The Washington herald., 1907-03-17
SEEKING A TREASURE
Gold Sunk with War Ship to
Be DelYed For.
STORY OF ILL-FATED LUTINE
Vessel with Fortune Aboard sunk
I'm Fly Island Passage Carried a
sixty Years Ago, Now Rings Out
Sad sews at LIoyd's-The story.

Sixty Tears Ago Now Kings out
Sad sews at LIOyd's-The story.
Mr. Frederick 3. Whitney. the lawyer.
who lives at the Dewey and whose Office
is in the Munsey Building. Is at present in
London In the interests Of a syndicate Of
English treasure seekers. and as a result
OF his labOrs a cable dispatch says:
An agreement has been concluded between the
Lutinc Company. representatives, Of the insurers
aud FREDERICK Il. Whitney of Washington, ID. G.,
whereby further attempts viii BE- made 10 sal'e
the bullion which formed part Il the cargo nf
the British vsrshD Lutinc which fOUndered OF
the coast Of Holland in 1893.
What was the Lutine? Originally. she
was q French frigate. and during the
period of the Frerch revolution she was
captured by the British. 1t was during
the operations against Toulon. IN that
port was the most powerful collection of
French war ships gathered anywhere at
that time. and their presence was a men
ace to British commerce. So Vice Ad-
miral Lord Hood was sent 10 watch
Toulon and hold the French IN check.
He was in command of twenty ships OF
the line. and il was not long before ne
had the French navy securely bottled up
In Toulon HarboT.
The French naval commander al Toulon
was Rear Admiral Comte de Trogoh, an
ardent Royallst. and many Of the people
Of Toulon We're also adherents 10 the
R0yalist cause. These believed that the
aid Of the British fleet could be secured
in an attempt 10 restore the monarchy.
II was with this IN view that two ENJOYS
met the British feet and began 10 treat
with Admiral Hood for the surrender OF
Toulon and al the shipping IN its harbor
The ENJOYS came from Marseillcs. but
they represented that in the offers OF sur
render they made they represented the
public opinion Of Toulon and It's people.
and on this Admiral Hood made public
proclamation to the effect that If Toulon
was surrendered the people Of Provence
should be aided by him in securing their
desires.
The Republicans Rally.
But complications arose over the sur
render. It turned out that there was a
large Republican faction IN Toulon, and
these people were nightly opposed TO the
surrender Of their city 10 the British.
When Admiral Hood called on the people
OF TOulOn 20 rally 10 the standard Of the
monarchy, the response was slight and
on investigation it was found that the
Republican cause was gaining ground The
ENJOYS from Marseiiles had promised that
delegates from Toulon would come to
treat with Admiral Hood. and when these
not
Cooke, of his flagship. the Victory. 70 as
certain the true state OF affairs. Cooke
was received ashore with enthusiasm by
the ROyalists. and with violent disap-
prOval by the Republicans
On his way back TO the fiagship Lieut.
Cooke was arrested by the Republicans;
he was rescued by the Royalists. and
mana ged 20 get of % his ship 10 report
to Admiral Hood. At once Hood began
TO land troops, and al the same time he
notified the naval authorities OF the port
that such Of the French ships as did IOt
proceed TO the inner h8rbor and land
their powder would be treated as enc
mics.
Nelson and Napoleon.
The French ships obeyed what was prac-
tically an order. but once in the inner
harbor the spirit Of republIcanism mani
Tested itself among the French crews, and
Admiral St Julien. second in command,
abandoned the feet and landed with some
3. eco seamen. Thus the British feet in
the outer roadstead faced a feet OF war
ships so inadequately manned as TO be
practically at its mercy.
Admiral Hood landed more troops, and
he appointed Rear Admiral GoodaN as
governor Of TOUion, and thus affairs went
or for nearly a month when the RepubIi-
car army began 90 appear in force. Then
minor battles occurred during
one Of which. that on Faron Heights on
September 20, Napoleon vas prominent as
one Of the officers Among the British
ships was another officer destined 10
worldwide renOwn, for Nelson was there
in command OF the Agamemnon.
As the days went on the British posi-
tion became more and more distastefui.
and by November the Republicans had
mounted guns on the heights. which not
only threatened the city OF Toulon. but
commanded the shipping. and against
these batteries Admiral Hood, with his
ships IN the outer roadstead could ac-
nothing. In mid-December il
was decided 10 evacuate Toulon first de-
such OF the shipping and mill
tary stores that it was found impossible
10 carry away
Under the British.
Before the evacuation Capt. Sir VII
liam Sidney Smith executed his brilliant
exploit OF destroying the powder maga-
zines and thus wrecking many Of the
French ships that the British could not
man. After this destruction the British
sailed away, and among the French ships
that were captured and carried of was
the Lutine. She was a stanch frigate
Of thirty-tw0 guns and comparatively
modern equipment.
Now began the career of the Lutine
under the cross Of St. George. She car
ried crew Of go men and was placed
under the command Of Capt Launcelot
SkynnCr. Many times she conveyed
troop ships during those troublous times.
and many times her guns were turned
against ships carrying the flag which once
had flown from her masthead she made
several voyages TO the British West
Indies. Afterward she was engaged in
the British operations against the Dutch
In the North Sea in 1889
In the summer of this year the British
secretly prepared an expedition on a
large scale against Holland, with a view
Of aiding the Prince of Orange to regain I
his power. The British feet was aug
nented by number Of Russian ships. and
with 27o00 men there was to be a de-
scent on the Dutch coast The British /
naval commander was Admiral Andrew
Mitchell. In the British squadron was the /
ship America. commanded by Capt. John
Smith. The expedition. as history shows, |
vas entirely successful and the Lutine /
played her part.
In September Of this year, there was
great financial stringency at Hamburg. /
and LOn1on merchants having connec- |
tons In the German city were most 1