islands, weren't
there?"
Lots Of them; they were great un-
'yieldy tubs, always loaded beyond
their carrying capacity. And, by the
way, that reminds me of an instance
which / happen to know about, more
or less directly. Last voyage, Padre
Julian, who has been in charge of the
mission on Saipan for 30 or 10 years.
came home with me. The old chap
is a good deal Of a student. and mas
the history of these islands at his
finger-ends-b judge OF rum and
sherry / ever saw. used to fiji him
up with good liquor, just to see him
enjoy il and hear the stories he told
when the stuff got into his blood.
Among other things he told me one
night about the loss Of Nuestra Sonora
de Sevila in 1869 on the Santa Rosa
Reef, somewhere south Of Guajan
The padre was pretty mellow, and
guess said more than be meant to, for
! never could get another word out Of
him about the wreck. 1t seems that
native in one Of the flying proas-the
island catamarans, you've heard of
them--found an unconscious officer
dashed to a spar several miles out at
sea, and turned him over to Fray Ig-
nacio, who was then running the
church at Agana, when he came in.
The fray and his brother priests sue
ceeded in restoring the man long
enough to get his account of the
wreck, together with the approximate
position of the galleon when she
struck; then he died. Being method
icai old chaps, they jotted the story
all down, and Fray Ignacio signed it,
Then, like the pious old imbeciles that
they were, they buried the document.
with several others, in the trays
sarcophaPus when he got through
with life. / believe he and his box are
now in the crypt under the church
The story seemed straight enough,
and | guess there's no doubt of there
being two or three millions of good
rusty money lying at the bottom of
the ocean, south of Guajan, to this
day. 1t might as well be in the Bank
of England as far as we are con
cerned. Another case of lifes little
ironies, isn't it?"
How deep is the water there?"
We'll, the Alert got from 1000 TO
1000 fathoms near there in 1Ss1-say
two to four miles. Why, were you
thinking of diving for il ?"
Not exactly. meant the depth on
that reef
''Oh, Santa Rosu2 couldn't tell you
that. There are no soundings of 1t,
even on the Spanish charts, though il
was laid down on Dalrymple's and Cam
tova's older maps. Dampier said he
found il in 1856. four fathoms under
water. One of the galleons struck on
it in trying 10 avoid his ships while
they were lying at Guajan, and had
deuce of time getting off. but no cap
tain has seen the slightest indication
OF reef there since that time. Most
of these islands are volcanic, you
know, and it may have sunk TO the
three or four mile level"
Very likely. Still. the ships that
looked for it might have been there at
n time of year when the weather was
unfavorable for search"
You mean"
That. as is quite probable, they may
have been cruising during the sum
mer. Tha; would be the southwest
monsoon. wouldn't it9 Rain, fog, hur-
ricanes"
That's So
And the water might have been so
lumpy that careful sounding would
have been out of the question"
Hardly. They wouldn't attempt to
sound in bad weat Their, unless for their
own safety. Still, they might not have
happened TO try il when they were
over the exact spot, aud the shifting
of the monsoon might make anything
like an accurate search impossible.
Oh, | wouldn't venture to say that
there is no reef there; its existence
and position are not definitely known.
that's all. But suppose there is. Sup
pose for he sake of argument that It's
lagoon isn't more than 100 feet or
so deep how much chance do you
think there would be Of finding even
the fragments of hulk lost there 100
years ago. Why, man, il would have
coral jacket on so thick that you'd
have TO use dynamite If it were above
water. Coral deposit increases at the
rate OF an eighth az an inch a year. OF
more, according 10 Agassiz; that
would make make a thickness OF about
- inches adding shell-fsh and other
marine growth, ii would be safe e fig
IRE two or three feet, wouldn'tit2"
Probably; but thought that coral
6iatomaceae, and foraminiRera depos-
TIED perpendicularly on these volcanic
atolls2"