Weather halts treasure hunt

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 2

Weather halts treasure hunt

From

KEN COATES

in London

Gales and stormy seas in the worst summer for 50 years : have halted the. New Zealand diver, Kelly Tarlton and his ; salvage team at the crucial time when they seem likely to uncover the gold bullion of H.M.S, Lutine, off the Netherlands coast. Just over a week- ago, in an area previously not searched, the Australian and

New Zealand salvage syndicate found half-buried wreckage including human bones, an old boot, barrel hoops and an eight-metre section of keelson from a very old sailing ship. Archaeologists in Amsterdam to which some of the I material had been sent for [identification, were “not yet 100 per cent sure” it was from the frigate Lutine, said Mr Jan Heeraskerk, manager of the Dutch off-shore company under contract to , the syndicate. “Divers went down, after this discovery to make measurements and found further material including a 12-metre piece of ? decking,” he said. “It sounds promising and we are virtually certain’ that the wreck has been located?’ Tantalisingly, the gold and silver.which went.,down with : the Lutine almost two Ceritifries ago still lie out of reach. The American-owned offshore supply vessel Yak, from which the divers are working, had her anchor system dam-' 1 aged the previous week and repairs had to be done in a Dutch shipyard. The weather was bad most of last week, and the forecast promises little improvement. The weather has interfered with the salvage attempt about 70 per cent of the time since it began on June 23. .. Mr Hemskerk said the syndicate would probably extend its attempt to about mid-. August.