g the _Lutine_ which you have obtained
from Martin's 'History of Lloyd's,' can, I think, be considered as
accurate, as I believe Mr. Martin had full means of access to any
documents which were available at Lloyd's or elsewhere in connection
with this matter." (Note from Captain Inglefield, Secretary of
Lloyd's, to the author.)

CHAPTER XII

THE TOILERS OF THE THETIS

The _Lutine_ was not the only treasure-laden frigate lost by the
British navy. The circumstances of the wreck of the _Thetis_ in 1830
are notable, not so much for the gold and silver that went down in her,
as for the heroic courage and bulldog persistence of the men who toiled
to recover the treasure. Their battle against odds was an epic in the
annals of salvage. They were treasure-seekers whose deeds, forgotten
by this generation, and grudgingly rewarded by their own, were highly
worthy of the best traditions of their flag and their race.

On the morning of December 4th of the year mentioned, the forty-six gun
frigate _Thetis_, with a complement of three hundred men, sailed from
Rio Janeiro, homeward bound. As a favor to various merchants of the
South American coast who were fearful of the pirates that still lurked
in the West Indies, her captain had taken on board for consignment to
London, a total amount of $810,000 in gold and silver bars. During the
evening of the second night at sea, the ship was running at ten and a
half knots, with studding-sails set, and plenty of offing, by the
reckoning of the deck officers. The lookout stationed on the cat-head
had no more than bellowed "Breakers under the bow!" when his comrade
echoed it with, "Rocks above the mast-head."

An instant later, the soaring bowsprit of the frigate splintered with a
tremendous crash against the sheer cliffs of Cape Frio. The charging
vessel fetched up all standing. Her hull had not touched bottom and
there was nothing to check her enormous momentum. In a twinkling,
literally in the space of a few seconds, her three masts were ripped
out and fell on deck with all their hamper, killing and wounding many
of the crew. Instead of that most beautiful sight in all the world, a
ship under full sail and running free, there was a helpless hulk
pounding out her life against the perpendicular wall of rock. The
catastrophe befell so suddenly that when Captain Burgess rushed from
his cabin at the warning shout, the masts tumbled just as he reached
the quarterdeck.

"No d