The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-19

hFIcW III the OLD DAYS.
After the inside people had landed on
the treasure island-they always did their
island work on moonlight nights-we want
to look for the island on which Hender-
son had buried Somers. I'll give you the
. entry from my personal log:
Jan. e. lat. 7S9. long. 2230-This
eventful day commenced with fresh east
southeast winds, clear. Set mainsail and
1ib and stood E. N. E.. looking, for some
island. AT 1l:S0 gave up in disgust and
squared away for home
You see the captain was utterly at
fault when it came to finding the island
upon which he had buried Somers. We
stood around and beat about, all to no
purpose.
BY all the gods the captain swore
there's been an earthquake around in
these latitude. and the islands been
swallowed up and poor old Somers' bones
with it. Too bad he added; there was A
lot of treasure on it,, too
Fie had chart with the longitude and
latitude and the island itself mapped out,
but at the precise spot where the chart
showed Somers' Island ought to be there
was nothing but water. So we sailed for
home.
Although every man on board had
money coming to him from the treasure
may say that out of the expenses Of
the trip they had to pay for the vessel
There was enough to pay not only for
the boat, but to give us all something be-
sides. Although the men had money to
burn and we were loaded. we soon ran
out of tobacco. We also ran out of pro-
visions, but that didn't matter, so long
as we had tobacco. And. of course, treas
ure hnders though we were, the men be-
gan to grumble.
1--WE reached Port Eads, which is the
seaport of New Orleans. on March q
There the rest Of the syndicate met us
After their business was finished the most
Of them went TO Columbus or Cincinnati
where Capt. Henderson now is The
Kwasind here will be held subject to
their orders, as they are the owners. She
is a pretty small boat, you may think.
for such a trip, being only Is feet long
and of 65 tons burden, but she's
dandy"
How the Treasure Was Found.
The actual story of the finding of the
treasure is told by one of the three men
who were present. He said:
I'VE found very easily the island,
coral reef, upon which our Captain had
seen his predecessor bury treasure, and
upon which he himself had buried it sub
sequently. 1t was only about sixty-seven
acres in area. and very difficult to APP
proachs as there was. as is usual on ISL
ands of this character, a high surf sur
rounding the key or reef. Beside some
coast negro divers there were in the boat
that put off from the Kwasind our cap
tain, w. c. Spenny and Mr.. Campbell We
went around the island several times, the
captain in the stern sheets trying to make
out with his glass the break in the cir
Gle of surf that would mark the entrance
TO the lagoon or lake in the center OF
the reef. The first time we didn't dare
go near enough to see it. The island was
barren except for a few palms that grew
back a little from the shore, nourished
don't know by what. The last time we
made the circle at the Captains direction
we pulled in closer.
There she is, he yelled suddenly
Eat his word we looked closely all the
time drifting nearer to the surf. Then
we made out little break or spot of
Inactivity in the surf line. For this we
pulled 1t was a mighty big question if
we would pass into it in safety or be car
ried to the side into the lashing surf and
. cut to pieces. But finally we got over
the last wave, and with one gunnel almost
in the surf on one side we shot through
into the quiet space. Into little inlet we
went not very wide. Then without
WORD OF warning we shot into the lake.
You see the reef was nothing but ring Of
coral with a lake set inside and this lake
connected with the outside ocean by
narrow inlet.
I'VE pulled slowly around the elongated
circle of the lagoon. Half way around
the port side of our entrance the Captain
stood up in the stern sheets pointing to
a black object on the shore.
80" That's the spot he shouted. Then
he lowered his voice and looked around
cautiously. We all looked around. We
were on a barren isle, but the treasure
trove instinct was so strong upon us that
we feared to be overheard in the soli-
tude.
1--WE landed at the spot indicated by
the Captain. The black object was an
old ships anchor. This the Captain ex-
amined closely 1t was half buried IN
the white sand that flies about there.
On one fuke he called attention to
peculiar mark. Then without word
he got out chart and a compass. TAX
ing a direction, he advanced NUMBER
of feet which we measured off accu-
rately. At the end of the first distance
he made sharp turn with the compass,
and advanced a number of feet. After
three more changes of direction, consult
ing the chart at every turn and measur-
ing the distance according to the direc-
tons, he stopped, deathly pale, and tap
ped the ground with his feet.
Here it is he said, almost in
whisper.
TT didn't take US dong to dig down
through the soil, which was composed
largely Of powdered bits OF coral. At first
the Captain stood by and let the rest OF
us dig Then suddenly he jumped up and
era bbed a spade from one of us and be-
gan to dig, furiously. At last we came
down to what appeared to be the solid
body of the reef We threw out some
bits of what might have been plaster.
'Gonel Gomez yelled the Captain.
That was the cement that sealed it up!
And gone it was.
1.-The presence of the cement left no
doubt that we had followed the chart d.
rections accurately enough, but not
trace of the treasure could we find We
tried the directions time and time again,
and even dug where we weren't directed
to-. but to no purpose. Then in rather an
angry and crestfallen manner the Captain
took us over to the other side OF key.
Crossing the lagoon in a boat he indis
Gated an area that was reached by set
ting a certain angle from the inlet mouth
and changing the direction at certain
distances. In general his directions held
true. but we had to dig over little area
before we hit upon smooth surface OF
cement. which, when laid bare, showed
that II hadn't been disturbed. one OF
our picks had penetrated il, but that was
all. We broke into this and found the
chest buried there at the bottom.
1T was bullion. and the exact ngures