Evening star., 1933-01-01
THE SUNDAY STAR WASHINGTON, D G, JANUARY, l. 1888

1ANaIuly, however, ne must nave 1eIt
anything but prayerful when he learned
that the Todos Santos had been laden
with 200 tons Of silver bars, besides guam
titles Of gold ingots-an of which still
lie at the bottom Of the passage that be-
came her grave
Another Spanish ship with an even
greater treasure lies not far from the ILL
fated Todos Santos. During one of the
temporary lulls in hostilities between
England and Spain this treasure ship
went down near Guayaquil, Ecuador.
At that time matters were topsy- -turvy
in England and King Charles was strug-
Cling to regain the throne. So the Span
iards, perhaps fearing the spread of the
Commonwealth and of ProtestaniSm as
much as we today fear the spread of
Sovietism, decided to forget old scores
and lend helping hand TO England's
royalty. Money talked as loudly in those
days as at the present. So Peru, which
was Spain's richest colonial possession,
was ordered to make King Charles the
princely present of some $13,000,000 TO
help his cause along.
History fails to mention the name of
the ship selected to carry this vast treas
ure from Lima to Panama. But she
never reached the isthmus She struck
on the rocks off the Ecuador coast, and
went to the bottom.
THE wreck with its 13 millions is still
there. 1t is neither far from shore
nor in deep water, for after every heavy
sea or storm pieces of eight and gold
pesos and doubloons are washed up on
the beach, where, first and last, several
hundred have been picked up. But
what are few hundred, compared to the
millions remaining, ready to be had for
the taking?
And if one does not care to turn sal
wager, or hasn't the capital that is
needed TO charter vessel. purchase
equipment and employ divers, there is
Plate Island, only few miles from the
sunken galleon of Chanduy.
Here, in the snug little harbor of the
island, Sir Francis Drake anchored his
ship after having sacked the Spanish
towns and Spanish ships along the South
American coast, his raid eliminating in
the taking of the treasure ship Caca-
fuego. Finding his Golden Hind was so
overladen with precious metal that she
could not put to sea with safety, Sir
Francis tossed overheard more than As
tons Of silver coins and silver plate.
From time to time sailors whose ships
have anchored in the hafbor have passed
the time fishing for brakes jettisoned
treasure by means Of tallowed sounding
leads. Altogether, couple Of thousand
pieces of eight have been recovered. But
the greater part of the As tons of silver
still lies there, in about 10 fathoms of
water, on a hard bottom, awaiting any
one who wants it badly enough to 60 and
get it. To be sure, As tons of silver is not
a great fortune at the present market
value of silver bullion. But even $3.50, 900
is not be sneezed at, and brakes silver
would be worth far more than it's value
as bullion.
But perhaps the best of all is much
nearer home-between the Bahamas and
Santo Domingo, where, on the Silver
Shoals, 16 treasure-laden galleons went
down. Moreover, there is no guesswork
about these sunken millions. There they
lie, and that they can be salvaged is
proved by the fact that one of the wrecks
was Salvaged-to the value of some
100000 worth of gold, silver and
precious stones.
This was accomplished in 1886, when
Capt. William Phipps, who had formed a
salvaging syndicate with the King of
England as partner, recovered the
100000, and in return for having done
so well and nobly for himself and the
I,