The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-13

by the sea water and broken by the az.
plosion, would still retain q good deal
Of its old form and appearance. In Dr..
Tring's room at 1903 Shaftoe street had
been, among other things. q volume of
old prints which were copies from the
sea pictures in the great council cham
Der Of the doges' palace at Venice.
Dolly and be had studied these careful
ly, and from them had obtained q very
tolerable notion Of the naval architec-
ture Of the earlier csnturiea He ex-
pected, therefore, that the galleon would
have some traces remaining Of lofty
forecastle and aftercastle; that at least
one Of her great poop lanterns would b.
left; that she would have, at any rate,
one mast standing. He had pictured to
himself the size and shape of Its heavy
"roundtop," and, in fact. though the
whole would do 50 be shrouded by
heavy growth of sea shrub and creep
er, he had hoped that his imagination,
by filling in few gaps here and there
would still have given him a very fair
picture Of what the galleon was when
she rode in all her br y of canvas
and bunting over the waves Of the
surface.
But he had forgotten to allow for the
corroding power of the brine. Iron nails
had dissolved to mere threads, copper
had turned to thin green sirup, the
hard lex oak timbers and eathing
had rotted to pulpy slime The whole
fabric Of the great vessel had disin-
tegrated of lite own weight. reclining
where it fell, and the ever precipitating
diatom ooze had shrouded its identity
almost completely. Save here and there,
where some charred beam or plank of
the hard Spanish timber projected
crookedly like a rotten tree snag, the
symmetry Of the mound was unbroken.
bravo, Dollyr" said the doctor.
"Whatsver We do get now we've to
thank You for. D'you know, Guthrie,
that this is the third time we have been
over this particular piece Of ground and
that I was on the watch on the ether
OCCASIONS and must have passed this
precious hillock as did any other in
equality Of the sea floor1"
"Miss Colepepper, said the under
graduate, "the very next time we pipe
down to dinner l shall crave the honor
Of proposing your health.
"And III join you in drinking the
toastl" cried the doctor heartily. "But
now we won't waste any more time in
congratulations. The length of our stay
down in this gloomy treasure house is
limited We cant prolong it without
danger. So. Guthrie, away with you
below again. lift her a bit with the
pumps, give few turns to the crank
shaft till I get her under command
again and laid fairly up alongside, and
then stand by to work the grab"
At the word down the young man
tumbled, full of eagerness as he had
half an hour before been full of lassitude
and loathing. He told the tale to the
others, and never had work in those
gloomy tween decks been more cheer
fully done. The pumps clanked merrily
till the ketch was off the ground again,
and then the screw shaft hummed
round at such pace that Or. Tring
was forced to shout down to ease her or
he should run the hillock out of sight.
And afterward, when the doctor had
ranged her up into position and dropped
her down on to the sea floor again. the
others tumbled briskly forward to the
set Of cranks which worked the grab,
every man of them tingling with excite
ment For the result of all their weary
labors was now to be put to the proof
This "grab. as its inventor had
christened 1t, deserves a word of de-
scription. 1t was in structure very like
those uncouth contrivances yclept |
"steam navvies," which are usually as
ISOLATED with the making Of railway |
cuttings. Attached to the mainmast,
as to an upright, was heavy moving |
arm, which was capable Of complete
control from below. At the end Of this |
was long strut, armed with large |
iron scoop, which would dig up load
of anything within its reach, swing it
round and deposit it upon the deck All
the movements of the machine were
arranged so that they could be controlled
from the tween decks.
In practice the grab had many draw
backs; but, considering the enormous
difficulties under which it was worked,
it did its duties very well 1t certainly
reflected great credit upon its inventor,
I)r Triru Tho Y,,onhipa', b.
in medium so dense as sea water is
at that level We're sufficient to set up
small eddies, and, although these had
not been calculated upon beforehand,
their presence was noticed with pleas
ure, Under their influence much of the
ooze, which the scoop brought up along
with the more solid matter, was swept
gently from the decks, and in conse.
quence the weight of the cargoes which
had to be carried to the surface was
considerably lightened.
There were, as it turned out, many
Of these journeys to the surface and
back again. for the Eureka 8 people did
not by any means hit off the treasure
room of the galleon at the first attempt
Under that formless mound, amid which
the ruins of the Santa Catarina were
leaped, it was impossible to distinguish
stem from stern, and for awhile they
did not even know bow from broadside.
In fact five journeys forward and back
to the surface were necessary before
they could gain even this elementary
knowledge, and then many, many more
before they brought to daylight the
irst coin Of the coveted treasure.
Yet with what keen interest they
waded among their Shiny hauls may be
guessed. Many page from the history
IF the past which had long been pluck
ID away from the view Of modern man
was opened to their eager eyes. In one
1r another of their trips they brought
to the surface heavy culverins, brass
'akers and falconets, the shell bound
'tock of an arquebus, the bronze holder
or linstock-all archaeological treas
Tres over which DR.. Tring gloated as (
10 never gloated over the golden harvest
which came later. Captain Colepepper
picked up the jeweled hiIt of some
landy rapier whose blade had centuries
lgo dissolved in rust. The doctor found
/ woman 8 pouncet box Of tortoise shell
md gold, perfect as the day it left the