PIRATES HOARDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 18762, 29 December 1930, Page 11

PIRATES HOARDS.

A NEVER-ENDING QUEST. What commercial enterprise could be more romantic than the organised hunt for hidden treasure? An American expedition is now being fitted out to salvage the Spanish treasure ship Carlos 111., which sank off Cuba in 1812. Two years ago an English syndicate secured a concession from the Panama Government to excavate the ruins of Old Panama for the vast treasures which tradition alleges were hidden by the Spaniards when Morgan the pirate-knight, sacked and burnt the city. Equipped with electrical divining rods, the treasure-hunters began operations on the site of SanJose Churchill, and almost immediately unearthed a casket containing valuable ornaments. Excitement ran high. The natives deciding that it there was treasure to be found, it should not go to foreigners, a claim to the land (supported by documents) was lodged by one of them; and the syndicate withdrew in despair. In 1930 a British company obtained a concession from the Colombian Government to drain the famous lake near Bogota, associated with the legend of El Dorado—the Gilded Man. It was in 1535 that Don Luis Daza first brought to Europe the tale of El Dorado—the Muyuscan chief—whose body was annually sprinkled with gold dust.

The origin of this ceremony was romantic.

According to Muyuscan lore the wife of an early chief had thrown herself into the lake and the gods had transformed her into the goddess of the lake. She became the most revered deity of the tribe. Every year the chief was borne to the lake upon a golden litter, his body covered with gold dust, followed by priests laden with golden offerings. In the sacred waters the chief washed off his golden coat, while the assembled multitudes cast in their gold and emeralds. The accumulated treasure at the bottom of the lake must amount to hundreds of tons. In “Lost Treasure” Mr A. H. Verill deals with a highly romantic subject in a manner which grips the reader. Unfortunately, his facts are occasionally distorted (notably those dealing with Captain Kidd), and he lacks the detachment of the historian; nevertheless, he succeeds in showing that the existence of some of the hidden hoards of legend is authentic. The pirates’ stronghold of Port Royal was renowned as the righest city in the world. In June, 1692, an earthquake sent it to the bottom of the sea with all its accumulated riches. Jamestown, the one-time capital of Nevis, was the Mecca of fashion in the West Indies when in 1680 it, like Port Royal, was swallowed by the sea.

On a calm day the outlines of these two cities may still be deteced far below the surface; yet not one penny of their riches has ever been recovered. Somewhere off the coast of Ecuador lies the sunken galleon containing thirteen million pieces-of-eight despatched by the Spanish colonists for the relief of Charles I. against Cromwell. Not far away, off the Island of Plate, lie the tons of bullion jettisoned by Drake from the Golden Hind.

A Self-Crowned King. I One of the most famous hidden ! hoards is that of Trinidad, estimated at four million pounds, and supposed to have been buried by Benito de Soto, the Portuguese desperado, who was hanged as a pirate at Gibraltar a i century ago. ! In 1889 an English barrister named Knight organised a well-equipped expedition to Trinidad, but after three months’ arduous digging the search was abandoned. Next upon the scene was a Paris j editor, notorious as a duellist, Baron Harden-Hickey, who solved the problem of raising funds by marrying the Standard Oil King’s daughter. Land- | ing in Trinidad, he proclaimed himself “King James 1.,” founded the “Ordut of the Insignia of the Cross of Trinidad,” appointed a royal Cabinet personally designed court uniforms and regalia, and issued a glowing prospectus of his kingdom’s hidden treasures, offering alluring terms to all who would settle on the island to excavate them. Colonists arrived; the treasure hunt began. Then England annexed Trinidad, and the poor “king,” rather than become a commoner again, blew out .is brains. Somewhat similar is the origin of another British possession. In 1810 a nirate named Jonathan Lambert, having buried his vast ill-gotten gains on Tristan da Cunha, settled there, and proclaimed himself “Emperor of Tristan.” When, in 1816, England annexed the island, Lambert was dead, • but legend asserts that his treasure ■ies there. I As Mr Verill says: “If I|rothei i Jonathan’s treasure was ever oil Tris- ; tan it is there still — on j the right-hand side of the last house l down in the direction of Little Beach, , between the two waterfalls. In a . limited area, an easy place to search, the hoard of the pirate-emperor of Tristan da Cunha lies waiting for "ome treasure seeker to find it.” T The most authentic of these legends • of treasure is that of Cocos Island. • Two and a-half centuries ago the pirate Davis hid the vast plunder of ) Spanish galleons on this island. In later years another pirate, Benito

Bentio, added to the hoard. Then, a century ago. when the Spaniards of Peru were fleeing with their possessions from the forces of Bolivar the Liberator, the Mary Dear set sail far Spain with fugitives carrying away twelve million dollars’ worth of gold and jewels. The sight of such riches was too much for the brig’s skipper, who “disposed” of his passengers, and hid the treasure on Cocos Island. “Scarcely a year has passed without Cocos Island treasure seekers setting sail. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended in the search. One expedition alone, that started from Vancouver in 1901, spent over 10,000 dollars in outfit and equipment. At times pitched battles have been fought by rival expeditions that reached Cocos Island at the same time. English lords and American multi-millionaires have been lured to Cocos in the search of its hidden millions.” Yet the only treasure that has been found is a single gold coin, a doubloon of Charles HI., of Spain, dated 1788! —“John o’ London’s Weekly.”