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Show Sarclmig for Sunken Treasure By 0. E. BRAND. "NOWADAYS, before you go treas-ure-huntlng and searching the bed of thc ocean for sunken ships filled with Spanish doubloons and bars of gold, you have to obtain tha permission of the country off whose coast the wrecks Ho, or clsa come to some arrangement with rJioso who have a real claim in tho wreck. Tho old public records of wrecks have to- be carefully searched out, and tho papers relating to the cargoes must bo found and permied, to see if there happens to be enough gold or silver aboard to pay for the trouble of salving. Then you havo to locate lo-cate the wrecks, which is a most difficult task, requiring the utmost perseverance and expert experience. The hardness of this task may bo gauged from the fact that some of the wrecks have been discovered burled In twenty or thirty feet of sand, which has been washed over them by the cross-currcntH and tides. Sometimes many thousands of dollars have been spent in locating wrecks before an attempt, has been mado to get at the trcasur. Vet thc search for sunken treasure goes merrily forward- One firm alone has licenses from the English government gov-ernment of Cape Colony to jalve thj contents of thirty-two wreck?, all known to contain treasure; and tho government stipulates to receive an Its fee 15 pur cent of tho wealth recovered. re-covered. One of the finest prizes at the bottom bot-tom of tho sea 13 tne British warship Lutine. which nank off the coast of Tolland In 1799, with gold and silver Ingots and coin estimated to be worth over ?5, 000,000. During the past cen-lurv cen-lurv many attempts havo been mado to retrieve this.- but only about ?500,-000 ?500,-000 has lev. cot out of her. Now atl the latest -?iachinerj of modern submarine sub-marine engineering science has been concentrated by the National Salvage company, which Is making an effort to wrest this huge fortune from tho locker of Davy Jones. Although the L.11 tine's position has been fnlrlv well known for a hundred years, the obliteration of a landmark during a p.il made It very difficult for tne present palvors to find her. Divers went down and searched on the spot where sho was supposed to be. but she was not there. Captain Bachelor, the louder of these modern troasurn-huntern. thereupon decided upon a novel plan of ascertaining her whereabouts. Among the appliances of the expedition ex-pedition are powerful sand-pumps, one of which Is capable of removing 2000 tons of sand an hour. With this huge pump he started to suck up the sea bed at a terrific rate, thus making a deep trench. His Idea was to cut a trench right across the area in which the wreck ought to Do. After some- hours' work, entailing tho removal re-moval of thousands of tons or sand, the L,utlno was rediscovered, burled thirty foot deep in a sandbank. Thus the first difficulty was overcome. over-come. But there were many mora to race, tho chief bolng the strong tides which wore continually altering thc shape of the sandbajiks, and the rough seas which always seem to rule In that spot. Whenever it was practicable, thn dredging went on. and all tho sand that was sucked up was poured through an arrangement something like a birdcage, which projected over the stern of the salvage steamer. This contrivances is really a giant sieve, and so small Is tho mesh that not even half a sovereign can be passed through. The salvors were literally sitting the bed of the sea. and in the -sifting several coins and other things came to light. Meanwhile, the sand was being dumped back Jnto tho sea in such a position that it quite altered tho set of thc current, which was deflected right across the wreck, thus helping to keep it clear of sand. But it was terribly trying work, and needed to be kept up continuously, whereas tho rough seas would by no means allow this. Notwithstanding these drawback!!, tho sand was at length cleared away from inside the wreck and the divers wero able to investigate tho interior. They found that the vessel's magazine maga-zine had collapsed, burying the gold and silver bars under five or six feet of cannon balls. The action of the sea had rusted and welded all these together into a solid mass. t seemed as though Davy Jones had deliberately deliberate-ly fashioned an almost unplokabl lock to secure the booty he had held for so many years. Under the circumstances there to only one thing to be done. Dynamite was brought into play, and by Its aid two layers of the rusted Iron were blaHted away. And then, when the treasure was so tanlallslngly near and yet so far, the Hea assorted lt-Helf lt-Helf and stopped operations. How very near they wore may bo deduced from tho fact that one day a piece of rust was brought up containing an indentation the exnet shape of a gold bar. Upon treating this rust with acids it produced five grains of gold. Soundlnss taken from time to lime during tho winter prove that four or live feet of sand has sifted over the wreck, but it Is thought that as soon as tho salvage steamer loaves for winter quarters In Amsterdam, and Is able to resume operation!, a month or six weeks will enable them to remove thin and get the treasure. . |