WEALTH ON SEA BED

Waipa Post, Volume 38, Issue 2271, 21 February 1929, Page 2

WEALTH ON SEA BED

SEARCH FOR ALASKAN GOLD

Search for treasure now lying at the bottom of the sea near Douglas Island on the inside passage to Alaska, is to be made by two divers with apparatus they have made themselves. On a foggy night 26 years ago the Alaskan steamer Islander, while making her way through the treacherous channels, struck a submerged reef. Partly filled with water, the vessel was carried by the rising tide three miles from the reef before she sank with her cargo of £600,000 in gold, her crew, and 78 passengers. Most of the men and women on board the vessel were returning from the goldfields of the north, after having won fortunes. Gold nuggets were stacked in boxes in the purser's office, after the ship's safe had been filled. A salvage company has been formed by Mr George Henderson who has invented the diving apparatus, and his friend, Mr H. Koller, both of Seattle. The depth of the sea at the point where the ship sank is 310 feet, and the diving outfiit can be used, says its inventor, in 600 feet of water. It consists mainly of a tube 15 feet long and weighing 50001 b. Attached to the tube is a powerful light, which will enable the diver to see a distance of 100 feet at any depth. Salvage will be accomplished by a mechanical hand, controlled by the diver. Air is taken down the tube in a tank, and in sufficient quantity to last four hours. The position of the tube is controlled by men in the tug, directed by the diver by telephone. Many people who knew some of the passengers on the ill-fated Islander say they are convinced that the amount of gold estimated to be at the bottom of the sea is not exaggerated; (indeed, Lloyd's jtaid claims for more than £400,000 at the time of the disaster.