THE ROMANCE OF LOST TREASURE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3133, 4 September 1922, Page 2

THE ROMANCE OF LOST TREASURE.

I - I (By K, L. Hadfield in the Glasgow I Weekly Herajd).

Scarcely any treasure, whether lost on land or sea, has heen more diligently sought' than that of the Spanish galj leon, Florencia. Fleeing from the rout of the Armada, the ship sought refuge ia Tobermory Bay, there to be blown up by Donald Glas, with, it is said, thirty million in money aboard. Sine" that time efforts to raise her have been . frequent, and are being made to-day. ■ In the year 1058 thcro sailed into the Bay of Tobermory the Spanish galleon, Florencia. Onco so stately, with painted sails and richly carvel quarter, the great ship was now a battered fugitive. She had escaped the hammerI mg of the Armada in the Channel, bad ; weathered the gales that blew around [ the Orkneys, and now "the mere ghost of her former self, crawled into the quiet waters of Tobermory, seeking a moment's respite. Her commander — Captain Pareira —was desperately in need of material for refitting his ship, and provisions for his crew and the troops he carried, eight hundred men I in all. As soon, therefore, as he had j dropped anchor he sent ashore for \ what he required. I Notwithstanding the defeat he had | suffered and the perils of the sea he ; had undergone, Captain Pareira still t held his head high, making his demands I upon the people of Tobermory in peremptory tones. But this manner of address getting to the ears of the lord of ( the part—Lachlau M'Or Maclean —an- [ swer was sent back to the Spaniard j' that he was at liberty to come ashore . and fight for whatever supplies he needed. In spite of his brave words Fareia j was in no mood for a scrap, and, ' moreover, was easily able to pay for j what he wanted. His officers returning with statements that the Scots were inclined to mean what they said, a ; polite message was' this time sent ashore with offers of gold. It happened! that at this moment the Maclean was carrying on a deadly feud with his neighbors the Macd'onaTds, and he hit upon the idea' of asking Pareira for the services ,of a few men in lieu of money for the ship's stores —a suggestion that was immediately fallen m with. A hundred. Spanish soldiers were sent ashore, and with them the Maclean harried the Macd'onalds with the greatest success. But, when the Scots returned to Tobermory, they found that Pareira had obtained from the villagers gram, cattle, and other stores without payment; as these goods were all in addition to those handed over in return for the loan of the hundred men. Maclean retained two officers as hostages, sending a relative—Donald Glas—aboard the Florencia to negotiate the adjustment of the account. Pareira's idea of adjusting accounts was to clap Donald in irons ae a setoff against the retention of his officers, and ask Lachlan McOr Maclean what the next step was to be. A deadlock ensued. Maclean's men lined the shore, and a hundred' yards off in the bay lay the Florencia, her officers, once more well-fed and haughty, hurling back at the Scots insult for insult. But whilst the two parties were thus occupied, Donald Glas, in the hold of the galleon, was getting] to work. Freeing himself from his chains he investigated his position, and found that he was separated from the Florencia's store of gunpowder by ai mere partition. A courageous but drastic way out of the impasse suggested itself to him. CVawfag through a hole madle in the partition he provided l himself with a flintlock and l powder. Thus the argument between the men ashore and the Spaniards; afloat came to a sudden termination. There was a tremendous! explosion. For a second, the Florencia belched forth a sheet of flame, then disin a rolling cloud of smoke. When this cleared' away, and the waves from the sudden eruption had quietened down, not a. sign of the Florencia but a few scattered spars could be seen. Donaild Glas had fired the magazine, blowing to pieces himself, the ship, and her eight hundred men. About these facte there is not the slightest doubt whatever. There is, on the other hand, considerable question as to the- amount of treasure in the hold of the Florencia at the time of h'er destruction. She \s said—and a great many people profess to be certain of the fact—to have been the paymaster's ship for the whole of the Armada, containing in this capacity no less than thirty million ducats, besides church plate of faibulouw value. f Unfortunately, there are at least six other wrecks of ships of the Armada all as authentically pay-ships as the Floreueiiv. The truth is most likely to be that the galleon had, like most Spanish ships, a. fair treasure aboard, but that the thirty millions l is tbe outcome of many years of talk and legend.

With j,i certain amount of shrewdness those who had witnessed the explosion immediately made a chart of the position of the Floreneia, and from that moment thoughts that she might be raised have occupied the mind's of many.

There are in existence papers showing that in 1640 search for the treasure was being made. The consent of Charles 1., through the hands of his Lord High Admiral, the Duke of Lennox and Gordon, was given to the Earl of Argyll for search to be made in the waters of Tobeymory; and in 1665 a determined effort to raiso the wreck was made by the 9th Earl of Argyll.

He employed James Mauld. a diver and wrecker, who had learned the use of the diving bell in Sweden. Mauld tried his luck for three months, during which time he located the wreck and raised three cannon. The greater part of his time was spent in repairing the diving-bells, and when the three months was up Mauld. thinking he alone jwssessed the secret of diving, went off on other business, with the intention of returning at his leisure to the Floreneia.

But the Earl of Argyll had no great opinion of this "secret" of Mauld's, and himself ventured on salvage work. Employing men who had never seen a diver, the Earl succeeded in raising six guns and other miscellaneous objects. He was followed a few years later by a German who came to Scotland with yreat promises as to what he would do. This man did manage to find and bring to the surface an anchor, but shortly afterwards left the neighborhood, "taking some gold, but leaving his debts beliind him."

The work of attempting to raise the cargo of treasure was now made even more intriguing by the action of the Clan Maclean. Hector Maclean and his friends considered that, as it was one of their clan that had destroyed the Florencia, the wreck should belong to them. They, therefore, descended on Tobermory and employed their time iu "sniping" at the divers whenever they came to the surface. In order to facilitate this work they built a fort near Tobermory, the ruins of which stand to this day. The question of ownership of the wreck was made the subject of a lawsuit, in which the Florencia and its contents were given to the Argylls. and' on the strength of this decision, they are the property of the Duke of Argyll at the present moment.

In 1740 the second Duke of Argyll, possessing the chart made for his predecessor, had 1 another try. With a diving-bell, he succeeded in raising a magnificent bronze cannon, which is now at Inveraray Castle, the seat of the Argyll family. This cannon, which, was cast at Fontainbleau, is lift long, and bears the arms of Francis I. of France, having doubtless been captured in battle by the Spaniards. When it is realised that in those days divingbells could not go down more than eight fathoms (4Si't). and were crude and treacherous devices in the extreme this piece of salvage work appears to be very creditable. So, down through hislory, the IMorencia. has excited the curiosity—and! the cupidity—of men. Time alter time efforts'have been made, and rewarded with but slight return, taking the shape of small-arms, cannon-balls, gltd other interesting but more or less useless articles. The gold eludes pursuit. About 50 years ago the Marquis of Lome, looking through family papers, came across the original chart. His interest awakened, lie bind a diver to work for a few days, and was rewarded with a handful of coins and a brass stanchion. Thus it will be eeeil that the Florcncia continually mamtains interest in herself by delivering up small articles, but steadfastly refuses to band over any of her supposedly vast treasure. In 1903, when the means of salvage had assumed a more workmanlike shape, a syndicate of Glasgow men was formed with a capital of several thousand pounds for the purpose of making a serious attempt upon the wreck. The permission of the Duke ot Argyll was obtained on condition that a fair share of the proceeds should be allotted to him; then work commenced. Under Captain William Burns, of Glasgow,; an experienced man in salvage work, divers and barges were obtained, and preliminary operations started. This time, no sign of the wreck could at first bo found. It was supposed that the sKip had sunk far into the silt at the bottom of the bay. Nevertheless, proof of her existence was forthcoming in the shape of cannon, swords, scabbards, drinking-i>ots, and such-like articles. In 1905 the same people started again, this time with a steam suction dredger, the Bracniar. Photographs of the bottom of the bay were secured, disclosing in ono spot a great mound of silt. Doubtless the remains of the gallen were beneath it. Divers, digging into this mound, brought out arms, ammunition, boarding pikes, powder pans, and an innumerable number ot odds and ends. In spite of the fact that not a ducat had been found, these objects cheered the spirits of the syndicate. The Bracmar's suction pumps were got to work on the mound, and at last something of value was brought to the surface. This was a massive silver candlestick, once of fine design, and bearing witness to the old legend that Captain Pareira surrounded himself with luxury and always dined "off silver." . « • About this time, the crew ot the Braemar was augmented by the arrival of Mr Stears, a water diviner, who also claimed to be able to locate certain metals. On his orders, the Braemar was moved about the bay first to one spot and then to another. Whatever there may be in "divining" generally, Mr Stears seems to be a skilful exponent, for by following his directions several pieces of silver plate were discovered. I The operations of this syndicate went on for hve years according to the arrangement with the Duke of Argyll, and during that time a large number of trifles were found. The vast treasure of the Spaniard, however, was not forthcoming. In November of last year it was decided that yet another attempt was to be made upon the Florencia —this time by a Colonel Fogs and Miss Nay lor. They had then arrived at Tobermory to make arrangements to commence operations this spring. The year 1922 may therefore at last see the yielding up of the lost millions of the Florencia. "Colonel Foes," says a recent report, "is confident of success this time, as he has located the galleon." There is no one who will not wisto these two people luck in their romantic—if somewhat forlorn —hunt for sunken gold.