The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1912-10-16
LARGE sum FOUND
DIVER FINDS TRACE OF FIVE Mill.
ION DOLLARS
Cannon near The GOLD

der Dee Over One Hundreds Years
Ago May Be Raised From the Deep
Waters.
A cablegram from London says
one million pounds In bullion, WHICH
has lain buried for more than cen
tury in the watery safe deposit OF
the Zuyder Zee may he recoVereo
from the deep within the next few
GAYS. Fine weather alone Is stated
to be the factor upon which this rec
ord salvage is dependent. .
If the work of the next ten days IS
successful it will bring to completion
one of the most romantic stories OF
treasure hunting known to history.
The British fligate. I.utine sank at
the entrance of the Zuyder Zee IN
October, 1899. She had then on
board s6,0S5,G0O in bullion and mon
ey. The Dutch government claimed
the wreck and granted one-third OF
the salvage in 1901 to bullion FISH,
ers.
After much discussion and occa-
sional recovc-ies, tie king o. the
Netherlands ceded half the wreck to
Great Britain. About 99,893 pounds
was recovered at various times, 1eav-
ing about 1.175.o00 pounds within
the hulk, but during the lapse in SAL
wage rations the site was obscur-
ed by silt. Many attempts have been
made in the last fifty years to re-
locate the wreck, but only recently
has this been successfully accom-
plished.
For two summers Captain Gardin-
er OF the National Salvage associa-
ton, at the head of band of gold
seekers, had fought upon the salvage
ship Lyons the fierce currents that
run between the islands Of Vieland
and Terschelling.
The men on the Lyons still feel
the thrill of the words of Diver B. T..
Baillie, who only recently came up
from the wreck with great tid1ngs.
When they unscrewed Baillie's he'll
met he turned to Captain Gardiner.
"I believe l have found the gold,' he
said
.Baillie and another diver found a
fourth cannon belonging to the Lu-
tine. Every one Of these guns are
muzzle leaders and are filed with
grape shot, with the wooden plug.
driven home, all ready for firing.
The cannon was hoisted aboard
the Lyons, but no work could be
done till the following Saturday. On
that day Baillie struck what he be-
lieves to be the treasure.
The discovery was made with con-
siderable risk. Many times have the
divers been swept off their feet by the
tides. BY digging and using the same
pump the divers have crept under the
only part of the great hulk that re-
mains intact. Bailiie, who knows
the wreck as well as any man says a
great number of the beams in the
hull are as good now as when they
were built in the frigate.
On the decks lie masses of can
non ball and shot, but along her ribs
are holes and rents showing the brok-
en-, jaeger ends Of plankS and tim
Der. It was by Investigating in one
Of these crevices that the diver found
the bullion.
He had crawled on hands and
knees along to the opening and tried
to get inside bodily, but the ragged
rents, threatened his life lines and
air tubes. Had the edges OF the bro
ken timber pierced his dress he would
never have seen daylight again. Still
he groped on like blind man.
Fifteen times he failed. Eventual
hold of some part Of the interior.
Fifteen times he failed. Eventual
ly, while stretching as far as he could
around the corner Of gaping timber,
his hand touched something hard
and square. Baillie knew the "feel'
of them.
There was, however, no moving
the precious metal, 80 after vain
attempt Baillie signaled to the men
above when they sent down line,
and with this he fastened buoy to
the hole in the side Of the Lutine.
They pulled him out Of the sand
and hoisted him aboard-the man
who had stood next to a million
pounds at the bottom Of the sea.
The fall Of the deck has impris-
oned the treasure in the strongest
chest imaginable, and it will require
a pill" Of dynamite to take it from
the grip Of the fifteen inch thick
beams.
So the Lyons men wait day and
night for the wind to go down and
the lighthouse for Terchelling fish
es in the darkness over the bleak is
land and the wrecks that lie buried
in the sand.