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Page 21
But, confidently as the Captain had hoped to find the Spanish wreck,
yet now that it was really found, the news seemed too good to be true.
He could not believe it till the sailors showed him the lump of silver.
"Thanks be to God!" then cries Captain Phips. "We shall every man of us
make our fortunes!"
Hereupon the Captain and all the crew set to work, with iron rakes and
great hooks and lines, fishing for gold and silver at the bottom of the
sea. Up came the treasure in abundance. Now they beheld a table of solid
silver, once the property of an old Spanish Grandee. Now they found a
sacramental vessel, which had been destined as a gift to some Catholic
church. Now they drew up a golden cup, fit for the king of Spain to
drink his wine out of. Perhaps the bony hand of its former owner had
been grasping the precious cup, and was drawn up along with it. Now
their rakes or fishing lines were loaded with masses of silver bullion.
There were also precious stones among the treasure, glittering and
sparkling, so that it is a wonder how their radiance could have been
concealed.
There is something sad and terrible in the idea of snatching all this
wealth from the devouring ocean, which had possessed it for such a
length of years. It seems as if men had no right to make themselves rich
with it. It ought to have been left with the skeletons of the ancient
Spaniards, who had been drowned when the ship was wrecked, and whose
bones were now scattered among the gold and silver.
But Captain Phips and his crew were troubled with no such thoughts as
these. After a day or two they lighted on another part of the wreck,
where they found a great many bags of silver dollars. But nobody could
have guessed that these were money-bags. By remaining so long in the
salt-water, they had become covered over with a crust which had the
appearance of stone, so that it was necessary to break them in pieces
with hammers and axes. When this was done, a stream of silver dollars
gushed out upon the deck of the vessel.
The whole value of the recovered treasure, plate, bullion, precious
stones, and all, was estimated at more than two millions of dollars. It
was dangerous even to look at such a vast amount of wealth. A sea
captain, who had assisted Phips in the enterprise, utterly lost his
reason at the sight of it. He died two years afterwards, still raving
about the treasures that lie at the bottom of the sea. It would have
been better for this man, if he had left the skeletons of the
shipwrecked Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth.
Captain Phips and his men continued to fish up plate, bullion, and
dollars, as plentifully as ever, till their provisions grew short. Then,
as they could not feed upon gold and silver any more than old King Midas
could, they found it necessary to go in search of better sustenance.
Phips resolved to return to England. He arrived there in 1687, and was
received with great joy by the Duke of Albemarle and the other English
lords, who had fitted out the vessel. Well they might rejoice; for they
took by far the greater part of the treasure to themselves.
The Captain's share, however, was enough to make him comfortable for the
rest of his days. It also enabled him to fulfil his promise to his wife,
by building a "fair brick house," in the Green Lane of Boston. The Duke
of Albemarle sent Mrs. Phips a magnificent gold cup, worth at least five
thousand dollars. Before Captain Phips left London, King James made him
a knight; so that, instead of the obscure ship-carpenter who had
formerly dwelt among them, the inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his
return, as the rich and famous Sir William Phips.
CHAPTER XI.
"Sir William Phips," continued Grandfather, "was too active and
adventurous a man to sit still in the quiet enjoyment of his good
fortune. In the year 1690, he went on a military expedition against the
French colonies in America, conquered the whole province of Acadie, and
returned to Boston with a great deal of plunder."
"Why, grandfather, he was the greatest man that ever sat in the chair!"
cried Charley.
"Ask Laurence what he thinks," replied Grandfather with a smile. "Well;
in the same year, Sir William took command of an expedition against
Quebec, but did not succeed in capturing the city. In 1692, being then
in London, King William the Third appointed him governor of
Massachusetts. And now, my dear children, having followed Sir William
Phips through all his adventures and hardships, till we find him
comfortably seated in Grandfather's chair, we will here bid him
farewell. May he be as happy in ruling a people, as he was while he
tended sheep!"
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