SUNKEN TREASURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23101, 28 July 1938, Page 13

SUNKEN TREASURE

SALVAGE FROM LUTINE FIRST GOLD BROUGHT UP AMSTERDAM, July 2r? There was great rejoicing when the ; world's largest dredger. Karimata, ! brought up the first Spanish mild pieces from the sunken British frigate Lnt inc. wrecked with treasure est i- ! mated to be worth £'1,000,000, near I Terschelling in 179!). The hows of the vessel, which lies i at a depth of about 50ft. of water and -lOl't. of sand, are coming up piecej meal in the dredge buckets I The Liitme ("the F.lf"), formerly a French frigate was surrendered with other ships at Toulon to the British Fleet by the French Royalists in order ! to save her from capture by the rei volutionaries She was taken into the British Navy and in 1 7!) i) was attached 1 to tiie North Sea Fleet. Toward the end of 1799 a financial | crisis on the Continent made it necesi sary for London merchants to send cash remit fences to their agents in 1 Hamburg tor the credit of British i trade. As the sum involved was very large and the seas were swarming with enemy cruisers and privateers, the merchants persuaded the Government to I allow the Lutine to carry the | treasure. Farly in the morning on I October 9 tho ship struck a sandbank | between Terschelling and Ylieland and sank. The dredger Karimata, now engaged in salvaging the treasure—about -£•>•),000 worth of which was recovered two or three years after the wreck —is a colossal structure with IM2 steel scoops. I'p to June IS last onlv one silver coin had been brought to the surface.