Show Again Is Revived the Romantic Story of the Treasure Expedition Led by Famous Famous Adventurer Capt John D. D Craig Crag Has Found Relics of Spanish Galleons Whose Cargoes of Gold Silver SHyer and Jewels Have Rested on Ocean Floor Since They Were Wrecked od Shoals Reef Away Back Bac in 1642 C O Western Union By Dy ELMO lO SCOTT WATSON T AST summer the two- two ET masted schooner Isabel Isabel Isabel Isa bel sailed out of the port of Puerto Plata on the island of Santo Domingo and headed north On board were the members of Capt John D. D Craigs Craig's Sea Deep-Sea Diving Expedition in the Caribbean sponsored by Waldo H H. Logan member of the Adventurers Club of Chicago and alumnus of Beloit college in Wisconsin The purpose of the expedition was to take underwater pictures pictures pic plc- tures of marine life for the Beloit department of biology and the man selected for the job was Capt John D. D Craig of Hollywoods Hollywood's top top- producer adventure movies the man who is to make the movies of the salvaging of the Lusitania Lusitania Lusitania Lusita nia and the author of Danger Danger Danger Dan ger Is My Business Aerial surveys made in an airplane furnished by the president of the Republic of Santo Domingo had located their objective for this trip It was Silver Shoals reef a coral island 65 miles from Puerto Plata The schooner dropped its anchor near the reef Over the side went Captain Craig in the Craig- Craig Nohl diving dress in which he has made record sea deep-sea dives Down through 65 feet of the crystal-clear crystal water he dropped until at last he stood on the floor of the ocean All All around him were the fantastically-beautiful fantastically coral formations of which he would soon be taking movies in color color color col col- or the first of their kind ever made As he walked about on the floor of the sea he saw ahead of him a dark object For a n moment he thought it was a coral tree Then as ashe ashe ashe he came nearer its outlines emerged clearly in the soft light Standing upright on the floor of the ocean it was thickly encrusted with coral but not so much as to prevent his realizing what it was was was-an an ancient cannon He stretched out ut his hand hanc to touch it and reached across three centuries In that moment moment moment mo mo- ment he was one with the T r- r r's s 's w. N f A WW J NO q ft f 4 t y I tf I 1 f 1 t 0 i 1 r- r s' s 1 t w L I l' l L I 4 t S b 4 I rr m L' L k ke e C Ct t S I Rene Eerie and Captain bringing up tip part of the he anc anchor or chain of a Spanish galleon found at Silver Shoals past and there flashed through his mind the story of one of the most thrilling quests for buried treasure in all history the history the story of the Treasure Away back in 1642 a fleet of 16 Spanish galleons laden with treasure treas treas- ure gold ure-gold gold silver and jewels jewels- from the Spanish colonies in the two Americas set sail for home Accounts vary as to the value of their cargoes Estimates range from to The slow-sailing slow galleons were convoyed by swift frigates for danger lurked along the sea lanes If they sailed due east through the Caribbean sea they might e easily become the prey of the fierce buccaneers and pirates who swarmed the Spanish Main If U they sailed north of the West Indies In dies and Sand then struck out across the Atlantic there was always the chance that English privateers privateers- men of the Drake and Hawkins stripe would swoop down upon I f fc I t i. i ti i 1 i I t 4 A. A I Capt John D. D Craig holding a skull and crouching over an ancient I Spanish cannon found among the coral beds at SUver Silver Shoals such a rich prize Evidently this fleet considered the latter alternative alternative alternative tive the lesser danger for it proceeded proceeded proceeded pro pro- through Mona passage between between be be- tween the islands of Haiti and Puerto Rico and headed head head- ed north for the open waters of the Atlantic And then the hurricane struck Before the galleons had a chance to turn tail and arid head for the safety safety safe safe- ty of the harbor at Puerto Plata they were being driven north at a terrific speed by the howling wind I Only One Ship Escapes For the galleons were driven on Silver Shoals reef which tore their wooden bottoms out as though they were paper One frigate alone escaped and when it went back to Puerto Plata it found there a few survivors of the disaster disaster disaster ter who had managed to make their way back to that port on a raft During the next three decades reports of the great wealth that lay somewhere beneath the waters waters waters wa wa- wa- wa surrounding Silver Shoals began began began be be- gan to spread through Europe Several British expeditions set out outto outto outto to try to the treasure but they ended in failure Then a seafaring man from Maine named William while on a voyage to the West Indies In dies learned from an old Spaniard Span Span- lard what purported to be the exact exact ex ex- act location of the sunken gal gal- leons went to England and succeeded in interesting the duke of Albemarle in his plan for sal sal- the Treas Treas- ure In 1686 1636 set out with the royal blessing of James II on his quest for fortune For several weeks it seemed to tobe tobe tobe be a futile quest The men then who went down in the crude diving bells of that period could find no trace of the sunken galleons Then one day two men of crew Francis Rogers and William WilHam Co Co- Co- Co veil while scouting in a rowboat near Silver Shoals happened to see seea a beautiful sea feather under the water Believing that their commander commander com corn mander would like to have this interesting Interesting in in- in bit of marine life lire they sent down a diver and he came cam back with his eyes almost bulging from his head lIe He had been on the deck of one of the sunken gal gal- Icons here leons-here here were some pieces o of eight to prove iti crew made no attempt to get into the holds of the ga leons They were were satisfied with what wha they found on the decks And that tha was a treasure indeed I Historians disagree as to the value of the treasure which recovered One places it at nt pounds sterling approximately approximate approximate- ly y in gold and silver exclusive of the value of the jewels jew jew- els ls also found Another gives the total otal amount as pounds sterling terling while still another's another's anthers anther's an an- others other's estimate makes it Some of King James James' greedy councillors advised him to seize the he whole cargo for himself But Buthe Buthe he IB refused and was content with he the tenth one-tenth allowed him by the thel l aw w. w That meant between and pounds sterling or something over The lions lion's share of the treasure went to the duke of Albemarle who received more than pounds The widest divergence among historians is in regard to the amount himself received One account says that it was 1600 pounds sterling while another places it as high as pounds But more important than the money he received was the fact that his success had won for him the royal favor and the immediate result was that the king made him hima a a knight and later governor of Massachusetts Expeditions Fail Fall During the years that followed many expeditions visited the vicinity vicinity vi vi- of Silver SlIver Shoals to try to recover more of the Treasure but none of them was wasas wasas wasas as successful as had been In most cases the treasure hunt ers spent more money on their expeditions ex cx- than they realized from the gold and silver which they managed to recover Because of these repeated failures failures failures fail fail- ures interest in the Treasure seems to have lagged until the middle of the Nineteenth century when a man named who perfected the first successful diving apparatus visited visited visited visit visit- ed Silver Shoals lie He found the wrecks of the Spanish galleons but he seems to have been more Interested in tc coral trees he found there than in the Spanish gold gold nt at least his writings are devoted devoted devoted de de- de- de voted almost exclusively to the coral formations I Interest in this famous story of buried treasure has been revived by the discoveries of the Craig expedition which included in addition addition addition ad ad- to the cannon which Cap Cap- tam tain Craig found standing upright another one lying on the floor of the sea as shown in the picture above and a part of the anchor chain of one of the galleons also pictured in this article Incidentally Incidentally Incidentally tally the flag of the Adventurers club which has flown over both the North and South poles with Admiral Byrd as well as being carried into many remote places all over the globe was taken down under the sea for the first time by Captain Craig who draped it over the old Spanish cannon and took a picture of it there I New Discoveries Possible By the time this article appears in print Captain Craig will be leading another expedition to Silver Silver Sil Sil- Sil ver Shoals to take more pictures of the coral growths and other undersea undersea un life there Will he make other discoveries that reveal more details of the thrilling history of the Treasure Will ultra-modern ultra diving equipment and methods of blasting loose the coral growth of centuries bring to light more pieces of eight and other kinds of treasure which went down with the galleons during dur duro ing the fierce storm that raged there away back in 1642 The answer to those questions is most appropriately given in the hl historic Spanish phrase Quien sabe Who knows A question that comes to mind at any mention of the ola ala Treasure is naturally Why haven't morn efforts been made to recover that great wealth One very good reason is that noone no noone noone one 1 knows the exact location of all the wrecked galleons Remember they were being driven at a terrific rate of speed by the hurricane when they struck Silver Shoals and the other coral islets that dot the water around it Some of them may have been carried a considerable distance before they sank to lo the bottom It would require considerable underwater exploring before the location of all the galleons could be determined if indeed that is possible after years For the timbers of most of the ships have long since rotted away and disappeared and the treasure which they bore is probably now so heavIly heavily heavily ily encrusted with coral as to tomake tomake tomake make it almost inaccessible U If UIt Uit it could be located there is no telling how difficult or expensive it would be to blast it loose Treacherous Currents Another difficulty is the danger involved in carrying on such op ope Treacherous currents sweep through the coral forests which grow on the tho floor of the ocean there A diver who goes down is in constant danger of ot being being be be- ing carried into the intricate mazes of these forests and if ii that happens the chances of his ever returning are very slight aUght indeed He lie Is in danger too of injury from the razor-edged razor coral formations formations for for- which can easily slice through any kind of diving suit except the ones of of metal and which can cut through airlines as though they were cotton cotton cot ot oti i ton threads And if the diver goes down with only a helmet on and touches one of these sharp projections projections projections with his hand foot or any part of his unprotected body it means that his blood will be dyeing dyeing dye dye- ing the water And blood in the tho water means sharks means sharks I Yes indeed there are sharks down there therel That's why Captain Craig and his divers carry with them compressed air nir guns with which to shoot steel darts to discourage discourage discourage dis dis- dis- dis courage any inquisitive shark that comes nosing around So you see it wouldn't be such an easy job to try to recover any 4 ft yi tr I ir- ir Captain Craig has bas Just fired a adart adart adart dart from Ii his compressed air gun gunto gunto gunto to frighten away an Inquisitive shark part of the Treasure that happens to remain down there around Silver Shoals Its It's difficult enough enough and and dangerous enough too too taking taking the underwater ter moving pictures which is tho the reason for these Craig The danger part of it however seems to worry Capt John Craig less than the other For ai al the title of his book indicates Danger Danger Dan nan ger Is His Business He has hall been at it for more than half of the 35 years of his life Born in Cincinnati Cin Cm- Ohio in 1903 the son of ofa a Scotch engineer who ran away from his home in Scotland at the age of 20 young Craig in inherited in in- some of his fathers father's recklessness recklessness recklessness reck reck- and wanderlust Started at 16 His IUs father died when he was 10 18 and he started to work to help his m mother ther support his four brothers Then by what seemed to be a miracle he was suddenly rich rich oil oil was discovered discovered ered on California lands owned by the Craigs and young oung Craig set out to see the world In India Craig began shooting tigers to oblige the natives and ended by shooting them as a part of his job A British picture company com corn pany had sent two men to get wild animal photographs both cameramen cameramen cam cam- had been put out of action action ac ac- ac tion by the tigers and Craig got their jobs Back in America Craig again did what many Americans would like to do he tried to get a job jobin jobin jobin in the movies not movIes not as an actor but as a cameraman In India he had discovered the original building plans of the Taj Mahal and he wanted to sell a scenario based on the story of that historic monument To earn money while I trying to sell the Taj Mahal story he began his undersea photography phy and phy-and and discovered on the bottom bot bot- tom torn of the ocean the job he wanted want ed to do Since that time Hollywood producers producers producers pro pro- have sent him all aU over the world to get their thrill shots for them and some of the greatest of these have been under the water |