THE GENERAL GRANT'S TREASURE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15395, 28 September 1915, Page 2

THE GENERAL GRANT'S TREASURE.

FURTHEIt FUTILE ATTEMPT 10 lIECOVEII IT. (special to "the press.") DUNKDIN, September 27. Some hundreds, of miles almost due south of Bluff lie the Auckland Islands, and hardly more than 100 ft belo.tv the waters that surround them the bones of the General Grant aic bi«ried, areritnwlo snare to the spirit of adventure in man, sinco somethir.fr like the equivalent of £140,000 in cold cash is reputed to l>e there, if the greedy sands have not taken it into secure keeping. New Zealanders, and particularly ihose in the southern corner, havo seon exp^d l * vion afte^expedition attempt the recovery of that sum which went down in the General Grant ia 1860. The stronghold has teen assaulted entirely from the sea, though an American idealiriS did conceive and publish the idea of burrowing through the cliff to obtain proximity to tH© hoard. These expeditions were blazoned forth to the world, and only their end was covered in silcncc, so that it will be news to the public that since May last yet another attack has been made and has failed, though the participators hold their failure to contain the skeleton of a more successful future plan, so exhaustive was their exploration of the situation. Perhaps some people will remember that about the month of May last there were a few vague rnniours —street talk —of spies in Dunedin, and there can be httlo doubt tuat the'origin of this was the appearance of three stringers with n quantity of puzzling apparatus. Tho ' spies" were Mr Fercy V. Catling and paity, of London, with the latest "diving and salvage tackle, and a schemo to gain the gold from the General Grant. The party secured a Stewart Island fishing cutter, the Enterprise, with an oil engine, and left Dunedin on May 30th, after being equipped for their hazard by Mr I*. S. Tonkinson, of Dunedin. Several trials of the diving and salvage plant wero ma:le —ono from the Kitchcner street wharf, another in Bi'iff harbour, whore two anchors wero recovered from a depth of 130 ft, and a third at Port Pegasus. Tho features of their r.p-to-dato apparatus were a marine light of 100 candle power, a pet of gauges which indicated on board the uepth to which tho divep had descended. and an economical device which 'enabled tho samo oil engine which was the main, instrument- of the cutter's locomotion, to drive tho air into the cylinders governing the diving plant. Mcfreover, and- .most important of all, thero was a telephonic apparatus giving the diver absolut© communication with . tho surface. Mr Catling, the prinio mover in tho venture, had obtained from Mr Teer. the son of one of the survivors, (now living in Ireland), a vast deal of information about the details of the wreck, aud had further been equipped by the French Admiralty with tho most complete chart availabio. The party havo failed to recover tho gold, and although no details arc yet available, it is understood that the work they did. and the bearings they took, clearly establish it that recovery is not possible direct from tho seaward side. Tho ship drifted into a sort of cave, and lies in 100 ft of water.

It is stated that the present party loft wir© and apparatus on the spot for another attempt-, wo'rking from a platform on the cliffs, so that thtPventure is apparently not yet given OTer.