adventure of ours was one of the few in which the leaders 

 did not have to deal with mutiny before they were 

 through. 



As far back as the time of William Phips, his crew 

 of desperadoes had twice tried to seize the ship from his 

 command and turn to piracy. They had sailed the waters 

 around the Ambrosias in search of the treasure ships as 

 long as they could take it, faced as they were with the 

 constant dangers of reefs and storms, the monotony of 

 stale food and water, and dreary days of unrewarding 

 search. Then they had rebelled. 



On Alexander Korganoff's visit to the Silver shoals in 

 1951, his expedition had come to an abrupt end when the 

 Dominican crew which had been recruited in Puerto 

 Plata refused to remain in the vicinity of the reefs. In 

 addition to their natural fears of being caught there in a 

 storm, their superstitious minds rebelled at this attempt 

 to disturb the ghosts of long-dead shipwreck victims. 

 When they attempted to take over the boat, KorganoflF 

 and his colleagues held them off by threatening them with 

 dynamite caps. They headed back for Puerto Plata, arriv- 

 ing there just in time, for the mutineers finally set fire to 

 the boat. 



And, just before leaving Cap Haitien, we had heard 

 of a schooner from England visiting the shoals in search of 

 the treasure. On board, in addition to the English owner, 

 was a "diviner," who promised to detect the presence of 

 gold or silver with his wand, wherever it might be con- 

 cealed. There were also two French divers, who were to 

 dive up the treasure once it was located. There were 

 rumors of quarrels and disagreements, of knives being 

 wielded, of money disappearing on board as the unruly 

 divers forced the owner to put in at Turks island and set 

 them ashore. The remainder of the schooner's crew ar- 

 rived at Cap Haitien completely broke, their dreams shat- 



288 Sea Diver 



