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Show x SECRET OF COCOS I3LAND. I An English Admiral Who Believed In the Stcrlcj cf Burled Treasure. , Admiral II. St. I.,. R. Palllser died BUddenly at his country houso in Chichester, Chi-chester, Cnslahd, recently, tie served In tho Baltic and Black sea during the Crimean war, and In command of a squndron watched British Interests throughout tho Carllst war in 1871. He was tho commander In chief of the Pacific Pa-cific siuadrcn from 1896 to l"B99. It wad during his command In the Pacific that .Admiral Palllser came Into In-to possession of what he thought to be tho secret of tho buried treasures .of tho famous Cocos island and' on boaid hor majesty's ship Imperleuse made tho first of a long series of In-effectual In-effectual offorts to unearth the burled millions. Tho lato Admiral received the "secret" from Captain Hackett when tho latter was on his death-bed and was' so impressed by it that de-splto de-splto all failures ho remained a firm believer in tho existence of tho treasure. treas-ure. Tho story of tho Cocos Island treasures treas-ures Is ono of tho most romantic and tnrllllng character. One vst hoard of valuables Is supposed to have been .oposlted on tho Island, whlph lies 500 miles southwest of Panama, by a British Brit-ish ship which had turned pirate in 1821. The second' and more valuable treasuro was burled there by the crow of the barkentlno Mary Dier about? 1835. This hoa. 1 was supposed to be the bullion and Jewels of the Peruvian town of Callalo, which was threatened with revolution and pillage.N The national na-tional treasure was. put on board the British ship for safety, but the crew betrayed their trust and fled with the rich cargo. The value of tho two treasures is supposed to be many millions. mil-lions. At. least 6,000 worth of valuables were taken from the Island by a man called Keaton. This man died and bequeathed be-queathed the secret to Hackett. Since the later confided in Admiral Pallser some half dozen fruitless expeditions have been fitted out and have searched search-ed the soil of the island. One of the latest was led by Earl' Fitxwllllam, in 1905, but his party met with a disaster disas-ter in the shape of a. landslide during blasting operations, and seven of them were injured. t Several companies have been formed to equip expeditions, expedi-tions, but needless to say none of them has ever paid a dividend. |
