Evening star., 1925-07-03
TREASURE SEEKERS.
FEAR PIRATE RAID.
S4,O0O,000 Salvage Expedi-
tion Guarded by Battery
of Machine Guns.
BY BRADLEY KELLY.
Special Correspondent of The Star and Mort
American Newspaper Alliance

BY BRADLEY KELLY.
Special Correspondent of The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.
ABOARD SALVAGE STEAMER
SPRAY, BY COURIER TO NOR
FOLK, Va. July 3.-Worthington
Davis, the former Harvard foot ball
star and member of the syndicate
Of New York sportsmen who are
financing the salvage of the 81, 1000 900
treasure of the sunken Ward liner
Merida, has arrived here with a
launch load of machine guns, small
arms and ammunition. He will d.
rect the defense forces of the expedi,
ton against any attempt by pirates
or hi-jackers to seize the gold and sill
yer brought up from the bottom of
the Atlantic.
1--WE are expecting trouble" said
Mr.. Davis, ''as information has
reached US that some of the most
desperate characters of rum row are
planning a coup. We shall be ready
for them, with plenty of ammunition
and 80 men who know how to use 1t
effectively.
Signals Warn Ships.
From the moment we begin hoist
ing the 80 tons of gold and silver from
the hulk of the Merida, our picket
boats will surround the scene OF oper-
attonS. No vessel will be permitted to
approach us. The flag signals swing
ing from the mast of the Spray indi-
cate in an international language:
We are out of control; keep away
Any craft which does not respect that
warming will be greeted with gunfire." !"
The machine gun battery is
n0IIlDnp6 ajr
with capacity of 400 rounds per min
ute. Davis, in command, was formerly
captain of the 304th Field Artillery Of
the nth Division in France.
The salvage expedition has now
been at sea for nearly a month. More
than three weeks were spent in the
preliminary search for the Merida.
During all that time the two little
salvage steamers, Foam and Spray,
have been the object of much curious
attention from passing craft.
Dry Navy Suspicious.
For n long time the Governments
anti-rum fleet was very suspicious of
the expedition and gave it a good deal
of annoying attention. This was un-
doubtedly due in part to the secrecy
maintained by the crew during their
weekly visits to Norfolk
Leaving New York Harbor June 4, 1,
a Government hydroplane circled the
two boats several times, inspecting
them carefully, and then anghting on
the water near Fort Hamilton to make
its report. That its report was not
entirely satisfactory was indicated by
the fact that off Barnegat a few hours
later a Coast Guard motor launch
came out from shore and followed the
expedition for several hours.
A week later, when the expedition
put into Norfolk for fuel and water.
after the first few days of sweeping
the ocean bed, the prohibition forces
were on the alert. An inspector from
the Governments shore forces came
reinforced by two Coast Guard
boats, whose officers made a thorough
search of our ships from stem to
stern, Their inspection was micro
scopic; they tapped several of the
buoy barrels and looked over the mys-
terious caissons of helium gas. Two
hours later they left our ships, pass
ing them as free of rum, and we have
had no trouble with the prohibition
navy since that time.
Sweeping Ocean Hard Task.
The search for the hulk of the
Merida was no light task. In in
volved sweeping more than 750
square miles of the ocean bed. In
finite patience is required for this
task. The sweep" is a steel cable
13 900 feet long, stretched between the
two boats and weighted SO that one
mile of its length lies fat on the
ocean bed, which at this point has
an average depth of 200 feet. The
two boats move along at a uniform
speed of two to three knots an hour.
A motor launch follows the course of
the drag, planting temporary cork
buoyed bamboo flag poles with small
weights as anchors, to define the edge
of the sweep. On the succeeding
sweep these are picked up and a new
line a mile west is placed in position.
The 13,000-foot cable Is equal to
6 900 ton load for the two trawlers.
1t brings up all sorts of thing from
the ocean bed as it plows along-old
timber. minute pieces of wire and
great masses Of vegetable matter. On
the level sandy bottom, it will catch
on anything, and with its 6,000-ton
it will cut like a knife
any stationary object which
refuses to give way.
Romance and Adventure.
Romance is welded to science in the
modern treasure hunt. Elaborate me-
equipment and all the compli-
Gated accoutrements of ocean-sweep-
ing and deep-sea diving cannot en-
tirely smother the atmosphere of old
time adventure, for which the scenery
is provided by vast empty stretch
of sea, fifty miles from land; by the
schools of porpoise which provide con-
tinuous acrobatic entertainment in
the wake of the salvage ships, and
by innumerable little colorful Incl
dents to break the monotony of the
days routine.
On one occasion our motor launch
went aground" on the back of a
floating turtle-truly giant among
turtles, for his back was as big as
small ferryboat and covered with bar
nacles. The turtle, apparently fast
asleep, paid no more attention to the
burden of our launch on his back
than if we had been fly. We spent
15 strenuous minutes with pike poles
working ourselves free from him.
The members of the crew are most
ly Scandinavians with names that in
dicate Viking ancestors. Many of them