VENTURE WELL REWARDED

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1924, Page 4

VENTURE WELL REWARDED

VALUABLE METAL BROUGHT UP.

(11 TELEGRAM.—BPECUI TO IHB POST.)

AUCKLAND, 23rd January. After laying fathoms deep off Miner's Head on the coast oi the Great Barrier for nearly thirty years, the seaweed-coVe-red bones of the old Wairarapa are yielding a rich' harvest to two enterprising divers, who-bought them from the Marine Department a little while back for the modest sum of £15. To anyone ■save an experienced diver, eveu £15 would seem an extravagant figure to ■squander on an . outside chance of salvage from the wreck of the Wairarapa, for shortly after the disaster the hull.and fittings of the wrecked vessel were sold at auction for £70, and everything movable which could .be reached by the purchasers was taken from her. The buyers, before abandoning her, tried to blow up the remains with dynamite. The newspaper accounts of the day, inform us, .however, that this attempt was not very successful.

A heavy swell breaks on the spot after a blow from the north and northwest, and following one such blow the hull slipped off the ledge on which it was resting, and sank in deep water. There it rusted and rotted under marine growth, till Mr. Year and his partner decided on a treasure hunt, not thinking so much of yellow gold as of greencoated copper, rusted steel, and other oddments of sea chandlery which might be worth recovery after all these years of- salt water usage. Already their enterprise has been richly rewarded, for it is rumoured that, the lead brought up from the sea bed has alone been more than sufficient to „pay the expenses of the venture. In addition, the condenser and other articles salved are stated to have yielded about six tons of copper, valued at something like £130 per ton : the bronze propeller blades are estimated to be worth several hundreds; in short, the pluck and industry of; the two adventurers have produced .a, haul which \ will repay them better than would many a search for the. treasure of a, sunken galleon laden with' doubloons and ingots of fine silver. . •

The .good fortune of Messrs. Year and M'Kinnon has not, however, stopped short of such relics as copper plating, anchor iron, and even propeller blades; for ■following the success which attended their earlier efforts they have now recovered the ship's safe. It is understood that the safe has hot yet been opened, but a pleasing vista of possibilities is presented to \the imagination respecting I its contents. Here is all the thrill of real treasure trove to stir the pulses of the finders. What may not this unopened box reveal when its contents are exposed to the light after thirty years ,of burial? Gold was a, familiar metal in the days of the Wairarapa wreck, and a fairly common medium of exchange. People carried sovereigns in preference to notes, and passengers by sea frequently carried belts of it about their bodies. The Wairarapa was a full ship, and it can be reckoned that a considerable quantity of treasure in specie and in jewels would be lodged with the purser for safe keeping oh the voyage ; and I then there would be the ship's own money, probably for the greater past in gold. We are told that with the exception of a few papers and a bundle be- ■ longing to the purser, the ship's panevs were all lost, with all the other vahi- - ables. Are those lost valuable in the recovered safe, and what documents may it contain? If itr is watertight and has ■withstood the corrosion of three decades, even if thpse papers are no longer valuable/for" their** undertakings, they will possess a peculiar and rich interest for their message from the dead ' ship and those long dead folk who travelled by her to their tragic end. The g'eam of gold pieces and the sparkle of gems may meet the eyes of the salvors when the* door creaks open. There seems' to be every likelihood of it, but the imagination at such times usually outruns the reality,' and the mystery of the wealth of the safe may resolve itself into |hin air, as mystery wealth has a trick of^ doing. Meanwhile, it affords a fine op-"^ portunity for a guessing competition on the part of its new owners.