Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-10-08
Treasure Hunting Non a
Commercial Undertaking

possessions gold TO the amount of about
$i5,000.000 II year. In 1902 II great fleet
of salleons bearing the accumulated
wealth of three years-about $4,000, 600
arrived in ViGo bay on the coast of
Spain, ana was waylaid by a combined
English and Dutch fleet determined to
have the treasure. The galleons were
conveyed by French and Spanish war
ships and when the Spanish admiral
saw that the tide of battle was going
against him he ordered the gnlleons to
be sunk, and sunk they We're About
| Sl5,o00.0G0 has been recovered at vari-
| Gus times so that 1t Is estimated that
there is still about sl25,0OO,000 at the
bottom of Vigo bay.
During the preliminary work the en-
gincers succeeded in definitely locnt-
Ing the galleons and even III learning
the names of some of them. Most OF
them. of course. are buried deep in
sand which will have to be cleared
away. but Il few were uncovered and
as an experiment some cannon and 9TH
cr equipment were raised. When the
new apparatus Is completed which will
probably be before next spring. it will
be taken to NiSo and work will be be-
gun In earnest as soon as the weather
permits.
THE MICROSCOPE.
The apparatus on which the treasure
seekers place most reliance In the n.y.
droscope which consists Of an eXtensible
tube with a chamber at the bottom,
which can be lowered into any depth
OF water. The chamber is fitted with
telescope windows and the observer
having climbed down can be moved over
the bed of the sea at his pleasure, and
can take observations of all that there
Is to sec there in comfort and at leisure
The submarine boat is fitted With ma
chinery by which the elevators can be
attached to the galleons after they have
been freed from their beds OF sand.
The elevators are simply great bladders
which are lowered and attached to the
object to be raised and then pumped
full of air from the surface. Each Of
them has nlfting capacity of so tons,
and the only limit to the weight which
can be raised by them is the limit to
the number which can be attached.
But the Sea Salvage company does
not propose to confine itself to the
treasure of Vigo bay. That Is only lis
first, and no doubt its greatest work.
It intends to go in for seeking out and
recovering the millions In sunken
treasure which the sea holds all the
world over. and particularly around the
British coast.
DIR. 1berti told Inc n few. days ago
how he came to engage in the search
for treasure which most men are dis
posed to regard as chimericnl.
For the past six or seven years.
lie said. II have been at work In six
or seven European countries with a
single aim: the, aim of proving conclu-
sively that an immense treasure in gold
and silver of at least sl2o. 0C0, OCo in value
lies at the lottom OF Vigo bay
-l.f,t
There is no original document in any
language relating to the BATHS Of Vigo
which ! have not studied: II will not, +
hope, be thought n boast IL i remark
that probably no living person has
studied the history of Vigo more thor
oughly than myself.
We'll DO remember the first time
when heard of Vigo. | was d little
boy in an Italian school: before me
stood my master, tall and lean with so
austere face ana manner that he
looked like a monk; only the gentle ex-
preston of his eyes showed that before
Ill he was a allowing father. And he
told us how II Spanish galleons. COM
| ing home from the West Indies IN the
| year 1902. with cnrgoes OF gold and sill
Yer and precious merchandise, had
taken refuge in the quiet waters of the
Rande, where some 90 French battle
| ships covered their fight.
He told us how an allied Anglo
Dutch fleet had fallen on the treasure
: ships, how the Spanish admiral gave
the word Sink the ships; and how 40
good ships were given as prey to the
waves, ratherthan that they should be
the prey of their enemies
I! Nearly 90 years were to PASS before
! 7 was to think seriously Of II again.
Then. In the September OF 1903, i. re-
turning home from Continental travels,
happened to meet ut Genoa friend,
Cavalicre Giuseppe Pine, famous for
his wonderful invention OF n working
! submarine boat. From his lips i heard
again tho story of the historic treasure
of Nlgo, and learnt that he had con-
ceived the. bold design of recovering It,
and had determined that was The man
to help him IN tho colossal enterprise.
PRELIMINARY SURVEY.
AT last the day came when ali were
ready for experiments In Vigo bay.
1--WE Installed our machinery on n fine
yacht, the san Clemente, and set out to
make all preliminary observations FOR