1961-12-09 — Page 14

Diving for pleasure and treasure (4)

FOR months Walter Bennett and I talked

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1961.

THE GALLEON'S

"LOOT"

Our 26 divers. wearing face plates. snorkels, and flippers, were stationed along a curving line. On signal, the grand pro- cesston moved southward.

Ramon Zapata A Mexican diver from Cazumiel. scampion

Is surfaced holding #corn!

Cross about nine inches tall.

of little else than the galleon at the reef near the beach, sudden- Matonceros. Our artifacts had revealed no fused, brass, double-transi real clues. But in my mind I could clearly picture that enormous vessel, perhaps afire, or being pursued by a pirote vessel, bearing down on the jagged reef.

Withou refer, ner brauks Crosses we speculated on meaning on our And

1h

i erroneously dertilled at as a "Crusa of Lorraine." which led

stup might be French

I could imagine its copper-plated bottom think for a while that the crunching against the reef, the tremendous shud- der that swept the ship from bow to stern, per- haps toppling masts and sails, and the frantic efforts of her crew and passengers to swim ashore in that terrible surf.

a crew

by

Clay

Blair (jnr.)

A shiny substance in disbelief ring to their chiscis: gold!

Thay harried to the surfaci

sist On Cizurari examine the letters on the crore and declared the crus to be the

rude workmanship of member. But if it had been the ash we were on the bot- work of a Frenchman. why the

The Arnolds had found & we fnided bundle of about 100 large Spanish words? Perhaps, Thought, one of the crew, English re:iangles of guld foil. Each lory. supeded by tear and Freich, had made to sell to het was about the thickness of

backed slow by the Sparish.

apiere of bond paper.

I could visualise savage Jn.

hiding among the rocks extremni. dians and bramble ashare, axes ready, tensely waiting to attack those whe survived the disaster

warn the boat and shouted tor the Mexican boatman, who could be th huge shape underwater dear Marx. to loud and pass to nar the powerful speargu which The Mistreils hart fu - austed 11% for the second

xperiston

Who? What? When? How? The answers to Brose questions. like The treasure of Matanzerce, re mained adinvered, and the shawed as us with derce inten sily A Time passed, and the discomforts of the expedition Earled

the and memory unsolve mystery plagnet us

or and mer

ומפיו1

Against 1945 bwh bettes indigneul. Mars stupped bark to The

wreck

free time to time He dug up the goodies we had buried

on the bearl: and hacked now npws from rural. Including a few: Spanish copper stans. silver coin, s rent from the reign of Philip ! 1558.98. a gamer furk, two silver spooti Pari the like. These al mare ! all the more argent that we retain Metabreros

The thing

While on a svounting expedition

to the Ucatan mainland

had an extravellinary water experience,

Marx

vas 5

Passing Punta Solbnan with e boatload of tourists, a Custom,

Je bent Je re.ca anchored

Then, alone he dived over the side with face plate, snorkel and flippers at a point where he ban previously found what appeared. So be an ancient grapping hook. believed to date from The Monte- In period

While the awe-struck tourists Junker on, Bub grabbed the gun 20-1001 closed an at the beast He brought the gan to within a foot of the face, noting hed whiskers and Un monster "arms, hands, and breasts, just ake a woman

In the excitement but the batman and Marx had forgotten cock the gune When Marx nervosly pulled the trigger, the our spar ply slid out and lightly touched the monster.

When that happened, the beast Marx ke a charged part Treight Spat ated disappeared

1.H

"laughing" distance Insanely as it went

31

tum

The author and some of his diver friends switched their interest and activities to Cozumel Island, off the coast of Mexico, where Bob Marx, the diver, had discovered the wreck of a galleon at Punta Matanceros (Slaugh- ter Point), a name which suggested either that many people had perished in the wreck or that the survivors had been slaughtered by hostile Indians.

expedition, a gold pocket watch. Back in camp we attacked t e. gerly with magnifying glasses. tweezers, and a mild solution of acid.

The inner works, such as the spring, had long since rusted away, but the outer case, the in- nor case, stem, glass, and eve Including fragments 01 hands, stopped at 8.20, were 31- most as good as new. (Most new watches are displayed with clock hands set on 8.20 for reasons of symmetry, TUN because, as commonly believed. this was the hour at which Lin- coin was shot) When we cleaned the tarnish from the face, the words "Webster" and "London" works on its hinges, were revealed. Swinging

We road, amid ornate decorations:

"Wm Webster Exchange Alley."

On the aner eas we found The first was a Hon, which in- three small hallmark shirlds dicated that the watch was made

The

of 22 carat gold. The second featured A crowned leopard, which meant the watch Was manufactured in London third and most important-to us was the date mark a lower case b, which, according to the tables, meant the watch was manufactured in 1737 or 1798.

Newspaper

we

was

On the second piece of paper, discerned fragments of a news item which stated, if we pieced it together correctly, that Beneath a pad in the inner "the groom of the bed chamber case, apparently serving as a to the Prince of Wales

we safely deliver'd of a son." shim to prevent cattling.

Tarn- found

of news- ing it over. we two scraps

found these paper. Although the paper had words:

great diffatisfy'd been submerged in salt water with Seckendorff; the ill Suc- Hungary ald entirely for over two centuries, ち

.condemn'd for not having were able to lift it from the watch and read

the printing

both sides. We noted the old

Later in the Library of Con- custom of using un f for an s gress in Washington, we searched and carefully transcribed and back copies of old English news- photographed each surviving papers, in an attempt to find the word.

exact issue from which Mr Web-

We Evidently 1 had been rat Much The passed brita fearact the rea, meaning at this marked to adurn some aitar or kia

เปล่

dunie of a cutheviral rigung cross Couslering or Mam suparty of Hoever, this gold was destined

On one scrap there was an ad- ster had shipped his shims. With "London air, the first day on the wreck. To play a mifferent roh Subvertisement for a dicin r the raception of the in general

was a considerable merged for more than 200 years, puted to cure "Scurf on the Daily Advertiser," the file coples it now emerged to touch of Skin." "Gout," and other all of old newspapers are incom- Modern Latin American drama

ments "Incident tu heman Blete Thus, we were unable to nature."

And the exact issue. ad. included a The glowing testimonial from a "Mra Clocker, a Packer, at the Blue-

By then Mary had regained suuress his senses and realised at once

had whal be

bren

#

in sadilan to the epon Bad dealing Mars, working with the single with: manatee. sometimes Hookah is dus up absent 200th called a "sea cow."

וב10

when cleaneel afteran.

Rumour

H

was

However. during the year 1737-38 frequent mention made of Count Seckendorff in the available newspapers. He was an Austrian who led foot soldiers in Turks.

against the Ottoman

A "shoal" of skin divers probe around the wreck of the galleon. looicing for wensure. At the end of the search they had ex- tracted more than 12,000

items.

was

3. 31 pewler plates in thres

sized 4. 14 rum,

5.

wine, or whisky

bottles (4 with

original

contents tightly corited)

complete glasses

6. 3000 small crucifixes

7. 3.000 buckles in 20 sizes, (12

different designs)

8. 2,000 metal buttons

9. 500 knife handles

10. 2,000 beads in metal settings

11. 300 musket balls

that the watch hallmark manufactured in 1737-38, which was close enough.

We guessed it probably took a year or so for the watch to Based on prices Bob Marx make its way from London to had been offered for goodies in the West Indies. Thus we es- the past by tourists, museums, Lablished the date of the and Culicetors, the tool was wreck at about 1740. If there worth over 100,000 dollars. The was any doubt that our vessel final disposal of the goodies is waa English, the watch

hazy. Some were displayed in a moved it

museum on Cozumel. Later we were told that all had been de- clared national treasure. Many were removed to Mexico City. Much later, many showed up in the United States.

the

re-

Eventually bad weather drove divers from their reef and the expedition, as such, was terminated.

Bell of the Great Belt Alley In Coleman 11 vast quantity of

On the back there was a second advertise- Word of the find spread like ment announcing that These inded power i uckles.

a "argr New arrivals in camp quality of Timber" was "o Be metal inillons, paste beach, glass wildfire chavor woer sjoons and other demanded to see it at once. We sold in View" near "Petersfield Turks, and later became the cen-

The A "Mr Lewis, at Banftuad (Ban- trai igure in a controversial Jection. Reins The divities, examing the ston learned The reason

actualy weighed stead)"

Investigation. objects with his capsules which good, which

back camp These

rare, huge, lumbering eścied of the beasts

sea, with their "goti humanlike faces and breasts, are Beved to have inspired the myth of the raermaid. Few men in recent limes have seen one. No diver had ever speared one

Approved

to

kept umbling "Plata, Plata," the triling of the talc mesning. “Solver, Shiver

and + "Mr William

he swung like an incense burner, about une prind, had grown Buckle" were mentioned. but There was actually no need to 300 their connection with the auction pin down the exact date of the By kilos. or about 660 pounds. At was not made clear.

newspaper. We knew from the then we had learned to ignore the current price, that muel: gald, his chanting.

In tray weight, would be worth

romantic

At the laboratory we scrutin- about 250,000.

We made attempts to spike the ised the goodies, in an attempt

false rumour, but we met with to establish the dale and nations

were success. We mysterious wreck. little ality of our

up The copper coins, like the silver against the powerful,

of the Mexican real Bob found earlier, were no Psychology help in dating the wreck

Pasantry. They want to believe

mel. the Marli and the

lottery. this belicf and restamped, were in rivuja- Like Aguilucha, and three ouffards, un in the West Indies for provides them with a hope that There were Hey of diving hundreds of years Some of the the day they, too, will be lucky tanks and there would sman be religious medallions were eutu End escape from their prison of submerged Das von data replacement langyndume air ed with recognisable props and Terts

At long last we were set Tackle the mystery gallenn at Swimming

the coral Matanceros alung reef. Marx

suddenly WAN aware of some strange thing The camp at Acumal was well in the water nearby Taking organised We had four large a deep breath, he submerged ships, the Pinch Hilter, the Cozu- Coins of that kind, stamped people find lost hoards of gold.

and cased toward it.

As Marx sendt

Hy stewed

The

his pace He

!

--seemingly the size of a whole

Marx stared warin savol at flar "thing whiti. according tu Marx, "had a vela bumanlike face

It reted the start and then seemed to laugh: "He he he he he."

CHESS

by LEONARD BARDEN

compressor

nt St Benedict. St Thomas, St Anthony. Si Agnes. vit Dune of them had dates og manne facturer's marks

We had all gear fran. the year 1. fu

yuth the exception of my H. kah, whil

Only оле item prova a L the was still lost some wher

clue, a tiny French export seal. labyrinth of

Mexican air- Best of all. the possibly one that had be

a wine bottle which as fully approved tached to

freight offices

expedition

the

by the government

at Arst Under

we mislook for quin.

a magnifying gias: we

Was there fact a treasure of could make out the engraving. Matanceros" Our opinion, then, was that the wreck was a richly laden English merchantman bound for New World poris.

The

A few days later we, in turn, heard a startling rumour. A hand of Fidel Castro's forces. which had previously found the secluded cove and dense ab Ideal jungle about

staging point from which to launch armed forays against

the banana republies of the Caribbean, were set to attack our camp. They intended, so the story went, to overwhelm us and steal the gold to help

their finance

revolutionary movement. Without delay On one side we enuld read the

emergency name "David Baumer" and the take words "Pour Lestranger, (sic) Our camp leader,

Writing

we began to precautions. Commander

10 Nismes, and above that the Next day a heavily armed con-

word "Colnem."

We believed she had probably made one stop in the New World to exchange a small portion of her cargo for gold or silver.

Moreover, we were certain which means "For Export" en Argudin, distributed small arms to some of the men and then that her captain would have the back there was a gure or ar

t a free be- sent an urgent call for reinforce- carried some gold to pay the alligator chained

which was the word menta crew, to make repairs, and for neath trading purposes, and very

lingeni of Mexican soldiers possibly there were wealthy

arrived and spread through the Passengers on board with

The design resembles that un camp. The Mexican Navy dis- Jewels and coins of their own a Roman coin issued f the patched two corvettes to cruise Beyond this, we did not be- colony of Nemausus, ur Nimes, our waters and disembarked a leve, at first, that the ship France, in honour of General party of armed sailors. Mexican held "treasure."

Marcus Agrippa who died in Navy helicopters

reconnoitered and cover in our about 12 B.C. We sent off a wire the jungle We awoke-somewhat cramp to Washington requesting infor- vicinity. The Secretary of No. Richard Teichmann was nick-ed after our first night's sleep nation on David Baumer of tional Defence. General Agustin name: "Richard the Fifth" by in bamunecks at 0530. As usual Nimes, France, but, as we were lachez, flew in from

Mexico Ads contemporaries because at that time of the year in those to learn, such inquiries require City, and, together with the local that was where he used su latitudes, the sun was already much time.

Governor and a rear admiral often to finish in tournaments. bright.

who commanded the naval

(6149)

But Teichmann, who had Marx, perhaps recalling his On another day two divers forces in our area, visited our only one eye. could see ahead Marine Corps barracks days, reported that they could dis- camp. further than most of his two- routed us with salty longunge. cern writing on an object near eyed riyals. Can you find how, We replied in kind.

as White (to move) he emerged with a draw from this hope-

less-looking situation?

London Rupees Service.

TARGET

HER

LCCI

NAIL

Treasure

"We are here to help in any the wreck.

way we can." the General said. All hands quickly plunged His sabre rattling apparently Into the water for a look-sec. was enough. Our alleged assail- Sure enough we could discern ants evidently melted into the writing.

Jungle because the attack tailed Hookah-equipped, Bob Marx to materialise. We are just as staggered. up with small fools glad. All of the divers had grown

Our youngest member. Jon and began the delicate job of heavy beards. It was possible, Kalb, the lone Texan, caught dislodging the black mess. Had it even probable, that we would be the brunt of Marx's ribbing. In been an ingot of gold, the flnd mistaken for Castro's men when fact. Marx addressed him in the could have caused only slightly the shooting started.. manner of a drill-instructor at greater excitement in our ranks.

How is

words of Paris Island lashing a new res four lutter cruit. He labelled Kalb "Mo-Mo or more which, roughly translated from from the Mark'a slang, tocant "idiot," a letters nickname that stuck

Chef After a Spartan breakfast of maxtor coffee and fortilas, we picked up. The words our diving equipment and waded ench lufter may be used out to our assigned boats in the

and

alties

The "book" turned out to be hundreds

of tightly-packed

paper Packages containing

Gold watch

we

thousands of needics. But the After the pressure eased, needles disintegrated on touch, shipped the troublesome batch of The paper packages were soggy gold to Cozumel Island. The and fragile.

Secretary of National Deferice

Back in camp, we separated returned to Mexico City, but the

armed soldiers and one corvette

when only. Each word art on Cove. Then, beneath deep blue them carefully and spread some remained with us for the rest of size he at least ofis ten-ketter eles, and cruised tenward 10- Almost magically, the smudged

and Blilowy cumulus packages In the sun to dry, the expedition. ward in the list... Na piirola z mu foreign worden no průppy finies. wird Malanceros. Point FRIDAYNE TARGETY H· "worių.

WINK GOD poort

packages turned white and the On the first day of the third. On board the Aguilucho there faint lettere stood out bold and week en route to the wreck, Nous exerdienti Mulution was all autosphere of joy and clear Johanes Esser Vos Acht. Bob Marx Bald to me, "Today On Monday,

excitement. The. YESTERDAY'

SOLUTION I

Americans manufacturer of the needles. We thing unusual feet It In my AUDIBILITY Anding such pudly cracked jokes. After months of fred on

Wath bones,ENG bal hair babi sinif dagh tuky anxioty, of frustrating hours ington Wire

His prediction was declirater same ecran clump. During his arcond hour on the spent writing letters, of hours Probing propÁring the equipment, wo which het produced the needle bottom, after chierling out about i were, al last, underway for the packages, the thin latigabic Ar 1001b of, oodles, et turning

******nold brothers paused and stared the most astonishing and of the

Ability noiy abut adit bunit albi, roligious songs; the cons sing Von Ach a red was the I'm really going to find somed":

Land Chhid, labidly fall da so ahan tubeleria/wania PARKÁKONA

London Expra Barvins,

Wrbok!

CHARLOTTE

SALE

On Cozumel for the first time. We saw the total accumulation of dies. It was a stuning col- Among the more than 12,000 Heins were:

I. 140 devotional medals 2. 800 silver-dipped

spoons

brass

The main concern of the au ther now was to solve the mystery of the ship. Where did # come from? How

redid it founder Did it carry treasure? The series will conclude next week with an examination of these investigations: Panariv

HORSTMANN

FIRST FLOOR, PENINSULA HOTEL, KOWLOON

halind

DECEMBER 9TH-10TH 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

FURNITURE

LAMPS PICTURES

BRASSWARE

PEWTERWARE

FABRICS

MOVING HONG KONG SHOWROOM JANUARY 1st, 1962

TO

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