WOMEN TAKE PART IN ARMADA TREASURE HUNT

Shannon News, 18 January 1929, Page 3

WOMEN TAKE PART IN ARMADA TREASURE HUNT

Another treasure hunt,‘in - whieli two women have an interest, is about to begin. With new and improved appli anees a fresh attack is to be made on the Spanish treasure galleon, the Alinirante de Florencia, which lies in sixty feet of water in Tobermory Bay, Scotland.

One of the women is Lady Edith Fox-Pitt, daughter of the eighth Marquess' of Quecnsbcrry, and the other is Mrs. Lcask of Dymchurch, Kent, who before her marriage was a diver and... has actually walked on the deck of this sunken treasure ship. These two women are co-operating financially with a private syndicate headed by Colonel K. M. Foss, of London, in this endeavour to recover from the deep some, if not all, of the £2,000,000 to £o,000;000 worth of jewels, plate and ducats with which the chests of this Spanish vessel are said to bulge. The Almirante de Florencia, supposed to be riie pay ship of the ill-fated Spanish Armada, has lain in the clay at the bottom of Tobermory Bay since 1588. The story goes that during the disastrous flight of the Armada from Drake and the British fleet the galleonput into the bay for provisions. Tiro commander, however, not only refused to pay for them but actually took captive a Highlander as a hostage. This Highlander is said to have had his revenge by blowing up the vessel tis it, sailed away. This story is based apparently on the report that divers who succeeded in ■ reaching the wreck as long ago as 1(161 found part of the deck blown away. The truth, however, is more likely to be that the Almirante de florencia shared the same fate as ...ony other vessels of the Armada. In Ju- ...wrapt to escape by going round the coast of Scotland and down iwrough the Irish Sea, the Armada was attacked by a succession of violent gales and tne .shores of Scotland and Ireland were strewn with wrecks. Of jro 129 large vessels that left Spain, only 5-1 leached home again.

The Al.niranio de Florencia has neon the objective of adventurous tr< iiuro hunters for centuries; but theresults have not proved valuable enough to pay them for their efforts. The' hunters of 1(561 thought themselves near success. The vessel was not so deeply imbedded in the clay as it is now, and they reached the poop under which the treasure was supposed to lie. Unfortunately for them, their operations did not meet with the approval of the local clan, and they were driven away. Since then divers have brought to the surface a number of objects, including a piece of silver and gold plate, a Venetian bowl, some Spanish coins, daggers and swo'rdbelts, and stone cannon balls.

In this latest attempt divers arc using a three-ton diving bell fitted with plate-glass windows afld powerful electric lights. Lady Edith Fox-Pitt is very hopeful that with this and other modern appliances to be employed the expedition will meet with success. She even thinks it possible that the whole galleon may be raised.

“How w.onderful that wouM be!” she said in an interview. “Imagine gazing at a ship of the Great Armada, brought up from the bottom of the sea! Imagine handling the Armada treasures!

“Legend ‘says that the galleon holds a crown and sceptre Messed by tiro Pope, which she carried from Spain for the coronation of a Spanish King in England. ”

She added that the work was in expert hands, the head diver being a man who has been at work at Scapa Flow helping to raise the sunken- Geiman battleships. Mrs. Lcask Lad a narrow escape from death when, as a diver, she descended to the wreck. She found a leak in her diving suit, and when, in ’.espouse to her signals, she was brought to the surface, her suit was nearly full of water.