TREASURE SHIPS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3716, 26 October 1926, Page 2

TREASURE SHIPS

LUTIHE AND lAURENTIG STRUGGLE TO RECOVER VAST WEALTH There is a long list of treasure snips available for searchers, but some of these chips date back centuries, and therefore the records in regard to their location is dim (stales a Melbourne paper). Moreover, most of the wrecks that belong to the distant past are covered deep in sand and silt, and would bo difficult to locate. For instance, no searchers after sunken treasure would look forward with any degree of confidence to finding the fleet of Spanish galloons which is supposed to have sunk in Vigo Bay with gold and treasure from Peru to the value of £24,000,000. Equally hopeless would bo the search for the pirate fleet which sank in a Grec'nn harbor with gold and antique treasure valued at £20,000,000. But there arc more recent treasure ships whose location is known more or less accurately. The Egypt, on which the German divers are operating, is one of the most hopeful of the sunken treasure propositions, because her position is definitely known, the amount of treasure she bad on board is definitely known, and the wreck, being a recent one, has scarcely had time to disappear beneath sand and silt. Tho British treasure ship which at spas moclic intervals has attracted the attention of successive searchers is the frigate Lutmo, which was wrecked in the shallows between Tcrschelling and Vlielaud, off the Dutch coast, in October, 1799, with bullion worth over £1,000,000 on board. But the many fruitless efforts that have been made to recover this treasure illustrate the fact that searching for sunken treasure is almost «s disheartening as searching for the buried hoards of Captain Kidd and other pirates In the case of the sunken treasure it. is known more or less definitely that there was treasure aboard, and the locality of the wreck is known with some degree of accuracy. But in the case of the pirates there is no reliable information as to where they buried their hoards or whether they over buried them. But, despite the advantages which searchers for sunken treasure enjoy, the difficulties of securing treasure from the ocean bed arc always formidable. POOR RESULTS.

Take as an illustration of these difficulties the case of the Lutine. She sank in shallow water, but in the 127 years that have elapsed little more than £IOO,OOO out of tho £1,000,000 worth of treasure she carried has been recovered. When she sank the fciebe diving dress had not been invented, and salvage operations were primitive. Great Britain's war with Holland prevented Lloyd’s having any say in salvage, and after the war ended the Dutch Government claimed the wreck. Dutch fishermen turned their attention to salvage, and recoverea about £56,000 in two years, of which the Dutch Government took two-thirds. Great storms played havoc with the wreck, and carried her out to a depth at which the fishermen could not work. Then came the war with Napoleon, and for years the treasure lay undisturbed amid the shifting sandbanks. Long after Napoleon was sent to St Helena the British Government, acting under pressure from Lloyd’s, succeeded in inducing the Dutch Government to abandon its claim to the wreck and the treasure. By this time the currents had swept the wreck away, and had hidden her under many feet of sand, and she could not he located. A terrific gale, which lasted for days washed away the sand and exposed part ol the hull. For five years, from 1857 to 1861, salvage operations were carried out as weather permitted, but only £40,000 was recovered. Owing to the frequent .storms in that locality salvage work can be carried out only tit iniervals, and the currents sweep the sand about and undo in a few hours the work ot many days. , , During the past fifty years there have been many efforts made to recover the Lutmes treasure, but none of them has met with any degree of success. In 1911 an English salvage company searched for the hidden wreck, and eventually located her under ott of sand. The sand was pumped up by suction pumps, and the wooden hull was exposed despite the strong currents which tended to sweep the sand back as soon as it was removed. But these searchers found that the camion balls which bad been stored in the magazine of the frigate had rolled about the wreck when the magazine rotted away, and that these balls of iron had been- rusted together by the action of the water. The trcasuic lay under a confused mass of iron ott or pit thick, which had to bo blasted away with explosives. The searchers abandoned the task for lack of money to carry -on. Last year it was announced that another company had been formed in England to recover the Latino's treasure, but this treasure still lies buried beneath the shifting sands. ANOTHER FAMOUS STORY.

The most famous story of successful treasure hunting at Hie bottom of the sea concerns the recovery of £4,750,009 from the wreck of (he White Star liner Laurentic. which was torpedoed in January, 1917, off Blalin Head, at the extreme north of Ireland, by a German submarine. The Laurcutic carried a complement of 475, and of them perished. The treasure in gold and silver ingots was valued at £5,000,000, and was intended to pay for war stores and munitions from American firms. The wreck was located at a depth ot 120 ft, and the Admiralty began salvage operations, but the Germans learned that there was valuable treasure aboard, and they sent submarines to the locality in order to prevent salvage being carried out On one occasion a submarine appeared when a diver was below. There was no lime to bring him to the surface, and the little salvntrc vessel made oft, dragging the divei bebind bv the lifeline. He did not know what had happened, but he was aware, from the IjoTit which filtered through the window of bis helmet, that he had reached the surface When eventually he was hauled on board he was placed in a recompression chamber, so as to avoid the danger ot bubbles of nitrogen forming in his blood as a result of being suddenly hauled from below, instead of, making a. slow ascent in Hie orthodox way, with periods of exercise for his arms and legs. The pressure of the air in the chamber was raised by means of air pumps to the level at which lie had been working below, and was gradually reduced to normal atmospheric pressure. He was then taken out of the chamber, and suffered no ill-clVccts. THE SCENE BELOW.

When tlie war was over the Admiralty lost no time in resuming salvage openalions on the Laurentic. Owing to the tact, that the locality was exposed to fierce Ally n tie "ales, work could he carried on only spasmodically. The most expert divers m the service of the Navy were employed—they had had a "real deal of experience 111 salva'dii" torpedoed vessels during the war hut at a depth of 120 ft o day's work consisted of two spells of liflccn minutes e;ieh. Explosive*; were employed to clear away the wreckage, of twisted plates and steel girders that, hid Uic strong room. On several occasions i he divers found after suspending operations on account of storms (.hat they had a train to face, the task of clearing away more wreckage that had been strewn alion hv the strong currents. The treasure had been scattered about by the currents, and much of it was hidden deep under sand; but enormous suction pumps were employed, and they proved effective, though Ihev often became choked with large pieces of wreckage and big boulders. Owing to Ur. fact Unit operations had lo he suspended fur months ai a time during the stormy season the work extended over seven years Eventually about £4,750.000 was recovered. Tills success seems lo indicate (hat. it is a comparatively simple matter to recover sunken treasure, lint it must he remem he re d (hat the Admiralty, as tho result of

salvaging nearly 500 vessels (with cargoes valued a(, £50,000,000) that had been torpedoed or mined during the war, possessed the most powerful and extensive salvage plant that bad ever been got together m the history of the world. And despite these resources it took the Admiralty seven years to get the treasure, although it existed in the handy form of ingots. The most convincing proof of the difficulty of recovering sunken treasure is the fact that the Admiralty, after obtaining £4,750,000, decided to leave the remaining £250,000 at the bottom of the sea. The unrecovered treasure is hidden amid tho confused wreckage of steel plates and girders, which is scattered about the bed of tho ocean for several hundred yards. It would not pay to blast away this wreckage in order to search for the remainder of the treasure, as in any case it is unlikely that much of what has been left behind would be recovered by this means.