Strange Stories of Colonial Days Read online

  VI

  HOW A BLACKSMITH'S BOY BECAME A KNIGHT

  The Treasure-hunt of William Phipps in the late Seventeenth Century

  Sir William Phipps, Baronet; Captain in the Royal Navy; Captain-Generaland Commander-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay; Governor of Massachusetts.

  What do you think of all these titles for one man to wear? Surely, yousay, he must naturally have been a great man to deserve so muchdistinction; and again you say that the conditions of his life mustaccount for such honors; that he must have been of gentle birth, rearedin luxury, his education carefully attended by excellent masters, andgreat influence brought to bear upon his King to advance him so far onthe high-road of fame. Well, let us see if facts will sustain thisthought.

  William Phipps was born February 2, 1650, in a wretched log house on thebanks of the Kennebec River. His father, an honest but ignorantblacksmith, was more dependent upon his rifle and fishing-line to supplyhis family with food than upon the occasional shilling that found itsway into the smoke-begrimed interior of his rude workshop.

  Without education himself, the father was unable to instruct hischildren beyond the simplest rules of arithmetic and the plainestspelling and reading, but these he drilled them in as perseveringly ashe did in the terrifying religious catechism of that day. In the courseof years, when William developed into a robust, courageous lad, heshared with his parents the duties of providing for his sisters andbrothers by either shouldering the heavy fire-arm and plunging into thedark Maine forests in quest of game, or in taking his father's place andbeating out the iron sparks, while the sturdy smith dropped atemptingly baited hook into the swiftly flowing stream.

  In the year 1676, in his twenty-seventh year, the hero of our storyreceived his parents' blessing, and left home for the purpose of seekinghis fortune. With a hopeful heart and an exceedingly light pocket, hemade his way to Boston, and found employment in the blacksmith-shop ofone Roger Spencer, whose pretty daughter Charity soon won the heart ofher father's handsome, stalwart helper.

  So far we fail to find very much in the way of gentle birth, luxury,education, and influence. But then, you may ask, how, under suchcircumstances, could he ever have risen so high? Let us follow hiscareer.

  His lack of worldly goods was made the excuse for refusing the offer ofhis heart and hand that he made to the fair Puritan, and in the hope ofimproving his fortunes he forsook the forge and shipped on board of amerchant vessel to follow the adventurous life of a sailor. When sayingfarewell, he gave his promise to return in a few years with money enoughto build a fair brick house for his lady-love in one of the green lanesof Boston.

  The ship in which Phipps sailed carried a cargo to the island ofJamaica, then cruised between that port and England for several voyages.Owing to his industry and ability as a seaman, Phipps was after a timeadvanced to the position of mate. A voyage or two following hispromotion he fell in with an old seaman who claimed to be the onlysurvivor of a Spanish vessel containing immense treasure that had beenwrecked on one of the coral islands in the West Indies some yearsbefore. It appears that this treasure-ship had sailed from the coast ofSouth America, freighted with a cargo of silver which had been dug outof the mines and cast into bricks to be conveyed to Spain. The sailorassured Mr. Phipps that the exact location of the wreck was known tohim, and agreed, for a certain share of the profits, to conduct anexpedition to the place where the vessel had gone down. Believing thestory to be true, the mate bound the seaman to secrecy, and gave him aberth on board his vessel.

  Upon arriving in London, application was made by him to the King forpermission and aid to fit out a ship for the purpose of recovering agreat treasure that had been lost by the sinking of a Spanish galleon inthe West Indies, claiming that he had accidentally learned the locationof the vessel, and that he would guarantee to secure the precious cargo.After considerable delay a ship called the _Algier Rose_ was placedunder his command, and with a crew of ninety men he set sail. Uponreaching the West Indies a mutiny broke out among the forecastle hands,and Captain Phipps found it necessary to put into Jamaica, discharge allhands, and ship a new company. He now started for the scene of thewreck, but a day or two following the carpenter informed him that he hadoverheard the sailors plot to capture the vessel as soon as the treasurewas recovered, and use the craft thereafter as a pirate. The Captainimmediately decided to return to England, where he arrived after astormy passage. Under the patronage of the Duke of Albemarle the shipwas refitted, and a trustworthy crew put on board.

  The second voyage across the Atlantic was pleasant and speedy, but justafter entering the Caribbean Sea a new danger threatened theadventurers, for early one morning they encountered a large Spanishfrigate, which at once started in chase of them. Captain Phippsaddressed his crew, telling them that if they permitted their ship to becaptured they would be sent into the interior of the country as slaves,to drag out their lives in the silver-mines. He bade them fight bravelyif they wished to enjoy home and freedom ever again. The superior speedof the Spaniard soon enabled that vessel to open fire on the _AlgierRose_, which so heartily returned the compliment that some of theforeigner's spars were shot away, making her fall astern of her saucyenemy, who now succeeded in escaping. Without further trouble thetreasure-hunters reached the island on whose treacherous coral reefs thesilver-ship had been wrecked. Here the _Algier Rose_ was safely moored,and search commenced for the sunken wealth.

  The small boats were used to explore the reefs, and served as platformsfrom which the best swimmers in the crew would dive into the channelsbetween the walls of coral on the lee side of the island, endeavoring tolocate the spot where the galleon had been carried before she struck. Asthe water in these places seldom exceeded twenty feet in depth, thebottom would have been plainly visible from the boat had it not been forthe continuous rippling and foaming of the surface water. Several weekswere passed in a vain pursuit, and at last, worn out and discouraged,the men positively refused to continue the work. By agreeing to abandonthe enterprise and set sail for England at the end of another week,unless some success was met with, the Captain prevailed upon several ofhis seamen to aid him for that length of time.

  Day after day went by, and the seventh and last day specified in theagreement arrived. Two of the divers had broken down under the strain,and now when the final trial was to be made the Captain called for twomen to go in their stead, but no one responded. He then appealed totheir manhood, asked them if he had not shared all their labors, andasked them to give him but one day more. The dispirited sailors made noresponse to the appeal, but the cook volunteered to go if some one wouldtake his place in the galley. This man was a negro about thirty years ofage, and had been shipped in England to act as a cabin servant on the_Algier Rose_, but the ship's cook having died on the passage out, hehad been sent into the caboose to take the former's place. Possessing apowerful physique and being an excellent swimmer, he stood by hisCaptain that day, the sole remaining hope, and seemed tireless in hisefforts to find for the disheartened commander some evidence of thetreasure, which the seamen swore existed only in the capsized brain ofthe man whom they could see out yonder under the broiling sun guidingthe boat in and out of the channels, while the laughing, leaping waterstinkled against the bows and ran in gurgling, mocking glee along theside. The negro would dive into the sea, and a few moments laterreappear; then, as he swam towards the boat, he would shake his head inanswer to the anxious, questioning look in the Captain's eyes. The boatwould move on again a short distance, and while the rowers held itstationary a dark form would part the water and sink down and down amongthe startled fishes, that flashed away in affright from the strangecreature whose darting arms seemed to grasp at them as they shot forsafety among the branches of coral underbush.

  The morning has passed gloomily away, and the negro plunges over theside for the last time before the men row back to the ship for dinner.Suddenly a black face in which is set two wildly rolling eyes bobs upalongside the boat, and a voice choking for breath and broken
withexcitement manages to gasp, "Him down thar, Massa Cap'n; him down thar!"

  The great treasure is discovered!

  No more despondency now. No more aching limbs. Splash, splash, splash!The rowers have torn off their scanty clothing, and jumped over theside to prove with their own eyes the story brought up to them from thebottom of the sea. One by one men reappear, and their recovered breathis used to send such a glad shout across the reefs that their shipmateshear it over a mile away, tumble into the boats alongside, and pullmadly out to them; then learning the joyful news, they break intocheers, kick off their garments, and overboard they also go to see theingots of silver scattered over the white sand amid the torn and brokenremnants of the wreck.

  During the two weeks that followed the crew of the _Algier Rose_ workedzealously at recovering the wealth that the Spaniards had taken suchpains to garner from the mountain range just back of the coast. Ashallow net-work bag was hitched together by the seamen for the purposeof holding the bars of silver that the divers would throw into it. Thosemanning the float that had been constructed would lower the rope cradleuntil it rested on the bottom; then the diver would thrust his feetinto a pair of heavy lead slippers and drop through the hole in thecentre of the raft which was anchored above the wreck. An instant later,when the bed of sand was reached, the diver would quickly select andthrow a brick of metal into the basket, drop his clumsy foot-gear intothe same receptacle, and then, relieved of the weight which had held himdown, he would shoot up to the surface of the water. Accepting hisreappearance as a signal, the men on the float would haul up the net,lift out the treasure, and pass it into the small boats to be carried tothe ship. At the end of a fortnight, when the divers reported that thelast bar had been gathered, the Captain calculated that he had recoveredfully thirty tons of pure silver.

  The stone in the lower hold was thrown overboard to make room for thenoble ballast, which was carefully stowed and wedged in its mean andgloomy quarters under the decks. The _Algier Rose_ now sailed forEngland, where she arrived safely five weeks from the day that heranchor had been hove up from its resting-place on the white coral bedoff the treasure island.

  Captain Phipps's share of the profits was very large, but the exactamount is unknown. In addition to a princely revenue, the King was somuch pleased with him for bringing such wealth into the country that heconferred on him the honor of knighthood, and to reward him stillfurther for having beaten off the Spanish man-of-war, his Majesty waspleased to grant him a commission as Captain in the Royal Navy.

  Sir William soon sailed for Boston in command of a fine frigate, and areunion with the now-envied Charity was speedily followed by the tyingof a true-lover's knot before the altar of the old meeting-house nearthe fort. A few months later the former blacksmith's boy redeemed hispromise by presenting to my lady "a fair brick house in one of the greenlanes of Boston." This residence, which was erected on Salem Street,stood until a few years ago, being last used as an orphan asylum forboys. In 1690 Sir William was named by the King, Captain-General andCommander-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay, and several years laterreceived a royal patent as Governor of Massachusetts.