April 1, 1985

CAMPUS MOBBED!! Gold seekers dig up shrubbery, eat sandwiches

Life on Capilano College's Lynnmour campus
has been turned upside down this week with
the advent of a staggering discovery on
the grounds. Landscape Horticulture
student Irwin Schwartz, who became a
little overenthused when planting a smal]
shrub on the south campus and excavated a
six foot hole, uncovered a wooden chest
containing a fortune in jewels and pieces
of eight. The Landscape Horticulture

students and faculty were amazed.

"We were amazed,'' commented Landscape
instructor Les Koskitalo. ''l had just come
by to see why he was digging this great
blasted hole, and | said ‘What do you
think you're doing—digging for buried
treasure?' when his spade his something
hol low-sounding."'

"l was amazed,'' said Schwartz. "At first |
thought maybe they'd buried somebody a few
yards too far south of the cemetary, but
then | decided to take a closer look, and,
well... like wow!"

The SFU Archaeology Department was called

in right away, and although they confirmed
the find as a genuine 16th century site,
they confessed to being somewhat puzzled
as to how a pirate's treasure containing
gold which has been traced as originating
in Central America, should end up in a
coniferous forest in North Vancouver. In
an official statement they noted:
"Although the navigational techniques
employed by these 16th century brigands
were crude, it is difficult to see how
they could have lost their way in the
Caribbean and travelled around the Horn,
up the coasts of South and North America,
and into the Vancouver harbour, when all
evidence suggests that they were intending
to go to Jamaica."'

One theory advanced by History instructor
Robert Campbell, however, is that the
pirates, having run out of all provisions
except rum, decided to goonan exploratory
cruise and became severely disoriented.
"This would explain how they got to
Vancouver ,'' said Campbell, ''since this
harbour and Kingston do bear some

CONTINUED ...