SEARCHING FOR HIDDEN TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12696, 26 October 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

SEARCHING FOR HIDDEN TREASURE.

GALLEONS WITH £28,000,000 DIS- , COVERED.

Tire latest and perhaps the most promising hunt for treasure ever organised is now going actively forward in the Bay of Vigo, on the north-east coast of Spain.

A largo yacht is there stationed (jealously guarded day and night by a Spanish warship),' having on hoard the inventions of an ItalianCavaliere Giuseppe Pino— with which ho hopes to discover and ,to recover certain treasure that has , been lying at the bottom of the sea for the past 200 years. The existence of the treasure is beyond) dispute. Twenty galleons of Spain, newly returned home with a treasure harvest of four years' gleaning in Mexico, went clown in the bay on a day in October, 1702, and, although' repeated attempts have teen made to recover the ships, and their gold, silver, and precious ' stones, everyone has failed. Cavaliere Pino is certain that his inventions put the treasure at his mercy. Its value is estimated at £28,000,000 at the least. • The first of his inventions is the "hydroscope," which is nothing less than a telescope for use in sea .raters. This instrument is fitted with special lenses that give its inventor the power to examine the sea bed, however deep the water may be, almost as easily as he may view a landscape through a pair of field-glasses. During the last four months a thorough survey has been made with the hydroscope of the sea bed at Vigo, where 'the ships went down, and already nine of the galleons have been located and identified. The second invention is the "elevator," a simple and wonderful contrivance for raising objects from the sea bed. This is unlike any of the existing machines for wreck-raising, is far more powerful, and far less costly. Each elevator consists of two platforms of steel, between which canvas bags are fitted, having special devices for attachment to sunken objects, whether a monster ironclad or a toy gun. There is no limit to the possible power ,of an elevator, for this depends only on the number of the air-bags and the amount of compressed air that is driven into them. When the eyes of the hydroscope have discovered any sunken object it may be desired to raise, divers take the elevator down and make it fast. Then the compressed aii is pumped into the baits, and the object is forced up, like a balloon in air. to the surface. '/, . With these two machines Cavaliere Pino claims to have the power to solve all the secrets of the sea. The ships and the treasures hidden by all the waters of the world are, he says, at his absolute mercy. Wort at Vigo-has been somewhat slow

hitherto, since the lost ships lie near the mouths of two sandy rivers. But the Spanish Government has as much confidence as the inventor himself in the recovery of the treasure at no distant date. Twenty per cent, of the value of everything found is to go to the Government— hence . the presence of the warship that watches, on the Government's behalf, every detail of the work that goes forward from Cavaliere Pino's yacht. >

A cable was received on September 20, stating' that " Cavaliere Pino, inventor of the hydroscope, had located nine of the Spanish galleons sunk by the British Admiral, Sir George Rooke, at Vigo, in Spain, in 1702, with £28,000,000 worth of treasure aboard. The work of clearing the ,sand from the vessels, and of surveying the locality is proceeding, and preparations are being made for securing and raising the treasure." ■ - ■