GRAVE OF PIRATES' GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 32

GRAVE OF PIRATES' GOLD.

DISCOVERT REPORTED BY TREASURE-HUNTERS. CITIES OF RICHES. "Discovered gold, Interior Panama. Further prospecting." This laconic cablegram has been received in London from Lieut. Williams, the diving expert attached to Lieut. Kealey's ' treasure-hunting expedition to Cocoa Island and Panama. It suggests that if it is confirmed by later information, the world is on the eve of one of its most romantip sensations. ( Mrs. Williams, to whom the cablegram 1 was addressed says that in a later cablegram from her husband the estimated ■ value of the gold discovered was given at ! £75,000. Further information is being eagerly awaited ar the London headquar- . ters of the expedition, where high hopes are entertained that their great gamble has I resulted in huge winnings. | Three hundred years ago, In the days | when the Spaniards ruled over all South j and Central America, the richest trade In the world was focussed on the narrow I Isthmus of Panama. From the rich city of Panama on the j Pacific side to the town of Porto Bello, i half fortress, half warehouse, on the | Atlantic side, passed the treasure trains lof the Dons, loaded with "the richest j spoils of Mexico." I Once a year, on the eve of the sailing of the treasure fleet for Spain, Porto ; Bello was - a busy city, its streets thronged with sailors and soldiers. its I quays busy discharging into the holds of ! galleons the accumulated wealth of New ! Spain. Panama, at the other end of the I "gold road," was a city of enormous riches, and head of the Spanish Government of the Isthmus. I Both were tempting morsels to the bands ,of cosmopolitan ruffians who, In their evilj looking craft, lurked among the creeks and islands of the West Indies, and under the ! leadership of Sir Henry Morgan made the name of "buccaneer" dreaded through all the Spanish cities of the Gulf of Mexico. In 1668 Morgan sacked Porto Bello and exacted 100,000 pieces of eight as tribute; in 1670 he took Panama and an lmmens, treasure, little of which reached the ■ Atlantic shore. | Where is that treasure now? Has Lieut ! Kealey solved the mystery? I