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Rio, after three days' ineffectual endeavor to make Cape Frio; and he then proceeded thither the next day by land, leaving orders for the vessels to follow him at the first opportunity, which they [*391 ] shortly did, together * with The Druid, frigate, which joined them on their passage.

Admiral Baker found that the wreck of The Thetis had drifted into a small cove, of a rectangular form, bounded on three sides by nearly perpendicular cliffs, from 108 to 194 feet in height, and open in front to the whole force of the Atlantic Ocean and the winds from the south-west, whence the strongest gales usually blow in that part of the world. The depth of water in this cove varied from three and a half to twenty-four fathoms; the surf in it was generally tre mendous, forming a species of whirlpool in the midst of it, and the bottom shelved rapidly to seaward, and was full of large rocks. Only the taffrail of The Thetis was occasionally visible, and it was found that she had heeled over on her side, with her deck to the seaward.

Admiral Baker left The Algerine to guard the wreck, and despatched the other vessels, with the survivors of the crew of The Thetis, to Rio, where he himself returned overland on the 24th of December. He immediately began to concert measures for the preservation of the property lost in the wreck; and his first proceeding was to cause a large net, 480 feet long and twelve feet high, to be constructed of chain cables and hawsers, for the purpose of being sent to the cove, and there to be stretched over its mouth from lanyards fas tened to floating buoys, in order to prevent any articles being washed from the wreck out to sea. He then consulted with Captain Dick enson, of his Majesty's sloop of war Lightning, an officer who had received a gold medal from the Royal Society for his skill in mecha nics, as to the best means to be adopted for removing the sunken

property and treasure; and, under Captain Dickenson's [392] directions, a diving-bell was constructed by an English

engineer of the name of Moore, in the employment of the Brazilian government, out of two iron water-tanks belonging to The Warspite, and an air-pump was made by a French artisan, of the name of De Fleury. When these preparations had been completed, Captain Dickenson was despatched to Cape Frio, with The Lightning, under orders to relieve The Algerine, and "after receiving from Captain Martin, the commander of that vessel, every information which he might have to communicate, relating to the position and state of the wreck, to lose no time in commencing operations with the diving-bell, and other apparatus with which he was furnished, for the recovery of the public property and treasure sunk in The Thetis." For these purposes, Captain Dickenson had placed under his com

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mand The Adelaide, tender, the launch belonging to The Warspite, and another launch, which was procured by the admiral from the Brazilian government. The Adelaide and Warspite launch were manned by detachments from the crew of The Warspite, the Brazilian launch was manned principally from The Lightning. He was also accompanied by the engineer, Moore, the carpenter and carpenter's crew of The Warspite, and two seamen accustomed to the use of the diving-bell, who were taken by the admiral from The Clio; and he was supplied with hose for the bell and pumps, and tackle of every description, from The Warspite.

Upon Captain Dickenson's arrival at Cape Frio, on the 30th January, 1831, he found the wreck had completely sunk under water, and was lying at a depth varying from six and a half to eleven fathoms. Upon actual inspection of the localities of the place, which he had never previously seen, he was induced to alter the plan * which had been originally settled between Admi- [*393 ] ral Baker and himself, as to the mode of suspending the diving-bell. The admiral had proposed to hang it from suspension cables, extended from cliff to cliff across the cove, and to this scheme. Captain Dickenson had assented whilst at Rio; he now, however, determined to suspend it from a high derrick, or crane, fastened upon the cliff. Immediately after the net had been placed, according to the admiral's directions, over the mouth of the cove, the derrick was commenced to be made, out of the loose spars of The Thetis that had been picked up; and, in the mean time, a small diving-bell was constructed from a one-ton water-tank, which was worked from the launches, and by this much treasure was recovered from the wreck before the derrick was completed.

On the 11th of April, 1831, the derrick, with the assistance of a reinforcement of seventy-four men from The Warspite, was placed on a step cut in the cliff, about twelve feet from the level of the sea. Its height was 158 feet, and its head was placed directly over the spirit-room of The Thetis, where the treasure had been kept. The reinforcement of seventy-four men returned to The Warspite, by The Adelaide, on the 21st of April; but they were succeeded by another party of fifty men, sent by Admiral Baker from the same vessel, and which arrived at the cove on the 30th of April, and they remained there until the 16th of May, when all the men belonging to The Warspite finally returned to Rio, by The Adelaide. The rigging of the derrick was completed on the 6th of May, and on that day the great diving-bell was suspended from it, and worked with great success, notwithstanding very rough weather, until the 18th of May, during which time about $50,000 were recovered by it. On the

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[*394] * 18th, a violent gale of wind from the west-south-west broke the derrick in two, at a height of about twenty feet from the water, and did considerable injury to its rigging. The great bell was left at the bottom of the cove, and so much damaged by the storm as to be afterwards useless.

Upon the destruction of the derrick, Captain Dickenson returned to the original plan of working the bell from suspension cables. They were accordingly put in hand on the 20th of May, and by the 4th of June were suspended across the cove, but from different points from those which had been proposed at Rio. They were not completed, however, for use, until the 19th of October, when a new great bell, made out of a water-tank, was worked from them for the first time. This bell was used, at first, in searching for treasure; but, after the 1st of November, it was principally employed in removing the guns and government property from the wreck. During the whole time, from the destruction of the derrick until the removal of Captain Dickenson, the small bell was worked from the launch when the weather would permit, and a great quantity of treasure was preserved by it.

A great proportion of the property on board The Thetis had been insured at Lloyd's, and a committee of underwriters was appointed, on the receipt of the intelligence of her loss, to concert measures for its preservation. An application was made to the admiralty, who sent orders to Admiral Baker to use every means for its protection. The chairman of the committee, also, wrote to the admiral on the 6th of April, 1831, inclosing him an unanimous vote of thanks for the exertions he had already made, and requesting him to instruct

his secretary, or the officer left in command at Cape Frio, [* 395 ] to communicate to the * writer, from time to time, the result of the proceedings; and also whether it might be advisable to send from this country (England) bells, machinery, and engineers, to assist in the undertaking. And, should any circumstances induce him to give up any further attempt for the recovery of the treasure, as hopeless, earnestly to request him to let his reasons for so doing be fully communicated to the writer; and also that he would, as far as he possibly could, have a watch kept near the spot where the wreck had sunk. "If, on the contrary," the letter proceeded, " and as I sincerely hope will be the case, you may be successful in saving the whole or any part of this property, I have to beg that you will order this property to be immediately forwarded by one of his Majesty's ships or packets, without being landed at Rio, and addressed to the chief clerk of the bullion-office, Bank of England; and directing, if you please, advice to be sent to me, as circumstances may

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render it advisable, to have the necessary insurance effected to cover the property, and also the charges to which it may be liable." In consequence of this letter, a correspondence was kept up between the admiral and the chairman of the committee at Lloyd's. He subsequently appointed Messrs. Samuel & Phillips his agents at Rio, and directed Captain Dickenson to have recourse to them for any assistance he might need. Having made these arrangements, Admiral Baker sailed, in the beginning of July, 1831, for the Cape of Good Hope, where, as well as upon the South American station, the naval forces were under his command.

During Admiral Baker's absence Captain Dickenson was seized with a violent fit of illness, and, whilst he was laboring under it, he despatched letters to Lord James Townsend, the commanding officer at Rio, in the absence of Admiral Baker, in [*396] which he expressed his despondency in being able to recover any great amount of treasure more, and desired to be recalled. In consequence of these letters, an officer was sent by Lord James Townsend to take the command of The Lightning; but before he arrived Captain Dickenson had recovered, and resumed the command of his ship and the superintendence of the operations on the wreck. Admiral Baker returned to Rio in December, 1831, and, in the beginning of the next year, he paid a visit to the cove, where he arrived on the 5th and staid till the 14th of February, 1832. He exerted himself there in encouraging the men in their undertaking; and upwards of $50,000 were recovered during the time he was there, and in the intervening time before the recal of Captain Dickenson.

Captain Dickenson received orders of recal from the Admiralty in the following month, and he accordingly delivered up the diving-bells and tackle to Captain De Roos, of The Algerine, which was sent by Admiral Baker to take the place of The Lightning; and sailed from Cape Frio on the 9th of March, 1832, after a stay there of nearly fourteen months. During this time he had recovered from the wreck and transmitted by various vessels to England $588,705. His crew and himself had endured great hardships, from exposure to a scorching and unhealthy climate, from constant tempests, and from insects called chigres, which greatly annoyed the working parties; and the men employed in the bell were frequently in great danger from accidents happening in the air-pipes, and suffered much from the stench arising from the putrid provisions of The Thetis, through which it was necessary to cut before the treasure could be got at. The first lieutenant of The *Lightning died from the effects [397] of the fatigues he had undergone, on his arrival at Rio; and

the crew were stated to have been deteriorated very much in their

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general health. Mr. Moore and three seamen were drowned during the time, from the oversetting of a boat; this, however, was the effect of an accident, and not attributable to the service in which they were engaged.

Whilst both parties were in Brazil, a dispute arose between the admiral and Captain Dickenson, about the amount of salvage the former should receive. Captain Dickenson had told the admiral's secretary that he should not object to the admiral's receiving an eighth of it. The admiral, upon hearing this, intimated to Captain Dickenson that he would accept nothing from him, but would receive what the law might direct; upon which Captain Dickenson retracted his offer.

Captain De Roos adopted a system of operations differing, in some respects from that followed by Captain Dickenson. He first took an accurate plan of the space into which the spirit-room had discharged its contents, and found it formed an ellipse, of which the major axis was forty-three and the minor thirty-one feet, beyond the limits of which no treasure had been discovered. This space was filled with large boulder rocks of granite, the intervals between which were filled with guns, and fragments of the wreck and treasure, forming together compact masses, which it was difficult to remove. He next surveyed the cliffs, to find eligible spots to fix his purchases to, and wherever a point was selected an eye-bolt was placed and leaded; and thus the crew had, in every direction, points to which they could direct the force of their capstan. He then proceeded to

remove, by means of the capstan, the whole of the rocks [*398]* and rubbish from the space previously described, working

the diving-bell solely from the suspension cables, the point of suspension of which he altered twenty-five feet. By these means his divers were able to descend even in rough weather, which never was the case when it was worked from the launches. By the 21st of July, 1832, he had removed every rock within this space, the last of them weighing about sixty-three tons, and recovered $161,500, notwithstanding a succession of stormy weather for seventeen days, in the early part of his operations, before he had fully adopted the system of working from the suspension cables. On the 27th of July The Algerine quitted the cove.

The whole amount of treasure thus recovered was $750,301, which were immediately attached, as derelict, on their arrival in England. The value of these dollars, when sold, was stated in English money to be about 157,349l. 17s. The value of the ordnance stores recovered, and which were of course restored to government, was 1,206!.

10s. 8d.