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Overview: Short stories – stories for children and teens

The treasure of the Quintanadoine

A dark night: A couple of seamen are hanging onto the ropes and painting the hull of the ship – a two mast brig. Under the cover of darkness the "Telemaque" is made into the "Quintanadoine". Shortly afterwards the 26m long ship is loaded. The official version is that it is loaded with wood, suet and tar but the rumours are spreading: The real load is made up of gold and valuables from the royal family of King Louis XVI, thirty noble families and five convents. The value of the load: more than 40 million Euros.

1. January 1790.

Impenetrable fog lies over the town. The sailing ship carefully leaves the port. The captain knows the area well. Two days later they reach the mouth of the Seine which flows into the Atlantic. The brig is anchored at Quillebeuf. A violent storm rages in the night. The ship breaks its moorings and is pushed towards a sandbank. It is rather remarkable: Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette seem to be more worried about their treasure than about themselves. They themselves flee too late. Their carriage is recognised and the royal family is taken prisoner. At this time in France the Revolution and death is raging. The royal pair had paid more attention to their treasure than to their own lives. A gruesome mistake!

(Every war shows how quickly people can lose everything. Only one thing really remains at the end: A treasure in God which means the eternal life and a relationship with Jesus.) The storm rages more and more violently. The little two mast brig "Quintanadoine" of the French royal family does not stand a chance. It sinks within minutes. There is no sign of the crew which was on board. Slowly the rumour starts to spread: At a depth of 10m on a sandbank near Quillebeuf, there is a treasure worth millions.

Finally, in autumn 1837

an attempt is started to try and raise the wreck. However the project is a failure. The wreck lies under mud and sand. The currents are strong and dangerous and the technical possibilities at the time were not sufficient. For decades different recovery teams try to recover the sunken two mast brig with no success. Only a couple of valuable objects could be recovered under life threatening conditions: A few gold coins and jewels along with a royal mirror decorated with valuable stones.

1939

Well trained divers swim to the sandbank in the middle of the mouth of the Seine. Their task: To recover the wreck of the "Quintanadoine". In varying positions pontoons are placed and air pressure pipes are laid. The pontoons are then filled with air through the iron pipes. The wreck slowly emerges. On the 5th April 1940 it is freed from the bleak currents of the Seine. The ship is thoroughly examined but nothing is found: No gold, no jewels. Nothing, absolutely nothing is discovered.

Where is the valuable load?
Has the wrong ship been pulled up? That is possible because lots of wrecks are in the area.
Was the valuable load never on board in the first place?
Did the king manage to hide it elsewhere?
Was the treasure already uncovered? Maybe in an earlier recovery attempt?

Maybe these questions will never be answered. Everyone who has a relationship to the Lord Jesus can collect their treasure in heaven, those who have admitted their sins to him, live for him. Everything we do, because we belong to Lord Jesus, sparkles like a precious stone in the treasure which is being collected for us in heaven. We don’t have to perform great things. The collection can begin quite small within the family. How is it with the washing up today?

A wonderful treasure has been presented to us in the bible. We have access to it everyday when we read it. We do not understand everything when we read it for the first time. We may ask God for understanding of the difficult parts. Sometimes that can take a while. God cleanses our bodies – and he lets our understanding for the value of his wonderful treasure grow and grow.

Possible parts of the bible relevant to the story:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Matthew 6,19)
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ( Matthew 6,20)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ( Matthew 6,21)

(Source: "Der Kompass" edition 2000, a daily calendar for children and young people in Germany. The story was allowed to be included in the collection of materials (www.praxis-jugendarbeit.de / www.youthwork-practice.com) with kind permission.)
Copyright: Christian circulation (www.csv-verlag.de)