MYSTERY OF THE FLORIDA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 303, 23 December 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

MYSTERY OF THE FLORIDA

GREATEST SUNKEN TREASURE IN THE WORLD. (By FRANK BARDON.) Talk of treasure hunts, incalculable fortunes, and pieces of eight will thrill most people— except the inhabitants of the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Ever since 1640, a never-ceasing treasure hunt has been going on by their shores. Every year has seen a new batch of fresh, energetic, and hopeful treasureseekers making their way to Tobermory, here they hope to find what is reputed to be the world’s greatest sun ken treasure. One woul£ think that these simple, hard-working folk would be thrilled by th e mere mention of the untold riches —estimated at the staggering figure of £30,000,000 —but actually the experience of the last 290 years has caught them that, the treasure is more or less inaccessible. Pure Gold. When the Spanish Armada was defeated in lubb, many of the vessels were blown by the terrific storm to various parts of the coasts of the British Isles, where they .sank. Several of these, including the galleon Florida, which is said to have carried the mighty treasure chest containing fabulous quantities of pure gold, were wrecked off the Scottish coast, while the Florida itself lies just a few yards from Tobermory, in deep water and beneath the silted sand. The exact locality of the wreck is known, although there is, of course, a good deal of dispute as to whether the wreck is actually the Florida. And even so, says the sceptics what proof is there that the Florida actually carried the paychest? The only proof is the records which have been handed down, and there is no necessity to doubt them any more than we doubt the existence of the Armada itsclY. There is no smoke without lire, and there is ample evidence to show that one, at least, of the galleons carried a cargo of pure gold in an enormous gold chest. The Florida is described in .Spanish records as Galleon del Duque de Florencia (the Galleon of the Duke of Florence) and sometimes as the San Francisco. The discovery of these important facts by an investigator, who for thirty years sought the treasure ol the Armada, only served to complicate matters. There were three ships by the name of St. Francis in the Navy of the Armada —whic.li of those three ships is St. Francis or Florida? The legend says that the commander of the Florida, alias San Francisco, alias St. Francis, alias Almirantc de Florencia, having been chased .by Drake’s warship northward from the English Ch-annel, and encountering a terrific hurricane, put in for shelter at Tobermory, on the north-west corner of the Isle of Mull. Many of the soldiers went ashore, and were soon implicated in a free fight, which resulted in one of the Clan Mac Lean being kept, in the treasure ship as hostage. MacLean made his way to „ the powder magazine in the heart of the ship and blew her sky-high, sending the ship, with her treasure, fifty-two guns, eighty-six sailors, and four hundred soldiers of the company of the Cascar de Sosa, down to the bottom of the sea. Unlike many hunts of a similar kind, the patient searchers have not been rewarded in the least degree. But odd pieces of wood and strangely-wrought pieces of metal washed up during the fierc e storms have confirmed the story of the wreck which lies hidden by sand and mud. The disheartening feature of this treasure hunt is that, owing to large sums of money which are necessary, tho operations have often to be suspended until fresh funds are forthcoming. That usually means another delay during which the sands and mud, which have cost hundreds of pounds to clear away, encroach again, and the trcasuro-scckers return to find their previous efforts wasted. This has been going on for years, and, although tl-.cie arc people all over the country willing to finance these expeditions, tho thousands of pounds which have been wasted in an effort to wrest a fortune of £30,0U0,000 from Davy Jones, and the very discouraging results with which these attempts have been attended, aro hardly inducements to the prospective financier. The Crown Intervenes. King Charles IL, however, was of a different mind. Learning that the Duke of Argyll had obtained a diving bell from .'Sweden, with the intention of recovering the treasure, he sent a special warship to Tobermory to stop the operations. The Duke of Argyll, greatly incensed, began a law suit, which lasted some time. Eventually, however, he defeated the Crown and established li*s sole right to hunt lor the treasure, a right which the present Duke of Argyll still holds. Exactly what that treasure ship contained is still a matter for conjecture. When Philip LI. of .Spain sent the licet to defeat England, he had the treasure fitted with all the priceless paraphernalia, which was to bo used in connection with the crowning of the Catholic King who was to succeed the “heretic” Elizabeth. They included pure gold lanterns for the religious ceremonies, gold cups, pearls and jewels worn by the grandees of Spain, Portugal, and Naples, and enormous quantities of silver. The treasure chest is known definitely to have contained thirty million pieces of eight. Despite the many failures, one man at least has succeeded in settling the i problem of the treasure. By perniis sion of the present Duke of Argyll, Colonel MacKensie Foss has been ac lively engaged in th e salvaging operations for nearly twenty years. In 1910 tho ship was covered with a depth ol twenty seven feet, of mud, while to day divers have been able to walk on the decks. Divers, with the aid of giant grabs, have been able to recover bronze cannons, swords, coins, specimens of gunmetal rich in nickel, and quantities of usually line oak. But the greatest prize, of all—the treasure i chest —still eludes them.