A SUNKEN TREASURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 346, 23 June 1869, Page 3

A SUNKEN TREASURE.

On the night of October 7, 1799, Her Majesty's ship Lutine, freighted with an enormous amount of specie, varying from £1,500,000 to £3,000,000, foundered off the sandbanks on the north-west coast of Holland, and the greater bulk of that treasure still lies buried with but nine fathoms of water over it. The Lutine was bound to a port in the Zuyder Zee, and the £1,500,000 she had on board was subsidiary money for the English troops which were then serving under the Prince of Holland — Holland being at war with Trance. She had also on board large assignments of specie for merchants in the country, as well as for bullion dealers and bankers at Hamburg, to which port she

was to hare proceeded, after landing the Government subsidy money at the port in the Zuyder Zee. There were also on board the Crown jewels of Holland, which had been sent to this country by the Prince of Orange to be reset and polished, which was executed by Messrs Rundell and Bridges, the then famous jewellers to the English Court, on Ludgate Hill. They had been placed in a strong iron chest, hermetically sealed, and were shipped on board the Lutine at Lowestof t a few days before she sailed, which took place on the morning of October 6, and it is alleged that the commander was so elated with his important commission from the bankers that the night before she took her departure on her fatal voyage he entertained all the elite of Lowestoft and Yarmouth to a grand ball on board. Of the circumstances of her loss very little is known beyond the fact that on the following night the Lutine, in making for the entrance of the Zuyder Zee, encountered a fearful storm, and was driven on a sandbank between the islands of Terschelling and Vieland, and subsequently foundered, all her officers and crew, except one man, perishing. The survivor, however, only lived afew hours. He was picked up by some Dutch boatmen floating on some spars, and after stating the facts of the dreadful wreck, he died. Nearly two hundred persons perished in the ill-fated vessel. After much exertion, the sunken wreck of the Lutine was discovered lying in nine fathoms water, within three miles of the western portion of the island of Terschelling ; but no attempt, we believe, was made to recover the sunken treasure for one or two years, owing in a great measure to the shifting sand banks and the rapidity of the tides which swept over the spot. The Dutch Government offered a reward of £8000 for the recovery of the Crown jewels, which, with other iaducementts held out in England, led to a company being formed, who commenced operations, and in a few years they recovered about £160,000 of the specie, of which the Dutch Government claimed £80,000 as a royalty. Subsequently their operations were stopped by the wreck becoming embedded in sand, and in that state it continued for three or four years. ! The consequence was that the company became bankrupt, and the salvage operations ceased. Since then several other diving companies have been formed, and they all failed after a series of years' working. The last operations on the wreck were about three or four years since, when the divers found that the bottom of the ship, with her keel, where the bulk of the treasure is, is entire, with the skeleton of her ribs remaining. The sand buried her from time to time, but as certain currents set in, the sandbanks shift, and the wreck is exposed. It was only for an hour or half an hour that the divers could remain down at the slack of the tides, and only in very fine calm weather, and even . then they could hardly keep a footing on account of the rapid currents. In addition to the £160,000, another £60,000 was recovered by the companies. The latter took place a few years since, and about £20,000 was paid as royalty to the Government, who up to that time had repudiated all claims on the wreck by the English underwriters and marine assurance companies, who had taken lines of insurances on the specie, and had paid the £1,500,000 as a total loss. The English underwriters were prepared with better appliances to work at the wreck ; but all offers were refused, and it is only lately that the Dutch Government admitted that they had no right to the wreck whatever, aud, if we are correctly informed, the representatives of Lloyds have full power to take possession of the wreck, together with its treasure. All the underwriters who were interested and paid on the total loss have been dead some years ; and it being impossible for any claim to be set up by any surviving relatives of the underwriters, Lloyds, it is said, intend to apply to Parliament for powers to appropriate all moneys recovered from the wreck for purposes named in the proposals. Of the £80,000 which the Dutch Government formerly received as royalty money, no portion of it has been returned, but of the second amount £20,000 was made over to Lloyds a few years since, by order of the King of Holland, which sum remains untouched by the managing committee, and, with the interest that has been accumulated sinee — nearly £9000 — it is probable that operations will be renewed on the Avreck during the ensuing summer, and on a scale which is likely to be eminently successful. The plan, we understand, will be to construct large iron caissons, similar to those used for constructing the foundations of the piers of new Blackfriars Bridge, and sink them into the sands, completely encompassing the wreck. These fairly sunk— engineers of eminence declare there is no obstacle for preventing them — the excavation of the sand from the interior can be in a few days accomplished, and the treasure recovered.