TREASURE HUNT SEASON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23687, 20 December 1938, Page 16

TREASURE HUNT SEASON

The end of summer in America means the end of the treasure hunts in the Spanish Main. Although -there are more failures than successes, every summer sees a crowd of dredgers, salvage ships small boats nannec v ' amateurs" trying to locate and. raise the fortunes lost in hurricanes. Captain John D. Craig, dee -sea diving authority reports having located two Spanish galleons—out of an argosy of. 16 which sailed in *632—north of Dominica. They are believed to con-: tain £15,000,000 worth of gold,, silver and plate. But though they lie in shallow water, Captain Craig je-" lieves salvage to be almost impossible. Captain Craig found the coralencrusted hulks with their chains and cannon lying among jagged coral mountains infested by.'danger-' ous sharks. Reports reach New York of the annual unsuccessful attempts to raise treasure from the 16 galleons sunk during the Battle of Vigo Bay in 1702! But the hulks -■have probably disappeared in the mud or have been swept away, and the £28,000,000 supposed to have been sunk with the ships will probably remain at the bottom of the sea.