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mitingOut % 5,000.000. of GoldenTreasure
At Last Success Awaits the Searchers for the
Vast Golden Hoard of the Warship Lutine
Sunk Beneath the Zuyder Zee 113 Years
of Sand
from the Wreck of the Lutine, and the Electric
Magnet Used to Draw Up Maaaes of Iron and Gold.
London, October 15.
A N extraordinary situation has confronted the
treasure hunters engaged In searching the
wreck of the British frigate Lutine, lost In 1799
with over $6,000,000 of gold and sliver on board.
It has at last been found that the bulk of the treasure
Is hidden in the magazine of the old ship. There it Is
surrounded by metal, consisting largely of iron cannon
balls. These have been cemented together by rust »"d
sea-growths until an impenetrable armor has formed
around the treasure.
It was entirely beyond the power of divers to pene
trate this barrier. Finally recourse has been had to
dynamite. The divers are now dynamiting holes in the
metal barrier and a huge magnet is used to draw 5ut
the pieces of rusty iron lying around the holes. But
for the use of this explosive it would never have been
possible to reach the treasure.
This Is a case where treasure hunting is no merely
fantastic and romantic adventure. Many hundreds of
thousands of dollars In gold and silver have already
been recovered from the Lutine, but all that has been
found Is a mere trifle compared to the hoard that lies
concealed within the iron-bound magazine.
The Lutine, although a Government warship, wa3
carrying gold and silver bullion belonging to a company
of London merchants. The destination of the vessel
was Hamburg. There Is some mystery about the pur
pose for which the treasure was sent, but, as the
Napoleonic wars were then at their height, it Is sup
posed that it was part of the vast sums sent to the Con
tinent by Pitt to aid in fighting Napoleon. Presumably
the London merchants lent it to the British Govern
ment under a secret agreement.
The ship was driven far out of her course by a
sierra on the black night of October 9. 1799, and was
driven ashore on a shoal in the Zuyder Zee, off the
coast of Holland. She lay near the small island of
Terschelling. Only one sailor escaped from the wreck
and he died shortly after being picked up from a spar
to which ho had lashed himself. Lloyd’s, the famous
marine insurance company of London, had a right to
what could be recovered from the wreck, but owing to
the state of war prevailing in Europe, it was unable
to undertake serious salvage Operations at once.
3 Meantime the sands near the wreck held a golden
harvest for the Dutch fishermen of nearby islands. At
low tide the wreck of the Lutine was partly exposed,
with a channel running close by.
The amount of treasure recovered In these early
searches was as follows:
Fifty-eight bars of gold, weight, 646 pounds 8 ounces;
41,697 Spanish silver pistoles.
Thirty-five bars of silver, weight, 1,758 pounds 8
ounces. x •
One hundred and seventy-nine Spanish gold pistoles.
Eighty-one double d’or.
One hundred and thirty-eight single Louis d'or.
Four English guineas.
In the year 1801, for lack of apparatus, the search
grew unprofitable for the Dutchmen, and was aban
doned. Lloyd's was again obliged to postpone the quest
owing to general anxiety over Napoleon’s warlike
activity. Other international troubles—including Hol
land’s claim to half the Lutine salvage—interfered with
systematic search until 1858, when divers again located
the wreck and brought up the bell of the old frigate,
which now rests In the committee room at Lloyd’s with
other relics.
The Dutch fisherfolk were so excited over this re
newed locating of the treasure hulk that they swarmed
about In well-manned boats until they had to be driven
ofT by an English gunboat. The work of salvage went
on until 1861, with an additional total of $110,000 in bul
lion recovered.
Strangely enough, records showing the amount of
treasure consigned to the Lutine had disappeared, and
Lloyd’s was Indebted to the;’fnK p nuity of fhe Dutch
salvers for Information, virtually proving that $5,000,000
still remains to reward present op< rations off tho
•sland of Tersohelling. The Dutch investigator based
his estimate on the fact that the bars of silver and
gold already recovered were stamped with certain let
ters and numbers indicating a compile series, and
that the missing numbers and letters would show the
proportion of the treasure still resting at the bottom
of the sea.
Later 'ndlngs ha/e verified this estimate,
that there were In all one thousand gold and
bars In the Lutlne’s hold. 7 The latest estimate of the
total amount of treasure originally in the ship is
f >110\YB. _ .... ...
Salvage in the years 1800 to 1801 $278,850
Salvage in 1867 and 1858 196,016
Salvage in 1859 and 1861
24,000
Total salvage $499,465
Total treasure estimated to have been lost..$5,875,000
Treasure remaining in the wreck... 5,376,635
The sands gradually covered up the wreck and mode
it practically hopeless to recover more treasure at one
time. Then tho recent, progress of engineering science
once more gave a hope that the bulk of the treasure
might be found.
The National Salvage Association of London, with
the assistance of American .experts, took up tho work,
under an agreement by whioh Lloyd's wss to receive
15 per cent of the treasure recovered, the Dutch sal
vage company 15 per cent, and the new company 70
per cent.
One of the greatest difficulties the salvors had to
contend with was the fact a strong circular current ran
around the Lutine, constantly filling up with sand any
excavations the* had been made. To remedy this, a
deep channel was cut around the ship. Over 1,500,000
tons of sand were pumped away in this work, and the
depth of water over her has been Increased from four
teen to fifty feet. She now lies on a hard clay bottom
in clear water, and the divers can operate there ef
ficiently.
Many boxes containing coin have been
the most important discovery made Is that
of the treasure In tho form of gold and silver bars Is
rusted together with the ammunition.
A special treasure ship, called the Lyons, has been
built for this work. She Is fitted with an electric
magnet, capable of lifting three tons, with which to
draw up the fragments of metal produced by the
dynamite explosions. In many cases it is expected
bars of gold will oe found cemented jtd masses of iron.
Communication between the divers and the ship Is
kept up by telephone.
The captain in a letter has told how he hit upon the
discovery that revealed the real position of the treasure:
"Th« dredge was working on one eage of a mound
of sand which persisted ih holding Its position near
tho port bow of the wreck. The man In the cage sig
nalled that he had something, and between me and the
glare of his working lamp he held up a chunk of some
thing dark. I hastened aft upon getting the signal
and found had pumped up a piece ot. iron rust
weighing about ten pounds. Tho crust of oxide
formed about a rectangular #
bar of some sort. When
we scraped the surface of Hoisting Up an Old
the impress we uncovered Gun That Forms
bright specks, and these wo Part of the Metallic
proved to be particles of Barrier Protecting
gold by means of the acid (he Lutine’s Treas-
test.” ure.
of War'
a^VMM Vft
the Battlefield
and Convey
Them to
the Hospital
By Dr. Henri Meurisse,
of the French Survicnl Corpa.
N' the 14th of July, at the ro-
Hft 1 Vlsw nt Longchamp, after the
^brilliant marching of our rpr-
'dal ambulance corpa, when the Al
gerian sharpshooters had been ap
plauded aa they paused, and the Slf-
galeae bad been acclaimed aa they
fallowed the masses of infantry, the
"Porpoise" corps waa aeen. This via
the moat amusing as well ns most in-
etructlro feature of the morning—for
It w>i» the corps of sanltnry dogs
commanded by Captain Tolet.
Reid in lanab, forty of these rough-
coatfd beasts, wearing the Insignia of
the Red Cmas. trotted along In front
of the stands where thousands of per
sons. looked at them with astonish
ment. Up to tliat time the dogs of
the sanltnry a>tnad had never been
lined op aa part of tire army, and
many did sot know it existed. The
official employment of th^se valuable
auxiliaries in tbe rank of our aanl-
tnfy nerrtce In n luippy innovation;
_ and we are to be congratulated upon
the success or tuts moveuieui tof
- Uwr ii it tutus vf uOga fog muulluiry SCF-
BgSk
How the French Army Trains Dogs to
Search Gut
the Wounded
Among the
The Small Dog-Drawn Ambulance Designed by Captain Pusaisfor Carrying a Wounded SoTdier
from the Field to the Red Cross Hospital
Thanks to the president of the or
ganization. M.^»pel-Colntet. and hLs
coadjutor*. Captain Tolet. Messrs
Kraus*. Caucurte, Dr*. Oranjux and
Kresser, and other aides, our army
now owrs a sanitary eorps of dogs.
What, then, 1* the service which
these dogs can render on the field of
battle to the wounded? Who does not
recall the Saint Bernard dog dlscov-
prlvates and
53 officers who
were missing.
In the war of
1870-7! 4.009
Germans were
missing and
11,914 French.
On August 16
he French had
1.367 killed,
i0,402 wound
ed and 5,472
missing. The Germans had 4,*
421 killed, 10,120 wounded, 987 miss
ing.
Many schemes have been devised
finding the wounded on the field
ami nurses to the sufferer* by his The surgeon* and nurse* are apt
sharp barking. to find only those wounded men who
Hi* servl.es are by no mean* su- lie most exposed, but those who have
perfluous. Battles nre more murder- dragged themselves aside, or are be-
ous than ever to-day lax ha* been neath the heap* of dead are apt to
demonstrated Id the late wars In the be ore-looked. If they have no dogs of battle and not "having "to abandon
Ratkans). Tho Sanitary Corps Is all with them they are sure to pass by so many, but none works like this of
too small for the services required, many who might be saved. the dug corps. It is impossible to
It Is most difficult, especially '-at The man with a broken leg. who light up the Held of battle, for even
. . „ . . , . , "I* 1 "' ,n "'l** * roun<w * mon * h »» dragged himself Into the bushes, though the victorious army might
erlng unfortunates burled In the the masses of dead. If tbe army has Is not seen and may die of thirst and
snow, and bringing help to them? conquered they may give as much hunger. Just because he Is overlooked.
This la exactly what our army dogs
can do. Thanks to Ills kee-i scent
fme as Is nee d-d, but If It la feeing
In retreat." they must hasten and of-
can. aod then guides tile surgeons
tae Sold be. sum
covered at once
-'—nit-I on
are not die-
It is reported that, in the war in
Manchuria 41.7 per thousand of the
officers were' missing and 71 per
uiuuMuu oi the privates, Russians.
Tbe Japanese had a record of 5,021
do so, the defeated host would cer
tainly not bo permitted to do It.
Nor should It be forgotten that
even In daylight we do not tind all
if the wounded. The whistles which
it has been suggested to furnish to
tbe soldiers, to be used when wounded
are not effective, especially If the
wounded man is unconscious, as Is so
often the case.
The dog also seems practical, and
Indispensable as an adjunct to the
sanitary corps. Has he not proven
his value on the battlefield? In the
war In the Trau*vak| the collie dogs
snved the lives of hundreds of the
wounded. During the war In Man
churia the German dogs of the sani
tary corps rendered great service,
especially at tba battle of Cha-Ho.
The idea of using dogs In this way
is not altogether new. It bad its
origin in Germany. It has advanced
so far there that they hare more
than two thousand dogs trained for
tills service. The French society or
ganized for this purpose has already
some two hundred or more. But it
requires further'development.
All kinds of dogs are not adapted
to this work. The French dog la the
best type for tba purpose, because of
his Intelligence, keen scent end faith
fulness. He Is it least equal to the
Herman sheen doe. usually taken for
tbe corps. Airedale terriers are quite
adaptable, and almost any dog from
the banting dog to the ordinary farm
dog may be trained to serve.
He must be brought up especially
to search for the wounded—the
training to pull a cart for carrying
the wounded is only secondary.
Thera aro some practical objections
to the dog carriages, but It may be
useful under special conditions.
in ancient deyi they nsed trained
dogs for lighting in the army, for
the bas-relief* of Herculaneum and
some historians speak of them. Ver-
clngetorix used dogs against tbe
Roman troops led by Caesar. But
our modern armies would hardly de
sire dog companies to light with
them.
The nal.qlBee qf the dog ig tba
army it to search for tbe wounded,
and the Red Cron ebould serve a»
their protection. He wiU. once more
prove himself tbe friend of man, call
ing the nurses and surgeons to tbe
side of the sufferer, digging Into the
heaps of the dead to find those whom
tbe nurses would never discover.#
Every armj ebould have thou
sands of three trained dogs, ready;
for the greatest and most mwelttl
service..
■-T.<