The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-16

the Isle of Pines there is a Drincely
fortune in diamonds and gold await
ing the hunter who Will travel the bot
tom of the Caribbean sea and cast
searchliSht carefully over the hullS OF
sunken treasure ships. II is the re-
mains of Spanish ship in the royal
service, whose commander, Don Sc
bastian Jeninsz, touched at Santiago
de Cuba IN 1860. on his way to Spain.
He was carrying tie kings fifth" from
the silver mines Of Guanacaboa,
amounting to nearly twelve tons OF
good silver bars and unknown but i'm
mense quantities Of personal treasure
shipped by homegoing merchants.
Upon sailing from Santiago he was
caught in a terrific tempest which tore
the ship from its anchor and drove it
uDon the rocks within sight of the OBJ
servers on the bluffs at Santiago. No
vestige of ship or crew was ever seen
again. The galleon probably lies not
far from the recent naval battle
ground between the Spanish and Amer
lean fleets, and it offers a princely lure
for the bold submariner who viii con-
duct patient search.
RICHEST OF THE SHIPS.
Another, and probably the richest of
all treasure ships lost in the West IN
dies, was wrecked in 1879. A notable
company Of officials, eccleSiastics and
citizens Of New Spain We're on board,
bound for Spain, at the invitation OF
the king. They carried the most costly
personal possessions. The record tells
of diamond crosses OF enormous value
and presents that were to win the IA
vOr of the great king of Spain, besides
many tons OF silver bullion, which was
actually used as ballast. But many
times richer than all these were the
bars of gold which most of the officials
were carrying with them back to
Spain, in the hopes OF living the rest of
their days in distinguished Opulence.
One of the ladies, DOna Inez EscobedO.
was taking with her an Indian slave
as q present fer her brother, who was
governor of one of the Canary islands.
The few negro slaves on board were
seCvile enough, but the Indian, whose
name the records do not give, was I'M
manageable, and grew more obstinate
at every Punishment.
One morning, when the ship was a
few leagues southeast Of the Isle OF
Pines, the captain was Mortified TO find
that water was pouring into the hold.
He was about to descend through the
hatchway to discover the cause, when
the warning voice of the Indian de-
clarei that the first man to appear
through the opening would be shot.
Immediately those who gathered about
heard the blows or q hdIch6[ upon the
bottom of the vessel. The horrible
truth then dawned upon them that the
Indian intended TO escape
slavery by wrecking the ship with all
on board. They threw down s. negro
slave, believing that his body would re-
ceiVe the fire of the Indian. but every
thing above the matches was plainly
visible from the darkness below and
the negro lay where ne fell. Stupefied
with fear, while the blows OF the
hatchet rained faster than ever. and
the roar of the water constantly in
creased in volume. At laSc an old Of
fcer, Jose Nunez, sprang suddenly
through the opening into the hold.
in water, and charged upon
the Indian. sword in hand. He was
by half a dozen others They
splashed around and finally found the
Indian under a beam. beneath the
water. where he had Crawied and
himself. The most frantic ef-
forts were made to stop the leak. but
the ship sank, and ii was with diff
Guilty that even one boStlOod CT the
was able To escape.
Numerous attempts were made by the
SpaniardS to recover the treasure from
this ship. but divers could never
find it.
These are only few Of many score
Of similar wrecks, the records Of which
can be found in the old Spanish re-
ports and histories. They win indicate
In some measure the enormous rich
ness of these hitherto undcScribcd re-
sources of our new possessions.
G. NJ. STEVANS