His description of the condition of the wreck after 

 only two score years beneath the sea interested us greatly 

 by reason of its contrast to wrecks which Ed and I had 

 examined after they had been centuries underwater. Tay- 

 lor said that on Phips's third expedition, when the treasure 

 was not so plentiful or so easy to come by; 



. . . with pickaxes, the divers tore up the timbers 

 and coral rocks and cleared aU live timbers and 

 baUast from the stem to the step of the mainmast; but 

 the stern part of the ship was so overgrown with coral 

 rocks that they could find no inventions to clear it, but 

 by blowing it up, which here they wanted engines to 

 perform. But they dived into it under the rocks as 

 into the caves, but by reason of the darkness and the 

 rock they there got but little. 



Now all those rocks and timbers which they 

 cleared were hoisted up and carried on board Sir 

 John, where, with iron mauls they beat the coral 

 rocks to pieces, and within the body of those grow- 

 ing stones found many thousand dollars. I saw a 

 coral rock hoisted up about one ton, about which 

 could be seen nothing like plate, but, being broken 

 to pieces, there was found in it 7,600 dollars, and 

 these dollars were very bright and not damnified 

 at all by the water. I have seen several china choco- 

 late cups taken up on this wreck unbroken and not 

 damnified by the water, and many of the ribs and 

 timbers of the ship that were taken up were very 

 strong and sound, and the very hay or grass which 

 was put between the silver dishes I have seen not 

 rotten. The plate indeed looked very black by reason 

 of the indigo and other colors which were in this 

 galleon when lost. 



Solid timbers and shining silver and whole pieces of 

 china and glassware were almost nonexistent on any of the 

 wrecks we had explored. Of course we were aware that 



278 Sea Diver 



