st Napoleon, England found no time to remember the
_Lutine_, and her memory was kept alive only by the kinfolk of the
drowned officers and sailors.

After Napoleon had been finally disposed of, the treasure was recalled
to public notice by an ingenious gentleman of the Netherlands, Pierre
Eschauzier, a sort of lord of the manor under the government, holding
the post of "Opper Strand vonder," or "Upper Strand finder," who lived
at Terschelling and took a lively interest in the wreck. After a great
deal of investigation and cogitation, he arrived at the conclusion that
the greater part of the treasure dispatched from England in the
_Lutine_ was still hidden among her timbers. His argument was based on
the fact that the bars of silver and gold already recovered were
stamped with certain numbers and letters indicating series or
sequences, and that thus far these were very incomplete.

For instance, among the gold bars previously found, were thirteen
marked with the letters _NB_, in three separate lots; the first
numbered from 58 to 64; the second from 86 to 90; and the third from 87
to 89. Other gold bars with different letters and a variety of numbers
went to prove that there were a hundred numbers to each letter, which
would yield a total of six hundred gold bars, of which only thirty-one
had been recovered in the years 1800 and 1801.

The government of the Netherlands was duly impressed by the
calculations of Mr. Eschauzier who had proved himself such an astute
"Upper Strand finder," and he was granted a sum by royal decree from
the public exchequer to equip a salvage expedition. Alas, the pretty
theory was thwarted by the implacable sands which had buried the wreck.
For seven years this indefatigable treasure seeker dredged and dug, and
found no more than a few gold coin. Then he decided to try a diving
bell, King Willem I having bestowed upon him a more favorable privilege
by the terms of which the salvage company was to have one-half of the
treasure recovered.

The diving bell was no luckier than the dredges had been. In fact, by
this time the unstable sands had so concealed the wreck that it could
not be found. After vainly groping for several months, the luckless
"Upper Strand finder" confessed himself beaten, and there was nothing
to show for an expenditure of five thousand pounds sterling. These
operations had made some noise in London, however, and the underwriters
of Lloyd's remembered that they had