That time of the week again...
This one comes from Panama and involves pirates, Spanish nobles, holy fathers of the church, an enormous hidden treasure and one extremely forward-thinking and hard-working (not to mention lucky...) Englishman.
At the end of World War One when there was a general mood of despondency and hopelessness across swathes of Europe after four years of bitter, unforgiving and desperate fighting. Many ex-service personnel were returning to civilian life with bleak prospects for the future. One such chap left the army of Great Britain after having served as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. Whilst serving his tours of duty he had been shown equipment where it was possible to "detect" metallic objects under the surface of the earth using a transmitter of electrical impulses and a receiver. The technology was being developed and used by mineral and oil prospectors and the military wanted to incorporate it into their armoury as weapons and tactics were rapidly changing from yesteryear. This chap after being discharged honourably from the army, had always wanted to travel, look for adventure, tinker with new and emerging technology and most importantly of all...get really rich as he was absolutely broke. The small amount he did have on him, he'd expended on trying to develop his "metal detector."
After some years, during the 1920s, he had built two devices which he believed would help him find buried objects from times gone by...
He started delving into records, archives and history books that, thankfully, we here in England, are blessed with aplenty. At first, it was pretty overwhelming to try and make sense of where to begin and where he might have the best rate of success with his new gadgets. Then as now, there was a huge list of potential spots around the globe where he could have gone to in order to test his new contraptions. One story that really captured his attention and caught his imagination, was of a certain Henry Morgan who had raided and amassed a humongous fortune from the Spanish in the Americas. He couldn't believe how this Welshman had taken his bands of cutthroats and laid waste to such large swathes of their territories in the New World.
The one raid that particularly intrigued him, was the one in 1671 on Panama City where it was hoped by Morgan and his fellow villains, they'd land their biggest prize to date due to the sheer amount of wealth that was reported by all to exist there. After launching the raid and capturing Panama City, the pirates were extremely disappointed to find limited wealth and took their frustrations out on the populace they'd captured and offered no mercy to child, woman, the elderly or clergy. All were fair game for torture and murder in the race to uncover where the city's wealth had been hidden. This is not to say they didn't come away empty-handed: they took away hundreds of mule-loads of treasure which the conniving Morgan cheated his fellow pirates out of. But what got Johnny Englishman was what had happened to the great amount of wealth that didn't fall into the clutches of the pirates...?
The evidence from the time detailed that Panama City had been raided on previous occasions by Dutch and Frenchie freebooters and the Spanish authorities had gone to great trouble to reinforce the city with defences and soldiers, and they were confident of defeating the pirates. Also, the extremely wealthy nobles, traders, church officials and other residents, had not tried to flee the city with their valuables and had literally banked on the authorities defeating the invaders.
Further research showed that after the sacking of Panama City and its total destruction, it was many years after before the Spanish rebuilt a 'new' Panama City at a location different to where the 'old' one was located. By now, English was getting the itch to make tracks to Central America...but being the disciplined and focused individual that his training in the British army had given him as an officer, he thought it wise to see what bureaucracy existed in order for one to start "treasure-hunting" in Panama. It was not good news. He was informed that he would need to purchase a permit for $10,000 and it was non-negotiable.
Was his dream over before it had even begun?
In the face of adversity, he let his qualities that distinguished English people (and many others!) and especially educated ex-army officers, shine. He called on former colleagues who were now working in various government departments, had business connections in Panama and those that might influence decision makers in that country. He, with some audacity, wrote directly to the Panamanian president presenting himself and his amazing gadget and promising a huge return for any concessions. At the time, the British government routinely interjected with foreign governments for the betterment of its citizens and companies...
How could the Panamanian el Presidente refuse?
After some wrangling about division of spoils, a contract was negotiated to the agreement of both parties. English wouldn't advertise what he was doing, he wouldn't sell shares or form a company, he would agree to the valuation placed on any objects found, by the Panamanians, they would send observers with him, there would be timescales he'd need to adhere to and he wouldn't be able to keep any finds.
It was full steam ahead.
English knew he had one opportunity to show el Presidente and his officials that the "detector" he had would be like nothing used before...The Panamanians had told him that they would be present at the first dig and that it'd better be a good one!!
He took all of this in his stride and knew he'd have to get it right if he was to make any positive impression. Things started on a bad footing when one of the detectors was stolen from his cabin on the journey to Central America. English had been wise enough to move a small but vital piece from both contraptions that without those pieces, neither would work. Knowing how hard it would be to find parts where he was heading and how important the devices were to any success he wished for, he protected the remaining detector with all he had.
On reaching Panama, he was given a pre-checked and cleared labouring crew by the Panamanian authorities and couldn't believe how strong and efficient these black gentlemen worked when he put them to clearing areas of the old site of Panama City. He settled on excavating the ruined old cathedral first as he believed this would be surely the place where many would have felt "safe and secure." Once the spot had been cleared of nearly two-and-a-half centuries of jungle growth, word was sent to el Presidente and other dignitaries about the "moment of truth" for Englishman. When all were gathered, English started waving his contraption over the fallen masonry, burned wooden beams and piles of dirt...
'BEEP,BEEP', went the signal into his earphones...sure enough when he started digging, he found a partly crushed solid golden goblet that still lustered like it must have when hastily abandoned/secreted during Morgan's attack. With cool
aplomb English presented it to El Presidente with the words " The first fruit of our harvest, Mr President and may it be the presage of many golden days for you and the Republic!"
Needless to say this won him instant favour and he was given any assistance he needed and even a base in Ancon from where he could operate without hindrance!
In the following days and weeks, a silver sanctuary bell, a gold, jewel-encrusted reliquary, gold patens, gold cruets, a huge gold platter, a richly carved solid gold door(possibly from the tabernacle of the altar), a gold monstrance and many other silver and gold items....they were well and truly on the way. The 'mistake' that Morgan's men had made was too rapidly check all the buildings for valuables and then, in a fit of anger and disgust, set fire to the city which allowed the buildings to collapse and make it impossible for secret passages, tunnels and depositories to be checked for....The pirates had felt that any treasure would have been moved outside the city limits as had happened on their other raids on the Spanish Main...
English, with hard work and foresight, had hit the jackpot. The sea-front of present-day Panama City, was built with funds accrued by the treasures uncovered by Englishman, and the authorities were delighted with his efforts. English built himself a huge estate and partook in his only vice of gambling in what is known as the "Sport of the Kings" - horse racing. He bought, raced and gambled with thoroughbreds he acquired and enjoyed his new found wealth in every way...
The old sites excavated by English are now a tourist attraction- Panama Viejo - the Panamanian authorities delighted in displaying the best of the treasure uncovered to visiting dignitaries and even at the Canal that was achieving prominence. They raised enough funds to rebuild a large portion of the current capital. This was all from the endeavours of one chap with a dream and an idea...
This is not the end.
Some years into the treasure search, a huge golden globe was found in 'secret' tunnels that somehow were connected to the sea that the old authorities had built as a last defence against invaders and had flooded when Morgan entered the city. The globe was not unlike those that exist/ed with Mary holding Jesus in one hand and a symbolic globe with a cross in the other...Documents uncovered in previous research detailed a "life size" statue of Mary made of solid gold from nuggets which had been collected from the natives in the interior, and then presented to the first Spanish governor of the old Panama City. English had found the globe with the cross on, when they'd dredged one of the flooded tunnels...
True story folks.
IPUK
A "good gun crew" with full crews for both barrels could empty the Merry go round in less than a minute. When firing support there was only one barrel used at a time per mount, no rush. Once the Merry go round was empty, then the rounds had to be carried from the powder magazine to the Merry go round by hand so rate of fire would drop dramatically. My luck was that when I was "Off" we would steam out to reload/rearm or refuel. So the 12 off didn't include a lot of sleep time. Also had to swap with the other crew for meals. That's why sleep was fairly shot supply and allowed me to learn to sleep through the blasts and the brass powder casings hitting the deck above me. 
)...the relative flexibility of the panama authorities in a joint collaboration and their willingness to be helpful as they saw progress ( but now panama is different and a ground for non encouraging ways of doing business to put it mildly...)....
