The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-08-09
SCHOONER VS., CRUISER
CONTINUED from page one)

AAoA'A A'''bI NAAN'|
have lived there with my family since
1855"
Captain John Ross, a well-known
skipper, was seen in the Office named
in the advertisement. To-day" he
said, marks a turning point in the
history of our company. 1t is the date
of the expiration of an option held on
the island by the South African Char
ter Company Of London, England, of
which the late Cecil r! odrs was presi-
dent We expect word from them by
cable that the option will no longer
be maintained, and will then go ahead
with the work Of organizing the eX-
petition. I have prepared plans of a
schooner which will take some four
months to build
Here Captain Ross stopped and said:
Il do not know If l should say too
much. Captain Gissler has been di-
rectly opposed to having anything in
the newspapers. 1 have Heid a dis
tinctly different view, believing good
newspaper articles would help US Here
is a copy of the concession in the
Costa Rica official gazette. The treas
ure is variously estimated at from
S33, 100000 to $G0,000C00 in money,
bullion and utensils. In one excava-
ton was buried 100000 pounds of sill
yer and silver dollars; in another cave
133 bars of gold, each 4 by g. two inches
thick, as well as bejeweled swords,
precious stones, and several kettles
filled with gold"
about the year 1920 pirates in the
West Indies were driven out of there
by English war vessels The pirates
came around the Horn to the Pacific
side of Central America, and in 1921,
when Mexico threw off the Spanish
yoke and the rich Spaniards in Mexico
loaded their wealth on Spanish galleons
and started for Manila the pirates cap
tured them and buried the treasure on
COcos Island. Then they went back
around the Horn to the West Indies to
secure what they had hidden there
Meantime two of the crew. Thompson
and Chapel, Englishmen, landed at
Valparaiso, worked their way back to
England and Informed the British
Government. A man-of-war was sent
out, the treasure in the West Indies
found and dug up and all the pirates
with the exception of two-eighty in
number-hung in Jamaica. The mer-
chants of Liverpool subsequently char
tered a small vessel which started for
Cocos Island but after vain search in
the Pacific they could not find it,"
Captain Gissler has direct Informal
ton from the descendants of one of the
two men who left the pirate at Valpa-
raise. The relatives of a man named
Keaton also have this information.
Keaton went there in 1916, found the
treasure and removed all he could, val
ued at $4,000. He had a man with him
named BOgue. The latter never re-
turned, and Keaton was suspected of
killing him and narrowly escaped be-
ing hung in St. John, New Brunswick.
Keaton's friends afterward fitted out a
number of expeditions from this city
and from Victoria. The brig Blakely
left Victoria las spring for C0cos.
Captain Gissler notified the Govern
ment of Costa Rica of the intended trip,
and about five weeks after she left that
| Government sent a man-of-war to in
tercept her, but did not find her at the
time. I understand that the Herman
| belonged to the Alaskan Commercial
| Company. Relatives Of Keaton Were
on board her"
| There nave been a score or more at
tempts within the pas, fifty years to
| secure the treasure of Cocos Island. but
never before did there threaten to he
three rival expeditions with so care
fully prepared data on the right trail
of the coveted loot of the robbers Of the
| Spanish main.