Evening star., 1933-07-30

Next, efforts were made to raise the
cannon, in hopes that it might bear the
name of the ship on whose bows it had
once been mounted. But the great gun
with its ornate breech and strangely
placed trunnions proved too much for
our tackle, and when within a few feet
of the surface it broke away and plunged
back to its resting place. So We left the
ancient gun to the fishes and devoted
all our efforts to tracing the outlines of
the wreck and locating its strong room.
This Yas most difficult task. Nowhere
was a timber of the ship visible. All 0f
its structure that remained was COM
pletely incased in coral sand cemented
together by the carbonate of lime to
form a concrete-hke armor two feet or
more in thickness.
Such objects as had been upon the
galleon's decks also were incrusted and
appeared like mere Irregularities on the
oceans bed or like Jumps of coral. Only
by striking every object with a heavy
crowbar was it possible to determine
which were natural growths and which
were portions of the ship. Inch by inch
the divers sought about and presently
up came bundle of bent and twisted
iron work-hatch bands and chain
plates, toggles and rings and finally the
massive iron sling which had held the
Jimmy Green" yard beneath the gal
Icons immense bovsprit.
OBvIOUSLY we had reached the bow
of the wreck and now the divers
worked in the opposite direction. From
amid q mass of broken coral they sal
vaged swivel-gun crutch of steel almost
as perfect as on the day it was forged
in some smithy in old Spain. In an
other spot they came upon some irreg-
ular black Jumps which we at first mis-
took for iron, but which proved to be
cannon powder still capable of burning
with strong sulphurous fumes when
dried.
However, the forepeak OF a gaIleon
is no place to search for treasure, and
little by little our divers worked aft-or
in the direction assumed was aft. For
a space they found nothing Then, 30
feet back of the anchors and gun, they
came to more wreckage- plates
and standing rigging, iron plates, iron
mast bands and other objects which con-
vinced me that we were working where
once had been the galley and the car
penter's shack abaft the galleon's main
mast
Here was veritable mine of antiqui-
ties. At each descent the divers sal
vaged new and surprising objects. They
found several massive Jumps which
looked like meteorites, but which, when
broken apart, proved to be the remains
of kegs of nails. Not a nail remained,
but each had left perfect mold In the
mass Of iron oxide which had formed
vaged material which had every appear
ance Of graphite. It could be whitfield
with a knife, it could be used like a
pencil lead, and puzzled over it for
hours discovered that it once
was cast iron! Imagine whiting cast
iron with a pocket knife!
Hidden under a limestone crust was
an iron kettle. To one side the divers
found q crudely-made, hand forged,
five-pronged grapnel which no doubt
had once been in the ships longboat.
Every moment was filled with intense
interest and excitement; no one could
know what the divers might unearth
next. No one could say when the re-
mains of perforated canvas bag might
be drawn on board, and we would f,nd
it flied with gold or silver bars or masses
of pieces Of eight.
And here let me pause in my nara
tive to remark that pieces of eight and
doubloons and golden onzas buried under