SUNKEN BRITISH GOLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 12

SUNKEN BRITISH GOLD.

In the hope of finding £BOO,OOO of British gold, believed to have sunk with a pay ship sent to America by the British during the War of Independence, Captain Simon Lake, father of numerous submarine inventions, proposes to make an extensive search this year of the floor of Long Island" Sound. . In recent years Captain Lake has. discovered more than 30 vessels in an area of five square miles at the bottom pf the sound. Researches he has made of the history of the war indicate beyond doubt, he says, that a British treasure ship now lies in the vicinity of Hell Gate, a few miles from New York city. Mr Tilson, of Connecticut, a r memher of the House of Representatives, is seeking Government co-operation -in Captain Lake’s behalf. But whether this will be forthcoming or not, the inventor will devote the best part of. the .summer to a well-organised hunt ’to discover the soldier’s cash. „

Over 40 years ago, Captain George Thomas an American, looked up the records of the lost ship }n England, and ascertained tp bis satisfaction that the pay ship, with its gold hidden beneath the ballast in its hold, reached New York in 1783, just *as the British troops were evacuating the city. She was instructed to go to a point in Connecticut and pay off the soldiers there. In attempting to obey those orders,' she struck. a rock in Hell Gate, and sank. Only a few of the highest officers knew that the vessel carried gold, and it was not until the war ended that efforts were made to find the whereabouts of the missing treasure. Captain Thomas spent a large sum in exploring the floor of Long Island Sound, and died of a broken heart In support of the new enterprise. Captain Lake,says that enormous advance haai been madij in recent years in submarine' devices and salvage experiments, -..-■■ o', “If gold is there,” he says, r “ res,Uak-. sured we shall .find it.” Captain, Lake intends to use a submarine equipped with a “ diving trap ” of his own invention. With the submarine as a base, he declares, divers will be able to work with short airlines.