SEARCH FOR GOLD

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 105, 28 January 1935, Page 8

SEARCH FOR GOLD

Worsley Expedition Leaves Again For Cocos

WELL EQUIPPED AND CONFIDENT

Undaunted by previous misfortunes, when on their first expedition they were arrested and lulled before a Costa Rican magistrate for usurpation of that country’s sovereignty in. Cocos Island, members of Treasury Recovery Limited, under tlie leadership of Commander F. S. Worsley, are once again outward bound from London. On January 21 they sailed for that modern treasure island aboard a powerful motor yacht, taking with them the most modern equipment and gold divining apparatus. It was stated that, after the expedition had established itself on the island, communication with the mainland of Central America would be maintained by seaplane, arrangements for the refuelling of which, and of the yacht, had been concluded with a leading oil company. Any repetition of the October contretemps had been guarded against by obtaining from the Costa Rican Government an exclusive permit to -search for treasure on Cocos for a period of two years. When last the company visited the island, Commander Worsley hoisted the Union Jack over the palm trees and claimed the island for Great Britain. He said afterward that he wasunaware Costa Rica had established any title to the island. The Republic, however, has long regarded Cocos as a potential source of income, and President Iglesias in particular carried on a brisk trade in treasure hunting concessions sold 'at a high figure to prospective seekers. As a sideline, the manufacture and sale of spurious charts, indicating the whereabouts of the hoard, has grown into quite an indn-lry. Imprisonment and Fine.

A detachment of troops and police to the number of 100, descended upon the adventurers last October, and the sequel was that a Republican court imposed on them a sentence, afterward suspended, of two years’ imprisonment and a six thousand dollar fine, on charges of illegal entry and usurpation of sovereignty. Officials at San Jose said that tlie Government objected to tlie company’s' prospectus, which was reported to have declared Costa Rica’s pretentions to the island to be at variance with boundary s“Miration decisions.

At the same time the party’s yacht, Queen of Scots, was held at Cristobal by canal zone immigration authorities, who demanded a bond to cover the repatriation of the treasure hunters. Eventually the expedition was permitted to return to England, whence it has now set out again under more favourable conditions.

The Costa Ricans, together with most of those who have studied the origins of the various treasures reputed to be hidden on Cocos, and the history of the searches which have been carried out almost continuously for half' a century, have very little doubt of its existence. Official literature issued by the Historical Department of the British Foreign Office contains the statement that “the existence of treasure concealed on the island is well established—a vast treasure obtained by rifling certain churches in Peru. It comprises gold bars and specie worth 11 million dollars, and about 12 million pounds in gold coin, jewels, and silver ingots. The main stores of treasure are still hidden there. ...”

In addition to pirate gold which was landed on the island some two centuries ago by the mutineers of the schooner Mary Dear, the island is supposed to be the hiding place of Inca treasure, and in the past ancient gold plate has been found there. There is also a story that toward the end of last century two castaways brought away a gold cross and a gold urn studded with emeralds, which they sold for £lO,OOO. The search for this vast wealth has been carried on almost incessantly for a great many years. Sir Malcolm Campbell, Admiral Palliser, Alain Gerbault, the single-handed yachtsman, and Captain A. M. Stanton, master of the former Melanesian mission schooner, Southern Cross, are among those who have sought but failed to find. Perhaps the only person other than Costa Ricini officials to have delinitely profited by tlie treasure was that Dutchman who for some time made his home on Cocos, at the north end of the island, and there farmed hogs which he sold at. a tidy profit, to visiting expeditions. Explorers' Difficulties. The island lies about 550 miles west and south from Panama. ' It is a high island, with a rocky coast and only indifferent anchorages. The lofty interior which runs up to two or three thousand feet is blanketed with tropical forest. The main difficulty encountered by explorers has usually been to provide themselves with subsistence and to maintain communication with the ships which they made their headquarters. Butt from Gerbault’s. and other descriptions of tlie place, tlie island is very fertile, and a party of hardy folk accustomed to life on tropical islands could, if moderately well equipped, support itself almost indefinitely on Cocos. The search for the treasure is rendered more difficult by (he impossibility of progressing freely without cutting a path through the dense jungle, the hazardous nature of the coast where casual landings are dangerous on account of the almost constant surf and the torrential rain which prevails for about half the year. The Liman gold from the Mary Dear is said to have been concealed in a creek month, but watercourses are numerous and landslides have changed the contour of the const since the burial of the hoard. It seems probable that if the treasure is to be obtained at all by Commander Worsley’s or any other expedition it will have to bo by means of gold divination combined with good luck.