Treasure Tales and Treasure Stories About Hawaii from the Archives of Lost Treasure Magazine

Wreck of the Spec

Here is a sunken treasure that could interest divers. There has to be some truth to the sinking of this ship, the Spec, because it once belonged to the U.S. Navy, before being sold to private investors in Singapore, China, in 1842.

In the spring of 1846, a large order for opium was placed from San Francisco by an underworld group to runners in Singapore. The deal involved $100,000 worth of opium to be paid for in $10 gold pieces.

The opium was loaded aboard the schooner Spec in Singapore and she set sail, heading southeast. The Spec already had a reputation as a runner for unrefined opium throughout Asia and Hawaii. If she landed in San Francisco, she would be impounded and searched. So she sailed for the Hawaiian Islands, which were then independent, and docked at Honolulu, on the island of Oahu. The evening after her arrival, the transaction was completed. The pure opium was secretly transferred to another ship for the journey to San Francisco. At the same time a shallow-draft boat pulled alongside carrying a chest of gold coins. Hefting the chest onto the Spec, the sailors locked it securely in the captain's cabin.

The next morning the Spec set sail. She made it as far west as the island of Kauai before a storm broke. Desperate for shelter, the captain sailed the ship into the Kaulakahi Channel, between the islands of Kauai and Niihau. However, the Spec quickly broke up in the twisting water and sank in 700 fathoms, taking her gold to the bottom along with most of the crew.

Two men somehow managed to struggle ashore and made their way back to Honolulu. It is certain that $100,000 in gold was aboard the Spec when it sank.

If the gold was in U.S. $10 gold coins, as claimed by the two surviving seamen, the treasure could be worth up to 500 times its face value.

Author's note: There are several stories of caches being made by opium runners in Hawaii. A search of police records and old newspapers could be worthwhile.

Alfred Devereaux was a notorious opium runner in Hawaii for several years. He supplied merchants with unrefined opium, which he smuggled out of China. It is believed that he cached close to $100,000 on the tiny island of Kohoalame before he was killed under mysterious circumstances. His murder was never solved and is believed to have been committed by other runners who were jealous of his success. There is no record that any of the thousands of dollars he is known to have accumulated has ever been found.