RELICS OF A WRECK.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5808, 1 October 1880, Page 3

RELICS OF A WRECK.

A Natal paper says : — (< Mr Sydney Turner, of Durban, and Lieutenant Beddoes, late of the Natal Pioneers, have been at work for several weeks endeavoring to recover valuable things said to have gone down in the wreck of the Grosvenor, Indiaman, which occurred, we believe, in 1782, on a point of rocks about twentylive miles on the Natal side of St. Johu's river, where the sea breaks very heavily. There is an old rumor that on board the vessel were General or Colonel Campbell and two daughters, Theso daughters are said to have been made wives of by the natives, and it is told of them that when their friends found them out they refused to leave from feelings of shame. Certain it is that near the Umgazi river are living a small clan of light-colored Caffres, many of whom are supposed to be descendants of some Europeans wreked near St. John's river. Mr Turner has shown us the articles recovered from the rocks, chiefly by dynamite blasting. There are about 50 gold coins, about 100 silvei*, and several copper ones. Many of tho coins were fovind cemented into oxidised iron, the ship having been ballasted with pig-iron. The gold pieces are about the size of a sovereign, but are much thinner ; and although they have been so long exposed, several of them are in a wonderfully good state of preservation. The larger gold coins are supposed to be Portuguese. On one side there is a representation of two standing figures, one holding a staff surmounted by a crucifix. The reverse side is not unlike the spade side of an old guinea. In somewhat of a diamond shape there is another standing figure having a halo round the head and encircled by stars. The designs are similar in most of the gold coma, but the inscriptions vary. On one side of the best specimens are the following letters and words, as far as we caa distinguish them : — <S.M. Vonet, Franc, havred, D.V.' On the other side there appears to be 'Regis Islib Luca, Sit. X.P.B. DAT. Q.T.V.' A number of little gold coins are quaint-looking pieces, not unlike any ordinary sized shirt studs, They bear the effigies of Indian gods, and a large copper token ha 3 the world on it with the zodiac. The silver coins are nearly all of one size, that of a shilling, and they appear to be of very ancient date. They are very thick, and bear on them Indian characters, which we have had translated to us by a competent authority in Durban as * Akbar Shah,' the name of the first

king of the Delhi dynasty. The date is not distinct on any of the coins, but as that personage flourished 1200 years ago, it may bo concluded that the coins left their primitive mint a long time back. Some Spanish coins appear to bear a date either about the year 17-10 or 1770. Above high-water mark at the spot are largo piles of charcoal and remains of large fires where thfe' Caffres have burnt the wreckage, probably to extract the bolts, &c. There is an idea in the minds of the local OairVes that a box of treasure is buried near the spot where the Grosvenor came ashore, but although a stone is said to have boon marked to show where it is, there is as yet little clue to the whereabouts of the hidden prize. Nine of the cannons carried by the Grosvenor are lying among the rocks, as well as largo quantities of iron ballast."