TO SEEK SUNKEN TREASURE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 887, 3 September 1910, Page 3

TO SEEK SUNKEN TREASURE.

ENGLISH EXPEDITION EXPECTS ,£5.000,000.

THIRTY-TWO HULKS TO BE SEARCHED.

A number of adventurous Englishmen, organised under the name of the National Salvage Association, are preparing for one of the greatest treasure hunts in modern history. It is not to be a search for lost Spanish galleons, but an exploration of 32 known wrecks in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope, containing specie and other valuables. Sixteen of these wrecks, according to a report by Captain Charles A, P. Gardiner, have already been located and surveyed. All the richly-laden transports and East Indiaumen came home to England by way of the Cape before the opening of the Suez Canal. Hundreds of these vessels were wrecked on the stormy coasts of South Africa. In Cape Colony alone there are public records of more than 7000 wrecks, and the total cargo lost is calculated to figure up in excess of 100,000,000 dol. One hundred and thirtyseven of the wrecks have been investigated, so it Is said, and Gardiner and his associates have got licenses from the Cape Government granting authority to recover the contents of 32 of the hulls. The records and charts, it' is claimed, are now in Loudon. One of these hulks, when it went down, contained, by the official record, 720 bars of gold, 1400 bars ®f silver, 9 boxes of precious stones from India, including rubies, pearls, and onyxes. The total value of the cargo is estimated at £1, 000,000The wreck, according to the chart, lies in 4 fathoms of water, and the hull is practically intact. Another of the wrecks so the “Agonauts” are told, contains ,£250,000 in gold, silver, and gems; a third cargo, in 12 fathoms, is worth ,£700,000, mostly in specie; and a fourth wreck, sunk m five fathoms of shark-infested waters is supposed to hold ,£300,000 in coins and bars. Two of the wrecks are in sand, and others in kelp. The adventurous band proposes to pump out the hulks and raise them, and they have to do the work in less than a year.