The record-union., 1898-12-06

oI- TANCOASIS RAINBOW.
DR. Pancoast's experience in rainbow
chasing was in connection with the De
Braak. In the social life of Philadel-
phia The good doctor-he is dead now,
rest his souli-was regarded as a man
or eccentric tastes, but a scholar and a
gentleman. Above all else he was Wis
ionary, otherwise he would never have
lost so much of his money, and, Incl
dentally, that of his friends, in such
wild schemes as that of recovering fab
ulous millions from the wreck of the
De Braak.
In the churchyard of old st. Peters,
IN what was years ago the aristocratic
portion of Philadelphia, is a monument
bearing this inscription
Here rest the remains of Captain
John Drew, who commanded his Bri-
tannlc majesty's sloop-of- of-war De
Braak, in which he lost his life when
she foundered at the Capes of Della
ware the 10th of June. A. d. 1893. He
was beloved for his virtues and ad-
mired for his bravery. His affectionate
relict has erected this monument to
perpetuate his memory"
Very pretty and romantic, but tomb
stone inscriptions often juggle with the
truth. Captain Drew at the time of his
death did not command a sloop- of war,
put was on a privateering expedition
which was in reality little removed
from actual piracy. England was cop
ing with Napoleon on land and water,
and George III. needed money badly
Hence he granted letters of maroue
and reprisal to all who asked
THE DE BRAAK'S HISTORY.
James Drew, who belonged to a dar-
ing FAMILY of Irish sailors, secured such
papers in January, 1913, and promptly
sailed for the Spanish Main in the De
Braak, which was equipped with a
dozen brass cannon, and was manned
by daredevil crew consisting of thir-
ty-eight officers and men.
On May 25th she appeared off the
Delaware Capes, having in tow the
Spanish galleon La Plata. She was
bound for Halifax, but was obliged to
put in for water. Pilot Andrew Allen
boarded her, and there was considerable
carous1ng. Nearly all went to the bot
tom in a 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 galleons laden
with gold and precious stones bound
from Mexico and Peru, and in order to
Iend color to their story they paid their
bills with Spanish doubloons. They
said the hold of the De Braak was filed
with caskets laden with glittering vel
low 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
were unable to do more with their prim-
tive apparatus.
In 1853 it is recorded that Gilbert
McCracken, chum of Pilot Allen. in
company with his son Henry, set the
bearings of the wreck for future refer
ence. The bearings were faithfully
recorded, and the old residents Of
Lewes, Del, will tell you that the doc
uments are still in the possession of
the old pilots descendants.
A SANGUINE SEARCHER.
OF all the attempts to recover the
De Braak's treasure the most deter
mined was that instituted by DR.. Pan
coast. He organized the international
Submarine Company, but it was an
open secret that he held the bulk of
the stock himself In July. 1877. the
schooner Orr was sent to the Break
water from Philadelphia, with a work
ing force of ten men, under the per-
Of Tn.
divers and pumping apparatus COM
plete.
For two months there was a svs-
tematlc search Day after day the old
DOCTOR labored on the deck of the
schooner, carefully examining every
Dit OF sand pumped up from the bot
tom. The Orr was equipped with a.
large steam crane, designed to remove
the iron bound oaken boxes which con-
the Spanish treasure.
He said he expected to secure from
S5,000,OO0 to $7,0O0,OOO by the opera
ton. Yet" the doctor once said in
an interview, ''the amount depends
upon the number of galleons captured
by the De Braak A galleon usually
contained some $3,OO0,0OO and I esti-
mate that during the last years of the
last century Spanish America sent
home not less than 81, 100000, COO"
What a big pot of gold at the end
of such an ephemeral rainbow! In
september the search was temporarily
abandoned" While it was not re-
sumed, the old doctor never quite re-
allied that the rainbow had totally
disappeared from the sky He died
firmly convinced that the pot of gold
was at 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 Mount
aims to Storm King that he has not
tested with his magic plumb bob"
He was never without it. The buried
treasure of Captain Kidd was the
source of his inspiration, but if he
ever found any he kept it to himself
He boasted that with the aid of his
bob" he had located two rare finds,
in one of which was fS6.O0O, buried
during the Revolution In one case
the owner Of the land wanted half,
which Jacob regarded as a preposter-
Gus proposition, and one to be totally
ignored. In the other instance the
find was located on Government land
at West Point, and permission to dig
for the treasure was withheld
Captain Veder Fox, known as sthe
Ancient Mariner of Staten Island" was
another famous treasure seeker. Among
other secrets he claimed to know the
exact location of the De Braak It