River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-11-02

N. F., named Heating, with full d.
rections how to find the treasure.
Thompson died under mysterious cir
cumstances a little later and the
suspicion grew that Heating killed
him. However that may be, Heating
sailed to Cocos island In 1874 with
Captain Bogue, a seaman of sufficient
means to finance the expedition. They
found the treasure, but Bogue never
returned. Keatii said he was
drowned in the surf while attempting
to climb into a boat with his boots
and pockets stuffed with gold. 1t is
generally believed that Heating muir
dered him.
Heating made a second visit to the
island four years later and again
found the treasure. In both trips he
is supposed to have brought away gold
and jewels to the value of $15O,OOO.
He was prevented from recovering the
entire treasure by mutinous crews on
both voyages. Heating and Bogue are
the only men, so far as is known, who
ever recovered treasure from Cocos
island.
Heating passed his secret on to the
Hackett brothers, both seamen and his
neighbors in St. Johns. Heating had
lost or destroyed the chart which he
had obtained from Thompson. But he
drew another chart which he gave to
the Jackets with explicit instructions
how to find the cave. Heating died in
1883 and Capt. Thomas Hackett, the
elder brother, sailed in 1885 on an ex-
petition bound for Cocos, but the voy-
age ended with lis death in Havana
from yellow TeVpc
Capt. F'reGsT1ck Hackett, who Is
about to undertake the latest Cocos
island treasure hunt, has himself made
two former unsuccessful expeditions.
Captain Hackett was formerly a
whaling skipper. He has been sea-
man all his life. He formerly sailed
out of ST. John'F, Newfoundland, where
he was born and grew to manhood.
For the last ten years he has made
his home in Vancouver, British Column
bia, where he Is engaged in the fish
ing trade. He il bluff, ruddy, beard
ed old sea dog, hale and vigorous de-
spite his three score years, and full
of boyish enthusiasm over project
that has been hts one dream for a
quarter of GENTRY. So many expe-
ditionS to Cocos island have failed to
find treasures that Captain Hackett
has had difficulty in raising funds for
his present expedition. He succeed
ed in getting together 100000, and
with this sum he has been able to pro-
vision his ship properly for a years
voyage and to take along hydraulic
mining machinery, in which he is sure
lies the only hope of ever unearthing
the Cocos island treasure.
81 have stood over millions" said
Captain Hackett recently as he sat
by the skylight on the quarterback of
the Hesperus and watched his sailors
busy with final preparations for the
expedition. ut was not lack of
knowledge that caused me to fail in
my two former voyages, but lack of
equipment and supplies. l knew after
my first expedition that picks and
shovels would not do in Cocos, and
that the only chance to get the treas
ure was to tear up the earth with
streams of water thrown By a n.y.
draulic mining engine. l have the
latest hydraulic machinery with me
now, and l shall set out with perfect
faith in the successful outcome of my
voyage.
1.-THE landslide that now lies on top
Of the treasure cave probably occurred
in the middle of the last century dur
ing the violent earthquakes that shook
the western coast of South and Cen
trail America. Forest trees have grown
upon it, and the appearance of that
part of the island is vastly changed
since the days of Bonito, Thompson
and Heating. But with my bearings
and chart and the instructions given
me by Heating in many long inter-
views, | believe l can locate within a
radius Of 80 feet the spot beneath
which the treasure is buried.
Il knew Heating from youth up"
Captain Hackett continued. HE was
rough, ignorant man who had been
fisherman and a sailor all his life.
"It was because my brother and
befriended him when most everybody
else looked askance at him that after
advancing years made it pretty GER
tain that he never would be able to
voyage to Cocos again, he decided to
divulge his secret to us. My brother
and owned the collier, Lord Dufferin,
which was kept busy cruising up and
down the coasts of Newfoundland and
New Brunswick. On one of our voy-
ages we took Heating with us. One
stormy night as the old man sat by
the table in the cabin over a glass Of
stiff grog, he first told us how to find
the treasure. He began his strange
story with an account of his first visit
to Cocos with Captain Bogue.
1T was a hot day in June he said
when he and Bogue landed. They
struck off through the tropical jungle