1914/15 STAR TRIO TO MAJOR PHILLIPS-ARMY SERVICE CORPS-A BRIDGE AND RAILWAY BUILDER-ENGINEER AND TREASURE HUNTER!

1914/15 Star trio,named to: LIEUT H.L.PHILLIPS.A.S.C (Star)
MAJOR H.L.PHILLIPS (Pair)
Medals about good very fine, mounted on pin for wearing
Served WW1 in the Mechanical Transport Section A.S.C.
His working life was spent building Railways,Docks, Bridges and as a General Engineer in India, working for Burn & Co.Calcutta.and was also at one time held a Government post as chief Engineer of the Port of Rangoon.His retirement was spent building Model Railway Engines,and Traction Engines,and as a Treasure Hunter!
He was appointed leader of of the Sakamvaya Expedition to South America do discover a £12m treasure said to have been hidden in the Andes by the Jesuits 200 years ago.A company was formed,with a capital of £45,000 and a party of 21 members set off with the requisite machinery for excavation pumping and rock crushing.
After many arduous months work in the Andes the expedition had to be abandoned mainly because of heavy rain setting in.and partly because the Bolivian Government did not approve of the venture!
Very little was found-a little gold, jewellery and pottery-insufficient to resume exploration.
On another occasion Major Phillips was a member of an expedition which set out from Southwick in a converted Brixham trawler,the VIGILANT,to search for buried treasure on Cocos Island off the Pacific coast of Panama.Much hard work came to nothing though,as the Costa Rican Government stepped in and confiscated the expeditions plant and machinery, and announced they were turning the Island into a penal settlement.Major Phillips commented:
"One way of thoroughly searching the small Island for Treasure".
Comes with several newspaper cuttings of Major Phillips, one has members of the Expedition sitting on the yard arm of the Vigilant,and several others show Phillips with a Steam Engine he had built,another from the English Mechanic and World of Science, dated 1906, shows Phillips in Burma with a photo of himself with his Children? in a Steam Car he had built himself.Another cutting from the Model Engineer and Electrician dated 1904 is signed by him as Mechanical Superintendent of the Port of Rangoon.Another cutting has Phillips riding on a Steam Train built by himself.Also comes with a history of Burns and Co
A wonderful Archive to an interesting man-worthy of further research.

Code: 52020