AMERICAN SUBMARINE COMPANY. 361 Whitstable, famous for its oysters, has also earned a certain renown from possessing a diver of particular eminence, John Gann, whose amphibious career, extending over many years, is remarkable. Among the exploits of this worthy and his "diving" companions, I may mention the recovery of one hundred thousand pounds from the wreck of the "Lady Charlotte," a ship which had gone down to the bottom of the sea. The Whitstable divers were also at work for some time on the coast of Ireland, in a place where a Spanish vessel had sunk, in which they discovered a large number of dollars. This money had been originally enclosed in a barrel, but the wood had perished at the bottom of the sea, and the hoops of the barrel were displaced; nothing was left but the pieces of coin, and these, gathered in a lump, still retained the form of the cask. An American "Submarine Company" undertook the raising of the vessels and other materials sunk by the Russians in the harbour of Sebastopol during the Crimean war, and also dispatched an expedition to the Caribbean Sea, to search for the treasures in a sunken Spanish frigate, the "San Pedro." According to official documents, this vessel when she went down contained a million of Spanish dollars and a million and a half in gold. The wreck was discovered; and, after removing a vast amount of deck material, the divers penetrated into the deck-room, where they found guncarriages, four magnificent brass cannons, silver dollars, and other valuable articles covered with mud. Several gold watches were here taken out; and the divers came to the conclusion that, when driven to the forward part of the ship, the bulk of the treasure would be found. Here they expended their efforts, and the result was the recovery of an immense sum of money, almost equal to the amount that was supposed to have been in the vessel. During the war of succession in Spain, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, England and Holland allied themselves with the Emperor of Austria against Louis XIV. of France and Philip V. of Spain. The latter powers were in great want of resources for the prosecution of the war, and were expecting daily a fleet of Spanish ships from the Indies, freighted with an enormous 362 TREASURES FROM SUNKEN SPANISH GALLEONS. amount of treasures in money, gold and silver ingots, and rich merchandise. A French fleet of fifteen vessels left Brest to meet the famous "galleons" and escort them as far as Cadiz. The united squadrons were seen by the English and Dutch vessels, and vigorously pursued into Vigo Bay, 22nd October, 1702, where they were so hotly attacked that the Spanish and French commanders determined on burning and sinking the treasure-ships to prevent their being taken. The "Almirante," the Spanish admiral's ship, and her consorts, were accordingly sent to the bottom of the ocean with all their immense wealth, and have remained immersed in the port of a poverty-stricken nation during the whole time of the Bourbon occupation. Hardly had the ex-Queen Isabella been driven from the throne of Spain, when a Spanish banker long settled in Paris made overtures to the government of Madrid for recovering some of the buried treasures; and, on condition of handing over nearly half of the riches that might be recovered, M. Périere was permitted to commence operations. From late accounts it seems that the undertaking has prospered after nineteen days' search made with large diving-bells, the remains of fifteen ships were discovered at the depth of a few hundred feet. On knocking a hole into the side of the "Almirante," some ingots, plate, and valuable arms were found by the divers. The further researches for these "submarine treasures" will be deeply interesting. CHAPTER XXVIII. SEA-BIRDS. "Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild Their hardy broods to forage in all weathers." N the chapter on "Superstitions Connected with the Ocean" I have alluded to a few marine birds which are considered by seamen as good or evil portents in their passage over the ocean. I will now briefly describe some of the more prominent sea-birds which perform their part in the economy of nature, and derive their chief sustenance from the finny inhabitants of the ocean. They constitute a very extensive family all over the world, ever on the alert to indulge their fishing propensities, and voracious in their appetites; so that the poor fishes, what with numberless foes in their own element, with sea-birds continually on the watch to prey upon them, together with all the ingenious arts practised by man to ensnare them, cannot lead the happy and peaceful life which some fanciful writers have imagined them to enjoy. Many, many miles out at sea the oceanic birds are seen pursuing 364 EXCITING SCENES AT THE BReeding SEASON. their predatory instincts, ever restless and untiring, while, nearer shore, thousands in summer seek precipitous coasts and headlands as breeding stations. "Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild And harsh, yet in accordance with the waves In winter others, scarcely less numerous, flock from their more northern homes, and fill our bays and marine inlets. Le Vaillant describes an interesting spectacle which met his gaze after mounting a rock at Saldanha Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope. "All of a sudden there rose from the whole surface of the island an impenetrable cloud, which formed, at the distance of forty feet above our heads, an immense canopy, or rather sky, composed of birds of every species and of all colours: cormorants, sea-gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, and, I believe, the whole winged tribe of that part of Africa, were here assembled. All their voices, mingled together and modified according to their different kinds, formed such a horrid noise that I was obliged every moment to cover my head to give a little relief to my ears. The alarm that we spread was so much the more general among the innumerable legions of birds as we principally disturbed the females, which were then sitting. They had nests, eggs, and young to defend. They were like furious harpies let loose against us, and their cries rendered us almost deaf. They often flew so near us that they flapped their wings in our faces, and, though we fired our pieces repeatedly, we were not able to frighten them; it seemed almost impossible to disperse the cloud." Many of the precipitous rocks and islands of our own country present greatly exciting spectacles at the breeding season. Myriads of ocean birds, 66 Ranged in figures, wedge their way, Intelligent of season, and set forth Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing Easing their flight. The air Floats as they pass, fanned by unnumbered plumes." SYMMETRY AND STRENGTH OF SEA-GULLS. 365 Certainly not the least interesting of marine birds is the Gull (Larus), belonging to a very numerous family (Larida), which includes also the squas, terns, petrels, shearwaters, albatrosses, noddies, skimmers, and others, all preying chiefly on fishes and mollusca, together with animal garbage of every kind. From the latter circumstance Buffon calls the gulls "the vultures of the ocean.” Several of this family are the most oceanic of all birds, being seen hundreds of miles out at sea, apparently unwearied and restless. The gulls have very powerful wings, flying with ease against the roughest storms. In fine weather they fly high in the air, descending with great rapidity to seize the fishes on the surface of the water, or diving slightly for herrings and small fish within reach. Their plumage being close and thick, they are good swimmers. They have a close resemblance to the terns, or sea-swallows," as they are sometimes called, but the bill is stronger, and the upper mandible much more curved towards the end. The symmetry and strength of the gulls are remarkable, showing how Nature has adapted them in every particular for all the purposes of their predatory instincts. "Let the reader," remarks Mr. Frank Buckland, "examine the pectoral or breast muscles of the next gull he kills: he will find them one solid mass of firm, hard muscle, admirably adapted to sustain and work the wings. What models of beauty and lightness are those wings! The bones are composed of the hardest possible kind of bone material, arranged in a tubular form, combining the greatest possible strength with the greatest possible lightness. If we make a section of the wing-bone of a gull, or, better still, of that of an albatross, we shall find that it is a hollow cylinder, like a wheatstraw; but, in order to give it still further strength, we see many little pillars of bone about the thickness of a needle extending across from side to side; these buttress-like pillars are in themselves very strong, and do not break easily under the finger. Again, at the top of the bone we find two or three holes, which communicate with the interior; through these, when the bird is alive, pass tubes, which are connected with the lungs; so that, when the bird starts for a flight, he fills his wing and other bones with air, causing them to act something like a balloon on each side of him. This explains |