PIRATES HOARD

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4605, 4 October 1934, Page 5

PIRATES HOARD

COCOS ISLAND TREASURE. RECOVERY EXPEDITION. Mr. A. J. Drexel has lent his 600ton yacht, Queen of Scots, for the treasure hunt expedition to Cocos Island, where it is believed a vast hoard is concealed, estimated to be worth anything up to £25,000,000. Most important of the equipment is the electrical divining apparatus which has successfully detected gold in South Africa. It is believed that this apparatus will make for the success of the expedition. There is no doubt that the treasure is there. The Foreign Office admits it in official publications. Previous expeditions, it is said, have failed because the charts and plans, authentic enough in themselves, have proved misleading. This is due to the fact that the watercourses, which are the principal clues, have changed their directions many times since the charts were made. With the divining apparatus, and the knowledge that the treasure lies somewhere within 350 acres of the island's fourteen square miles, the new expedition has such hopes of success that insurance on the prospective treasure has been effected at Lloyd's for £250,000. Catain A. D. Bellingham is in charge of the vessel and its crew of twenty. Mr. S. MacFarlane Arthur, the controller of the expedition, has already spent tan months on Cocos Island. "Our experts will tackle the hunt as an engineering problem," he said. "We have definite evidence as to where the treasure is buried, close to the shore. We shall electrify an area and prod the ground with instruments and on getting a reaction we shall send down the core drill. If there is anything there we shall get a sample of it." The members of the expedition include Colonel J. E. Leckie (mining engineer), Mr. Jolly, Mr. Arthur, Captain Charles Osborn Folking--horne, Commander Frank Worsley and Commander Joseph Stenhouse, who both sailed with Shackleton; Dr. J. W. Harris (geologist) and Mr. J. E. Martin (aviator). A Manx cat is the mascot.