Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-01-03
RARE RELICS.
Thames Giving Up Treasures Of War
and Art.

fished cut OF tho Thames River are
fair sample of the treasures resting
in the mud al the bottom. it might
paw some Yankee speculator To fl
nance a plan for a systematic search
Everything from coin to statue
has been recovered from the black
land having found a resting-place
there. II was thrown there purposely
by james H. on the night ne fled
f,om Whitehall but a fisherman ac-
cidentally brought it to light son1S
while afterward. and it was restored
to the government.
The largest object ever found III
the Thames vas Il whale, which was
caught near Blackwell dock in 1890
This monstrous fish says a con-
temporary account now reprinted in
The London Globe, is fitty-seven feet
in length and near forty feet about
he is more i'll height than in breadth.
and is taken to be matter of fifty
Tunn in Wight. He was first dis
covered near the bouy of The More.
where he was nerd at by a king
yoa.n. so received sum wound and
w
| by ye Hoop and beat himself upon
,e sand. Gfter that he was harpoond
md taken, then bought by Quacor."
Ore of the most ancient and,
strangely enough. best preserved relics
was found in 1868 near Waterloo
bridge" says historian. writing in
the Globe. This is II Celtic helmet
of bronze. more than twenty centuries
old. The state cf its preservation is
marvellous. the ornamentatiOn being
almost as unWorn as when the helmet
was first made. In 1856 a bronze
shield of about the same date was
wrested from the river mud near Bat
tersea, toge thcr with a great number
of swords, spears and other weapons.
This Shield is the finest of its period
in the world. 1t is fourteen inches
wide and thirty long, and somewhat
highly ornamented with curious red
enamel disks. The durability of
bronze is evident when W. think of
the countless tides which swept over
it. but were yet unable to destroy the
metal. and it is almost impossible to
realize that the owner of such 4 shield
was a savage barbarian, clad only in
the skins of wolves and other wild
animals which were harbored in thou.
sands by the mighty forests which
covered all England.
Near London Bridge, which has
always proved mine of buried treas
ures, two small Roman statuettes were
| found in 1887. They are bronzes OF
Appollo and Mercury unfortunately
somewhat mutilated and dented. but
| sufficiently we'll preserved to show
| that both We're the work of true ar
| lists, and probably famous sculptors
| of that day. 1t is possible that the
| early Christians who We're RESPONSE
| BILE for d good deal of damage Of the
kind looked upon them as devils
ard thought that by defacing them
and cutting off an arm here and a
leg there and casting them into the
| river they would deprive them of any
| power of evil SO many COINS. OF
bronze. silver and gold have been
| found in the Thames that it would re-
| quire a mighty tome to catalogue
| thert. In 1S4l a number of gold coins
We're found by laborer, who even
tupliy sold them to a collector while
| some twenty-five years earlier "a great
quantity Of angels and half-sovereigns
| minted in the reigns of Henry VII
| and Henry VIII. We're thrown up by
| a snail kind et waterspout. They
| We're claimed by the corporation anC
| what happened to them is not known,
at Queenhithe the seal OF Edward
| the confessor for the port of Londor
| was brought to the surface by 6
| dredger in 1910. II is of very thick
silver. in perfect condition and of The
most exquisite workmanship. 1t was
bought by a private gentleman. NG
many years ago barge brought II.
Oh the end of its anchor q gold poman
der of the fifteenth century. Poman
ders were worn on the girdle an(
contained scent.
"A great number of Roman relic:
have been found at different times
and there are no doubt as many NOR,
still hidden in the river bed A pai
of Roman sandals almost perfeetl.
preserved We're discovered some year.
ago; and a very fine head OF the Eni
peror Hadrian, as we'll as q hug,
hand, which may have belonged to tn
statue of which the emperors heal
was part" Exchange.
l