is
night for Hambro, and they trust their Lordships will direct such steps
as they think expedient for its protection to be taken."

The request was granted somewhat grudgingly. Apparently the Admiralty
regretted the employment of one of its frigates as a merchantman.
Admiral Lord Duncan was directed to send a convoy this time, but was
told also "to let them know that their lordships have done so in this
particular case; but that they must not expect the packets can again be
convoyed." With this letter ends all reference to the _Lutine_ and her
treasure in the correspondence preserved in the Record Office of the
Admiralty.

Having paid their losses, like the good sportsmen that they were, the
underwriters of Lloyd's thereby clinched their right to the ownership
of the treasure, provided they could find it. The situation was
complicated because England was at that time at war with the
Netherlands whose government claimed the wreck as a prize, although
inconsistently refusing to let it be adjudicated by a prize court. On
this account, Lloyd's could make no attempt to fish for the treasure,
which delay was very much to the benefit of the sturdy Dutch fishermen
of the islands at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee. The sands and the surf
held a golden harvest. The wreck of the _Lutine_ was partly exposed at
low ebb tide, and a channel ran close to the side of the ship.

The clumsy fishing boats or "showts" swarmed to the place and never was
there such easy wealth for honest Dutchmen. Their government soon put
a watch on them and took two-thirds of the findings, giving the
fishermen the remainder. They toiled in good weather for a year and a
half, and recovered treasure to the amount of eighty-three thousand
pounds sterling. The official inventory reads like the hoard of a
buccaneer, including as it does such romantic items as:

58 bars of gold, weight 646 lbs. 23 ounces.
35 bars of silver, weight, 1,758 lbs. 8 ounces.
41,697 Spanish silver pistoles.
179 Spanish gold pistoles.
81 Double Louis d'or.
138 Single Louis d'or.
4 English guineas.

At the end of the year 1801 the fishermen quit their task, thinking
they had found all the treasure. For a dozen years the Dutch forgot
the melancholy fragments of the _Lutine_, while the sailors of the
desolate islands guarding the Zuyder Zee began to weave superstitious
legends around the "gold wreck." In the midst of the crowded events of
the great war again