Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1920-09-03
MAY GET OCEAG's TREASURE
World Awaits Development Of Sub
marine to Rob Sea Floor
(From Answers, London)

The ocean is one vast and inacces-
ible treasure chest. Sunk in it's
unless depths lies treasure which
would pay off the national debt at
me stroke. Will the time ever come
when we shall be able to retrieve it,
,r is it doomed to lie there forever?
The wonderful development of sub
marine navigation seems to point to
! time when the dim depths of the
ocean will not remain the blind mys
terry they have ever been to man kind
when we shall be able to descend
safely to like depth of ocean as we
are now able to ascend into the up
per air. Why not?
,ghe question of pressure at great
DEPTHS has been the great stumbling
block to ocean exploration. The
aviator knows how the air thins as
he gets to higher attitudes, but much
moro does the diver know how rapid
ly the terrible pressure of the super
incumbent water increases as he de-.
sends in to the sea.
But much greater difficulties even
than this have been successfully over
come by science, and now that the
Germans are talking of establishing
submarine merchant service with
America, why should we not talk OF
q submarine treasure hunt to the bot
tom Of the Atlantic?
1t has been estimated-and it is
probably an underestimate of tens OF
millions-that the treasure OF lost
vessels which strews the route from
ENGLAND to India amounts to S0,000,-
600 setriing. If this ocean route
could be explored it would certainly
be ''pay streak" a rich lode, vein
of gold across the ocean floor.
A story is told Of pirates who were
disappointed at finding no rich booty,
and they threw out Of the hold lot
Of grayish metal, which they took to
be tin ore, not wishing their new
vessel to be burdened with such trash
There it lies to this day, Is tons Of
line silver bars!
Sometimes storms took tremendous
toll of treasure ships. On one occa-
sion five great plate ships laden with
treasure went down in the same hour
Just east Of Key West. Old records
say that three-quarters of a million
lie at the bottom at this point.
Somewhere a few miles from the
isle of Pines a rich treasure awaits
the new submarine which will dare
70 dive deeper than any other has
ever done. 1t is at the bottom Of the
Caribbean Sea, and consists of great
store of jewels, gold and IL tons OF
silver bars. And that is but one of
hundreds of similar bulls, choke-full
of treasure which cumber the bottom
of the Spanish Main.
Every schoolboy knows the poem
"Casabianca," which commences with
the oft-parodied line: ''The boy stood
on the burning deck but not all
who repeat it know that the deck was
the deck of L'Orient, which Nelson
blew up at the battle Of the Nile.
Now, it is a fact that when that
big battleship blew up she had on
board specie to the value of 6 $780,
900, and an immense quantity Of 9TH
er yaluables, in all amounting to a
million sterling. None of this has
ever been recovered. That was a
costly explosion, both in life and
treasure.
A British warship, the Hussar,
went down with over a million ster-
ling on board in sold in 1880, but
probably the biggest disaster of this
kind was when the British frigate De
Brook was lost off Lewis, U. S. A.,
with 6 100000 in specie and jew
els, the spoil of an intercepted Span
ish treasure feet, Many attempts
have been made to find the wreck,
but without success. When the new
submarine comes into being it will
befound, without doubt. But al
though these are but half @ dozen
cases out of thousands, it must be re-
membered that they one and all refer
to wrecks in the shalloWer waters.
But what of the tens Of thousands OF
ships which strew the ocean floor,
not five fathoms deep" but $50
fathoms deep?
Will these ever be brought to the
surface again and revealed to the
eyes of men? It is said, for instance,
that the depth of the Atlantic whore
the Titanic sank is three miles! viii
a submarine, however ingehiensiy
constructed, and however greatly
daring, ever undertake such a dive
as that? It certainly looks unlikely.
but such marve1s have been accom-
pltshed of late years that one has not
the habit of despairing Of anything.
The prophet who phophegieg marvels
is more likely to be right than the
man who says we have got near the
LIMIT of aohj euoroont