The Detroit times., 1913-10-29
Gold and Silver Covered With
Iron Rust Is Taken From the
Depths
FIVE MILLION AWAITING
RESCUE FROM OCEAN
Interesting Problems Confront
Salvagers of Treasure
Ship Lutine

treasure hunters engaged In aearcu'
ing the wreck of the British frigate
Lutine. lost In 1893. with over So
100000 OF gold and silver on board.
It has ut last been found that the
bulk of the treasure is hidden In the
magazine Of the old ship. There It
10 surrounded by metal, consisting
largely of iron cannon balls. These
have been cemented together by rust
and sea-growths until an impenetra-
BILE armor has formed around the
treasure.
II was entirely beyond the power
OF divers to penetrate this barrier.
Finally recourse has been had to dy'
Mantle. The divers are now dyna.
hitting holes in the metal barrier and
a huge magnet is used to draw out
the pieces Of rusty iron lying around
the holes. But for the use of this
explosive 1t would never have been
possible to reach the treasure.
This is a case where treasure hunt
ing is no merely fantastic and ro'
mantle adventure. Many hundreds OF
| thousands OF dollars In gold and sill
yer have already been recovered
from the Lutine, but all that has been
found Is Q mere trife compared to
the hoard that lies concealed within
the iron-bound magazine.
The Lutine. although a government
warship. was carrying gold and sill
n yer bullion to a company OF London
merchants. The destination OF the
vessel was Hamburg. There is some
mystery about the purpose for which
the treasure was sent, but, as the Ma
poleonic wars were then at their
height, II is supposed that 1t was part
OF the vast sums sent to the CONT
nent by Pitt to aid In fighting Napo-
leon. Presumably the London mer'
chants lent It to the British govern
ment under secret agreement.
Wrecked In 1893.
Tho ship was driven far out OF her
course by a storm on the black night
OF Oct. 9, 1893. and was driven ashore
on a shoal In the Zuyder Zee, on the
coast OF Holland. She lay near the
small island Of Terschelling. only
one sailor escaped from the wreck.
and he died shortly after being PICK.
ed up from a spar to which he had
dashed himself Lloyd's. the famous
marine insurance company or LONDON
had q right to what could be recov'
cred from the wreck, but owing to
the state of war prevailing in Europe,
Il was unable to undertake serious
salvage operations at once.
Meantime the sands near the wreck
held q golden harvest Tor the D~tcn
0sbsrmen of nearby islands. At low
tide the wreck Of the Lutine was
nartlv exposed, with a channel run
ming close by.
The amount OF treasure recovered
IOl-
lows
Fifty.eight bars OF gold, weight GAG
mounds ounces 4l,697 Spanish sli'
yer pistoles.
Thirty-fve bars OF silver, weight
1.75S pounds 8 ounces.
One hundred and seventy-nine
Spanish gold pistoles.
Eighty-one double dor.
One hundred and thirty-eight single
Lo,is dor.
-FOUR English guineas.
IN the year 1901, for lack Of appa'
r.tus the search grew Improbable
for the Dutchmen. and was abandon
cd Lloyd's was again obliged to
nostpone the quest. owing to general
ANXIETY over Napoleon's warlike ac'
t,vitv other international troubles
-trri,,dfnr Hollands claim to half the
I.utine salvage-interfered with sys'
tematic search until 1858, when div
era again located the wreck and
brought I'D the bell of the old frigate'
which now rests in the committee
room at Lloyds with other relics.
The Dutch fsherfolk were so excit'
cd over this renewed locating OF the
treasure hulk that they swarmed
about in well-manned boats until they
had TO be driven of by an English
gunhoat. The work Of salvage went
IN until 1861, with an additional TO-
taI of $4,000 in bullion recovered.
Strangely enough, records showing
tina amount OF treasure consigned 70
tha Iutine had disappeared, and
IJovd's was Indebted to the ingenuity
~ the Dutch salvers for information
virtuallv proving that $5.00O.O0O still
remains to reward present operations
IN tbe island of Tersehelling' The
Dutch investigator based his estimate
On the fact that the bars OF silver
and gold already recovered were
slammed with certain letters and
numbers indicating a complete series
and that the missing numbers and
Ietters would show the proportion oil
tho treasure still resting at the bot
tom OF the sea.
Later findings have verified this es
innate. showing that there were In al
ono thousand gold and silver bars IN
rho Lutine's hold. The latest esti
mate OF the total amount OF treasure
originally IN the ship is as follows:
Salvage in the years
1900 to 1901. .....$ 27S,S5O
Salvage in 1857 and 1853 196,015
Salvage In 1859 and 1851 $4,000
Total salvage. ...$ 49S,465
Total treasure estimat-
ed to have been lost .$5,S75,000
Treasure remaining In
the wreck. ........... b.375.535
The sands gradually covered up thu
wreck and made II practically hope
less to recover more treasure at one
time. Then the recent progress o
engineering science once more CAV,
a hone thar the bulk OF the treasure
might he found.
The National Salvage association
of London, with the assistance o
American experts, took up the work
under an agreement BY which Lloyd
was 70 receive 15 per cent OF tn
treasure recovered. the Dutch salvac,
company 15 per cent, and the new
a~S can't