River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-03-26
TREASURES LOST AT SEA.
Sunken Riches Located in Different
Parts of the WOrId-Work
of Recovery.

of Recovery.
1t is not generally knon that at her
death Queen Victoria gave Princess
Beatrice the crown rights to the gold of
the Spanish armada. This gold lies in
comparatively shallow depths in the
English channel. Its location is known
to the admiralty, and the value of the
gold is said to be enormous. The right
is invested in the royal family, and
many offers have been made looking
towards its recovery. But the bottom
of the Atlantic is vast treasure bed.
If skillful mariner had submarine
boat, and if the boat had a cyclopean
eye in the hull of it, its owner might
easily rival Rothschild. y large
amount of this treasure is located as
accurately as the principal banks in our
great metropolis. Many a diver can
take you to chart, lay his finger on
a number of spots and say: Go to
longitude so and so, in a latitude detin-
able within so feet. Dive deep enough
and bring up a fortune, says London
Golden Penny.
Every wrecking company has its own
private list of these ocean boards.
Some are being worked, while many
will doubtless become accessible in the
future. Last year the Boston wreck
ing company recovered $4,000 in gold
bars which had lain for 60 years on
bank near Turks island. Twelve months
previously to this find New York
company fished up couple of bags of
gold from an old-time wreck off Staten
island. In the United States there are
companies prepared to undertake the
hazardous business of recovering val
uables from wrecks. They employ the
best divers obtainable, and for days
these men work away and endeavor to
bring to the surface the lost treasures.
When the Spanish steamer Biscaya
sank off Barnegat on November l, 1890,
a well-known American wrecking COM
pany received the following telegram
from Havana: spare no expense to
recover the body of Don Pedro" Don
Pedro, wealthy Cuban merchant, was
passenger by the Inflated vessel. The
telegram came from the widow and
certainly seemed to indicate her devO-
ton for her husband. The wrecking
company fitted tug, hired the best
divers and began the search. They
worked for many Gays, bringing up
ships officers and seamen-every body
except the Cuban merchant. The
search was at last abandoned. Then
the company heard for the first time
4
body and in a wallet gems to the value
of $4,000.
In He'll Gate, at a spot marked with
star in the charts Of wrecking offices,
lies the British man-of-war Hussar.
When she sank she carried $500, 900 in
cash to pay the British army just be-
fore the revolution. She sank in only
ten fathoms of water. AS late as 1894
a wreclling company had divers at work
upon the wreck. They brought up q
few scattered gold coins, brass buttons
and some scrap iron. Another British
ship, loaded with gold, captured from
the Spaniards, lies at the bottom of
Chesapeake bay in only 48 feet of wa
ter. She went down in 1880. Before
leaving the port at Lewes her captain
was heard to say: Eve have gold
enough aboard to buy a kingdom"
Just as she stood out from the land a
cyclone struck her. She keeled over
and went down. The body of the cap
tain was brought to shore and buried
at Lewes. Within recent years a con-
siderable amount of gold has been
brought up from her by divers.
At the base of Dunderberg, in the
Hudson river, lies pirate vessel, with
81 bars of gold, quantity of plate, a
box of gold watches and a diamond
necklace onboard. In September, 1857,
the Central American went down out
side Havana. She carried 5000, 900 of
the precious metal. The wreck is set
down accurately in maritime records,
but unless some way is found by which
divers can work at depth beyond 100
feet, this treasure will never be recov-
cred. Thirty years ago 100000 English
pounds of gold were recovered from
Spanish galleon by a diver named
Phipps in the West Indies. The gold
had been under water 200 years. Re-
ce&ly the Boston wrecking company
secured good deal of silver from the
wreck of the frigate Severn, British
boat, which went down near Turks
island, in the West Indies, in.1793, with
100000 worth of silver on board. She
lies in a basin, exposed to the rough
swell of the Atlantic. She is only 80
feet under water. The location Of the
wreck is given as latitude 81, longitude
SO degrees so minutes.