PIRATE’S HOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1928, Page 10

PIRATE’S HOARD

DESCENDANT’S QUEST.

SAN P’RANCISCO, December 10. 3’hat romance and a dashing spirit of adventure is not dead in the American people is once more attested to by the thousands of letters being received dally by Louis Morgan, fifth grandson of Sir Henry Morgan, seventeenth century buccaneer. Morgan to-day is preparing for a year’s expedition to the coast of Darien, Panama, to search for pirates’ loot consisting of 8000 pieces of eight, many sacks of Spanish doubloons and a horde of gold stolen from the cathedral in Panama City during the sacking of that town in 1764. The treasjyre was buried in a swamp in a bayou not thirty miles from Panama City-, on the Chame Bay by seven of Sir Henry’s slaves, who were afterwards shot on the theory that “dead men tell no tales.” The little 42-foot ketch-rigged yacht Saxon will carry a crew' of five, lour of whom already have been named. In addition to Morgan, the crew will consist of his wife, Mrs Mabel Morgan, Captain. Ar.vlid Pearson, an intrepid navigator; Charles Poulter, engineer, and one other. When it became known' that the fifth member of the party had not yet been decided upon, the letters started pouring in on Morgan. Letters came from old romancers, debonair young adventurers ready for any esca-

pade, and from persons who know of other buried treasure, ..and who offer to furnish this information to Morgan

if he will take them along.--One letter came from a 17-year-old girl in Sharon, Pa., who volunteered for the treasure hunt in the capacity of cook. “I was going to take her along until Mrs Morgan heard of it,” Morgan said jocularly. Ano.ther letter was received from A. Williams, who was hired by the British Government to find the ship Laurentic, which was sunk during the war with 30,000,000 dollars in her hold. Williams located the ship with a “divining rod,” which he offers to use in the Morgan hunt. The grizzled old seafarer is staking his money and basing his hopes on an old parchment chart handed down from generation to generation in the Morgan family. Ten years ago.

Franklin Peace Morgan, who is now a

practising attorney in Victoria, Texas, found the chart in an old trunk, which* had been sent from the plantation near

Birmingham, Ala., where the Morgans lived after they came from Wales. He gave it to his son, whose quick imagination immediately was fired. Work began at once. It took threb years to build a boat, only to find that it was not seaworthy. Undaunted, Louis Morgan, started on another boat, the Saxon, having learned a good many things about building bo&ts by his first errors. Now, after seven years of continual Industry and fiard work, the boat is nearing completion, and the expedition will be ready to start the first part of January. The Saxon, as dainty a little craft as will be seen on any stretch of water —will carry 1200 square feet of leg-o’-mutton sails, and will have an auxiliary .48 horse-power motor to be used for going in and out of port.