SUNKEN WEALTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2533, 21 June 1909, Page 6

SUNKEN WEALTH.

SEARCH FOR THE SPANISH ; ; GALLEON TREASURE. IV: / ' Vigo Bay, with its sunken Spanish galleons loaded with treasure, has onco more attracted the attention of tho adventurous, and a company has been formed, under the title of the Sea Salvage Company, Ltd., which has obtained from the Spanish Government a concession to work in tho bay, treasure hunting, till 1915, tho company surrendering twenty per cent of all value recovered. The treasure has lain at the bottom ■of the sea since 1702. Spain was then in tho heyday of her power, and from her West Indian possessions used to draw gold and silver to the value of £9,000,000 a year. A fleet of galleons, guarded by men-of-war, arrived at Vigo in 1702 bearing tho accumulated treasure of three years—so mo £28,000,0008 —only to be attacked by the combined English and Dutch fleets under Sir George Rooke. Tho Spaniards, to save the treasure stalling into the hands of the victorious allies, sank the galleons. What gold was rescued before tho battle, what was captured by the victors, and what since has been recovered by the many salvage enterprises that have been attracted to the bay amounts in all to about £3,000,000. Beneath tho blue waves of tho bay—the most beautiful bay in the world—there remains a treasure in gold and silver estimated, to be precise, at £24,651,323. In addition to tho gold and silver on board the galloons, the wonderful carved wood of these fine old ships and their general cargo of precious jewels pearls, amethysts, emeralds —and the rare woods brought from the South American forests, form a treasure which alone would repay years of work spent on its recovery. The general cargo, indeed, is estimated to be almost as valuable as the bullion. The leading spirit of the enterprise is an Italian gentleman —Dr Carlo L. Iberti—and the hopes of finding the treasure rest on the inventions of another Italian, Cavaliero Giuseppe Pino. A WONDERFUL INVENTION.

The principal invention, perhaps, is the liydroscope, or a telescope for use hinder water. The hydroscope is a steel [platform, bayed on a cork base, on [which twenty men can stand. From its [centre a telescopic hollow column of [steel descends into tho sea, with a diafmeter large enough to permit a man [to descend it, by means of some rungs. I At the end is an optical chamber, provided with mechanical arms, which [will pick up any object desired, and |a system of wonderful lenses and reflectors allows objects within a distance of about 2000 square yards to he [seen from above. In the chamber are [powerful electric lamps, which illumilinate the water during the night or at 'great depths when it is required. The [camera has been adapted to the lenses ho that beautiful photographs can be [taken of objects seen. From the bottom of the hydroscope the directors have viced the galleons lying where they sank over 200 years ago. j With the hydroscope is a submarine bf such cunning invention, according to tho design and the prospectus, that it ’is a free agent, and can swim in the waters beneath or travel the sea-floor like a motor-car. A specimen of this .boat was sold for £38,000 to the Japanese Government to locate the Russian wrecks sunk at Port Arthur, it is driven electrically by propellers, and is furnished with mechanical arms for attaching tackle to objects under water I It opens up a new diabolic vista of Nava] warfare, for it can be fitted with torpedo tubes; and, should something ho wrong with the works, its ot Three can get into a cylindrical section bf it, rblease it, and bob up to the surface like a buoy. f For actually raising tho sunken ships there are the elevators, consisting of cylinders made of rubber canvas,, into Which compressed air is pumped, each cylinder capablo of raising forty tons tut of water; there are mechanical irms to embrace the hull which is to ae salved, or to pass cables beneath a 'keel when the wreck is weak ; and pyroWtoons, capable of bearing practically any weight. Once raised by a pyroaontoon, a ship may be considered as m fry dock, and repairing operatmgs may jo carried out on the spot.