The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1899-06-29
CHAPTER H.-CoYTfyurD.
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| never could - t another word out Of
him about the wreck. 1t seems that a
native in one Of the flying proas-the
island catamaraus, you've heard Of
them-found an unconscious officer
lashed to a spar several miles out at
sea, ana turned him over to Fray Ig-
nacio. who was then running the
church at Agana, when he came in.
The fray and his brother priests sue
ceeded in restoring the man long
enough to get his account OF the
wreck, together with the approximate
position Of the galleon when she
struck; then he died. Being method
ical old chaps. they jotted the story
all down, and Fray Ignacio signed it.
Then, like the pious old imbeciles that
they were, they buried the document,
with several others, in the trays
sarcophagus when he got through
with life. | believe he and his box are
now in the crypt under the church
| The story seemed straight enough,
and ! guess there's no doubt Of there
being two or three millions Of good
rusty money lying at the bottom OF
/ the ocean, south OF Guajon, TO this
/ day. 1t might as well be in the Bank
of England as far as We are con.
cerned. Another case of life's little
! lronies, isn't it?"
How deep Is the water there?"
well, the Alert got from 1000 to
1000 fathoms near there in lss1-say
two to four miles. Why, were you
thinking of diving for it2"
% 1 l.
that reef"
"Oh, Santa Rosa2 Icouldn't tell you
that. There are no soundings of 1t,
even on the Spanish charts, though IL
was laid down on Dalrymple's and Can
tova's older maps. Dampier said he
found IL in 1856 four fathoms under
water. One of the galleons struck on
II in trying TO avoid his ships while
they were lying at Guajnn, and had a
deuce of time getting Off, but no cap.
tain has seen the slightest indication
of reef there since that time. Most
Of these islands are volcanic, you
know, and it mny have sunk to the
three or four mile level"
Very likely. Still. the ships that
looked for il might have been there at
q time of year when the weather was
unfayorable for a search"
"You mean--?"
That, as is quite probable, they may
have been cruising during the sum
mer. That would be the southwest
monsoon, wouldn't it? Rain, fog, hur-
ricanes-"
That's So"
And the water might have been so
lumpy that careful sounding would
have been out OF the question"
Hardly. They wouldn't attempt to
sound in bad weather, unless for their
own safety. Still, they might not have
happened to try it when they were
over the exact spot, and the shifting
of the monsoon might make anything
like an accurate search impossible.
| Oh, l wouldn't venture TO say that
there is no reef there; its existence
and position are not definitely known,
that's all. But suppose there Is. Sup
pose for the sake of argument that it's
lagoon isn't more than 100 feet or
so deep, how much chance do you
think there would be of finding even
the fragments of hulk lost there 12O
years ago? Why, man, il would have
coral jacket on so thick that you'd
have TO use dynamite IL II were above
water. Coral deposit increases at the
rate of an eighth of an inch year, or
more, according to Agassiz; that
would make make a thickness of about
Is inches. Adding shell-tish and other
marine growth, il would be safe % fig
ore two or three feet, wouldn't it?"
probably; but thought that coral,
liatomaceae, and fornminifera depos-
ued perpendicularly on these volcanic
itolls?"
That's so. II the wreck lay in n
bold position some of her side timbers
might still be exposed, or at least COW
cred very thinly. Harry, what crazy
notion have you got in your head? ?
There isn't one chance in million OF
an attempt to raise that treasure be-
ing successful. 1t would be folly TO
think of trying it without a fully
equipped wrecking steamer, and even
then you'd have piracy to contend
with among your crew"
"Well, l became interested in the
story. And then the idea occurred 10
me that, being out Of a job, there would
be nothing TO hinder my investiga ling
the thing little, just for the sake OF
argument, now-we might as well
Rmuse ourselves with this as anything
suppose l were 10 leave the steame
at Guaiau; that's the biggest and most
southerly Ladroue, isn't it? Right
Then suppose | should happen to get
hold OF Fray lgnacio's account of the
Shipwrecked officer, and should find in
IL just where the galleon went down,
I'd very likely get myself into Il serious
scrape, but just suppose | should man
age TO see the document after all, Then
suppose ! took little trip some day
on one of those flying catamarans-
they make 3 knots ometimes, IL | re-
member correctly--and succeeded in
locating this reef. Suppose | had a
diving suit with me; there probably
isn't such a thing between Frisco and
the Yokohama navy yard, but imagin-
alton is cheap, Suppose / actually
, found something that looked like an
old wreck, crusted over with coral, and
tried a dynamite cartridge on 1t. Sup,
/ pose l found something there, and
slowed ii away until you could join me
eh?"
,Halstead was filling his pipe as
spoke, but his fingers trembled little