SUNKEN TREASURE.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 688, 29 November 1921, Page 5

SUNKEN TREASURE.

SEARCH FOR THE GROSVENOR. GOLD.

It is reported from Johannesburg that another attempt is to be made to recover (the vast treasure That wac carried in the East India Company’s ship Grosvenor, which foundered off the coast of Pondoland in 1782. It is estimated that the treasure on board the Grosvenor is now worth three times the amount it was when She sank. The valuables of the ship included a parcel of emeralds, and gold and silver ingots. The total' value of specie on board in 1782 was £1,714,710. The Grosvenor lies in 18 feet to 25 feet of water. The opinion of the expert who had charge of the operations which were carried out in 1907 for the recovery of the 'treasure, was that the vessel was intact from keel to hull. During the hunt for the sunken treasure, about a thousand gold, silver, and copper coins were recovered, some from the sand of the creek in which the ship is buried. Unfortunately the sea in the vicini|ty of the sunken ship _ remains calbi only for limited periods, and this fact made the work of searching difficult and costly. In the result, the operations had to be abandoned as hopeless. A second syndicate was formed, and another search made, this 'time with a Government dnedger, but, like the other attempt it was unsuccessful. It is stated that descendants of some of (the female passengers on the Grosvenor are still to be found in Pondo.liand, and that one of the male passengers, who survived the disaster, wrote a book, giving an account of. the ship and the fate that overtook her. As to |the new attempt that is being maid© Ito recover the ship’s terasure, one shareholder in the syndicate that financed the 1907 operations says he has full faith '.hathe ship and her terasure are there, and he adds that according to ,the report of diver Nelson, who went down on the earlier expedition, the Grosvenor is intact. It is proposed in this new effopt to wrest these sunken millions fromi the ocean to have a . (tunnel 90 feet from the shore to the ship, and in the opinion of the shareholder referred to, there is every eason to believe that the operations will be successful. In other quarters it is regarded as a gamble—but Johannesburg loves a gamble.