Evening Star Newspaper, January 1, 1933, Page 40

2 accomplished the buccaneers would be alongside. But there was a chance—a rather dangerous chanceé, yet the only chance of escaping his foes—and that was to sail through the “bocas.” _It was a narrow, crooked, treacherous efiumel. filled with reéfs- and- shoals, barely deep or wide enough for the great ship to pass through. Never, under ordinary conditions, would he have dared attempt it. But Capt. Ferara knew the “boca” channel, and he decided to take this last chance to save his ship. Shots were falling fast about the plate ship’s ° stern; one carried away a 10-foot sec- tion of ornate scroll work from the lofty stern castle, and at any moment a shot might cripple the vessel. T‘HE captain bellowed his orders. With a cheer the crew sprang to their guns. With a deafening roar the broad- side thundered out, and through the smoke those on the plate ship saw great rents torn in the straining sails of the buccaneer craft; they saw her lateen mizzen yard break and fall in a mass of tangled rigging. But she still held her course, and cannon belched from her sides as she luffed into the wind and delivered a broadside in return. —Screams, curses, groans, prayers arose from those on the Spanish ship. Dead, dying and wounded were sprawled upon her decks; two guns were dismounted and her bulwarks were in splinters. But her spars were intact, her hull was un- damaged; she had gained several hun- dred yards and the entrance to the 0c3” was just ahead. .Seizing the great in his own hands, the captain guided his ship between the treacherous fangs of coral. With uplifted faces the priests upon the stern gallery chanted thanks to God for their deliverance from the pirates. Baffled, realizing it hopeless to pursue the plate ship through the narrow chan- nel with the convoy just beyond, the buccaneer captain—who was no other than the infamous Dutchman “Wooden Leg”—luffed his vessel sharply, cursed the Dons and to ease his mind and ex- press his feeling fired a parting shot from his long bow gun. Perhaps it was mere chance; possibly it was an exceptionally good shot. But, whether guided by fate or the gunner’s aim, the screeching round shot mowed down the knot of friars, tore through the superstructure of the stern and shat- tered the Spanish ship’s rudder post. Instantly she yawed. Before an order could be given she struck the reef with a terrific crash. Her masts went by the board. Struggling to free themselves from the wreckage of spars and rigging, insane with terror, passengers and crew fought madly to gain the one uninjured boat. Few ever reached shore.- Sharks accounted for many. Others were dragged down by their armor or their weapons, and many were unable to swim. It was a terrible catastrophe and could not have been worse had the Santisima Concepcion fallen a prize to the Dutch buccaneer. And it would have been far better for Capt. Ferara had he fallen in battle. Driven insane by the tragedy, he was taken in chains to Spain; but, despite his mental state, he was tried, convicted and beheaded! Three centuries have passed since the Joss of the treasure-laden Santisima Concepcion. But beneath the waters of the “boca” the galleon’s timbers, her gaunt ribs, the broken stumps of her masts may still be seen. And somewhere, deep in the old coral-covered hulk, is all that great treasure, all the gold, silver and precious stones that escaped the buccaneers only to sink to the bottom of the sea. Another treasure ship whose location is known, and which was lost under similar conditions, was the Todos Santos, which fell a victim to that romantically inclined, picturesque, quixotic and deeply religious buccaneer-cavalier, the Sieur Raveneau de Lussan. Cruising off the Ecuadorean coast in the hope of picking up a prize, De Lussan sighted a Spanish ship close inshore. The Dons knew that the buccaneers were about and were taking as few chances as possible by hugging the coast, so that, if necessary, they could dodge into some port. But the Sieur de Lussan knew the coast as well as the Dons did. He knew there was no convenient harbor the Spaniard could reach without proceeding on his porthward course, and that the nearest 3 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY.1, 1933, e R s, b il it oo refuge to the south was so far off that the ship could not make it before his own vessel could overhaul her. go. instead of shifting his course in pursuit of the fat-bellied galleon, De Lussan continued on his way and broke out the Spanish colors. But little by little he edged inshore, and, as his ship could sail two knots to the galleon’s one, he soon forged ahead and, as he had plan- ned to do, gained a position to intercept the other vessel if she continued on her course. De Lussan flattered himself that the Spaniard was very neatly trapped. But De Lussan was -ignorant of the fact that the Todos Santos was in com- mand of a seaman as clever and wily as himself—a renegade Englishman, one Thomas Gage, an ex-pitate, who was as familiar with fhe buccaneers’ tricks as any hairy-chested old tar who ever salled out of Bristol. De Lussan might hood- wink the Dons by hoisting a Spanish flag and nonchalantly sailing on his course; but he could not fool Gage, who had read Sieur Raveneau’s intentions the instant he saw the vessel edging toward the land. He realized that he could not hope to run away, nor could he pass the pirate craft without a battle in which he was certain to be the loser. But he still had an ace up his slezve, as one might say; an ace of which De Lus- san was ignorant; for, although De Lussan knew the coast, he did not know there was deep water between the main- land and an island which, from the sea, appeared like a portion of the shoreline itself. ; Having waited for the approaching galleon to appear from behind an out- jutting cape, Sieur Raveneau became troubled and suspicious when she failed to materialize. Perhaps, he thought, the Dons had recognized his ship and had turned about while he had been lying in wait, hidden from them by the point of land. The more he thought of it the more certain he became that this had occurred. At last, fearing he would be too late to overtake the retreating gal- leon, he crowded on sail and went dash- ing southward. But as his ship weathered the supposed cape he stared astounded, almost unable to believe his eyes. The other ship had vanished completely. To the pious and superstitious Frenchman it savored of a miracle or the supernatural. But, being a practical chap, he sent men aloft, and presently a shout from one lookout drew all eyes astern. Above the guano-coated rocks of the islet loomed the topsails of the galleon, appearing as though she were sailing over dry land. Here was a pretty how-do-you-do. While the Frenchman had been looking for the Dons they had slipped by, and now were a dozen miles farther on their course and that much nearer safety. De Lussan saw the channel, but he dared not risk his ship in waters he knew noth- ing about. BUT he was not one to give up without a struggle. There was one other chance remaining. He might be able to cripple her by shooting across the nar- row island, and then sail around, come alongside and have things all his own way. 8o, ordering his gunners to aim high and shoot away the galleon’s rig- ging, he fired a-broadside at the rapidly retreating ship. But the old-fashioned, smooth-bore guns were far from accu- rate. The round shot, instead of slash- ing through sails and rigging, crashed into the galleon’s hull and riddled her between wind and water. Ignorant of what damage he had done, De Lussan squared away and bore around the island again. Then he rubbed his eyes in bewilderment. No drifting, crip- pled ship awaited him! Once more the Todos Santos had vanished! But this time there was nothing mysterious about her disappearance; her masts, with rent sails and yards askew, rising like crosses from the water, told plainly of her tragic fate. Instantly Raveneau became trans- formed from a buccaneer to a lifesaver. Scores of men were struggling in the water, others clung to masts, spars and rigging and floating wreckage. When the pirates’ boats had saved the last man, Sieur Raveneau fell to his knees and thanked God there had been no greater loss of life and requested the Spanish chaplain, who had been saved, to offer prayers for the repose of the souls of those who had died—for Sieur Raveneau de Lussan was, as I have said, a religious, pious and gentlemanly pirate. Inwardly, however, he must have felt anything but prayerful when he learned that the Todos Santos had been laden with 200 tons of silver bars, besides quan- tities of gold ingots—all of which still lie at the bottom of the passage that be- came her grave. Another Spanish ship with an even greater treasure lies not far from the ill- fated Todos Santos. During one of the temporary lulls in hostilities between England and Spain this treasure ship went down near Guayaquil, Ecuador. At that time matters were topsy-turvy in England and King Charles was strug- gling to regain the throne. So the Span- iards, perhaps fearing the spread of the Commonwealth and of Protestanism as much as we today fear the spread of Sovietism, decided to forget old scores and lend a helping hand to England’s royalty. Money talked as loudly in those days as at the present. So Peru, which was Spain’s richest colonial possession, was ordered to make King Charles the princely present of some $13,000,000 to help his cause along. History fails to mention the name of the ship selected to carry this vast ireas- ure from Lima to Panama. But she never reached the isthmus. She struck on the rocks off the Ecuador coast, and went to the bottom. HE wreck with its 13 millions is still there. It is neither far from shore nor in deep water, for after every heavy sea or storm pieces of eight and gold pesos and doubloons are washed up on the beach, where, first and last, several hundred have been picked up. But what are a few hundred, compared to the millions remaining, ready to be had for "the taking? And if one does not care to turn sal- vager, or hasn’t the capital that is needed to charter a vessel, purchase equipment and employ divers, there is Plate Island, only a few miles from the sunken galleon of Chanduy. Here, in the snug little harbor of the island, 8ir Francis Drake anchored his ship after having sacked the Spanish towns and Spanish ships along the South American coast, his raid culminating in the taking of the treasure ship Caca- fuego. Finding his Golden Hind was so overladen with precious metal that she could not put to sea with safety, Sir Francis tossed overboard more than 45 tons of silver coins and silver plate. From time to time sailors whose ships have anchored in the harbor have passed the time fishing for Drake’s jettisoned treasure by means of tallowed sounding- leads. Altogether, a couple of thousand pieces of eight have been recovered. But the greater part of the 45 tons of silver still lies there, in about 10 fathoms of water, on a hard bottom, awaiting any one who wants it badly enough to go and get it. To be sure, 45 tons of silver is not a great fortune at the present market value of silver bullion. But even $350,000 is not be sneezed at, and Drake's silver would be worth far more than its value as bullion. But perhaps the best of all is much nearer home—between the Bahamas and Santo Domingo, where, on the Silver Shoals, 16 treasure-laden galleons went down. Moreover, there is no guesswork about these sunken millions. There they lie, and that they can be salvaged is proved by the fact that one of the wrecks was salvaged—to the value of some $2,000,000 worth of gold, silver and precious stones. This was accomplished in 1686, when Capt. William Phipps, who had formed a salvaging syndicate with the King of England as a partner, recovered the $2,000,000, and in return for having done so well and nobly for himself and the crown he was knighted and made Gov- ernor of Massachusetts. Considerin.g that Phipps depended en- tirely upon native Indian and Negro divers, who could remain but a few min- utes under water, and he possessed no salvaging equipment, he certainly did amazingly well. And just as certainly he salvaged only a portion of the treasure in the sunken galleon. In fact, he missed fully as much as he recovered, if the records of the vessel’s cargo are at all accurate. At any rate, a sizable fortune is still resting on the bottom where Phipps did his treasure fishing, and with modern methods and equipment it should be fairly easy to get it. Moreover, it must be remembered that 16 treasure-laden galleons went down on the Silver Shoals, and that Phipps found and salvaged only one of these. So there must be 15 left. EVEN close to our own shores there are plenty of sunken treasure ships to keep salvagers busy for years to come. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Ward liner Merida, which was sunk in a collision off the Virginia Capes. The Merida is popularly credited with having carried a fortune in gold, as well as the crown jewels of Maximilian. But it is questionable if she will pay expenses when, if ever, she is salvaged, for, ac- cording to the records of the Ward Line (to which I had access when a few years - ago I wrote the detailed history of that company) the Merida actually carried less than half a million, including val- uables and the jewelry of passengers. Finally, for those treasure hunters who do not care to go far afield, there is a sunken treasure ship actually within the limits of New York City. Yes, strange as it may seem, she lies in shoal water in prosaic East River close to Randall’s Island, and within 100 yards of the shore. For the story of this local treasure wreck we must hark back to the days of the Revolution, when the Hussar, a Brit- ish frigate, left New York for Newport, carrying gold with which to pay off the British army and navy engaged in fight- ing the Continental forces under Gen. Washington. But the Hussar never went far. For while passing up East River and threading the dangerous water of Hell Gate she struck a rock near Randall’s Isiand and went down. As far as is known, no one ever has recovered a single penny of her precious cargo, yet up to 1850 her masts—or rather, their stumps—were buoyed as menaces to navigation. To be sure, various attempts have been made to salvage the Hussar. The first was in 1818; but the equipment employed consisted of oyster-tongs, iron grapples and a crude sort of diving bell. Only guns, an anchor, a bell and other fittings were secured. ‘ Just how much treasure is contained in the wreck of the Hussar is rather un- certain. Rumor and tradition place it anywhere from $2,000,000 to $4,000,000; but a document in the British Admiralty Office, which gives a detailed account of the frigate’s loss, states that she carried but £20,000. On the other hand, one his- torian records the following: “Reaching New York from England on September 13, 1780, came the frigate Hussar with a cargo of a large sum of money in copper, silver and gold coin. The British forces had not been paid for a long time and this money was to still their complaints. Another British vessel, the Mercury, had also left Eng- land with £380,000, and the conclusion is that this was transferred to the Hussar.” But even if the unfortunate frigate carried but £20,000, and a part of that in copper coins, it is a tempting bait with no danger of hurricanes to interrupt operations, no sharks or giant catfish to attack the divers. And withal so con- veniently situated that the salvagers may sleep in their own homes, dine in the metropolitan restaurants and cafeterias, patronize their favorite speakeasies, spend their evenings on Broadway and devote their remaining hours to lifting money from a sunken British frigate. Reindeer Hunt Esxmo boys often set deer or reindeer antlers in the snow beside the coasting track and shoot at them as they coast by. Bows and arrows are used for the hunting, and as long as the arrow hits the snow within 6 inches of the target it is called a hit. Using the bow in Winter time is cold work, especially for the hands, but you can enliven the coasting track in much the same way by setting a barrel partly submerged in the snow about 10 feet from the coasting track, and tossing frozen apples or stones into it. This will make a dandy contest and no little skill is required to score a bull's-eye consistently. When the barrel is placed, it should slope uphill somewhat, so that it will not be too difficult to make a hit. so that the greatest number of properly credited to the winning side. also combat one boy to a side or each have 10 missiles and each compete other.