Millions of dollars worth of property has been recovered from the
ocean’s depths by divers. One of the greatest achievements in this line
was by the famous English diver Lambert, who recovered vast treasure
from the _Alfonso XII_, a Spanish mail steamer belonging to the Lopez
Line, which sank off Point Gando, Grand Canary, in 26½ fathoms of
water. The salvage party was dispatched by the underwriters in May,
1885, the vessel having £100,000 in specie on board. For nearly six
months the operations were persevered in, before the divers could reach
the treasure-room beneath the three decks. Two divers lost their lives
in the vain attempt, the pressure of water being fatal. Mr. Gorman
recovered £90,000 from the wreck, and got £4,500 for doing it.
One of the most difficult operations ever performed by a diver, was the
recovering of the treasure sunk in the steamship Malabar off Galle. On
this occasion the large iron plates, half an inch thick, had to be cut
away from the mail room, and then the diver had to work through nine
feet of sand. The whole of the specie on board this vessel--upward of
$1,500,000--was saved, as much as $80,000 having been got out in one
day.
It is an interesting fact that from time to time expeditions have been
fitted out, and companies formed, with the sole intention of searching
for buried treasure beneath the sea. Again and again have expeditions
left New York and San Francisco in the certainty of recovering tons of
bullion sunk off the Brazilian coast, or lying undisturbed in the mud
of the Rio de la Plata.
At the end of 1885, the large steamer Indus, belonging to the P. & O.
Co., sank off Trincomalee, having on board a very valuable East India
cargo, together with a large amount of specie. This was another case
of a fortune found in the sea, for a very large amount of treasure was
recovered.
Another wreck, from which a large sum of gold coin and bullion was
recovered by divers, was that of the French ship _L’Orient_. She
is stated to have had on board specie of the value of no less than
$3,000,000, besides other treasure.
A parallel case to _L’Orient_ is that of the _Lutine_, a warship of
thirty-two guns, wrecked off the coast of Holland. This vessel sailed
from the Yarmouth Roads, with an immense quantity of treasure for the
Texel. In the course of the day it came on to blow a heavy gale; the
vessel was lost and went to pieces. Salving operations by divers,
during eighteen months, resulted in the recovery of $400,000 in specie.
Another remarkable case of recovery of specie is recorded, when
sixty-two chests of dollars, amounting to the value of about $350,000,
were recovered from the _Abergavenny_, sunk some years previously at
Weymouth, England.
A very notable case--not only for the amount of treasure on board, but
also for the big “windfall” for the salvors--is that of the _Thetis_,
a British frigate, wrecked off the coast of Brazil, with $800,000
in bullion on board. The hull went to pieces, leaving the treasure
at the bottom in five or six fathoms of water. The admiral of the
Brazil station, and the captains and crews of four sloops-of-war, were
engaged for eighteen months with divers in recovering the treasure.
The service was attended with great skill, labor and danger, and four
divers’ lives were lost.
A remarkable case of money having been recovered deserves a passing
notice. It was that of the finding of 3,800 sovereigns under a pier at
Melbourne, part of 5,000 missing from the steamer _Iberia_.
[Illustration: TREASURE-CHEST FROM THE “ALFONSO XII,” WITH GOLD COIN
SET IN THE PANEL.