The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-13
INVESTED $1750 AND
CLEARED A MILLION i.
Big Fortune Snatched From Grip
Of the Sea by Et1tcrtprising
Australian. 3#
ROMANCE or WIRE cKlI
MELBOURNE, May ~.

MELBOURNE May ~. a
no buy wreck for $3.50 and subse- !
ducntly to acquire from 1t a fortune OF
nearly 1000, 900 is a stroke of good luck
such as falls to the lot Of few men.
| This, however, a. Melbourne draper, now
| the Hon. J. G. Altman, member Of the
| Legislative Council OF Victoria, can claim
to have done. and the profits from his
purchase are not complete yet for the 4
wreck Is still proving a handsome source
| OF revenue 5i33
The romantic story OF this great for
tune has only Just come to light, and IS
told BY Mr.. Altman himself. i.3
Il On June night two years ago the mag
ntlcent r and o. steamer Australia,
which cost s., 75O, 900 to build went ashore
at the entrance to Port Philip Bay. q
short distance from Melbourne. The ves-
sci herself was subsequently put up AZ
auction, and knocked down to Mr.. Ak {
man for the ridiculous sum Of $780, After "
ward the auctloneer offered the cargo lefe +
by the underwriters on tho wreck and Z!
this Mr.. Altman secured for another $500.
Complete Surprise. 5; 81
''The low price at which the whole
thing had been knocked down was a conf
plete surprise, declares Mr.. Altman. -
had enough money with me to pay q de-
posit Of 100000 3S IN
After much trouble Mr.. Altman suc-5E
ceetled in getting divers to work on the
wrecked liner, and then came the first OF
ma ny pleasant surprises. 81
1T was not long he says. "before q
had the pleasure Of seeing the decks Allied i
with cargo Looking round at the time,
you would have seen all classes OF goosds.
| drapery, hardware and electro-platedS
| ware. You would have seen 4O0-g allon
tanks filed with enamel ware. and
complete set Of band instruments which
realized very good prices. A great part Of
the cargo wo recovered was In the after
hold, where 1t had apparently been @ YER 4
looked. !,
Of the greatest surprises was the discoY-s
oryS that some one with a fishing boat
was removing something from the steam>
or, apparently without the aid Of any
diving gear. 5.8 gSaag2i4 $5 "a ":
Tons Of Valuable Metal. s -
eve determined to make a careful ex-}
amina tlon OF the hull at low water. when NJ
| to our surprise, we found yalua pie
cargo OF Aluntz metal lying high and dry
| and quitc accessible III 3tsS5
..There were ten tons OF It, which Wera
| taken out In less than q day. the metal
eventually renlzing $3.50. Nine hundred
| tons of bar iron, bar steel, tool steel and
shear steel were recovered from the
4 wreck and were sold at an / average or
i $50 a ton. I also got TAO tons Of galvan-5
i lied iron and 40 tons Of steel during
| the first opera ton. a $
AFTER six months operation we left
what remained on the boat, with the obs
ject Of abandoning her, when, In con-
| yersation with an engineer, that gent
man mentioned that. counting the con'8
| denser and the metal, brass and copper
piping there must have been hundreds
| OF tons Of metal on board. 5s3
| "He stated that he had seen the steam
| err when It was being built at home, and
he was sure that some & OF the co pper3
pipes would weigh a ton in themselves
| The statements made by the engineer
! were fully borne out by inves ttgation, and I
work was Immediately resumed. Al IS
The Second Attempt. IS
"During tho second operations on the
Australia 2lo tons OF brass, copper and
gun metal were recovered, ind 1850 tons
OF scrap cast iron were obtained from the I
engine and other astlnGs on board. Five
tandem and four Tangye engines and
large quantity Of pig iron were also got
from the wreck z. H \, 4
1.-THE four propeller blades which con-
sisted OF either phcsphor or manganese
bronze. and which weighed fourteen tons
nltogether, were taken from tho steamer
and realized $4,000 as old metal, 4 y 55
Halt the hull Of tho Australia still res
mains above water, and quantities OF
brass, copper and gun metal have still TO 3
be recovered. Il.
It is estimated that Mr.. Aikman's
nrcflts from the wreck approach $1,000, 600. "
Hc has recently BOUGHT the Melbourne
Coffee Palace. which, with proposed al-E
terutions, will cost 100000, and has also I
acquired several other well-knoWn bust
nessess Isl
Why the underwriters never removed
tho valuable cargo or failed to realize
the value of tho vessel itself Is u mys-
terry which may never be solved.