"Treasure under Glass" is a 1991

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Du ...

comic story by

Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created fo ...

. The story was first published in the Danish '' Anders And Ekstra'' #1991-02; the first American publication was in ''

'' #263, in February 1992.

Plot

Scrooge and his nephews are on a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

, scouting for sunken treasure ships. During their conversation, Donald is surprised to hear from Scrooge that the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

also mounted treasure-hunting expeditions (as Scrooge wryly says: ''"You don't suppose that when a ship packed with

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

sank, they just forgot about it?"''). In those days, the wrecks were easy to find in the relatively shallow waters of the Keys — since they had not yet been covered by ocean

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

, nor had their hulls decomposed — but the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

were unable to retrieve any of the treasure, for lack of

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

equipment. The Spaniards made detailed maps of the wreck sites, but these were all lost in

1655 Events January–March * January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan. * January 7 – Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule. * Febr ...

(during the Caribbean phase of the Anglo-Spanish War). Unfortunately for the Ducks, two pirates have been watching them and decide to eliminate the competition. While scouting the sea bottom, Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are menaced by

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s attracted by meat chunks dropped by the pirates, and duck under a shelf of rock that turns out to be the lip of an Imperial-era

diving bell A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which c ...

. When they bring the bell up, Scrooge recognizes the name engraved on the side: ''Candelaria'', the flagship of

Francisco Núñez Melián Francisco Núñez Melián (died 13 April 1644) was a Spanish adventurer and royal administrator. In 1626, he led an expedition to locate the wrecks of the two ships ''Nuestra Señora de Atocha'' and '' Santa Margarita''. On 3 June 1626 one of his ...

's salvage fleet. The Ducks decide to use the diving bell to allow them to get past the sharks. The bell leads them to the wreck, where they find a wall-mounted map with all the treasure sites clearly marked. Unfortunately, the map is covered with algae and so fragile that trying to clear the map away would cause it to crumble. For the same reason, the chart cannot be removed from the wreck intact. Donald comes up with an unusually (for him) ingenious idea: Scrooge commissions the making of an enormous

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

from glass blowers in

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, large enough to cover the entire wreck. The dome is lowered into the sea by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, upended over the wreck, staked to the sea floor, and slowly pumped full of air to remove the water. Now that the map is dry, Donald and his nephews are able to brush the moss away, and

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

the entire map in detail. However, the two

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s return and board the

, tie up Scrooge, lower themselves to the wreck in the diving bell, and relieve the ducks of the

camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

at gunpoint. While this has been going on, the stakes holding the dome in place have been pulling free, and eventually the dome rockets out of the ocean. The rush of water into the vented dome destroys the ''Candelaria'', and forces Donald and his nephews to swim to the surface without their diving gear. They free Scrooge from the schooner, but he starts berating Donald for the loss of the map data. Then they hear shouts for help coming from a "hole in the ocean", and motor their way to the dome, which is floating open-end up. Trapped at the bottom of the dome are the pirates, who accidentally motored their getaway

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...

into it. The pirates are arrested, and the camera is returned to Scrooge, containing information that will lead them to millions in sunken treasure. Donald demands that he deserves something extra for his innovative idea and the danger he and his nephews faced. Scrooge, examining photos from the camera taken earlier in the week, agrees that Donald deserves something extra and tells Donald to hold out his hand. Huey sees the picture — Donald sticking out his tongue at Scrooge behind his back — as Scrooge lashes Donald's palm with his

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...

, leaving an angry red mark. The story line is continued in Rosa's subsequent story ''

The Last Lord of Eldorado "The Last Lord of Eldorado" is a 1998 Donald Duck comic story by Don Rosa. The story was first published in the Danish ''Anders And, Anders And & Co.'' #1998-06; the first American publication was in ''Uncle Scrooge'' #311, in July 1988. Plot ...

''.

External links

*{{Inducks comic, D+90227 Disney comics stories Donald Duck comics by Don Rosa 1991 in comics Comics set in the Caribbean Comics set in Florida Nautical comics Comics about treasure hunting

Plot

See also

External links