IN QUEST OF TREASURE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 81, 13 March 1924, Page 5

IN QUEST OF TREASURE.

THE ST. GEORGE EXPEDITION. VESSEL’S DEPARTURE DELAYED. (Received 13, 9.30 a.m.) London. Mar. 12. Engine troubles delayed the departure, of the Plymouth steam yacht St. George in which a party propose to seek treasure believed to be buried at Galapagos Islands and Cocos Islands. The party will sail on the 26th inst. The leader states that he is confident the treasure was taken in the sack of Lima and was buried at Cocos, but the difficulty will bo to unearth it after numerous previous attempts at blasting ard excavating have disturbed the ground, which is now overgrown with tropical vegetation. The treasue is probably buried under 100 feet of earth.—(Sydney "Sun" cable).

The departure of the St. George on a mission which has excited much interest in England has been postponed fur various causes several times. It was originally fixed for October last. Besides scientific investigations, the expedition is also intended to search for t) ensure at Cocos Island and the Galapagos, and to locate the mysterious is land of Tuanaki, which is believed to exist somewhere to the south-east of Raiatonga. The headquarters of the expedition have been besieged by shoals of amateur yachtsmen, girl stenographers, and all sorts and conditions of would-be adventurers with visions of “pieces of eight” and dead men’s chests floating before their eyes. Apparently these glistening dreams aio shared by the staff of the Research Association, for every day they are to be seen at the British Museum, surrounded by piles of musty records, searching eagerly for information as to a great treasure said to have been buried at Cocos after the sack of Lima, as well as another undiscovered hoard hidden in the Galapagos. The expeditions, headed by Commander Blair, consists of 36 ex-service men, a wireless operator ,a seaplane, and its pilots, and eight scientists, including Mr James Hornell, director of Fisheries ,at Madras; Air P, Johnson, of London University College, and Miss L. Cheeseman, curator of the insects department at the London Zoo. The St. George will visit Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, the Gambier Islands, Rapa, Australia, Cook Islands, 'J ahiti, Rangiora and the Marquesas for the purposes of making films and collecting wild animals, birds, butterflies and other specimens. The men passengers arc paying £7OO each.