48 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



very moderate expenditure, with the co-operation of the diving community at Thursday Island, 

 and would undoubtedly constitute a legitimate and exceedingly important auxiliary subject for 

 investigation in association with the Admiralty survey. 



The title of "Flotsam and Jetsam," introduced with the opening paragraph of the plate descrip- 

 tion, invites reference to one other somewhat analogous, but much earlier, event. In this instance, 

 all painful associations of loss of life are, happil}', absent, the narrative resolving itself into an 

 almost romantic record of discovered treasure-trove. The good fortune of its discover}' on this 

 occasion fell to the lot of Mr. Frank Jardine, the genial owner of the cattle ranche and fishing 

 station at Somerset, in the Albany' Pass, to whose ready aid and unlimited hospitalit)', ex- 

 tended to them in their day of sore distress, the survivors from the Ouctta accident owe their 

 life-long gratitude. In the minds of man}', doubtless, there will seem to be an almost providentially 

 directed connection betwixt those good deeds and this later episode. It so happened that one 

 of Mr. Jardine's boats, prospecting in pastures new for a remunerative fishing ground, was driven, 

 through stress of weather, to take shelter in one of those naturally-protected coves that abound 

 among the Barrier reefs. Ljdng to in the selected haven, the flukes of a time-worn anchor were 

 discerned at a short distance from the boat at low ebb-tide. Acting on the idea that the 

 instrument might in some way prove useful, steps were taken to remove it. The surprise and 

 gratification experienced on a mass of coin being laid bare on the immediate resting-ground of the 

 eroded anchor, can be well imagined. Further investigation led to the discover}' of a larger mass 

 of coin than could be transported by the fishing lugger in a single voyage, several trips from 

 Somerset being eventually undertaken before the little mine was exhausted. 



The specie exhumed proved on examination to be Spanish, chiefly silver, dollars, bearing 

 various dates withm the first two decades of the current century. Mingled among these were 

 discovered a fair sprinkling of golden coins of the same epoch. The state of preservation of 

 the dollars recovered was remarkable. The greater portion of them were, as it were, soldered 

 together by their flat surfaces in roulette form, after the manner of the familiar gelatine 

 lozenges when allowed to get damp. Solid silver masses of many pounds weight were thus 

 in many instances produced, from which, however, the more superficial coins could in most 

 instances be cleanly detached with a deft tap of chisel and hammer. The aggregate value 

 of the treasure thus recovered represented, as may be anticipated, a sum total of several 

 thousand pounds. 



So far as it is possible to determine, the vessel originally carrying this coin was of Spanish 

 nationality, and either laden with specie for the payment of the civil and military staffs of the 

 Spanish colony of Manilla or equipped for trading among the spice-bearing islands of the Mala_v 

 Archipelago, and in either case driven out of its course probably bj' the north-west monsoon, 

 and wrecked on the scene of the anchor-and-coin discovery. Among the very few other 

 objects disinterred at the same spot, mention may be made of a number of fragments 



