1955 ends

Capt. Robson's Discovery, newspaper New Orleans Picayune, contributed by Arthur Louis Joquel II

( from The Odebolt Reporter, Odebolt, Sac County, Iowa, Friday, 28 April, 1882.)

"Yesterday the British steamship Jesmond, Capt. Robson, arrived at this port from Messina with a cargo of fruit. He says that when about two hundred miles to the westward of Maderia his attention was called to the singular appearance of the sea. The water had a dark, muddy look, and was covered with dead fish as far as the eye could reach. They were of several species, among them noticed mullet, co, bass. Soon after entering this field of dead fish he observed a faint smoke on the horizon nearly ahead, on the course of the vessel. Early next morning the captain was awakened by the second officer and informed that land had been sighted in the course of the steamer. He was greatly surprised at this information, knowing that there was no land in this part of the Atlantic. Upon going on deck, however, he found that the report was correct. The dim outlines of an island, broken by mountain peaks, were visible even without the use of the glass. Above it hung a cloud of smoke. The water was more turbid than the previous day, and the shoal of dead fish thicker. Capt. Robson deemed it advisable to take soundings, not expecting, however, to get bottom, as the charts show a depth of 2,000-3,000 fathoms in that portion of the Atlantic. For some time the sounding was without result, but suddenly the line brought bottom at fifty fathoms. When about four leagues distant form the island the Jesmond came to anchor in seven fathoms of water. The island was located at 28 degrees and 40 minutes west and 25 degrees north. Capt. Robson determined to make an examination of the strange land, and the yawl was lowered and the captain and one of his officers were rowed to the island. A landing was effected on the low coast of the western border, where a convenient harbor was found for the yawl. The captain and several of the crew, with some difficulty, ascended the declivity. The promontory seemed several miles in length, and joined an extensive tableau, which sloped gently back to a chain of mountains at a great distance off, from which rose light columns of smoke. The surface of the ground was covered with pumice stone and volcanic debris, and entirely devoid of vegetation. It was a desolate scene, where not a single living thing was to be perceived. The captain and his companions started on a tour inland, but soon found their progress impeded by yawning chasms. It was therefore determined to return to the beach and inspect the island from that side. While examining the base of the cliff where the rock was fractured and twisted as if by some tremendous convulsion, and disclosed a bed of breccia, a surprising discovery was made by one of the sailors. On thrusting a prong of a boat hook into the loosened mass of gravel, he dislodged a stone arrowhead. Excited by this incident the search was continued, and other articles of stone were discovered. A large excavation was made, and it was ascertained that the opening led between the crumbling remains of what must have been massive walls. A number of articles were exhumed, such as bronze swords, rings, hammers, carvings of heads and figures of birds and animals, and two vases or jars with fragments of bone, and one cranium almost entire. The most singular thing brought to view was what appeared to be a mummy, contained in a stone case. It was so incrusted with volcanic deposits as to be scarcely distinguished from the rock itself. Much difficulty was experience in dislodging the sarcophagus, which was finally taken out whole and, with the fossils, transported to the steamer.

Capt. Robson would have continued this investigation, but as the aspect of the weather became less favorable, and he could not afford to spend more time at the island, he sailed for this port. He considers that the new island was raised from the sea by volcanic action, and that the fish were killed by the poisonous gases from the volcano. The captain thinks that the new land is a section of the immense ridge known to exist in the Atlantic, and of which the Azores and Canaries are a part. He took pleasure in exhibiting the fossils and curious articles of which he was the fortunate finder. The carved heads are in the Egyptian style of sculpturing, being distinguished by the veil or hood, which characterizes Egyptian figures. The urns and vases are spherical with large mouths, and upon them may be discerned inscriptions in hieroglyphics. The edges of the axes and arrow or spear points are blunted and jagged. The sword is a straight weapon of bronze, with a cross-hilt. "That is the mummy," remarked the captain, pointing to that the reporter had taken to be a long block of stone. Scrutinizing closely the lidless case, the outlines of a human figure could be traced through the coating of scoriae and pumice. It will require careful handling to remove the coating. Capt. Robson proposes to present the relics to the British museum at London upon his return to Liverpool.

Webmaster Note- The location would be a deadline south of Tereceira Island in the Azores, while be a deadline south of the Canary Islands and more from the coast of North West Africa being 200 miles outward, but it must be noted he still journeyed at night after the first dead fish incident which might have been another 100 miles. In all the site maybe between 200-400 miles out. The speed of the ship would have to be taken into account in its average. This would fall in the location of where he claimed to have seen the island. In the 1890's while laying the grounds for a transatlantic cable a ship came upon land that had rose from the ocean bottom more than 200 feet, this was to the north I recollect above the Azores. It would seem this story is plausible in light of that minor fact of underwater activity at that time. It would be interesting if the British Museum has any word on those lost artifacts? The fact that the stone sarcophagus exists does not reveal an age, for the oldest we know of is about 7,000-8,000 years ago.

A conservative point:

Stone coffin-1,200 A.D.-6,000 B.C.

Bronze Sword-present-4,000 B.C.

Arrow heads-1800's A.D.-15,000 B.C.

Vases large mouthed and with glyphs 1,300 A.D.-8,000 B.C.

Rings- present -15,000 B.C. bone

Hammer-1800's A.D.-15,000 B.C.

Dates of youngest to oldest origin presently known-6,000-7,200-9,300-17,000

The median is 11,000 years or 11,500 B.C. that the artifacts at earliest might have existed,

The Bronze sword cuts this figure in half to 5,750 B.C., and the fact the arrow heads are jagged and blunted shows possibility of an older yet age. The conclusion, there seems to be a discrepancy in the age of objects presented, as if the land had been above water at a more recent period say up to 1,200 B.C. in which case we could halve the median of this to be 2,275 + 1,200= 3,475 B.C. which would be when this island was at least above water. If we were to be more conservative and half this figure it would be about 1,145+ 1,200=2,345 B.C. which falls close to a date when Pepi the II was King in the 6^th Dynasty. This would also explain some of the practices of objects found, and that Pepi did have excursions of his fleet in Spain. The description also corresponds to a region French Writers thought to be the Isle of the Amazons, and may be the Isle of the Serpent noted by the Egyptians that disappeared before 2,200 B.C.. If this was not a forgery statement by Capt. Robson (note came from Sicily, Italy -Objects brought?). We then take the presents of bronze swords to be not from a lost Phoenician ship, or thrown over board, would push our notion of Bronze, like the Otze Man with his copper chisel, or the Red Paint People's Massachusetts Man found with his copper ax at 5,400 B.C. in N. America to be an ancient art. Capt. Robson is not one we would believe knew Greek mythology in a great extent to know the beginnings of bronze or its associations with the Amazons. So, we are left with a peculiar history unsolved.

Pushing the Threshold of History Back, By Egerton Sykes

For many years the orthodox minded have criticized the exponents of the theory of Atlantis, by saying that there are no historical traces of civilization earlier than that of Mesopotamia, which was too late to have any bearing on the matter.

However, Mr. Zaki Saad, the Director of Excavations for the Egyptian Government, who has been working at Heluan near Cairo on a site for the last seven years, has unearthed proof that the 1^st Dynasty of Egypt had been preceded by at least 1,000 years of stable and civilized government. Not only this but he has also found graves dating back to at least 7,500 years ago, the final dates presumably awaiting checking by the radio active carbon process. The official publication of these papers will be made in the not too distant future.

The effect of these discoveries will be to narrow considerably the gap separating the date of the termination of the Atlantean culture and that of the beginning of its first known successor.