Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-08
GOLD ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.
Conditions of Transportation Now
Compared With Those Of olden
Times.

Conditions of Transportation Nov
Compared With Those Of Older
| Times.
New York Sun, Monday.
When Francis Drake, the greatest OF
the Elizabethan gentlemen adven-
turers," brought to a triumphant cli-
max his attacks on the Spanish gal
Icons in the New World by the capture
Of the great Lima treasure Ship" the
whole civilized world marvelled at the
Incompatible richness Of his spoil
Never before, said the old chroniclers
had so great a store Of treasure been
taken or yet borne by ships. He had
secured the most famous prize known
to history and added to his already
swollen fortunes, In the account OF
Lopez Vaz, bars Of virgin gold, pearls
precious stones, reals Of plate and 9TH
er things Of great worth"-the whole
amounting to 1,1S9,000 Spanish du-
cats, or about s1,SS4,S75 in present day
money. But this was in the good year
1872.
On Friday of this week when the
Lusitania makes her way up the Am
brose channel she will be holding safe
In the depths Of her steel vaults a
treasure five times as great as that
for which Drake paid with the lives OF
half his crew and years Of privation
and hardship. In ironbound cases OF
100 pounds each she will bring 10000
900 in gold BY far the greatest part
of her precious cargo Is in bars, gold
brought from the South African mines
and unloaded in London last Monday
In addition to this are gold eagles used
so often for transactions in foreign ex-
change.
But before the Lusitania arrives In
New York the Krenprinzessin Cecilie,
which left Bremen on Oct. 29, will have
landed in this port her. own consign-
ment Of $7,5OO,000 worth of gold bull
lion, and the White Star liner Teutonic
coming on Thursday will bring $1,000
900 more.
The total value Of these three con-
signments has never been equalled by
any fleet in the world, though history
is full Of great treasures that have
braved the dangers Of the sea. Unri-
vailed swiftness Of movement and WIRE
less telegraphy have done away with
the need for conveys, and insurance
rates make even the third-rate pirates
of the China Sea anachronisms In
these times, but certes, the romancers
are not the only ones to think with a
sigh of the days when, cutlass in teeth
and brace of pistols within reach, In
trepid adventurers. swarmed over the
sides of rich merchantmen in search
of booty. And perhaps the disapprov-
al Of many men of grave mood would
turn to surprise when they learned that
many Of the merchants whose names
are remembered on the streets signs OF
New York today were stockholders In
pirate ships.
Not all the famous treasure fleets
of history were despoiled by pirates
but few good chances at rich hauls
were left unnoted by the sea robbers,
and 1t is because from Biblical times
till the middle of the last century their
exploits mark the record Of over sea
treasure carrying that galleons and
pieces of eight doubloons and gold
moidores, argosies and other pict-
uresque terms of ancient days so ir-
resistible connote corsairs and buc-
cancers and "rakish low-lying craft
flying the Jolly Roger or high-pooped
pinnaces with the great banner OF
England.
In ancient times it was the ships OF
Solomon returning every three years
from the mines of Ophir that were the
object OF the raiders attack, and later
than these the Roman vessels sailing
with the rich stuffs Of Persia and In
dia to barter for the silver Of the de-
cadent and luxury loving empire
Pompey made an expedition against
the Cilician pirates, who preyed on
this commerce, but failed to stamp
them out. BY the time Of the Middle
Ages they were attacking the Venetian
argosies such as Shakespeare's Anto-
MO awaited in 1.-The Merchant Of Ven
ice" They were laden with Turkey,
Persian and Indian merchandise, out
Notwithstanding the exorbitant prices
paid for such commodities the value
of a whole fleet of argosies would be
lost in the ten millions Of the Lusi-
tania.
It was not until the battle OF Le-
panto, when Don John Of Austria and
the Venetian galleys crushed the Turk
ish fleet, that the first authentic rec
ord of a considerable amount Of wealth
borne on the high seas was made. The
booty in that engagement taken from
the Turkish galleys was not less than
$500, 900 in present day money, and a
tradition that many times that amount
in jewels and gold sequins went to the
bottom with the sunken craft is Sc
generally credited in Europe that only
few months ago the latest OF an un-
counted number Of expeditions set out
for its recovery. OF such sunken treas
ures there are many Sometimes a por-
ton Of one or another Is brought uI
in weed grown chests, barnacle COW
cred and with the quaint coins that
fill them stained with the action of the
sea water But most Of them have
been buried in the shifting sand ol
scattered by the tide. A few whose
situation is we'll known are inaccessi-
BILE because of the opposition OF the
elements. Such a one is the treasure
fleet of Vigo.
Two hundred and five years ago, al
most to the day, the French and Span
ish fleets lay in the roadstead OF Vigc
Bay in Spain, their guns and the car
ronades of the forts encircling them
trained on the harbor entrance. Back
OF the fighting line Of French ships
were anchored fore and stern against