The Book of Buried Treasure Part 32

But Roger was the same man still,--he scorned his brother's prayers-- He called his crew, away he flew, and on those foreign sh.o.r.es, Got killed in some outlandish place,--they called it the Eyesores."

(_Ingoldsby Legends._)

The popular delusion that pirates found nothing better to do with their plunder than to bury it, like so many thrifty depositors in savings banks, clashes with what is known of the habits and temperaments of many of the most industrious rovers under the black flag. By way of a concluding survey of the matter, let us briefly examine the careers of divers pirates of sorts and try to ascertain what they did with their gold and whether it be plausible to a.s.sume that they had any of it left to bury. Of course, romance and legend are up in arms at the presumption that any well-regulated and orthodox pirate omitted the business with the pick and shovel and the chart with the significant crosses and compa.s.s bearings, but the prosaic facts of history are due to have their innings.

For example, there was Jean Lafitte who ama.s.sed great riches in the pursuit of his profession and whose memory has inspired innumerable treasure-seeking expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico and along the coast of Central America. After ravaging the commerce of the East India Company in the waters of the Far East, he set up his headquarters on an island among the bayous and cypress swamps of that desolate region below New Orleans that is known as Barrataria. A deep-water pa.s.s ran to the open sea, only two leagues distant, and on the sh.o.r.es of the sheltered harbor of Grand Terre, Lafitte organized the activities of a large number of pirates and smugglers and formed a flourishing colony; a corporation, in its way, for disposing of the merchandise filched from honest shipping. These marauders posed as privateers, and some of them had French and other commissions for sailing against the Spanish, but there was a great deal of laxity in such trifles as living up to the letter of the law.

At Grand Terre, Lafitte and his people sold the cargoes of their prizes by public auction, and from all parts of lower Louisiana bargain-hunters flocked to Barrataria to deal in this tempting traffic.

The goods thus purchased were smuggled into New Orleans and other nearby ports, and Lafitte's piratical enterprises became so notorious that the government of the United States sent an expedition against him in 1814, commanded by Commodore Patterson. At Grand Terre he found a settlement so great in force and numbers as to const.i.tute a small kingdom ruled by Lafitte. The commodore described the encounter in a letter to the Secretary of War, and said in part:

"At half-past eight o'clock A.M. on the 16th of June, made the Island of Barrataria, and discovered a number of vessels in the harbor some of which showed the colors of Carthagena. At two o'clock, perceived the pirates forming their vessels, ten in number, including prizes, into a line of battle near the entrance of the harbor, and making every preparation to offer battle. At ten o'clock, wind light and variable, formed the order of battle with six gun boats and the _Sea Horse_ tender, mounting one six pounder and fifteen men, and a launch mounting one twelve pound carronade; the schooner _Carolina_ drawing too much water to cross the bar.

"At half-past ten o'clock, perceived several smokes along the coasts as signals, and at the same time a white flag hoisted on board a schooner at the fort, an American flag at the mainmast head, and a Carthagenian flag (under which the pirates cruise) at her topping-lift. I replied with a white flag at my main. At eleven o'clock discovered that the pirates had fired two of their best schooners; hauled down my white flag and made the signal for battle; hoisting a large flag bearing the words _Pardon for Deserters_, having heard there was a number on sh.o.r.e from our army and navy. At a quarter past eleven o'clock, two gun-boats grounded, and were pa.s.sed, agreeably to my previous orders, by the other four which entered the harbor, manned by my barge and the boats belonging to the grounded vessels, and proceeded in. To my great disappointment, I perceived that the pirates had abandoned their vessels and were flying in all directions. I immediately sent the launch and two barges with small boats in pursuit of them.

"At meridian, took possession of all their vessels in the harbor, consisting of six schooners and one felucca, cruisers and prizes of the pirates, one brig, a prize, and two armed schooners under the Carthagenian flag, both in the line of battle with the armed vessels of the pirates, and apparently with an intention to aid them in any resistance they might make against me, as their crews were at quarters, tompions out of their guns, and matches lighted. Colonel Ross (with seventy-five infantry) at the same time landed and took possession of their establishment on sh.o.r.e, consisting of about forty houses of different sizes, badly constructed and thatched with palmetto leaves.

"When I perceived the enemy forming their vessels into a line of battle, I felt confident from their number, and very advantageous position, and their number of men, that they would have fought me.

Their not doing so I regret, for had they, I should have been able more effectually to destroy or make prisoners of them and their leaders.

The enemy had mounted on their vessels twenty pieces of cannon of different caliber, and as I have since learned, had from eight hundred to one thousand men of all nations and colors."

Notwithstanding this unfriendly visit, Lafitte was a patriot after his own fashion and during the War of 1812 his sympathies were with the American forces. In September, 1814, Captain Lockyer, of a British naval vessel, anch.o.r.ed in the pa.s.s at Barrataria, and delivered to Lafitte a packet of doc.u.ments comprising a proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of Louisiana by Colonel Edward Nichalls, commander of the English forces on the coast of Florida, a letter from him to Lafitte, and another from the Honorable W. H. Percy, captain of the sloop-of-war _Hermes_. The upshot of all this was a proposal that Lafitte enter the British naval service in command of a frigate, and if he would take his men with him he should have thirty thousand dollars, payable at Pensacola.

Lafitte refused the tempting bait, and two days later sent the following letter to Governor Claiborne of the state of Louisiana:

BARRATARIA, Sept. 4th. 1814.

"_Sir:_

"In the firm persuasion that the choice made of you to fill the office of first magistrate of this state, was dictated by the esteem of your fellow citizens, and was conferred on merit, I confidently address you on an affair on which may depend the safety of this country. I offer to restore to this state several citizens who perhaps in your eyes have lost that sacred t.i.tle. I offer you them, however, such as you could wish to find them, ready to exert their utmost efforts in defense of the country. This point of Louisiana which I occupy is of great importance in the present crisis. I tender my services to defend it; and the only reward I ask is that a stop be put to the proscription against me and my adherents, by an act of oblivion, for all that has been done hitherto. I am the stray sheep wishing to return to the fold. If you are thoroughly acquainted with the nature of my offenses, I shall appear to you much less guilty, and still worthy to discharge the duties of a good citizen. I have never sailed under any flag but that of the republic of Carthagena, and my vessels are perfectly regular in that respect. If I could have brought my lawful prizes into the ports of this state, I should not have employed the illicit means that have caused me to be proscribed. I decline saying more on the subject, until I have the honor of your Excellency's answer, which I am persuaded can be dictated only by wisdom. Should your answer not be favorable to my desires, I declare to you that I will instantly leave the country, to avoid the imputation of having cooperated towards an invasion of this point, which cannot fail to take place, and to rest secure in the acquittal of my conscience.

"I have the honor to be "Your Excellency's, etc.

"J. LAFITTE."

This highly commendable doc.u.ment so favorably impressed Governor Claiborne that he offered Lafitte safe conduct to come to New Orleans and meet General Andrew Jackson. After a conference of this trio, the following order was issued:

"The Governor of Louisiana, being informed that many individuals implicated in the offenses heretofore committed against the United States at Barrataria, express a willingness at the present crisis to enroll themselves and march against the enemy:

"He does hereby invite them to join the standard of the United States and is authorized to say, should their conduct in the field meet the approbation of the Major General, that that officer will unite with the Governor in a request to the President of the United States, to extend to each and every individual so marching and acting, a free and full pardon."

At the battle of New Orleans, on January 8th, 1815, Lafitte and his lieutenant, Dominique, commanded a large force of what Jackson called the "Corsairs of Barrataria," and defended their breastworks and served their batteries with such desperate gallantry that they n.o.bly earned the promised pardons. These were granted by President James Madison on February 6th, and he took occasion to say:

"But it has since been represented that the offenders have manifested a sincere repentance; that they have abandoned the prosecution of the worst cause for the support of the best, and particularly, that they have exhibited in the defense of New Orleans, unequivocal traits of courage and fidelity. Offenders, who have refused to become the a.s.sociates of the enemy in the war, upon the most seductive terms of invitation; and who have aided to repel his hostile invasion of the territory of the United States, can no longer be considered as objects of punishment, but as objects of a generous forgiveness."

The foregoing evidence is ample to prove that Lafitte had no occasion to bury any of his treasure, but like Kidd along the New England coast, legend has been busy with his name and is blind to the facts of record.

He later made a settlement on the island of Galveston and his history becomes obscured. One version is that the love of the old trade was in his blood, and he fitted out a large privateer to have a farewell fling with fortune. A British sloop-of-war overhauled him in the Gulf of Mexico, hailed him as a pirate, and opened fire. The engagement was terrifically hot, and Jean Lafitte was killed at the head of his men while resisting a boarding party.

Take next the case of that noted pirate Captain Avery "whose adventures were the subject of general conversation in Europe." He captured one of the Great Mogul's ships laden with treasure; it was reported that he had wedded a daughter of that magnificent ruler and was about to found a new monarchy; that he gave commissions in his own name to the captains of his ships and the commanders of his forces and was acknowledged by them as their prince. With sixteen stout fellows of his own kidney, he ran off with a ship in which he had sailed from England as mate, and steered for Madagascar in the year 1715. "The Pirates' Own Book" tells the story of Captain Avery, his treasure, and the melancholy fate of both, and the author is, as a rule, such a well-informed historian of these matters, that he should be allowed to set it forth in his own words, which are framed in a style admirably befitting the theme.

"Near the river Indus the man at the mast-head espied a sail upon which they gave chase; as they came nearer to her they discovered that she was a tall vessel, and might turn out to be an East Indiaman. She, however, proved a better prize; for when they fired at her, she hoisted Mogul colors, and seemed to stand upon her defense. Avery only cannonaded at a distance, when some of the men began to suspect he was not the hero they had supposed. His sloops, however, attacked, the one on the bow, and another upon the quarter of the ship, and so boarded her. She then struck her colors. She was one of the Great Mogul's own ships, and there were in her several of the greatest persons in his court, among whom, it was said, was one of his daughters going upon a pilgrimage to Mecca; and they were carrying with them rich offerings to present at the shrine of Mahomet. It is a well-known fact that the people of the East travel with great magnificence, so that these had along with them all their slaves and attendants, with a large quant.i.ty of vessels of gold and silver, and immense sums of money to defray their expenses by land. The spoil, therefore, which they received from that ship was almost incalculable.

"Our adventurers made the best of their way back to Madagascar, intending to make that place the deposit of all their treasure, to build a small fort, and to keep always a few men there for its protection. Avery, however, disconcerted this plan, and rendered it altogether unnecessary. While steering their course, he sent a boat to each of the sloops, requesting that the chiefs would come on board his ship to hold a conference. He suggested to them the necessity of securing the property which they had acquired, and observed that the main difficulty was to get it safe on sh.o.r.e; adding that if either of the sloops should be attacked alone, they would not be able to make any great resistance. That, for his part, his ship was so strong, so well manned, and such a swift-sailing vessel, that he did not think it possible for any other ship to take or overcome her. Accordingly, he proposed that all their treasure should be sealed up in three chests,--that each of the captains should have a key, and that they should not be opened until all were present;--that the chests should be then put on board his ship and afterwards lodged in some safe place on land.

"This proposal seemed so reasonable, and so much for the common good that it was agreed to without hesitation, and all the treasure was deposited in three chests and carried to Avery's ship. The weather being favorable, they remained all three in company during that and the next day; meanwhile Avery, tampering with his men, suggested that they had now on board what was sufficient to make them all happy; 'and what,' continued he, 'should hinder us from going to some country where we are not known, and living on sh.o.r.e all the rest of our days in plenty!' They soon understood his hint, and all readily consented to deceive the men of the sloops, and fly with all the booty. This they effected during the darkness of the following night. The reader may easily conjecture what were the feelings and indignation of the other two crews in the morning when they discovered that Avery had made off with all their property.

"Avery and his men hastened towards America, and being strangers in that country, agreed to divide the booty, to change their names, and each separately to take up his residence and live in affluence and honor.... Avery had been careful to conceal the greater part of the jewels and other valuable articles, so that his own riches were immense. Arriving at Boston, he was almost resolved to settle there, but as the greater part of his wealth consisted of diamonds, he was apprehensive that he could not dispose of them at that place, without being taken up as a pirate. Upon reflection, therefore, he resolved to sail for Ireland, and in a short time arrived in the northern part of that kingdom, and his men dispersed into several places. Some of them obtained the pardon of King William and settled in that country.

"The wealth of Avery, however, now proved of small service and occasioned him great uneasiness. He could not offer his diamonds for sale in that country without being suspected. Considering, therefore, what was best to be done, he thought there might be some person in Bristol he could venture to trust. Upon this he resolved, and going to Devonshire, sent to one of his friends to meet him at a town called Bideford. When he had unbosomed himself to him and other pretended friends, they agreed that the safest plan was to put his effects in the hands of some wealthy merchants, and no inquiry would be made how they came by them.

"One of these friends told him he was acquainted with some who were very fit for the purpose, and if he would allow them a handsome commission, they would do the business faithfully. Avery liked the proposal, particularly as he could think of no other way of managing this matter, since he could not appear to act for himself.

Accordingly, the merchants paid Avery a visit at Bideford, where after strong protestations of honor and integrity, he delivered them his effects, consisting of diamonds and some vessels of gold. After giving him a little money for his present subsistence, they departed.

"He changed his name and lived quietly at Bideford, so that no notice was taken of him. In a short time his money was all spent, and he heard nothing from his merchants though he wrote to them repeatedly.

At last they sent him a small supply, but it was not sufficient to pay his debts. In short, the remittances they sent him were so trifling that he could with difficulty exist. He therefore determined to go privately to Bristol, and have an interview with the merchants himself,--where instead of money, he met with a mortifying repulse.

For when he desired them to come to an account with him, they silenced him by threatening to disclose his character; the merchants thus proving themselves as good pirates on land as he was at sea.

"Whether he was frightened by these menaces, or had seen some other person who recognized him, is not known. However, he went immediately to Ireland, and from thence solicited his merchants very strongly for a supply, but to no purpose; so that he was reduced to beggary. In this extremity he was determined to return and cast himself upon the mercy of these honest Bristol merchants, let the consequence be what it would. He went on board a trading vessel, and worked his pa.s.sage over to Plymouth, from whence he traveled on foot to Bideford. He had been there but a few days when he fell sick and died; not being worth so much as would buy a coffin."

That very atrocious pirate, Charles Gibbs, squandered most of his treasure, but it may be some consolation to know that $20,000 of it, in silver coin, was buried on the beach of Long Island, a few miles from Southampton, as attested by the records of the United States Court of the Southern District of New York. Captain Gibbs was a thoroughly bad egg, from first to last, and quite modern, it is interesting to note, for he was hanged as recently as 1831. He was born in Rhode Island, raised on a farm, and ran away to sea in the navy. It is to his credit that he is said to have served on board the _Chesapeake_ in her famous battle with the _Shannon_, but after his release from Dartmoor as a British prisoner of war, he fell from grace and opened a grogery in Ann Street, called the Tin Pot, "a place full of abandoned women and dissolute fellows." He drank up all the profits, so went to sea again and found a berth in a South American privateer. Leading a mutiny, he gained the ship and made a pirate of her, frequenting Havana, and plundering merchant vessels along the Cuban coast. He slaughtered their crews in cold blood and earned an infamous reputation for cruelty. In his confession written while he was under sentence of death in New York, he stated "that some time in the course of the year 1819, he left Havana and came to the United States, bringing with him about $30,000 in gold. He pa.s.sed several weeks in the city of New York, and then went to Boston, whence he took pa.s.sage for Liverpool in the ship _Emerald_. Before he sailed, however, he had squandered a large amount of his money by dissipation and gambling. He remained in Liverpool a few months, and then returned to Boston. His residence in Liverpool at that time is satisfactorily ascertained from another source beside his own confession. A female now in New York was well acquainted with him there, where, she says, he lived like a gentleman, apparently with abundant means of support. In speaking of his acquaintance with this female, he says, 'I fell in with a woman who I thought was all virtue, but she deceived me, and I am sorry to say that a heart that never felt abashed at scenes of carnage and blood, was made a child of for a time by her, and I gave way to dissipation to drown the torment. How often when the fumes of liquor have subsided have I thought of my good and affectionate parents, and of their G.o.dlike advice! My friends advised me to behave myself like a man, and promised me their a.s.sistance, but the demon still haunted me, and I spurned their advice.'"[1]

After the adventure with the deceitful female, Gibbs was not as successful as formerly in his profession of piracy, and appears to have lost his grip. For several years he knocked about the Seven Seas, in one sort of shady escapade or another, but he flung away whatever gold he harvested and was driven to commit the sordid crime which brought him to the gallows. In November of 1830, he shipped as a seaman in the brig _Vineyard_, Captain William Thornby, from New Orleans to Philadelphia with a cargo of cotton and mola.s.ses, and $54,000 in specie. Learning of the money on board, Gibbs cooked up a conspiracy to kill the captain and the mate and persuaded Thomas Wansley, the steward, to help him put them out of the way. According to the testimony, others of the crew were implicated, but the court convicted only these two. The sworn statement of Seaman Robert Dawes is as red-handed a treasure story as could be imagined:

"When about five days out, I was told that there was money on board.

Charles Gibbs, E. Church, and the steward then determined to take possession of the brig. They asked James Talbot, another member of the crew, to join them. He said no, as he did not believe there was money in the vessel. They concluded to kill the captain and mate, and if Talbot and John Brownrigg would not join them, to kill them also. The next night they talked of doing it, and got their clubs ready. I dared not say a word, as they declared they would kill me if I did. As they did not agree about killing Talbot and Brownrigg, their two shipmates, it was put off. They next concluded to kill the captain and mate on the night of November 22nd but did not get ready; but on the night of the 23rd, between twelve and one o 'clock, when I was at the helm, the steward came up with a light and a knife in his hand. He dropped the light and seizing the pump-break, struck the captain with it over the head or back of the neck. The captain was sent forward by the blow and halloed, 'Oh' and 'Murder' once.

"He was then seized by Gibbs and the cook, one by the head and the other by the heels and thrown overboard. Atwell and Church stood at the companion way, to strike down the mate when he should come up. As he came up and enquired what was the matter, they struck him over the head,--he ran back into the cabin, and Charles Gibbs followed him down; but as it was dark, he could not find him. Gibbs then came on deck for the light with which he returned below. I left the helm to see what was going on in the cabin. Gibbs found the mate and seized him, while Atwell and Church came down and struck him with a pump break and club.

"The mate was then dragged upon deck. They called for me to help them and as I came up, the mate seized my hand and gave me a death grip.

Three of them hove him overboard, but which three I do not know. The mate was not dead when cast overboard, but called after us twice while in the water. I was so frightened that I hardly knew what to do. They then asked me to call Talbot, who was in the forecastle saying his prayers. He came up and said it would be his turn next, but they gave him some grog and told him not to be afraid, as they would not hurt him. If he was true to them, he should fare as well as they did. One of those who had been engaged in the b.l.o.o.d.y deed got drunk and another became crazy.

"After killing the captain and mate they set about overhauling the vessel, and got up one keg of Mexican dollars. Then they divided the captain's clothes and money,--about forty dollars and a gold watch.

Talbot, Brownrigg and I, who were all innocent men, were obliged to do as we were commanded. I was sent to the helm and ordered to steer for Long Island. On the day following, they divided several kegs of the specie, amounting to five thousand dollars each, and made bags and sewed the money up. After this division, they divided the rest of the money without counting it.

"On Sunday, when about fifteen miles S.S.E. of Southampton Light, they got the boats out and put half the money in each, and then they scuttled the vessel and set fire to it in the cabin, and took to the boats. Gibbs, after the murder, took charge of the vessel as captain.

From the papers on board, we learned that the money belonged to Stephen Girard.[2]

"With the boats we made the land about daylight. I was in the long-boat with three others. The rest with Atwell were in the jolly-boat. On coming to the bar the boats stuck, and we threw overboard a great deal of money, in all about five thousand dollars.

The jolly-boat foundered. We saw it fill and heard them cry out, and saw them clinging to the masts. We went ash.o.r.e on Barron Island, and buried the money in the sand, but very lightly. Soon after, we met with a gunner, whom we requested to conduct us where we could get some refreshments. They were by him conducted to Johnson's (the only man living on the island) where we stayed all night. I went to bed about ten o'clock. Jack Brownrigg sat up with Johnson, and in the morning told me that he had told Johnson all about the murders. Johnson went in the morning with the steward for the clothes, which were left on the top of the place where they buried the money, but I don't believe they took away the money."

Here was genuine buried treasure, but the circ.u.mstances were such as to make the once terrible Captain Charles Gibbs cut a wretched figure. To the ignominious crime of killing the captain and the mate of a little trading brig had descended this freebooter of renown who had numbered his prizes by the score and boasted of slaying their crews wholesale.

As for the specie looted from the brig _Vineyard_, half the amount was lost in the surf when the jolly-boat foundered, and the remainder buried where doubtless that hospitable resident, Johnson, was able to find most of it. Silver dollars were too heavy to be carried away in bulk by stranded pirates, fleeing the law, and these rascals got no good of their plunder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gibbs and Wansley burying the treasure.]

The Portugese captain cutting away the bag of moidores.