The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-16
PUMPING WEALTH FROM SEAS BOTTOM England Reclaiming Gold
 From Man of War VESSEL SANK IN 1799 Already Over Two Million Dollars Have Been Recovered and the
 Prospects Are Bright
 For Much More

From the Louisville Herald
 In striking contrast to the elaborate preparations which were necessary in the attempt to raise the wreck of the Maine are the operations now being conducted by a salvage company to recover millions of dollars Of treasure now lying on the bed of the North sea off West Terschel- ing, one of the West F,riesian Islands.
 This sunken treasure Is contained in the Lutine, an old English man-of-war, which sank in 179a, while on a voyage from Great Yarmouth to Hamburg. With in the past 30 years various attempts have been made to recover the gold, and at one time or another about million, dollars worth of it has been brought to the surface by divers.
 Recently the British government decided that it might well have the rest. and offered liberal inducements to private wrecking compa nies for the salvage of the vast sum. A few weeks ago the big sal wage steamer Lyons, under command of Captain Gardiner undertooi, the task, and the work has so far progressed that with in few days it is hoped the treasure will be wrested from the clutches of the sea.
 The salvage of the Lutines millions is far less complicated affair than the raising of the Maine. No attempt is being made to raise the Lutine itself, which the Edivers found had long ago been disinte grated by the actions Of the tides. It was simply a matter of raising the bull lion, which, although probably scattered to some extent, Is known to lie in the bed of the sea.
 For this reason, instead of sinking cof fee dams around the area of the wreck and pumping the water the,efrom. was necessary in the case of the Maine, ana was accomplished with so much difficulty, Captain Gardiner decided that he would accomplish his task by the more simple method of suction
 The Lyons is equipped with powerful suction pump, having diameter of 20 inches. A pipe of this diameter is inserted in the bed of the sea, and when the pump is put in operation the accumulated sand, shells, specie and debris, with which the bed is covered, is brought to the surface with the greatest facility
 An enormous sieve has been erected on a lighter, and into this the intermingled
  fnense stream. The seive is fine enough to retain everything large" than half a sovereign, which is about the size of one of our nickels and consequently there Is considerable mining work to be done on the residue left in the sieve
 | Divers are employed to direct the ma nipulation of the pump, and they reported | a week or so ago that the work is now 1 being conducted among the wreckage di- rectly under the stern of the I.utine, and | that they have only a few more feet to go before reaching the hard clay floor of the upon which the mass of the treasure in the shape of gold and silver bars and coin is believed to lie. Favored by frequent short spells Of fine weather, Captain Gardiner and his crew of divers have been able to make excellent progress. The huge suction pump has been able to remove tens of thousands of tons of sand and rubbish from over the wreck, and the stern of the boat in which the cargo of treasure was carried, now lies exposed.
 Already over two million dollars worth of gold and silver coin has been brought up from the deep in this manner, and | there seems to be no reason, barring bad | weather why the remainder of the treas ure should not be recovered with a few l weeks.
 | The fact that the Lutine sank In but 10 | feet of water makes the work particular | ly easy, although the tides are strong ana | the wreckage was originally completely | covered with sand.
 Whether the< same method would be successful in the case of other wrecks | would depend largely upon the conditions. | In the case of the numerous Spanish gal Icons which at one time or another sank | with even greater cargoes of treasure. the | task would be a far more difficult one,
 for In the majority of instances these
 wrecks occurred at deep sea, or, at any
 rate. at far greater depths than in the
 case of the Lutine
 Then again it is seldom that the exact l location of the wreck is az well known
 as was that of the wrecked British man of-war. Although the pumping method of salv- aging sunken treasure Is simple compared
 with that employed in the case of the Maine it is not unattended with dangers. | The work of the divers employed by Captain Gardiner Is particularly hazard ous owing chiefly to the strength of the
 tides. only few days ago a diver had gone down to view the progress being
 made by the pump, and after some min utes all signals from i'm to the ship
 ceased.
 | The weather at the lllne cHdHSeu IOI | the worse, and a nasty sea was rising, vet one of his mates Immediately put on
 a diving suit and prepared to descend to
 the missing mans aid. task, in the cir
 cumstances, of great danger
 The position of the ship was altered a itrife in order.to facilitate the descent and
 lust as the rescuer was descending the
 ships side an object was seen floating
 close by This proved to be the missing
 divers boots, and a boat which put off
 immediately found the man floating up
 side down.
 He was quickly brought back to the
 ship and his helmet taken off, and in q
 short time had recovered sufficiently to I explain his strange adventure.
 While down at the wreck it appears the tide had caught him and entangled his lifeline so firmly among pieces Of
 wreckage that he was unable to release it. But fortunately his air tube kept
 free, and to that he owed his life.
 He cut himself free of tte lifeline. and,
 allowing his diving suit to become in- Hated, fioated to the surface, though he
 arrived there feet first
 |
 to justify the conclusion that college edu- loo vii a