SUWARROW ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 269, 10 August 1938, Page 11

SUWARROW ISLAND

Support For Story Of Buried Treasure

(Received August 9, 8.30 p.m.) Sydney, August 9. The “Sun” newspaper states that the Mitchell Library, Sydney, only last year acquired an unpublished manuscript in the form of a consular report of 1869 which lends some colour to the story of ancient buried treasure on the'uninhabited Suwarrow Island, for which the Auckland yacht Ngataki is bound. The manuscript arrived with a large collection of documents from the former British Consulate at Tahiti. It deals with the murder of three white men by Manihiki natives in 1858 for their hoard of gold dollars.

A search for the treasure said to be buried beneath the s/inds of the lonely uninhabited- island of Suwarrow will be undertaken by -the crew of the well-known Auckland yacht Ngataki, which left on Monday op a four-month cruise of the Pacific. No great credence is attached by the owner and captain, Mr. J. W. Wray, of Remuera, to the tale that a fortune in duibloone and pieces of eight may be awaiting them, but the yacht carries simple equipment which will enable ah investigation to be made. . The Suwarrow treasure is cloaked in mystery. One story is that many years ago a ship put into the island, and, while digging for turtles on the beach, one of the crew unearthed a few gold coins. His immediate search yielded the discovery of three iron chests packed with traditional dubloons and pieces of eight. Believing his companions to be untrustworthy, the finder reburied the chests and made a careful note of their position. Some time later the seaman returned to the island, but again he felt loath to confide in his shipmates, and contented himself with removing one of the chests. The remaining two he hid under the sand and details of their whereabouts have apparently remained since in the possession of his descendants, who are stated to reside in New Zealand. t Accurate knowledge of the location of the reputed treasure is now lacking, but Mr. Wray claims to possess a description of the beach which should be sufficient to permit its identification.