The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-20

IA WhaI was years ago the aristocrat;c
portion OF Philadelphia. is a monnn7en,
bearing this inscription:
| mere rest the remains of Can't. John
U1te", VINO commanded His Britannia
Majesty's sloop-of-war De Rraak IN
which he lost his life when she fo1,nd -
t eaSo al the Capes of Delaware the
1VlH OF June, A, D. .179S He was he
IoVeo Tor his virtues and admired for
MS bravery. His affectionate relict ha
etecleo This monument to perpetuat.
his memory"
very pretty and romantic. but tomb
stone Inscriptions often iugega with
the truth. Capt. Drew AT the t;,oa -
MS oeath did not command a sloop-of-
war, out was on priyateerine ey
PeoiIioh when was in reality little re-
moved from actual piracy. England
was coping with Napoleon on land and
wafer ana George III. needed money
Daciy. Renee he granted letters OF
moi 4He anu feprAsal to all who asked
THE DE BRAAK's HISTORY.
James Drew, who belonged to a dar-
lng family of Irish sailors, 8 cured such
papers IN january, 1898. and promptly
salieo for the Spanish main in the De
Braak, which was equipped with a
uoZeh BRASS cannon. and was manned
by daredevil crew consisting OF
tnH1rly-elght officers and men.
On May 70 she appeared off the Della
ware Capes, having in tow the Span
lsh galieen La Plata. She was bound
Tor Hailfax. but was obliged to put IN
LOT water. Pilot Andrew Allen board
ed her, and there was considerable
cafoCslng. Nearly all went to the bot
tom IL a gale, along with fifteen Span
ish prisoners.
Here is where the rainbow began.
Ihose who escaped bemoaned the loss
OF countless treasures which went down
with the De Braak They said they
mao taken two Spanish galIeons laden
Win goid and precious stones bound
from Mexico and Peru, and in order
TO lend color to their story they paid
their bills with Spanish doubloons,
Ihey said the hold of the De Braak
was hlled with caskets laden with gilt
tering yellow boys.
The efforts to locate and remove the
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
We're unable to do more with theIl
primitive apparatus
In 1913 1T Is recorded that Gilbert Nc
cracker. chum of Pilot Allen. in COM
pany with his son Henry, set the bear
ings of the wreck for future reference
The bearings We're faithfully recorded
! and the old residents of Lewes, Del,
Will tell you that the documents are
still in the possession Of the old pilots
| 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-
rune company, but 1t 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 working force of ten
| men. under the personal direction OF
| DR.. Pancoast, with divers and pumpine
| apparatus complete.
| For two months there was G, system.
atlc search. Day after day the old doc.
| tor labored on the deck of the schoon,
| er, carefully examining every btt q,
sand pumped from the bottom. The
Orr was equipped with a large steam
| crane. designed to remove the iron
| bound oaken boxes which contained the
| Spanish treasure.
I He said he expected to secure from
$5.OOO,OO0 to $7,000,000 by the operation
| Yet, the doctor once said in an in.
| 80 NlNNs NAAC GlllOQI4l QSDeIQS upon the
| number of galleons captured by the Dc
Braak. galleon usually Contained
some $4,000, 600. and I estimate that dur,
ing the last years of the last century
| spanish America sent home not less
than $500, OOO, OO0"
What big pot of gold at the end
| OF such an ephemeraI rainbow! In Sep,
| tember the search was Temporarily
abandoned" While it was not resumed
| the old 6no+N,
that the rainbow had entirely disap n.
peared from his sky. He died firmly
| convinced that the pot of gold was a,
! 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 not
tested with his magic "blomb-bob." He
was never without It, The buried
treasure of Capt. Kidd was the source
OF his inspiration, but IL he ever found
any he kept II to himself
He boosted that with the air Of his
bob" he had located two rare finds. in
one of which was $4,000. buried dur
ing the Revolution. In one case the
owner Of the land wanted half which
Jacob regarded as a preposterous prop
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
Gent 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 to 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 dav
could not raise her. He said that In
1871 the British government offered
sec. 600 for information that would lead
to the discovery of the sunken vessel.
Away back in 1898 Capt Allen was
chasing rainbows up in the Lake
! Champlain country. He was looking
for five cannon filed with gold dollars
and sunk by Gen. Burgoyne when he
was 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