PIRATE'S PLUNDER

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 24

PIRATE'S PLUNDER

THE COCOS TREASURE

The story of the pirate Benito, who is believed to have hidden his plunder on Cocos Island, is qne to which it would be difficult to find a parallel in the annals of buried treasure. It is said that his real name was Bennett Graham, jind that he had been a British naval officer who served with distinction under Nelson at Trafalgar. He was, sent to the South Pacific in command of H.M.S. Devonshire to make. f a survey of the coast between Cape Horn and Panama; but he and his crew turned pirates, and in the year 1818 or 1819 he raided some of the coastal towns of Peru, looted the churches and hid his treasure in a cave on Cocot Island, which lies some 500 miles west of, Panama. A warship was sent against him, but he captured it and gave the crew the option of joining him or walking the plank. They decided to became pirates. He was eventually cornered by three British men-o'-war in Bonaventura Bay, wh'en his ship was sunk.' Graham and his surviving officers were executed in England and the crew transported to I Tasmania for life.

Among those convicts was a young woman who had partnered Graham in his adventures; but she was released after serving twenty years,' and subsequently went to the United States 'and tried to interest people in the recovery of the treasure. Her story was that Graham had used Cocos as a base throughout his piratical career, and had stored all his booty (amounting in value to some, twelve million pounds) in a huge'chamber which had been excavated from the rock. Although she produced a chart Graham had given her to' support her statement all efforts to find the hoard proved unsuccessful, Owing to certain trees and (other landmarks having disappeared. ';. Those who financed the first expedition to Cocos did hot disbelieve her story, however. Belief in it persisted and is still strong. More than twenty serious expeditions have been made to the island without (so far as is known) bringing the treasure away. " ; .. ' -

Commander James Plumpton, the author of "The Voyage of the Vigilant * Cocos Island, 1! and his eight companions, , who ' included two retired Naval officers, sailed from Brixham on March 2, 1932, in the Vigilant, a converted ketch-rigged trawler, 37 tons net register,1 fitted with a Diesel engine. They reached Cocos.on July 30, having examined a few reputed treasure islands, in the Caribbean (without rewardXTon the way, ahd: found'another party, the Cocos Island Treasure Company from Vancouver, in possession of the island. This expedition, which was twenty-eight strong, had a concession from the Costa Ridan 'Government; they had been the island for four months and had made extensive excavations, but had found nothing. For the location of the treasure they relied on an electrical apparatus called the Metalophone, while the Vigilant's party were prepared to trust to the reactions of one of their number^lftr, ; Frank Cooper, who had thfe power" of "divining" "'gold and-' silver as others divine water; instead of the usual hazel twig he used an old gramophone spring. .After considerable discussion the two parties agreed to join forces. -Mr; Cooper reported de-finite-pulls at only tw.rf of the Canadian workings, and the main operations were then confined to these two points,, the rising ground north of Wafer Camp, and at Treasure Creek in Chatham Bay. It was gruelling work on account ol the heat, while the rain might prevent operations for days (together. The, weeks went by and hot even a doubloon was found to encourage their efforts, so that in January. 1933, both parties decided to abandon'the search.

Commander Plumpton has written a plain, narrative of his experiences, comments a reviewer in "The Times Literary Supplement."!/ It is clear that he bore his disappointment with philosophy. He left the island with regret, he says, "for in spite of all the hard, unsuccessful effort, we had been happy"; moreover his own failure has not shaken his belief that .the treasure exists' and that sooner or later some, if not all, of it will be found. He admits that the most convincing argument against him is that he found no traces of occupation by the ■buccaneers; not so much as an odd button! Against that he quotes a letter (published in a Vancouver paper while he was still at work on Cocos) giving in detail the narrative of a Canadian farmer who actually located the cache in ,1887 and took from it three gold bars, intending to go back at a later date; but when he and his captain did return a landslide had covered the mouth of the/cave and they could find nothing. Commander Plumpton suggests; that future searchers. should' examine the gr&utid' in the neighbourhood of high-water mark, not inland. He concludes bis narrative -with a chapter.on "Tip's; for Treasure Seekers." This was thoughtful of him, for with the publication of his book the number of expeditions to Cocos may increase, particularly as he assures his readers that "the cost per head of the whole business, including, in our case, the purchase'of the Vigilant and her conversion, was less than it would have cost us to live in England during the year we were away."