The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-10

she was hailed by pinnacle contain ing dozen or more men, the exact character of whom could not be dis tinguished in the darkness. The un- der officer on watch reported the craft to his captain, who, feeling secure in his armament and overwhelming size of his crew relied:
 Bring the scullions on deck; If they are friends we can treat them as they deserve; if they are enemies we can deal with them according to their be- havior.". ff
 Dislnissing the affair from his mind, the captain went below. The crew got out their crane and as the occupants of the pinnace had by this time made their craft fast to the gigantic galleon with grappling irons, they were quick ly hoisted to the deck, pinnace and all.
 Too late then, the crew saw their danger. Each man was. equipped with a brace of pistols in his belt, an arque-:s bus slung over his shoulder and cut lass held in his teeth.
 Swiftly the bloodthirsty few fell up- on the Spanish sailors and in few minutes they were masters of the deck.
 The captain, meanwhile. had been engaged in playing cards with the Vice Admiral in the cabin, and drink ing to their successful voyage. Startled by the noise of shuffling feet, the Vice Admiral looked up and found himself faced by burly pirate, ePeter the Great himself.
 In each hand he held pistol, be- tween his teeth glinted d cutlass, and behind him still more ferocious vis- ages appeared with griry hands out stretched h ,,1;nc pistols at full cock.
 In a trice the pirates filled the cab in and bound the hands of the Span ish officers behind their backs. r
 "Show us where your treasures are hidden" demanded the pirate leader. Deeply humiliated, the Admiral led the way to the ships storerooms and then, taken back captive to his own cabin was bound hand and foot.
 The galleon was turned about and headed for St. Thomas, the pirates lair. Before reaching their harbor Peter the Great ordered the Spaniards surviving the fight on the galleon set adrift in the pinnacle, and 1t is related that they reached Cuba a:-.r many days Of ha:dshlps.
 The galleon was brought to anchor IHSlU0 ct 1lIl0 Ol lIOlLlHS COI dl iCClS, the treasure was removed to Blue beards castle, and for months after ward traditions says Spanish jewels and dollars were wheeled through the streets by the barrow load, the pirates descending from their lofty haunt to exchange their treasure for rum. E
 The orgies continued in the castle until the loot was all expended, when the pirates set out on another expes dition and. were never heard from" again.
 The Danish Islands are said to be girdled with Spanish wrecks contain ing unrecovered millions in gold and silver. Faulty navigation on the part of the Spanish shippers was even more costly than the raids of the bucca- neers.
 One of the stories of treasure trove concerns a Boston skipper, who IS said to have recovered more than a million dollars from wrecked galleon off one of the Danish Islands. The time of this achievement is fixed as 1887.
 The skipper was Capt. William Phipps, who resided in Boston, where he fitted out his expedition.
 Capt. Phipps was later appointed the Royal Governor of New England by William III, in recognition of his great find, in which the King shared,