By remaining so long in the salt water, they had become covered over with a crust which had the appearance of stone, so that it was necessary to break them in pieces with hammers and axes.

When this was done, a stream of silver dollars gushed out upon the deck of the vessel.
The whole value of the recovered treasure, plate, bullion, precious stones, and all, was estimated at more than two millions of dollars.
It was dangerous even to look at such a vast amount of wealth.

A sea-captain, who had assisted Phips in the enterprise, utterly lost his reason at the sight of it.

He died two years afterwards, still raving about the treasures that lie at the bottom of the sea.

It would have been better for this man if he had left the skeletons of the shipwrecked Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth.
Captain Phips and his men continued to fish up plate, bullion, and dollars, as plentifully as ever, till their provisions grew short.