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THE TREASURE SHIP OF GUNWALLO. 

 By H. MIOHELL WHITLEY, F.G.S., Hon. Sec. 



On a fine summer morning, there is no fairer sight on the 

 Southern coast of England, than that from Newlyn, of Mount's Bay, 

 and S. Michael's Mount, and beyond, stretching dimly into the haze, 

 the long level line of the Lizard. Beautiful then as the scene is 5 in 

 a winter's gale from the south-west, there is no more deadly death 

 trap on the whole coast of England, than this soft looking dim line 

 of shore : as the remains of many a good ship wedged firmly into 

 the crevices and fissures of the caverns attest. 



Of all the wrecks, however, which have taken place on this 

 iron-bound coast, there is none that has excited more interest than 

 the wreck of the Spanish Dollar ship in Gunwallo Cove. 



The story runs, that about a hundred years ago, a Spanish ship 

 laden with dollars was wrecked there, and that ever since that date, 

 dollars are from time to time washed up on the beach. 



No clear idea appears to exist, as to how much silver was on 

 board ; the estimates of different writers, varying between 2% and 

 19 tons ; figures curiously precise in themselves, but widely apart 

 in weight. 



It seems to be the general opinion, that when the ship struck 

 she overturned, and upset the dollars into a cavity in the rock, where 

 they were quite covered by sand, and only after great storms are 

 they disturbed, and washed on shore. 



This being the accepted story, it is not to be wondered at, that 

 attempts have from time to time been made to discover the buried 

 treasure, especially in 1845 and 187a, — and perhaps later — by coffer- 

 dams, mining, divers, and other appliances, but so far the results 

 have been of the most barren description. 



I have not been able to inspect any of these dollars which 

 have been picked up, and am therefore unable to state what date 

 they bear. It is however a curious fact, that amongst some old 

 papers at the Public Record Office, I have found an account of the 

 wreck of a Portuguese treasure ship at Gunwallo Cove in the 18th 

 year of King Henry 8th (1526), more than 250 years before the 

 date given in Tradition. 



