£24,000,000 UNDER THE SEA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2489, 12 July 1909, Page 7

£24,000,000 UNDER THE SEA.

Another stage in the Vigo Bay treasurelimit —a search lor £24,000,000 and the most important, most romantic, and most hopeful enterprise ever undertaken for recovering the hidden treasure of the sea —has been marked by the formation of the Sea. Salvage Company, Limited. The public have heard from lime to time of the inventions of Cavaliere Giuseppe Pino, of Genoa ; of his hydroscope, or seatelescope, which allows objects under water to be seen almost as clearly as objects in the air may be seen through fieldglasses; and of his elevators and pyropontoons, designed to recover the wrecks or treasuries revealed by the hyd rose ope. The Sea Salvage Company, Limited, has just been formed to purchase the British rights of these and other inventions, to have the use of a hydroscope and several elevators already made, and to have the full benefits of a concession granted by the Spanish Government for exploring Vigo Hay, in Spain, for the treasure galleons sunk there in the year 1702. The leading spirit of this enterprise is an Italian gentleman well known in England as professor, author, and man ol affairs — Dr Carlo L. Iberti, who, for many years past, has devoted his whole energies to the question of the treasure in Vigo Bay and how it may best be recovered. CavaLore G. Pino is the consulting engineer. "We shall be in search,” he said, "of a treasure that can be reckoned only in millions of pounds. The treasure in gold and silver alone at the bottom of \ igo Bay exceeds, at the most moderate computation, £24.000,000. this figure has been reached by reckoning the specie at its value in the beginning of the eighteenth century; it is worth far more to-day.” The story of the treasure in Vigo Bay goes back to the golden age of Spain's history, when she drew from her possessions ‘in the West Indies gold and silver to the value of more than £9,000,000 a year./ In the year of the battle of \ igo (1702), a fleet of galleons brought home the accumulated treasure of three years, amounting to £28,000,000 in value, with a merchandise almost equally valuable. When they arrived at Vigo the seventeen Spanish galleons were attacked by the British and Dutch fleets under Admiral Sir George Hooke, and it was to save the treasure falling into the victorious allies’ hands that the galleons were sunk. Only about half a million pounds’ worth of treasure was captured, some of the gold and silver being adapted to the national currency in England, each coin issued bearing the word “Vigo.” Before the sinking of the galleons the Spaniards saved a sum estimated at about £2,000,000. From the day of the battle until to-day only some £300,000 worth of the treasure has been recovered by the many enterprises that have been attracted to Vigo, and the sum in gold and silver remaining at the bottom of the bay is put at £24,551,323. Among the inventions of Cavaliere Pino acquired by the company is a submarine boat, worked by electricity, and fitted with mechanical arms, which may be operated with great precision. About as untamable an animal as ever came into captivity has been added to the collection hi London. The new arrival, the first of its kind received for a long time, hates mankind with a deathless hatred and makes no pretence of gentler feelings. It has coiled up in the ro motest corner of its den all day, even the offer of food being an excuse for an outburst of boundless fury. The tiger of the southern continent owes humanity little gratitude. There has been war between them since they first met. Somewhat smaller than a wolf in size, with a doglike face, a long, tapering tail and in color grayish brown, with the hinder part of the back and loins marked by black cross bands, the thylacine, to give it is scientific name, is a very distinctive animal. The Kaiser has not “sworn off” alcoholic drinks, as rumor has declared. His Majesty is annoyed at the capital which temperance enthusiasts have made of the rumor, which is now officially stated to be ‘utterly without foundation.” The fact is that the Kaiser takes a glass of light Moselle at lunch and dinner, and occasionally a glass of champagne. When he is host at one of his “men’s evenings’’ for his intimate friends, or at a card party, the Kaiser drinks one or two glasses of beer. But it is ridiculous to say that “total abstinence” is part of his new policy of reserve.