Carved wood rail found, maybe the deBraak
CAPE HENLOPEN HISTORY
1935 NEWSPAPER ITEM REGARDS DE BRAAK TREASURE HUNTERS
Friday, July 19, 1935, Daily Mail, Newspapers.com, reports a piece of a sunken British hull located off Cape Henlopen, believed to be the De Braak, has been found and equipment is being rushed to the site to raise the vessel from the shifting sands of the Breakwater Harbor. The piece found by a diver is a carved wood railing, undeniable, from the De Braak, according to Randolph MacCracken, a great-grandson of the De Braak's skipper.
This led the leaders of the salvage operation, Charles Calstead of Attleboro, Massachusetts and Richard Wilson, of Providence, Rhode Island, to rush in equipment to raise the wreck. The diver, Harry Morgan, of Florida, reports the wreck lies half buried in sand on the bay floor.
Hailing from the West Indies, Captain James Drew the skipper in command was seeking anchorage at the capes when a wind gust turned her over, she fast filling with the sea and sunk with 40 sailors and a cargo of gold loot from two Spanish Galleons.
All during the 1800s the wreck attracted treasure seekers and fifty years ago a stock company in Philidelphia sold stock for $25 a share and after a large sum had been spent with no results, shares fell to ten cents, the search was abandoned. Early in the 1930's the Baltimore Derrick and Salvage Company of Baltimore tried to raise the wreck, and the misfortune of one vessel burning to sea level, another grounded and beat to pieces, caused another failure.
Abstract: Friday, July 19, 1935, Daily Mail, Newspaperabstracts.com
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I’m Harrison and this is a blog about ‘local’ history. I research topics through many means but mostly I find local newspaper articles from newspaperabstracts.com. Sometimes they are relative to something that is happening now. Sometimes it is just interesting and worth sharing.
