The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-19
REMINDERS OF THE PAST.
ANCIENT RELICS BROUGHT UP BY
THE DREDGES.

Coins and Curios of Various Kinds
Dug From Hutchinson's Island.
Some of the Coins Considerably
More Than n Hundred Years old.
HutchinsOn's Islands shores Lined
With the Bones of old ships.
$4,000 in Gold said to he at the
Bottom of the Savannah River.
The contractors engaged in the dredg
ing work on Hutchinson Island and 9TH
ers associated with tho work are accumu
latng quite a stock of curiosities in the
shape of old coin, bullets, fragments Of
chains, anchors, copper work and other
metal parts pertaining to ships of the
olden time. Slip No. 2, in which the
dTedge John Babcock IS working, is prov
ing veritable curio mine, and scarcely
day passes in which some relic of days
gone by does not come 70 light
Some of the coins recovered are over a
hundred years old. If they were of Amer
lean make they would be very valuable,
but all of the old silver coins recovered so
far are of Spanish coinage, and these are
not so rare as the early American coins.
Still it is probable that some of them are
very valuable
Mr.. Warner, of the Babcock Dredging
Company, showed Morning News re-
porter yesterday a Spanish silver dollar
of the date of 1897. IL is about the same
size as the present silver dollar, and
shows very little of the effects of age
with the exception of being blackened by
its long burial in the mud. 1t bears the
coat of arms of Spain on one side and on
the other a head with the words "Carolus
III Del Gratia"
A smaller Spanish coin in the posses ion
of Mr. Warner bears the date of 1867, and
an American penny is dated 1919. The
penny is a large as a half dollar. Mr.. w.
w. Mackall, pr esident of the Georgia Con
struction Company, has a Spanish SILVER
coin of the date of 1881, and an American
half cent dated 1904 Mr.. MackaH also
has a number of bullets which were found
in the debris in slip No. ,. Some are the
old round musket bullets, as large as
marbles, which were used in the old
smooth bore musSets, while others are
large conical bullets with grooved edges,
showing that they were intended for guns
of comparatively modern date.
More than one derelict must have sunk
to rest on the present site of slip No. ?,
as the material brought up belongs TO
different periods. Old copper spikes,
which were used before the present make
of cut nails was known, have been brought
up in considerable quantities.
One of the old wrecks struck by the
dredge was copper riVeted and had a brass
tiller head, showing that it was an Old
craft as tillers have not been in use for
many years One of the wrecks struck in
No. slip was about ninety feet in length
by thirty-fve in diameter. and built Of
oak. Her breadth of beam show her 10
be of ancient make. probably some old
trading vessel that had made many a trip
back and forth before she found her grave
in the mud of HutchinsOns Island.
There must have been a bag of money
on board one of these vessels" said Mr..
Warner For every piece we have recqv-
cred al least a dozen probably IS lost to
sight in the mud thrown up by the dredge.
Ii may be that we will make some valua-
BILE finds yet though most of the stuff re-
covered so far is valuable only as relics.
There may be good money for some
body in the bottom of the river" said Mr..
Warner. There is report to the effect
that a safe containing about $4,000 was
sunk in the middle of the river off Aher-
corn street years ago, having gone down
aboard a steamboat. The rumor is be-
ueved by some. Capt. Jacob Paulsen thinks
there is foundation for the report and he
has spent considerable money looking for
Doubtless the bones of many good
ship have found their last resting place
on Hutchinson's Island in the last cen
fury and a half and more since vessels
have been coming into the Savannah.
While one or two Of the coins found are
dated previously to the revolutionary war,
it is probable that the wrecks from which
they were taken occurred subsequent TO
that event, as the majority of coins found
at the same spot are dated since the Amer
lean independence The fact that money
in some amount was left on board one or
more of the vessels would seem to indi-
cate that there was catastrophe and
that the wrecks were hurled ashore in
storm. It may have been, however, some
sailors hoard, hidden away in some crack
or Granny of the vessel unknown to his
shipmates. Whether the owner was
drowned at sea or died ashore of the fever
them so common in this latitude admits
only surmise. If the old coins could talk,
though, they could tell some wonderful
stories of the days when Spanish dol
lar was good for its face value the world
over, when the Spanish flag foated over
rich cargoes on every sea. The big copper
penny might have been fitting symbol of
the struggling American republic of that
day. but the golden eagle comes nearer
a.