HIDDEN TREASURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

HIDDEN TREASURE

SEARCH GOES ON LURE OF PIRATES' HOARDS COSTLY COCOS EXPEDITIONS In many parts of the wold to-day men aro busy seeking lost treasure, writes Mr. Ainslie Firth, the well-known London journalist. You will find them in South Africa, searching for Kruger's treasure; in India; in Mexico; all down through Central America, and in the Andes. They search the ruined cities of tho Aztecs and tho "tapadas," or burialplaces, of Peru. Others haunt the cays of the Caribbean and tho islets on tho western side of Panama for gold hidden by pirates and buccaneers. Some islands, like Cocos, attract them as a candle attracts moths. The expedition which was recently turned away from that island by the Government of Costa Rica is, so far as I can gather, the forty-third that has visited this unpleasant place, in the vain hope of recovering the millions said'to have been buried there by Captain Thompson, of the Mary Dier, and tho equally infamous "Bonito of the Bloody Sword." Killed Their Passengers Thompson's ship was in Lima Harbour when, early in 1821, the Spaniards were threatened by the insurgents. Many rich Spaniards took passage in the Mary Dier and the treasure they brought with them beggars description. There were life-size figures of the Virgin and Child in pure gold, quantities of gems, and minted coin to the value of something like £2,500,000. Once Outside the harbour, Thompson and his rascally crew slit the throats of their wretched passengers and made for Cocos, where they are believed to have buried their loot. But listen! Cocos is an island about half the size of the Isle of Wight. It is surrounded by tall cliffs; it bristles with impenetrable; scrub; the rainfall is tremendous, and landslides crash down constantly. If an army dug for fifty years the odds are all against discovering the pirates' cache. Well the search. One man, a German named Gissler, lived on Cocos for seven years, searching every day. He found one silver doubloon and quite a lot of old iron cannonballs and the like.

The British Navy had a try; Canadian, Australian, American, and English expeditions have dug and blasted for years. But none ever saw a trace of the treasure. Now Costa Itica is tired of' granting concessions to treasure-hunters, and the latest news is that the island is to become a penal settlement. Another pirate hoard—that of the celebrated Captain Kidd—is believed to have been buried on Oak Island, a dot 6f land lying off the coast of Nova Scotia. This is a most fantastic business. Was it a Joke? The original searchers found a spot at the foot of a tree, just off the beach, where the ground was soft, and began to dig. They struck an old shaft timbered with roughly hewn balks and followed this down to a depth of forty feet. Then water broke in, and, since they had no pumps and no money, they were forced to desist. Seven years later they were back with pumps and proper tools. The shaft was taken down to ninety feet. At this level a flat slab of stone three feet long and eighteen inches wide was unearthed. On it were cut these words: "Ten feet below two million pounds are buried." It was late in the evening when this discovery w»s made. The diggers went to their tents, thrilled with excitement. That night they hardly slept,, and at peep of dawn were out. They reached the pit, to find it filled nearly to the brim with water. Salt water! The sea had broken in. All their efforts had been in vain; their hopes were dashed.

Since then a company with large capital has dammed out the sea, put in steam pumps, and driven a fresh shaft. Alas, though boring has gone to a depth of over 150 ft. no sign of that two million has ever been discovered. Who dug the shaft? Who buried the stone? Was it a pirate, or was it a practical joker? These are questions that may never bo answered. Five Years' Search One other great treasure which has been sought in vain is the Hidden Ifcard of El Cunco, in Bolivia. "The riches that belong to God, our Master, are not for men." This warning was found inscribed on a parchment found in a casket of ancient wood, dug from a tunnel near the deserted Jesuit Settlement on the Sacambava River in Bolivia. The treasure is believed to have been buried here by the Jesuits before they were driven out of Bolivia in 1778. It was searched for by Mr. Cecil Prodgers for five long years and, later, by a company known as the Sacambava Syndicate, one of whoso leaders was Mr. Stratford Jolly, afterwards the head of one of the strongest attempts on the Cocos Island Treasure. But nothing was found. Buried treasure is so elusive that many regard it as accursed. Yet enough has been found to keep alive the spark of hope in the breast of the seeker, and there are and always will be men ready to spend time and money in patient if ill-rewarded search.