Imperial Valley press., 1912-11-06
100000 WORTH OF
BULLION FOUND BY DIVER

AMSTERDAM, Holland, Nov. 6.-One
million pounds of bullion, which has
lain buried for over a century in the
watery safe deposit of the Zuyder
Zee, may be recovered from the deep
within the next few days. Fine wealth
er alone is stated to be the factor upon
which this record 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 frigate Lutine sank at
the entrance Of the Zuyder Zee in Octo
Der, 1899. She had then on board Sc
OS5,0OO in bullion and money.
The Dutch government claimed the
wreck and granted one-third of the
salvage in 1901 to bullion fishers.
After much discussion and occasional
recoveries, the king of the Netherlands
ceded half the wreck to Great Britain.
About 99,s93 pounds was recovered n
various times, leaving about 1,175,0OO
pounds within the hulk, but during tn"
lapse in operations the vessel was
obscured by silt. Many attempts have
been made in the last so years to relo-
cate the wreck, but only recently has
this been successfully accomplished.
For two summers Captain Gardiner
of the National Salvage association, {
the head of a 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 of the Lyons still feel the
thrill of the words of Diver B. l.
Baillie who only recently came up
from the wreck, with great tidings.
When they unscrewed Baillie's helmet
he turned to Captain Gardiner, Il have
found the gold" he said.
A fortnight before he and another
diver found a cannon belonging to the
Lutine. Every one of these guns are
muzzle leaders, and all are filled with
grapeshot, with the wooden plug driven
home. ready for firing.
The cannon was hoisted aboard the
Lyons. but no work could be done till
the following Saturday. On that day
BailIie struck what he believed 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 sand
pump the divers have crept under the
only part of the great hull that re-
mains intact.
BaiIlie, who knows the wreck as well
as any man. said that great number
of the beams in the hull are as goou
row as when they were built into the
frigate.
on the decks lie masses Of cannon
bail and shot but along her ribs are
holes and rents showing the broken.
Jagged ends OF planks and timber. II
was by investigating in one of these
crevices that the diver found the bull
Y lion He had crawled on hands and
knees along the opening and tried 10
/ get inside bodily. but the ragged rents
threatened his life and air tubes. Hal
I the edges Of the broken timber pierced
his dress he would never have seen
I daylight again.
Fifteen times he tried to get hold of
some part Of the interior. Fifteen
times he failed. Eventually, while
stretching as far as he could round the
corner of gaping timber, his hand
touched something hard and square
Baillie has handled bars of bullion be-
/ fore, and knew the feel of them.
There was, however, no moving the
! precious metal, 50 after a vain attempt.
Baillie signaled to the men above, who
/ sent down a line and with this ne
| fastened a buoy to the hole in the side
| of the Lutine.
| They pulled him out of the sand and
h oisted him aboard.
| The fall of the decks has imprisoned
the treasure in the strongest chest i'm
aginable, and it will require a "pill' cf
| dynamite to take it from the grip of
the 15-inch thick beams.
| So, the Lyons men wait day and
| night for the wind to go down; and
the lighthouse of Terschelling flashes
| in the darkness over the bleak island
and the wrecks that lie buried in it's
|