TREASURE SHIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12955, 26 August 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

TREASURE SHIP.

HUNT FOR GOLD OFF SCOTTISH COAST. Tor.iir.MOKY, where diving operations arc steadily going on (as mentioned in last Saturday's Hkk.u.d) for sunken treasure, is one of the loveliest spots on the West of Scotland, situated on the north-west corner of Mull. The town looks down, as from an amphitheatre, on its landlocked bay and the Sound of Mull. The influence of the Gulf Stream is found in the proverbial mildness of its climate. The, treasure now sought for has lain under the waters of its bay for more than three centuries. The search for the Spanish gold which went down in. 1588 with the Admiral of Florence, or Florcntia (the treasure-ship of the Spanish Armada), when she was blown up oft' Tobermory, is.surrounded by a halo of romance and tradition of no ordinary character. Indeed, the whole story is so enveloped by the accumulation of years of legend and obscurity that even among the inhabitants of the district the idea was becoming prevalent that the tales were merely tradition, unfounded on facts. But in 1901 there came a sharp awakening among those interested in the sunken treasure, and much excitement was caused by a story in American papers that three Americans from Philadelphia, acting with the authority of the Duke of Argyll, had secured a portion, if not all, the treasure in Loch Duart, which is the old name for Tobermory Bay. The Admiral of Florence, it was related, went down with treasures of gold and precious stones while in shallow water. The newspapers printed the story with a flourish of headlines, such as '' flic Duke's Billion Treasure." The anecdote about, the Philadelphians was a pure fiction. riJU.ADKLI'UIA WAS OUT OF IT. The story of the loss of the vessel is as follows:—As far back as September, in the year of the Armada, a large Spanish galleon, named the Florcntia, in trying to avoid the storms and save the treasure on board until suitable weather and a favourable opportunity of escape should come, took refuge in the safe ami landlocked bay of Tobermory. The vessel was understood to have on board no fewer than thirty million gold coins, equal to £3,000,000 in English money. The officers and men, who were starving, demanded food from the MacLeans of Mull, then holding the lordship of that part of Argyllshire. The Mac Leans re fused, and the commander tWeatened to put his soldiers, some 350 in number, ashore, and lake what they needed by force, 'then the Mac Leans reluctantly agreed, on the condition that the Spaniards should give them assistance in a lend against a neighbouring clan. Tradition has it that they did so, and that one light followed another until the Mac Leans, for what reason is now unknown, blew up the Spanish ship as she lay in Tobermory Bay. A pretty legend handed down in the district from mother to daughter is to Hie effect that the Infanta of Spain, in her visions of the night, saw a lovely prince, who she was told was to be her husband. Stirred by love, she set out on the Florenlia to search for the beautiful ■ prince. lii the course of time she came to Mull and Tobermory Bay, where MacLcan of Duart, the chief of the clan, happened to go on board. As soon as the Spanish Princess east eyes upon the. chief she rushed to his side and claimed him as her own— her husband chosen by Heaven. Mac Lean was, of course, now a prisoner. When the tidings reached Duart Castle Mrs. Mac Lean could not realise the situation, but she sent a faithful adherent to Tobermory, when the truth became clear to her. She sent by the hands of trustworthy retainers, all MacLeans, a few presents to the Princess, and among them a huge ball of worsted of the finest quality. Inside the ball was a charge of gunpowder, sufficient to blow up the vessel. Mac Lean, privately informed of the scheme, made his escape, and had only reached the Sputt Dim, a small cascade on the western side of the bay, when the Florent was blown to pieces. Men were blown ashore, on the heights to the west. The cook and a sailor were thrown into a cave near tho present steamboat pier, still named Cook's Cave. Next, another Spanish war vessel, the story goes, was sent to avenge the destruction of the Florcntia and her crew. She was commanded by a Captain Forest. In a storm she was wrecked near Ardtornish, on the Sound of Mull. The fate of this vessel was sealed, it was said, by the enchantments of the powerful witch, Gorm Shuil Mhor, of Lochaber. This name, interpreted for Saxon readers, means "The Great Blue-eyed One." When Captain Forest "beheld cats run up his masts -—one, two, three, four, live, six— thought he might weather (he storm, but when the number increased to nine he declared the ship was doomed. But we must come to the, facts of the ease and to events of more recent date. In 1641 the then Marquis of Argyll obtained a grant to secure treasure from ships wrecked near Tobermory, but the operations carried on were unsuccessful. Again, in 1655, his son tried to recover the treasure, apparently without success. From the records it is learned that flic wreck (hen was in a sadly* battered state, and that it was difficult to find anything but the rust-encrusted guns. Much quarrelling seems to have ensued over the sunken treasure, and many appeals were made to the law. In 1730 the divingbell was employed a second lime. A very fine bronze gun was recovered, as well as -many gold and silver coins. Along with the large guns were others bearing the English founders' mark of " H. and G. Phillips, 1584," and a crown and "E.R." In later years a Marquis of Lome, afterwards Duke'of Argyll,

MADE A SK.Utt'M,

when there were recovered, with the primitive appliances then available, several pieces of ordnance, which still stand in the grounds of Inverary Castle. Part of the wood of the Florcntia Sir Walter Scott presented Mis Majesty George IV. in 1830. Notwithstanding ail these futile attempts the belief has lived that the treasure-room of flic Floreutia still contains the gold. In 1903 Captain Burns, of salvage fame, at the head of a West, of Scotland syndicate, succeeded in raising a Spanish gun, with breech-block complete, in which was found a shot and a charge of powder unexplodcd. Now, under the same director, and by the famous diver, Mr. James Gush, and a crew of experts in this department, there is to be made a strenuous effort to unravel the mystery, and to make the sea give up its gold. The syndicate carrying on the operations have full power to recover all the treasure hidden in Tobermory Bay, on the condition that the duke receives one-half of all the proceeds and the syndicate the other half. .Mr. Gush and Mr. Mackenzie have begun work on the wreck with a powerful sand-sucking pump, erected on board a. diving lighter of special construction. Within a few hours of the start sufficient proofs were obtained that they were in close proximity to the treasure ship, and' Captain Burns is confident that whatever lies within or underneath the wrecked vessel will be brought tip during the months of July and August, if the weather continues favourable. Among the articles already recovered are sword-blades and scabbards, pistols largo and small, a peculiar, taperingnecked bottle of crude workmanship, and bones of the drowned Spaniards. The sword-blades and scabbards were heavily encrusted with lime, and the bottle covered with Crustacea.