The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-13

and burned black by the sun; but there
was a rare find for the beachcomber. There
were rings on the shrunken fingers and
gold In the pockets Of the dead. and be-
sides this loot there were two or three
jewel boxes, which had been made safe
before their owners died 1t was csti-
mated that the comber got $4,000 OF the
raft, but he had reaped his harvest and
disappeared before the news OF his find
became noised about. The next comber
who took that beat was also lucky. A
womans trunk. from the wreck Of a
French steamer, drifted ashore, and II was
believed that he got about $4,000 in jewel
ry and money.
On some coasts n comber might walt and
watch for a year, and not make friend.
Not so on the coasts of the Azores, how
ever. The currents are always ct work
for treasure hunters One day 1t may be
only a steamer chair, lost from no one
knows what ship, the next a broken mast
with three or four sails attached, the third
a yawl carried from Its davits perhaps a
thousand miles away. In the year 1878
an English steamer, to the north OF the
Azores, had to jettison much OF her cargo
to save herself. There came ashore on
Graciosa Island clothing, dry goods, furnl-
ture, -four. and pork to the value of 1000,
and the greater part OF the loot went to
a beachcomber. In that same year, and on
the coast OF that same island. the sea
brought in n piece Of ambergris weighing
seventy four pounds. the largest find of the
kind ever reported. The stun sells any
where for about its weight In gold. In
1884 a British steamer named the IRON
sides ran into a terrific gale when within
two hundred miles of Halifax. Her cargo
shifted, and she rolled so far over that
her propeller was useless. and after every
effort to right her she was abandoned by all
hands. The boats were adrift seven days
before being picked UP. The loss Of the
steamer was duly reported. and the insur-
ance money had been paid over when she
was heard OF again. She was passed In
midocean by an American ship and she
was riding on an even keel Her cargo
had shifted back and being stanch iron
vessel, she was still ahoat She would have
been boarded by the American skipper but
for the heavy sea running. A steamer was
sent out from Halifax to look for her, and
another left the English Channel. but they
knocked about for month and got no
trace. The Ironsides. curious as 1t may
SEEM was sighted only that once, though
she was afioat for fve months and drifted
thousands OF miles. One night she driited
into a little harbor on the south coast OF
the Island OF Pico. beachcomher got
help, and went off to her before she took
the ground, and brought her to anchor.
Here was a ship which had knocked about
by herself for one hundred and nifty days,
meeting gale after gale, and always in
the trough OF the sea. and yet she had not
suffered great damage. She had general
cargo valued at 100000. and 1t had come
to no harm. The dereict had accumulated
barnacles and grass, and needed paint. but
she had come through her long fight with
the king OF storms in better condition, per-
haps, than II she had carried crew
with her. 1t was a salvage Job OF the
biggest kind, and the beachcomber got
enough out OF It to warrant him a life OF
comfort for the remainder Of his days.
Two years later a French merchant
man named the Constance drove ashore
on the same island. and comber
got $4,000 worth of stuff from the
wreck. There was a mystery about the
Constance which has not been cleared
to this day. She was in perfect trim
below and aloft but had been nban-
doned by all hands. Her papers, logbook
Instruments. and charts had been left be-
hind and the table had not been cleared
after the MONDAY meal. Her boats were
gone, and had been launched In a hurry
but they were never heard Of after. The
French authorities spent many months try
ing to solve the mystery, but got no sails
faction. The ship was under plain sail
but with her mainsail aback to hold her
steady when abandoned. and her sails had
not been injured in the least when she
steered herself ashore and was wrecked on
the r0cka