The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1907-04-29
FOR SUNkEN TREASURE


sh cid fashioned, fuii.favored
/ ''treasurn" story or hankeu builion.
| pirates and armed merchantmen
soanas ridieously ouf Of date, aud
yei an expedition goes forth this
wrek from the London docks which
seems To have more chance Of sue
| secr than any similar venture in re-
cent years
/, may I've ne~s to most people that
prospecting for treasure al the bot
| tom of the sea IL by no means con
fined to pearl and coral diving as
witness the repeated efforts TO get
her tons OF gold out %. the old Brit
ish frigate Lutine. wrecked in the
Zuyder Zee nearly century ago.
Company after company has been
incorporated under Dutch, British
and French laws to salve this treas
ure ship. aud already millions OF
dollars worth Of gold have been
taken from her. At the time the poor
Dutch fishermen recalled fortunes
In a single day by literally fishing
up chests of gold with their nets II
is worth nothing in pass
ing that the famous bell in LIoyd's
which announces the posting OF a
missing ship, is relic from the Luz
tine.
Another successful case OF treasure
diving was that OF the Alphonso XII
sunk off Point Gando In Grand Can
AIRY with over 100000 worth Of
Spanish gold coin on board. Nor
does this complete the recent list.
may mention the steamer Skyro.
sunk In over thirty fathoms off Cape
Finisterre with an enormous quanti-
ty OF bar silver; and the Hamilla
Mitchell lost on the Leuconna Rock,
near Shanghai. with specie worth
800, ,o0o The divers in this case
only recovered half the treasure, for
they were interrupted by piratical
junks and the salvage party had to
flee for their lives.
| The central figure in the latest ex
pedition is Capt. Gardiner. Appro-
priately enough, his has been a most
| romantic career. He was a midship-
man on the famous gunboat Condor
when Lord Charles Beresford was
earning name and fame in the bonn
bardment of Alexandria. And Gard
iner also saw much service in the re
cent Boer war.
Within the past few weeks this ad-
venturer has been very busy on
little SO0-ton steamer called the At
fred Nobel. which lay in the docks at
Blackwell, London-a mere toy un-
der the mighty hull Of the Tintagel
| Castle. For some time the Alfred
| Noble had been in the hands of con-
tractors, who were fitting into her
all kinds of salvage appliances-pow-
erful pumps, triple expansion en-
gines. great searchlights, air com
pressors and winches, which latter,
it is eventually hoped, will be called
upon to raise masses of treasures
from comparatively shallow water.
Gardeners new command is pre-
cisely the kind of little vessel one
would think is cut out for success.
4 queer little craft; some parts of
her resemble a yacht For example,
there are elegant sandwood cabins,
electric fans and brocaded curtains.
On the other hand. besides all the
businesslike appliances, there Is a
complete Marconi installation, 4
rocket life-saving apparatus, ana
even cameras of an entirely new
kind for taking photographs under
water
The little steamer was once the
private yacht Ormean. and after that
she became a dynamite ship. belong
ing to the Noble company, Her third
charge was To carry the fortunes OF
the South African Salvage company.
limited, with a capital of 25,0oo s.
shares. 10000 OF which have been
offered for subscription at par,
Gardiner and his hackers declare
there is at stake over 1000 900.