{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33318/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33318","id":"gutenberg_33318","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33318","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Treasure troves"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Frontispiece: H.M.S. _Lutine_ leaving Yarmouth Roads, Oct. 9, 1799, on\nher last voyage.  (_From the painting by Frank Mason, R.A., in the\nCommittee Room of Lloyd's, London._)  _See Chapter XI._]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF\n\nBURIED TREASURE\n\n\n\n  BEING A TRUE HISTORY OF THE GOLD, JEWELS,\n  AND PLATE OF PIRATES, GALLEONS, ETC.,\n  WHICH ARE SOUGHT FOR TO THIS DAY\n\n\n\nBY\n\nRALPH D. PAINE\n\nAuthor of \"The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem,\" etc.\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATED\n\n\n\n\nLondon\n\nWilliam Heinemann\n\n1911\n\n\n\n\nCopyright 1911\n\nBy METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE COMPANY\n\n\nCopyright 1911\n\nBy STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY\n\n\nSet up and electrotyped.  Published September, 1911\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAPTER\n\n    I  THE WORLD-WIDE HUNT FOR VANISHED RICHES\n   II  CAPTAIN KIDD IN FACT AND FICTION\n  III  CAPTAIN KIDD, HIS TREASURE\n   IV  CAPTAIN KIDD, HIS TRIAL AND DEATH\n    V  THE WONDROUS FORTUNE OF WILLIAM PHIPS\n   VI  THE BOLD SEA ROGUE, JOHN QUELCH\n  VII  THE ARMADA GALLEON OF TOBERMORY BAY\n VIII  THE LOST PLATE FLEET OF VIGO\n   IX  THE PIRATES' HOARD OF TRINIDAD\n    X  THE LURE OF COCOS ISLAND\n   XI  THE MYSTERY OF THE LUTINE FRIGATE\n  XII  THE TOILERS OF THE THETIS\n XIII  THE QUEST OF EL DORADO\n  XIV  THE WIZARDRY OF THE DIVINING ROD\n   XV  SUNDRY PIRATES AND THEIR BOOTY\n  XVI  PRACTICAL HINTS FOR TREASURE SEEKERS\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nH. M. S. _Lutine_ leaving Yarmouth Roads, Oct. 9, 1799, on her last\n  voyage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_\n\n\nTreasure-seekers' Camp at Cape Vidal on African Coast\n\nDivers searching wreck of Treasure-ship _Dorothea_, Cape Vidal, Africa\n\nCaptain Kidd burying his Bible\n\nCarousing at Old Calabar River\n\nThe Idle Apprentice goes to sea\n\nJohn Gardiner's sworn statement of the goods and treasure left with him\nby Kidd\n\nGovernor Bellomont's endorsement of the official inventory of Kidd's\ntreasure found on Gardiner's Island\n\nThe official inventory of the Kidd treasure found on Gardiner's Island\n\nA memorandum of Captain Kidd's treasure left on Gardiner's Island\n\nStatement of Edward Davis, who sailed home with Kidd, concerning the\nlanding of the treasure and goods\n\nThe French pass or safe conduct paper found by Kidd in the ship _Quedah\nMerchant_\n\nKidd hanging in chains\n\n\"The Pirates' Stairs\" leading to the site of Execution Dock at Wapping\nwhere Kidd was hanged\n\nSir William Phips, first royal governor of Massachusetts\n\nMap of Hispaniola (Hayti and San Domingo) engraved in 1723, showing the\nbuccaneers at their trade of hunting wild cattle\n\nPermit issued by Sir William Phips as royal governor in which he uses\nthe title \"Vice-Admiral\" which involved him in disastrous quarrels\n\nThe oldest existing print of Boston harbor as it appeared in the time\nof Sir William Phips, showing the kind of ships in which he sailed to\nfind his treasure\n\nAn ancient map of Jamaica showing the haunts of the pirates and the\ntrack of the treasure galleons\n\nThe town and bay of Tobermory, Island of Mull\n\nDuart Castle, chief stronghold of the MacLeans\n\nArdnamurchan Castle, seat of the MacIans and the MacDonalds\n\nDefeat of the Spanish Armada\n\nDiving to find the treasure galleon in Tobermory Bay\n\nThe salvage steamer _Breamer_ equipped with suction dredge removing a\nsandbank from the supposed location of the _Florencia_ galleon in 1909\n\nScabbards, flasks, cannon balls, and small objects recovered from the\nsunken Armada galleon\n\nStone cannon balls and breech-block of a breech-loading gun fished up\nfrom the wreck of the _Florencia_ galleon\n\nSir George Rooke, commanding the British fleet at the battle of Vigo Bay\n\n_The Royal Sovereign_, one of Admiral Sir George Rooke's line-of-battle\nships, engaged at Vigo Bay\n\nFramework of an \"elevator\" devised by Pino for raising the galleons in\nVigo Bay\n\nAn \"elevator\" with air bags inflated\n\nCannon of the treasure galleons recovered by Pino from the bottom of\nVigo Bay\n\nHydroscope invented by Pino for exploring the sea bottom and\nsuccessfully used in finding the galleons of Vigo Bay\n\nLima Cathedral\n\nTreasure-seekers digging on Cocos Island\n\nChristian Cruse, the hermit treasure-seeker of Cocos Island\n\nThetis Cove in calm weather, showing salvage operations\n\nThetis Cove during the storm which wrecked the salvage equipment\n\nSir Walter Raleigh\n\nMethods of manipulating the diving rod to find buried treasure\n\nGibbs and Wansley burying the treasure\n\nThe Portuguese captain cutting away the bag of moidores\n\nInterview between Lafitte, General Andrew Jackson, and Governor\nClaiborne\n\nThe death of Black Beard\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE\n\n\n\n\n  Of all the lives I ever say,\n    A Pirate's be for I.\n  Hap what hap may he's allus gay\n    An' drinks an' bungs his eye.\n  For his work he's never loth:\n    An' a-pleasurin' he'll go;\n  Tho' certain sure to be popt off,\n    Yo, ho, with the rum below!\n\n  In Bristowe I left Poll ashore,\n    Well stored wi' togs an' gold,\n  An' off I goes to sea for more,\n    A-piratin' so bold.\n  An' wounded in the arm I got,\n    An' then a pretty blow;\n  Comed home I find Poll's flowed away,\n    Yo, ho, with the rum below!\n\n  An' when my precious leg was lopt,\n    Just for a bit of fun,\n  I picks it up, on t'other hopt,\n    An' rammed it in a gun.\n  \"What's that for?\" cries out Salem Dick;\n    \"What for, my jumpin' beau?\n  \"Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!\"\n    Yo, ho, with the rum below!\n\n  I 'llows this crazy hull o' mine\n    At sea has had its share:\n  Marooned three times an' wounded nine\n    An' blowed up in the air.\n  But ere to Execution Bay\n    The wind these bones do blow,\n  I'll drink an' fight what's left away,\n    Yo, ho, with the rum below!\n\n            --_An Old English Ballad_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE WORLD-WIDE HUNT FOR VANISHED RICHES\n\nThe language has no more boldly romantic words than _pirate_ and\n_galleon_ and the dullest imagination is apt to be kindled by any\nplausible dream of finding their lost treasures hidden on lonely beach\nor tropic key, or sunk fathoms deep in salt water.  In the preface of\nthat rare and exceedingly diverting volume, \"The Pirates' Own Book,\"\nthe unnamed author sums up the matter with so much gusto and with so\ngorgeously appetizing a flavor that he is worth quoting to this extent:\n\n\"With the name of pirate is also associated ideas of rich plunder,\ncaskets of buried jewels, chests of gold ingots, bags of outlandish\ncoins, secreted in lonely, out of the way places, or buried about the\nwild shores of rivers and unexplored sea coasts, near rocks and trees\nbearing mysterious marks indicating where the treasure was hid.  And as\nit is his invariable practice to secrete and bury his booty, and from\nthe perilous life he leads, being often killed or captured, he can\nnever revisit the spot again, therefore immense sums remain buried in\nthose places and are irrevocably lost.  Search is often made by persons\nwho labor in anticipation of throwing up with their spade and pickaxe,\ngold bars, diamond crosses sparkling amongst the dirt, bags of golden\ndoubloons and chests wedged close with moidores, ducats and pearls; but\nalthough great treasures lie hid in this way, it seldom happens that\nany is recovered.\"[1]\n\nIn this tamed, prosaic age of ours, treasure-seeking might seem to be\nthe peculiar province of fiction, but the fact is that expeditions are\nfitting out every little while, and mysterious schooners flitting from\nmany ports, lured by grimy, tattered charts presumed to show where the\nhoards were hidden, or steering their courses by nothing more tangible\nthan legend and surmise.  As the Kidd tradition survives along the\nAtlantic coast, so on divers shores of other seas persist the same kind\nof wild tales, the more convincing of which are strikingly alike in\nthat the lone survivor of the red-handed crew, having somehow escaped\nthe hanging, shooting, or drowning that he handsomely merited,\npreserved a chart showing where the treasure had been hid.  Unable to\nreturn to the place, he gave the parchment to some friend or shipmate,\nthis dramatic transfer usually happening as a death-bed ceremony.  The\nrecipient, after digging in vain and heartily damning the departed\npirate for his misleading landmarks and bearings, handed the chart down\nto the next generation.\n\nIt will be readily perceived that this is the stock motive of almost\nall buried treasure fiction, the trademark of a certain brand of\nadventure story, but it is really more entertaining to know that such\ncharts and records exist and are made use of by the expeditions of the\npresent day.  Opportunity knocks at the door.  He who would gamble in\nshares of such a speculation may find sun-burned, tarry gentlemen, from\nSeattle to Singapore, and from Capetown to New Zealand, eager to\nwhisper curious information of charts and sailing directions, and to\nmake sail and away.\n\nSome of them are still seeking booty lost on Cocos Island off the coast\nof Costa Rica where a dozen expeditions have futilely sweated and dug;\nothers have cast anchor in harbors of Guam and the Carolines; while as\nyou run from Aden to Vladivostock, sailormen are never done with\nspinning yarns of treasure buried by the pirates of the Indian Ocean\nand the China Sea.  Out from Callao the treasure hunters fare to\nClipperton Island, or the Gallapagos group where the buccaneers with\nDampier and Davis used to careen their ships, and from Valparaiso many\nan expedition has found its way to Juan Fernandez and Magellan Straits.\nThe topsails of these salty argonauts have been sighted in recent years\noff the Salvages to the southward of Madeira where two millions of\nSpanish gold were buried in chests, and pick and shovel have been busy\non rocky Trinidad in the South Atlantic which conceals vast stores of\nplate and jewels left there by pirates who looted the galleons of Lima.\n\nNear Cape Vidal, on the coast of Zululand, lies the wreck of the\nnotorious sailing vessel _Dorothea_, in whose hold is treasure to the\namount of two million dollars in gold bars concealed beneath a flooring\nof cement.  It was believed for some time that the ill-fated _Dorothea_\nwas fleeing with the fortune of Oom Paul Kruger on board when she was\ncast ashore.  The evidence goes to show, however, that certain\nofficials of the Transvaal Government, before the Boer War, issued\npermits to several lawless adventurers, allowing them to engage in\nbuying stolen gold from the mines.  This illicit traffic flourished\nlargely, and so successful was this particular combination that a ship\nwas bought, the _Ernestine_, and after being overhauled and renamed the\n_Dorothea_, she secretly shipped the treasure on board in Delagoa Bay.\n\nIt was only the other day that a party of restless young Americans\nsailed in the old racing yacht _Mayflower_ bound out to seek the wreck\nof a treasure galleon on the coast of Jamaica.  Their vessel was\ndismasted and abandoned at sea, and they had all the adventure they\nyearned for.  One of them, Roger Derby of Boston, of a family famed for\nits deep-water mariners in the olden times, ingenuously confessed some\ntime later, and here you have the spirit of the true treasure-seeker:\n\n\"I am afraid that there is no information accessible in documentary or\nprinted form of the wreck that we investigated a year ago.  Most of it\nis hearsay, and when we went down there on a second trip after losing\nthe _Mayflower_, we found little to prove that a galleon had been lost,\nbarring some old cannon, flint rock ballast, and square iron bolts.  We\nfound absolutely no gold.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Treasure-seekers' Camp at Cape Vidal on African coast.]\n\nDivers searching wreck of Treasure ship Dorothea, Cape Vidal, Africa.\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe coast of Madagascar, once haunted by free-booters who plundered the\nrich East Indiamen, is still ransacked by treasure seekers, and\nAmerican soldiers in the Philippines indefatigably excavate the\nlandscape of Luzon in the hope of finding the hoard of Spanish gold\nburied by the Chinese mandarin Chan Lu Suey in the eighteenth century.\nEvery island of the West Indies and port of the Spanish Main abounds in\nlegends of the mighty sea rogues whose hard fate it was to be laid by\nthe heels before they could squander the gold that had been won with\ncutlass, boarding pike and carronade.\n\nThe spirit of true adventure lives in the soul of the treasure hunter.\nThe odds may be a thousand to one that he will unearth a solitary\ndoubloon, yet he is lured to undertake the most prodigious exertions by\nthe keen zest of the game itself.  The English novelist, George R.\nSims, once expressed this state of mind very exactly.  \"Respectable\ncitizens, tired of the melancholy sameness of a drab existence, cannot\ntake to crape masks, dark lanterns, silent matches, and rope ladders,\nbut they can all be off to a pirate island and search for treasure and\nreturn laden or empty without a stain upon their characters.  I know a\nfine old pirate who sings a good song and has treasure islands at his\nfingers' ends.  I think I can get together a band of adventurers,\nmiddle-aged men of established reputation in whom the public would have\nconfidence, who would be only too glad to enjoy a year's romance.\"\n\nRobert Louis Stevenson who dearly loved a pirate and wrote the finest\ntreasure story of them all around a proper chart of his own devising,\ntook Henry James to task for confessing that although he had been a\nchild he had never been on a quest for buried treasure.  \"Here is\nindeed a willful paradox,\" exclaimed the author of \"Treasure Island,\"\n\"for if he has never been on a quest for buried treasure, it can be\ndemonstrated that he has never been a child.  There never was a child\n(unless Master James), but has hunted gold, and been a pirate, and a\nmilitary commander, and a bandit of the mountains; but has fought, and\nsuffered shipwreck and prison, and imbrued its little hands in gore,\nand gallantly retrieved the lost battle, and triumphantly protected\ninnocence and beauty.\"\n\nMark Twain also indicated the singular isolation of Henry James by\nexpressing precisely the same opinion in his immortal chronicle of the\nadventures of Tom Sawyer.  \"There comes a time in every rightly\nconstructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and\ndig for buried treasure.\"  And what an entrancing career Tom had\nplanned for himself in an earlier chapter!  \"At the zenith of his fame,\nhow he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church,\nbrown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his\ngreat jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with\nhorse-pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat\nwith waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and\ncross-bones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings,\n'It's Tom Sawyer the Pirate!--The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main.'\"\n\nWhen Tom and Huck Finn went treasure seeking they observed the\ntime-honored rules of the game, as the following dialogue will recall\nto mind:\n\n\"Where'll we dig?\" said Huck.\n\n\"Oh, most anywhere.\"\n\n\"Why, is it hid all around?\"\n\n\"No, indeed it ain't.  It's hid in mighty particular places, Huck,\nsometimes on islands, sometimes in rotten chests under the limb of an\nold dead tree, just where the shadow falls at midnight; but mostly\nunder the floor in ha'nted houses.\"\n\n\"Who hides it?\"\n\n\"Why, robbers, of course.  Who'd you reckon, Sunday-school\nsuperintendents?\"\n\n\"I don't know.  If 'twas mine I wouldn't hide it; I'd spend it and have\na good time.\"\n\n\"So would I.  But robbers don't do that way.  They always hide it and\nleave it there.\"\n\n\"Don't they come after it any more!\"\n\n\"No, they think they will, but they generally forget the marks or else\nthey die.  Anyway, it lays there a long time and gets rusty; and by and\nby somebody finds an old yellow paper that tells how to find the\nmarks,--a paper that's got to be ciphered over about a week because\nit's mostly signs and hy'roglyphics.\"\n\nHunting lost treasure is not work but a fascinating kind of play that\nbelongs to the world of make believe.  It appeals to that strain of\nboyishness which survives in the average man even though his pow be\nfrosted, his reputation starched and conservative.  It is, after all,\nan inherited taste handed down from the golden age of fairies.  The\nfolk-lore of almost every race is rich in buried treasure stories.  The\npirate with his stout sea chest hidden above high-water mark is\nlineally descended from the enchanting characters who lived in the\nshadow land of myth and fable.  The hoard of Captain Kidd, although he\nwas turned off at Execution Dock only two hundred years ago, has become\nas legendary as the dream of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.\n\nMany a hard-headed farmer and fisherman of the New England coast\nbelieves that it is rash business to go digging for Kidd's treasure\nunless one carefully performs certain incantations designed to placate\nthe ghostly guardian who aforetime sailed with Kidd and was slain by\nhim after the hole was dug lest the secret might thus be revealed.  And\nit is of course well known that if a word is spoken after the pick has\nclinked against the iron-bound chest or metal pot, the devil flies away\nwith the treasure, leaving behind him only panic and a strong smell of\nbrimstone.\n\nSuch curious superstitions as these, strongly surviving wherever pirate\ngold is sought, have been the common property of buried-treasure\nstories in all ages.  The country-folk of Japan will tell you that if a\npot of money is found a rice cake must be left in place of every coin\ntaken away, and imitation money burned as an offering to any spirit\nthat may be offended by the removal of the hoard.  The negroes of the\nWest Indies explain that the buried wealth of the buccaneers is seldom\nfound because the spirits that watch over it have a habit of whisking\nthe treasure away to parts unknown as soon as ever the hiding-place is\ndisturbed.  Among the Bedouins is current the legend that immense\ntreasures were concealed by Solomon beneath the foundations of Palmyra\nand that sapient monarch took the precaution of enlisting an army of\njinns to guard the gold forever more.\n\nIn parts of Bohemia the peasants are convinced that a blue light hovers\nabove the location of buried treasure, invisible to all mortal eyes\nsave those of the person destined to find it.  In many corners of the\nworld there has long existed the belief in the occult efficacy of a\nblack cock or a black cat in the equipment of a treasure quest which is\nalso influenced by the particular phases of the moon.  A letter written\nfrom Bombay as long ago as 1707, contained a quaint account of an\nincident inspired by this particular superstition.\n\n\"Upon a dream of a Negro girl of Mahim that there was a Mine of\nTreasure, who being overheard relating it, Domo, Alvares, and some\nothers went to the place and sacrificed a Cock and dugg the ground but\nfound nothing.  They go to Bundarra at Salsett, where disagreeing, the\nGovernment there takes notice of the same, and one of them, an\ninhabitant of Bombay, is sent to the Inquisition at Goa, which\nproceedings will discourage the Inhabitants.  Wherefore the General is\ndesired to issue a proclamation to release him, and if not restored in\ntwenty days, no Roman Catholick Worship to be allowed on the Island.\"\n\nA more recent chronicler, writing in _The Ceylon Times_, had this to\nsay:\n\n\"It is the belief of all Orientals that hidden treasures are under the\nguardianship of supernatural beings.  The Cingalese divide the charge\nbetween the demons and the cobra da capello (guardian of the king's\nankus in Kipling's story).  Various charms are resorted to by those who\nwish to gain the treasure because the demons require a sacrifice.  The\nblood of a human being is the most important, but so far as is known,\nthe Cappowas have hitherto confined themselves to the sacrifice of a\nwhite cock, combining its blood with their own drawn from the hand or\nfoot.\"\n\nNo more fantastic than this are the legends of which the British Isles\nyield a plentiful harvest.  Thomas of Walsingham tells the tale of a\nSaracen physician who betook himself to Earl Warren of the fourteenth\ncentury to ask courteous permission that he might slay a dragon, or\n\"loathly worm\" which had its den at Bromfield near Ludlow and had\nwrought sad ravages on the Earl's lands.  The Saracen overcame the\nmonster, whether by means of his medicine chest or his trusty steel the\nnarrator sayeth not, and then it was learned that a great hoard of gold\nwas hidden in its foul den.  Some men of Herefordshire sallied forth by\nnight to search for the treasure, and were about to lay hands on it\nwhen retainers of the Earl of Warwick captured them and took the booty\nto their lord.\n\nBlenkinsopp Castle is haunted by a very sorrowful White Lady.  Her\nhusband, Bryan de Blenkinsopp, was uncommonly greedy of gold, which he\nloved better than his wife, and she, being very jealous and angry, was\nmad enough to hide from him a chest of treasure so heavy that twelve\nstrong men were needed to lift it.  Later she was overtaken by remorse\nbecause of this undutiful behavior and to this day her uneasy ghost\nflits about the castle, supposedly seeking the spirit of Bryan de\nBlenkinsopp in order that she may tell him what she did with his pelf.\n\nWhen Corfe Castle in Dorsetshire was besieged by Cromwell's troops,\nLady Bankes conducted a heroic defense.  Betrayed by one of her own\ngarrison, and despairing of holding out longer, she threw all the plate\nand jewels into a very deep well in the castle yard, and pronounced a\ncurse against anyone who should try to find it ere she returned.  She\nthen ordered the traitor to be hanged, and surrendered the place.  The\ntreasure was never found, and perhaps later owners have been afraid of\nthe militant ghost of Lady Bankes.\n\nFrom time immemorial, tradition had it that a great treasure was buried\nnear the Kibble in Lancashire.  A saying had been handed down that\nanyone standing on the hill at Walton-le-Dale and looking up the valley\ntoward the site of ancient Richester would gaze over the greatest\ntreasure that England had ever known.  Digging was undertaken at\nintervals during several centuries, until in 1841 laborers accidentally\nexcavated a mass of silver ornaments, armlets, neck-chains, amulets and\nrings, weighing together about a thousand ounces, and more than seven\nthousand silver coins, mostly of King Alfred's time, all enclosed in a\nleaden case only three feet beneath the surface of the ground.  Many of\nthese ornaments and coins are to be seen at the British Museum.\n\nOn a farm in the Scotch parish of Lesmahagow is a boulder beneath which\nis what local tradition calls \"a kettle full, a boat full, and a bull's\nhide full of gold that is Katie Nevin's hoord.\"  And for ages past 'tis\nwell known that a pot of gold has lain at the bottom of a pool at the\ntail of a water-fall under Crawfurdland Bridge, three miles from\nKilmarnock.  The last attempt to fish it up was made by one of the\nlairds of the place who diverted the stream and emptied the pool, and\nthe implements of the workmen actually rang against the precious kettle\nwhen a mysterious voice was heard to cry:\n\n\"Paw!  Paw!  Crawfurdland's tower's in a law.\"\n\nThe laird and his servants scampered home to find out whether the tower\nhad been \"laid law,\" but the alarm was only a stratagem of the spirit\nthat did sentry duty over the treasure.  When the party returned to the\npool, it was filled to the brim and the water was \"running o'er the\nlinn,\" which was an uncanny thing to see, and the laird would have\nnothing more to do with treasure seeking.\n\nThe people of Glenary in the Highlands long swore by the legend that\ngolden treasure was hidden in their valley and that it would not be\nfound until sought for by the son of a stranger.  At length, while a\nnewly drained field was being plowed, a large rock was shattered by\nblasting, and under it were found many solid gold bracelets of antique\npattern and cunningly ornamented.  The old people knew that the\nprophecy had come true, for the youth who held the plow was the son of\nan Englishman, a rare being in those parts a few generations ago.\n\nEveryone knows that Ireland is fairly peppered with \"crocks o' goold\"\nwhich the peasantry would have dug up long before this, but the\ntreasure is invariably in the keeping of \"the little black men\" and\nthey raise the divil and all with the bold intruder, and lucky he is if\nhe is not snatched away, body, soul, and breeches.  Many a fine lad has\nleft home just before midnight with a mattock under his arm, and maybe\nthere was a terrible clap of thunder and that was the last of him\nexcept the empty hole and the mattock beside it which his friends found\nnext morning.\n\nIn France treasure seeking has been at times a popular madness.  The\ntraditions of the country are singularly alluring, and perhaps the most\nromantic of them is that of the \"Great Treasure of Gourdon\" which is\nsaid to have existed since the reign of Clovis in the sixth century.\nThe chronicle of all the wealth buried in the cemetery of this convent\nat Gourdon in the Department of the Lot has been preserved, including\ndetailed lists of gold and silver, rubies, emeralds and pearls.  The\nconvent was sacked and plundered by the Normans, and the treasurer, or\ncustodian, who had buried all the valuables of the religious houses\nunder the sway of the same abbot, was murdered while trying to escape\nto the feudal seignor of Gourdon with the crosier of the lord abbott.\n\"The head of the crosier was of solid gold,\" says an ancient\nmanuscript, \"and the rubies with which it was studded of such wondrous\nsize that at one single blow the soldier who tore it from the monk's\ngrasp and used it as a weapon against him, beat in his brains as with a\nsledge-hammer.\"\n\nNot only through the Middle Ages was the search resumed from time to\ntime, but from the latter days of the reign of Louis XIV until the\nRevolution, tradition relates that the cemetery of the convent was\nransacked at frequent intervals.  At length, in 1842, the quest was\nabandoned after antiquarians, geologists, and engineers had gravely\nagreed that further excavation would be futile.  The French treasure\nseekers went elsewhere and then a peasant girl confused the savants by\ndiscovering what was undeniably a part of the lost riches of Gourdon.\nShe was driving home the cows from a pasture of the abbey lands when a\nshower caused her to take shelter in a hollow scooped out of a\nsand-bank by laborers mending the road.  Some of the earth caved in\nupon her and while she was freeing herself, down rolled a salver, a\npaten, and a flagon, all of pure gold, richly chased and studded with\nemeralds and rubies.  These articles were taken to Paris and advertised\nfor sale by auction, the Government bidding them in and placing them in\nthe museum of the Bibliotheque.\n\nDuring the reign of Napoleon III there died a very famous treasure\nseeker, one Ducasse, who believed that he was about to discover \"the\nmaster treasure\" (_le maitre tresor_) said to be among the ruins of the\nancient Belgian Abbey of Orval.  Ducasse was a builder by trade and had\ngained a large fortune in government contracts every sou of which he\nwasted in exploring at Orval.  It was alleged that the treasure had\nbeen buried by the monks and that the word NEMO carved on the tomb of\nthe last abbott held the key to the location of the hiding-place.\n\nIn Mexico one hears similar tales of vast riches buried by religious\norders when menaced by war or expulsion.  One of these is to be found\nin the south-western part of the state of Chihuahua where a great gorge\nis cut by the Rio Verde.  In this remote valley are the ruins of a\nchurch built by the Jesuits, and when they were about to be driven from\ntheir settlement they sealed up and destroyed all traces of a\nfabulously rich mine in which was buried millions of bullion.  Instead\nof the more or less stereotyped ghosts familiar as sentinels over\nburied treasure, these lost hoards of Mexico are haunted by a specter\neven more disquieting than phantom pirates or \"little black men.\"  It\nis \"The Weeping Woman\" who makes strong men cross themselves and shiver\nin their serapes, and many have heard or seen her.  A member of a party\nseeking buried treasure in the heart of the Sierra Madre mountains\nsolemnly affirmed as follows:\n\n\"We were to measure, at night, a certain distance from a cliff which\nwas to be found by the relative positions of three tall trees.  It was\non a bleak tableland nine thousand feet above the sea.  The wind\nchilled us to the marrow, although we were only a little to the north\nof the Tropic of Cancer.  We rode all night and waited for the dawn in\nthe darkest and coldest hours of those altitudes.  By the light of\npitch pine torches we consulted a map and decided that we had found the\nright place.  We rode forward a little and brushed against three soft\nwarm things.  Turning in our saddles, by the flare of our torches held\nhigh above our heads we beheld three corpses swaying in the wind.  A\nwailing cry of a woman's voice came from close at hand, and we fled as\nif pursued by a thousand demons.  My comrades assured me that the\nWeeping Woman had brushed past us in her eternal flight.\"\n\nThis is a singular narrative but it would not be playing fair to doubt\nit.  To be over-critical of buried treasure stories is to clip the\nwings of romance and to condemn the spirit of adventure to a pedestrian\ngait.  All these tales are true, or men of sane and sober repute would\nnot go a-treasure hunting by land and sea, and so long as they have a\nhigh-hearted, boyish faith in their mysterious charts and hazy\ninformation, doubters make a poor show of themselves and stand\nconfessed as thin-blooded dullards who never were young.  Scattered\nlegends of many climes have been mentioned at random to show that\ntreasure is everywhere enveloped in a glamour peculiarly its own.  The\nbase iconoclast may perhaps demolish Santa Claus (which God forbid),\nbut industrious dreamers will be digging for the gold of Captain Kidd,\nlong after the last Christmas stocking shall have been pinned above the\nfireplace.\n\nThere are no conscious liars among the tellers of treasure tales.  The\nspell is upon them.  They believe their own yarns, and they prove their\nfaith by their back-breaking works with pick and shovel.  Here, for\nexample, is a specimen, chosen at hazard, one from a thousand cut from\nthe same cloth.  This is no modern Ananias speaking but a gray-bearded,\nGod-fearing clam-digger of Jewell's Island in Casco Bay on the coast of\nMaine.\n\n\"I can't remember when the treasure hunters first began coming to this\nisland, but as long ago as my father's earliest memories they used to\ndig for gold up and down the shore.  That was in the days when they\nwere superstitious enough to spill lamb's blood along the ground where\nthey dug in order to keep away the devil and his imps.  I can remember\nfifty years ago when they brought a girl down here and mesmerized her\nto see if she could not lead them to the hidden wealth.\n\n\"The biggest mystery, though, of all the queer things that have\nhappened here in the last hundred years was the arrival of the man from\nSt. John's when I was a youngster.  He claimed to have the very chart\nshowing the exact spot where Kidd's gold was buried.  He said he had\ngot it from an old negro in St. John's who was with Captain Kidd when\nhe was coasting the islands in this bay.  He showed up here when old\nCaptain Chase that lived here then was off to sea in his vessel.  So he\nwaited around a few days till the captain returned, for he wanted to\nuse a mariner's compass to locate the spot according to the directions\non the chart.\n\n\"When Captain Chase came ashore the two went off up the beach together,\nand the man from St. John's was never seen again, neither hide nor hair\nof him, and it is plumb certain that he wasn't set off in a boat from\nJewell's.\n\n\"The folks here found a great hole dug on the southeast shore which\nlooked as if a large chest had been lifted out of it.  Of course\nconclusions were drawn, but nobody got at the truth.  Four years ago\nsomeone found a skeleton in the woods, unburied, simply dropped into a\ncrevice in the rocks with a few stones thrown over it.  No one knows\nwhose body it was, although some say,--but never mind about that.  This\nold Captain Jonathan Chase was said to have been a pirate, and his\nhouse was full of underground passages and sliding panels and queer\ncontraptions, such as no honest, law-abiding man could have any use\nfor.\"\n\nThe worthy Benjamin Franklin was an admirable guide for young men, a\nsound philosopher, and a sagacious statesman, but he cannot be credited\nwith romantic imagination.  He would have been the last person in the\nworld to lead a buried treasure expedition or to find pleasure in the\ncompany of the most eminent and secretive pirate that ever scuttled a\nship or made mysterious marks upon a well-thumbed chart plentifully\nspattered with candle-grease and rum.  He even took pains to discourage\nthe diverting industry of treasure seeking as it flourished among his\nQuaker neighbors and discharged this formidable broadside in the course\nof a series of essays known as \"The Busy-Body Series\":\n\n\"... There are among us great numbers of honest artificers and laboring\npeople, who, fed with a vain hope of suddenly growing rich, neglect\ntheir business, almost to the ruining of themselves and families, and\nvoluntarily endure abundance of fatigue in a fruitless search after\nimaginary hidden treasure.  They wander through the woods and bushes by\nday to discover the marks and signs; at midnight they repair to the\nhopeful spots with spades and pickaxes; full of expectation, they labor\nviolently, trembling at the same time in every joint through fear of\ncertain malicious demons, who are said to haunt and guard such places.\n\n\"At length a mighty hole is dug, and perhaps several cart-loads of\nearth thrown out; but, alas, no keg or iron pot is found.  No seaman's\nchest crammed with Spanish pistoles, or weighty pieces of eight!  They\nconclude that, through some mistake in the procedure, some rash word\nspoken, or some rule of art neglected, the guardian spirit had power to\nsink it deeper into the earth, and convey it out of their reach.  Yet,\nwhen a man is once infatuated, he is so far from being discouraged by\nill success that he is rather animated to double his industry, and will\ntry again and again in a hundred different places in hopes of meeting\nat last with some lucky hit, that shall at once sufficiently reward him\nfor all his expenses of time and labor.\n\n\"This odd humor of digging for money, through a belief that much has\nbeen hidden by pirates formerly frequenting the (Schuylkill) river, has\nfor several years been mighty prevalent among us; insomuch that you can\nhardly walk half a mile out of the town on any side without observing\nseveral pits dug with that design, and perhaps some lately opened.  Men\notherwise of very good sense have been drawn into this practice through\nan overweening desire of sudden wealth, and an easy credulity of what\nthey so earnestly wished might be true.  There seems to be some\npeculiar charm in the conceit of finding money and if the sands of\nSchuylkill were so much mixed with small grains of gold that a man\nmight in a day's time with care and application get together to the\nvalue of half a crown, I make no question but we should find several\npeople employed there that can with ease earn five shillings a day at\ntheir proper trade.\n\n\"Many are the idle stories told of the private success of some people,\nby which others are encouraged to proceed; and the astrologers, with\nwhom the country swarms at this time, are either in the belief of these\nthings themselves, or find their advantage in persuading others to\nbelieve them; for they are often consulted about the critical times for\ndigging, the methods of laying the spirit, and the like whimseys, which\nrenders them very necessary to, and very much caressed by these poor,\ndeluded money hunters.\n\n\"There is certainly something very bewitching in the pursuit after\nmines of gold and silver and other valuable metals, and many have been\nruined by it....\n\n\"Let honest Peter Buckram, who has long without success been a searcher\nafter hidden money, reflect on this, and be reclaimed from that\nunaccountable folly.  Let him consider that every stitch he takes when\nhe is on his shopboard, is picking up part of a grain of gold that will\nin a few days' time amount to a pistole; and let Faber think the same\nof every nail he drives, or every stroke with his plane.  Such thoughts\nmay make them industrious, and, in consequence, in time they may be\nwealthy.\n\n\"But how absurd it is to neglect a certain profit for such a ridiculous\nwhimsey; to spend whole days at the 'George' in company with an idle\npretender to astrology, contriving schemes to discover what was never\nhidden, and forgetful how carelessly business is managed at home in\ntheir absence; to leave their wives and a warm bed at midnight (no\nmatter if it rain, hail, snow, or blow a hurricane, provided that be\nthe critical hour), and fatigue themselves with the violent digging for\nwhat they shall never find, and perhaps getting a cold that may cost\ntheir lives, or at least disordering themselves so as to be fit for no\nbusiness beside for some days after.  Surely this is nothing less than\nthe most egregious folly and madness.\n\n\"I shall conclude with the words of the discreet friend Agricola of\nChester County when he gave his son a good plantation.  'My son,' said\nhe, 'I give thee now a valuable parcel of land; I assure thee I have\nfound a considerable quantity of gold by digging there; thee mayest do\nthe same; but thee must carefully observe this, _Never to dig more than\nplough-deep_.\"\n\nFor once the illustrious Franklin shot wide of the mark.  These\ntreasure hunters of Philadelphia, who had seen with their own eyes more\nthan one notorious pirate, even Blackbeard himself, swagger along Front\nStreet or come roaring out of the Blue Anchor Tavern by Dock Creek,\nwere finding their reward in the coin of romance.  Digging mighty holes\nfor a taskmaster would have been irksome, stupid business indeed, even\nfor five shillings a day.  They got a fearsome kind of enjoyment in\n\"trembling violently through fear of certain malicious demons.\"  And\nhonest Peter Buckram no doubt discovered that life was more zestful\nwhen he was plying shovel and pickaxe, or whispering with an astrologer\nin a corner of the \"George\" than during the flat hours of toil with\nshears and goose.  If the world had charted its course by Poor\nRichard's Almanac, there would be a vast deal more thrift and sober\nindustry than exists, but no room for the spirit of adventure which\nreckons not its returns in dollars and cents.\n\nThere are many kinds of lost treasure, by sea and by land.  Some of\nthem, however, lacking the color of romance and the proper backgrounds\nof motive and incident, have no stories worth telling.  For instance,\nthere were almost five thousand wrecks on the Great Lakes during a\nperiod of twenty years, and these lost vessels carried down millions of\ntreasure or property worth trying to recover.  One steamer had five\nhundred thousand dollars' worth of copper in her hold.  Divers and\nsubmarine craft and wrecking companies have made many attempts to\nrecover these vanished riches, and with considerable success, now and\nthen fishing up large amounts of gold coin and bullion.  It goes\nwithout saying that the average sixteen-year-old boy could extract not\none solitary thrill from a tale of lost treasure in the Great Lakes,\neven though the value might be fairly fabulous.  But let him hear that\na number of Spanish coins have been washed up by the waves on a beach\nof Yucatan and the discovery has set the natives to searching for the\nburied treasure of Jean Lafitte, the \"Pirate of the Gulf,\" and our\nyoungster pricks up his ears.\n\nMany noble merchantmen in modern times have foundered or crashed ashore\nin various seas with large fortunes in their treasure rooms, and these\nare sought by expeditions, but because these ships were not galleons\nnor carried a freightage of doubloons and pieces of eight, most of them\nmust be listed in the catalogue of undistinguished sea tragedies.  The\ndistinction is really obvious.  The treasure story must have the\npicaresque flavor or at least concern itself with bold deeds done by\nstrong men in days gone by.  Like wine its bouquet is improved by age.\n\nIt is the fashion to consider lost treasure as the peculiar property of\npirates and galleons, and yet what has become of the incredibly vast\nriches of all the vanished kings, despots, and soldiers who plundered\nthe races of men from the beginnings of history?  Where is the loot of\nancient Home that was buried with Alaric!  Where is the dazzling\ntreasure of Samarcand?  Where is the wealth of Antioch, and where the\njewels which Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba?  During thousands of\nyears of warfare the treasures of the Old World could be saved from the\nconqueror only by hiding them underground, and in countless instances\nthe sword must have slain those who knew the secret.  When Genghis Khan\nswept across Russia with his hordes of savage Mongols towns and cities\nwere blotted out as by fire, and doubtless those of the slaughtered\npopulation who had gold and precious stones buried them and there they\nstill await the treasure seeker.  What was happening everywhere during\nthe ruthless ages of conquest and spoliation[2] is indicated by this\nbit of narrative told by a native banker of India to W. Forbes\nMitchell, author of \"Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny\":\n\n\"You know how anxious the late Maharajah Scindia was to get back the\nfortress of Gwalior, but very few knew the real cause prompting him.\nThat was a concealed horde of sixty _crores_ (sixty millions sterling)\nof rupees in certain vaults within the fortress, over which British\nsentinels had been walking for thirty years, never suspecting the\nwealth hidden under their feet.  Long before the British Government\nrestored the fortress to the Maharajah everyone who knew the entrance\nto the vaults was dead except one man and he was extremely old.\nAlthough he was in good health he might have died any day.  If this had\nhappened, the treasure might have been lost to the owner forever and to\nthe world for ages, because there was only one method of entrance and\nit was most cunningly concealed.  On all sides, except for this series\nof blind passages, the vaults were surrounded by solid rock.\n\n\"The Maharajah was in such a situation that he must either get back his\nfortress or divulge the secret of the existence of the treasure to the\nBritish Government, and risk losing it by confiscation.  As soon as\npossession of the fortress was restored to him, and even before the\nBritish troops had left Gwalior territory, masons were brought from\nBenares, after being sworn to secrecy in the Temple of the Holy Cow.\nThey were blindfolded and driven to the place where they were to labor.\nThere they were kept as prisoners until the hidden treasure had been\nexamined and verified when the hole was again sealed up and the workmen\nwere once more blindfolded and taken back to Benares in the custody of\nan armed escort.\"\n\n\n\n[1] \"The Pirates' Own Book\" was published at Portland, Maine, 1837, and\nlargely reprinted from Captain Charles Johnson's \"General History of\nthe Pyrates of the New Providence,\" etc., first edition, London, 1724.\nHis second edition of two volumes, published in 1727, contained the\nlives of Kidd and Blackbeard.  \"The Pirates' Own Book,\" while largely\nindebted to Captain Johnson's work, contains a great deal of material\nconcerning other noted sea rogues who flourished later than 1727.\n\n[2] \"As to Clive, there was no limit to his acquisitions but his own\nmoderation.  The treasury of Bengal was thrown open to him.  There were\npiled up, after the usage of Indian princes, immense masses of coin,\namong which might not seldom be detected the florins and byzants with\nwhich, before any European ship had turned the Cape of Good Hope, the\nVenetians purchased the stuffs and spices of the East.  Clive walked\nbetween heaps of gold and silver, crowned with rubies and diamonds, and\nwas at liberty to help himself.\"--Macauley.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nCAPTAIN KIDD IN FACT AND FICTION\n\nDoomed to an infamy undeserved, his name reddened with crimes he never\ncommitted, and made wildly romantic by tales of treasure which he did\nnot bury, Captain William Kidd is fairly entitled to the sympathy of\nposterity and the apologies of all the ballad-makers and alleged\nhistorians who have obscured the facts in a cloud of fable.  For two\ncenturies his grisly phantom has stalked through the legends and\nliterature of the black flag as the king of pirates and the most\nindustrious depositor of ill-gotten gold and jewels that ever wielded\npick and shovel.  His reputation is simply prodigious, his name has\nfrightened children wherever English is spoken, and the Kidd tradition,\nor myth, is still potent to send treasure-seekers exploring and\nexcavating almost every beach, cove, and headland between Nova Scotia\nand the Gulf of Mexico.\n\nFate has played the strangest tricks imaginable with the memory of this\nseventeenth century seafarer who never cut a throat or made a victim\nwalk the plank, who was no more than a third or fourth rate pirate in\nan era when this interesting profession was in its heyday, and who was\nhanged at Execution Dock for the excessively unromantic crime of\ncracking the skull of his gunner with a wooden bucket.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Captain Kidd burying his Bible.]\n\nCarousing at Old Calabar River.  (From _The Pirates' Own Book_.)\n\n======================================================================\n\nAs for the riches of Captain Kidd, the original documents in his case,\npreserved among the state papers of the Public Record Office in London,\nrelate with much detail what booty he had and what he did with it.\nAlas, they reveal the futility of the searches after the stout\nsea-chest buried above high water mark.  The only authentic Kidd\ntreasure was dug up and inventoried more than two hundred years ago,\nnor has the slightest clue to any other been found since then.\n\nThese curious documents, faded and sometimes tattered, invite the\nreader to thresh out his own conclusions as to how great a scoundrel\nKidd really was, and how far he was a scapegoat who had to be hanged to\nclear the fair names of those noble lords in high places who were\npartners and promoters of that most unlucky sea venture in which Kidd,\nsent out to catch pirates, was said to have turned amateur pirate\nhimself rather than sail home empty-handed.  Certain it is that these\nwords of the immortal ballad are cruelly, grotesquely unjust:\n\n  I made a solemn vow, when I sail'd, when I sail'd,\n    I made a solemn vow when I sail'd.\n  I made a solemn vow, to God I would not bow,\n    Nor myself a prayer allow, as I sail'd.\n\n  I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sail'd, when I sail'd,\n    I'd a Bible in my hand when I sail'd.\n  I'd a Bible in my hand, by my father's great command,\n    And I sunk it in the sand when I sail'd.\n\n\nIn English fiction there are three treasure stories of surpassing merit\nfor ingenious contrivance and convincing illusion.  These are\nStevenson's \"Treasure Island\"; Poe's \"Gold Bug\"; and Washington\nIrving's \"Wolfert Webber.\"  Differing widely in plot and literary\ntreatment, each peculiar to the genius of its author, they are blood\nkin, sprung from a common ancestor, namely, the Kidd legend.  Why this\nhalf-hearted pirate who was neither red-handed nor of heroic dimensions\neven in his badness, should have inspired more romantic fiction than\nany other character in American history is past all explaining.\n\nStrangely enough, no more than a generation or two after Kidd's sorry\nremnants were swinging in chains for the birds to pick at, there began\nto cluster around his memory the folk-lore and superstitions colored by\nthe supernatural which had been long current in many lands in respect\nof buried treasure.  It was a kind of diabolism which still survives in\nmany a corner of the Atlantic coast where tales of Kidd are told.\nIrving took these legends as he heard them from the long-winded\nancients of his own acquaintance and wove them into delightfully\nentertaining fiction with a proper seasoning of the ghostly and the\nuncanny.  His formidable hero is an old pirate with a sea chest,\naforetime one of Kidd's rogues, who appears at the Dutch tavern near\nCorlear's Hook, and there awaits tidings of his shipmates and the\nhidden treasure.  It is well known that Stevenson employed a strikingly\nsimilar character and setting to get \"Treasure Island\" under way in the\nopening chapter.  As a literary coincidence, a comparison of these\npieces of fiction is of curious interest.  The similarity is to be\nexplained on the ground that both authors made use of the same material\nwhose ground-work was the Kidd legend in its various forms as it has\nbeen commonly circulated.\n\nStevenson confessed in his preface:\n\n\"It is my debt to Washington Irving that exercises my conscience, and\njustly so, for I believe plagiarism was rarely carried farther.  I\nchanced to pick up the 'Tales of a Traveler' some years ago, with a\nview to an anthology of prose narrative, and the book flew up and\nstruck me: Billy Bones, his chest, the company in the parlor, the whole\ninner spirit and a good deal of the material detail of my first\nchapters--all were there, all were the property of Washington Irving.\nBut I had no guess of it then as I sat writing by the fireside, in what\nseemed the springtides of a somewhat pedestrian fancy; nor yet day by\nday, after lunch, as I read aloud my morning's work to the family.  It\nseemed to me original as sin; it seemed to belong to me like my right\neye.\"\n\nAfter the opening scenes the two stories veer off on diverging tacks,\nthe plot of Stevenson moving briskly along to the treasure voyage with\nno inclusion of the supernatural features of the Kidd tradition.\nIrving, however, narrates at a leisurely pace all the gossip and legend\nthat were rife concerning Kidd in the Manhattan of the worthy\nKnickerbockers.  And he could stock a treasure chest as cleverly as\nStevenson, for when Wolfert Webber dreamed that he had discovered an\nimmense treasure in the center of his garden, \"at every stroke of the\nspade he laid bare a golden ingot; diamond crosses sparkled out of the\ndust; bags of money turned up their bellies, corpulent with pieces of\neight, or venerable doubloons; and chests, wedged close with moidores,\nducats, and pistareens, yawned before his ravished eyes and vomited\nforth their glittering contents.\"\n\nThe warp and woof of \"Wolfert Webber\" is the still persistent legend\nthat Kidd buried treasure near the Highlands of the lower Hudson, or\nthat his ship, the _Quedah Merchant_, was fetched from San Domingo by\nhis men after he left her and they sailed her into the Hudson and there\nscuttled the vessel, scattering ashore and dividing a vast amount of\nplunder, some of which was hidden nearby.  Many years ago a pamphlet\nwas published, purporting to be true, which was entitled, \"An Account\nof Some of the Traditions and Experiments Respecting Captain Kidd's\nPiratical Vessel.\"  In this it was soberly asserted that Kidd in the\n_Quedah Merchant_ was chased into the North River by an English\nman-of-war, and finding himself cornered he and his crew took to the\nboats with what treasure they could carry, after setting fire to the\nship, and fled up the Hudson, thence footing it through the wilderness\nto Boston.\n\nThe sunken ship was searched for from time to time, and the explorers\nwere no doubt assisted by another pamphlet published early in the\nnineteenth century which proclaimed itself as:\n\n\"A Wonderful Mesmeric Revelation, giving an Account of the Discovery\nand Description of a Sunken Vessel, near Caldwell's Landing, supposed\nto be that of the Pirate Kidd; including an Account of his Character\nand Death, at a distance of nearly three hundred miles from the place.\"\n\nThis psychic information came from a woman by the name of Chester\nliving in Lynn, Mass., who swore she had never heard of the sunken\ntreasure ship until while in a trance she beheld its shattered timbers\ncovered with sand, and \"bars of massive gold, heaps of silver coin, and\nprecious jewels including many large and brilliant diamonds.  The\njewels had been enclosed in shot bags of stout canvas.  There were also\ngold watches, like duck's eggs in a pond of water, and the wonderfully\npreserved remains of a very beautiful woman, with a necklace of\ndiamonds around her neck.\"\n\nAs Irving takes pains to indicate, the basis of the legend of the\nsunken pirate ship came not from Kidd but from another freebooter who\nflourished at the same time.  Says Peechy Prauw, daring to hold\nconverse with the old buccaneer in the tavern, \"Kidd never did bury\nmoney up the Hudson, nor indeed in any of those parts, though many\naffirmed such to be the fact.  It was Bradish and others of the\nbuccaneers who had buried money; some said in Turtle Bay, others on\nLong Island, others in the neighborhood of Hell-gate.\"\n\nThis Bradish was caught by Governor Bellomont and sent to England where\nhe was hanged at Execution Dock.  He had begun his career of crime\nafloat as boatswain of a ship called the _Adventure_ (not Kidd's\nvessel).  While on a voyage from London to Borneo he helped other\nmutineers to take the vessel from her skipper and go a-cruising as\ngentlemen of fortune.  They split up forty thousand dollars of specie\nfound on board, snapped up a few merchantmen to fatten their dividends,\nand at length came to the American coast and touched at Long Island.\n\nThe _Adventure_ ship was abandoned, and there is reason to think that\nshe was taken possession of by the crew of the purchased sloop, who\nworked her around to New York and beached and sunk her after stripping\nher of fittings and gear.  Bradish and his crew also cruised along the\nSound for some time in their small craft, landing and buying supplies\nat several places, until nineteen of them were caught and taken to\nBoston.  That there should have been some confusion of facts relating\nto Kidd and Bradish is not at all improbable.\n\nAmong the Dutch of New Amsterdam was to be found that world-wide\nsuperstition of the ghostly guardians of buried treasure, and Irving\ninterpolates the distressful experience of Cobus Quackenbos \"who dug\nfor a whole night and met with incredible difficulty, for as fast as he\nthrew one shovelful of earth out of the hole, two were thrown in by\ninvisible hands.  He succeeded so far, however, as to uncover an iron\nchest, when there was a terrible roaring, ramping, and raging of\nuncouth figures about the hole, and at length a shower of blows, dealt\nby invisible cudgels, fairly belabored him off of the forbidden ground.\nThis Cobus Quackenbos had declared on his death bed, so that there\ncould not be any doubt of it.  He was a man that had devoted many years\nof his life to money-digging, and it was thought would have ultimately\nsucceeded, had he not died recently of a brain fever in the almshouse.\"\n\nA story built around the Kidd tradition but of a wholly different kind\nis that masterpiece of curious deductive analysis, \"The Gold Bug,\" with\nits cryptogram and elaborate mystification.  In making use of an\nhistorical character to serve the ends of fiction it is customary to\nmake him move among the episodes of the story with some regard for the\nprobabilities.  For example, it would hardly do to have Napoleon win\nthe Battle of Waterloo as the hero of a novel.  What really happened\nand what the author imagines might have happened must be dovetailed\nwith an eye to avoid contradicting the known facts.  Like almost\neveryone else, however, Poe took the most reckless liberties with the\ncareer of poor Captain Kidd and his buried treasure and cared not a rap\nfor historical evidence to the contrary.  Although Stevenson is ready\nto admit that his \"skeleton is conveyed from Poe,\" the author of\n\"Treasure Island\" is not wholly fair to himself.  The tradition that\nsecretive pirates were wont to knock a shipmate or two on the head as a\nfeature of the program of burying treasure is as old as the hills.  The\npurpose was either to get rid of the witnesses who had helped dig the\nhole, or to cause the spot to be properly haunted by ghosts as an\nadditional precaution against the discovery of the hoard.\n\nWhat Stevenson \"conveyed\" from Poe was the employment of a skeleton to\nindicate the bearings and location of the treasure, although, to be\naccurate, it was a skull that figured in \"The Gold Bug.\"  Otherwise, in\nthe discovery of the remains of slain pirates, both were using a stock\nincident of buried treasure lore most generally fastened upon the\nunfortunate Captain Kidd.\n\nMost of the treasure legends of the Atlantic coast are fable and\nmoonshine, with no more foundation than what somebody heard from his\ngrandfather who may have dreamed that Captain Kidd or Blackbeard once\nlanded in a nearby cove.  The treasure seeker needs no evidence,\nhowever, and with him \"faith is the substance of things hoped for.\"\nThere is a marsh of the Penobscot river, a few miles inland from the\nbay of that name, which has been indefatigably explored for more than a\ncentury.  A native of a statistical turn of mind not long ago expressed\nhimself in this common-sense manner:\n\n\"Thousands of tons of soil have been shovelled over time and again.  I\nfigure that these treasure hunters have handled enough earth in turning\nup Codlead Marsh to build embankments and fill cuts for a railroad\ngrade twenty miles long.  In other words, if these lunatics that have\ntried to find Kidd's money had hired out with railroad contractors,\nthey could have earned thirty thousand dollars at regular day wages\ninstead of the few battered old coins discovered in 1798 which started\nall this terrible waste of energy.\"\n\nThe most convincing evidence of the existence of a pirates' rendezvous\nand hoard has been found on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.  In fact, this is\nthe true treasure story, _par excellence_, of the whole Atlantic coast,\nwith sufficient mystery to give it precisely the proper flavor.  Local\ntradition has long credited Captain Kidd with having been responsible\nfor the indubitable remains of piratical activity, but it has been\nproved that Kidd went nowhere near Nova Scotia after he came sailing\nhome from the East Indies, and the industrious visitors to Oak Island\nare therefore unknown to history.\n\nThe island has a sheltered haven called Mahone Bay, snugly secluded\nfrom the Atlantic, with deep water, and a century ago the region was\nwild and unsettled.  Near the head of the bay is a small cove which was\nvisited in the year of 1795 by three young men named Smith, MacGinnis,\nand Vaughan who drew their canoes ashore and explored at random the\nnoble groves of oaks.  Soon they came to a spot whose peculiar\nappearance aroused their curiosity.  The ground had been cleared many\nyears before; this was indicated by the second growth of trees and the\nkind of vegetation which is foreign to the primeval condition of the\nsoil.  In the center of the little clearing was a huge oak whose bark\nwas gashed with markings made by an axe.  One of the stout lower\nbranches had been sawn off at some distance from the trunk and to this\nnatural derrick-arm had been attached a heavy block and tackle as shown\nby the furrowed scar in the bark.  Directly beneath this was a\nperceptible circular depression of the turf, perhaps a dozen feet in\ndiameter.\n\nThe three young men were curious, and made further investigation.  The\ntide chanced to be uncommonly low, and while ranging along the beach of\nthe cove they discovered a huge iron ring-bolt fastened to a rock which\nwas invisible at ordinary low water.  They reasonably surmised that\nthis had been a mooring place in days gone by.  Not far distant a\nboatswain's whistle of an ancient pattern and a copper coin bearing the\ndate of 1713 were picked up.\n\nThe trio scented pirates' treasure and shortly returned to the cove to\ndig in the clearing hard by the great oak.  It was soon found that they\nwere excavating in a clearly defined shaft, the walls of which were of\nthe solid, undisturbed earth in which the cleavage of other picks and\nshovels could be distinguished.  The soil within the shaft was much\nlooser and easily removed.  Ten feet below the surface they came to a\ncovering of heavy oak plank which was ripped out with much difficulty.\n\nAt a depth of twenty feet another layer of planking was uncovered, and\ndigging ten feet deeper, a third horizontal bulkhead of timber was laid\nbare.  The excavation was now thirty feet down, and the three men had\ndone all they could without a larger force, hoisting machinery, and\nother equipment.  The natives of Mahone Bay, however, were singularly\nreluctant to aid the enterprise.  Hair-raising stories were afloat of\nghostly guardians, of strange cries, of unearthly fires that flickered\nalong the cove, and all that sort of thing.  Superstition effectually\nfortified the place, and those bold spirits, Smith, MacGinnis, and\nVaughan were forced to abandon their task for lack of reinforcements.\n\nHalf a dozen years later a young physician of Truro, Dr. Lynds, visited\nOak Island, having got wind of the treasure story, and talked with the\nthree men aforesaid.  He took their report seriously, made an\ninvestigation of his own, and straightway organized a company backed by\nconsiderable capital.  Prominent persons of Truro and the neighborhood\nwere among the investors, including Colonel Robert Archibald, Captain\nDavid Archibald, and Sheriff Harris.  A gang of laborers was mustered\nat the cove, and the dirt began to fly.  The shaft was opened to a\ndepth of ninety-five feet, and, as before, some kind of covering, or\nsignificant traces thereof, was disclosed every ten feet or so.  One\nlayer was of charcoal spread over a matting of a substance resembling\ncocoa fibre, while another was of putty, some of which was used in\nglazing the windows of a house then building on the nearby coast.\n\nNinety feet below the surface, the laborers found a large flat stone or\nquarried slab, three feet long and sixteen inches wide, upon which was\nchiselled the traces of an inscription.  This stone was used in the\njamb of a fireplace of a new house belonging to Smith, and was later\ntaken to Halifax in the hope of having the mysterious inscription\ndeciphered.  One wise man declared that the letters read, \"Ten feet\nbelow two million pounds lie buried,\" but this verdict was mostly\nguess-work.  The stone is still in Halifax, where it was used for\nbeating leather in a book-binder's shop until the inscription had been\nworn away.\n\nWhen the workmen were down ninety-five feet, they came to a wooden\nplatform covering the shaft.  Until then the hole had been clear of\nwater, but overnight it filled within twenty-five feet of the top.\nPersistent efforts were made to bail out the flood but with such poor\nsuccess that the shaft was abandoned and another sunk nearby, the plan\nbeing to tunnel into the first pit and thereby drain it and get at the\ntreasure.  The second shaft was driven to a depth of a hundred and ten\nfeet, but while the tunnel was in progress the water broke through and\nmade the laborers flee for their lives.  The company had spent all its\nmoney, and the results were so discouraging that the work was abandoned.\n\nIt was not until 1849 that another attempt was made to fathom the\nmeaning of the extraordinary mystery of Oak Island.  Dr. Lynds and\nVaughan were still alive and their narratives inspired the organization\nof another treasure-seeking company.  Vaughan easily found the old\n\"Money Pit\" as it was called, and the original shaft was opened and\ncleared to a depth of eighty-six feet when an inrush of water stopped\nthe undertaking.  Again the work ceased for lack of adequate pumping\nmachinery, and it was decided to use a boring apparatus such as was\nemployed in prospecting for coal.  A platform was rigged in the old\nshaft, and the large auger bit its way in a manner described by the\nmanager of the enterprise as follows:\n\n\"The platform was struck at ninety-eight feet, just as the old diggers\nfound it.  After going through this platform, which was five inches\nthick and proved to be of spruce, the auger dropped twelve inches and\nthen went through four inches of oak; then it went through twenty-two\ninches of metal in pieces, but the auger failed to take any of it\nexcept three links resembling an ancient watch-chain.  It then went\nthrough eight inches of oak, which was thought to be the bottom of the\nfirst box and the top of the next; then through twenty-two inches of\nmetal the same as before; then four inches of oak and six inches of\nspruce, then into clay seven feet without striking anything.  In the\nnext boring, the platform was struck as before at ninety-eight feet;\npassing through this, the auger fell about eighteen inches, and came in\ncontact with, as supposed, the side of a cask.  The flat chisel\nrevolving close to the side of the cask gave it a jerk and irregular\nmotion.  On withdrawing the auger several splinters of oak, such as\nmight come from the side of an oak stave, and a small quantity of a\nbrown fibrous substance resembling the husk of a cocoa-nut, were\nbrought up.  The distance between the upper and lower platforms was\nfound to be six feet.\"\n\nIn the summer of 1850 a third shaft was sunk just to the west of the\nMoney Pit, but this also filled with water which was discovered to be\nsalt and effected by the rise and fall of the tide in the cove.  It was\nreasoned that if a natural inlet existed, those who had buried the\ntreasure must have encountered the inflow which would have made their\nundertaking impossible.  Therefore the pirates must have driven some\nkind of a tunnel or passage from the cove with the object of flooding\nout any subsequent intruders.  Search was made along the beach, and\nnear where the ring-bolt was fastened in the rock a bed of the brown,\nfibrous material was uncovered and beneath it a mass of small rock\nunlike the surrounding sand and gravel.\n\nIt was decided to build a coffer-dam around this place which appeared\nto be a concealed entrance to a tunnel connecting the cove with the\nMoney Pit.  In removing the rock, a series of well-constructed drains\nwas found, extending from a common center, and fashioned of carefully\nlaid stone.  Before the coffer-dam was finished, it was overflowed by a\nvery high tide and collapsed under pressure.  The explorers did not\nrebuild it but set to work sinking a shaft which was intended to cut\ninto this tunnel and dam the inlet from the cove.  One failure,\nhowever, followed on the heels of another, and shaft after shaft was\ndug only to be caved in or filled by salt water.  In one of these was\nfound an oak plank, several pieces of timber bearing the marks of\ntools, and many hewn chips.  A powerful pumping engine was installed,\ntimber cribbing put into the bottom of the shafts, and a vast amount of\nclay dumped on the beach in an effort to block up the inlet of the\nsea-water tunnel.  Baffled in spite of all this exertion, the\ntreasure-seekers spent their money and had to quit empty-handed.\n\nForty years passed, and the crumbling earth almost filled the numerous\nand costly excavations and the grass grew green under the sentinel\noaks.  Then, in 1896, the cove was once more astir with boats and the\nshore populous with toilers.  The old records had been overhauled and\ntheir evidence was so alluring that fresh capital was subscribed and\nmany shares eagerly snapped up in Truro, Halifax and elsewhere.  The\npromoters became convinced that former attempts had failed because of\ncrude appliances and insufficient engineering skill, and this time the\ntreasure was sought in up-to-date fashion.\n\nAlmost twenty deep shafts were dug, one after the other, in a ring\nabout the Money Pit, and tunnels driven in a net-work.  It was the\npurpose of the engineers to intercept the underground channel and also\nto drain the pirates' excavation.  Hundreds of pounds of dynamite were\nused and thousands of feet of heavy timber.  Further traces of the work\nof the ancient contrivers of this elaborate hiding-place were\ndiscovered, but the funds of the company were exhausted before the\nsecret of the Money Pit could be revealed.\n\nConsiderable boring was done under the direction of the manager,\nCaptain Welling.  The results confirmed the previous disclosures\nachieved by the auger.  At a depth of one hundred and twenty-six feet,\nCaptain Welling's crew drilled through oak wood, and struck a piece of\niron past which they could not drive the encasing pipe.  A smaller\nauger was then used and at one hundred and fifty-three feet cement was\nfound of a thickness of seven inches, covering another layer of oak.\nBeyond was some soft metal, and the drill brought to the surface a\nsmall fragment of sheepskin parchment upon which was written in ink the\nsyllable, \"vi\" or \"wi.\"  Other curious samples, wood and iron, were\nfished up, but the \"soft metal,\" presumed to be gold or silver, refused\nto cling to the auger.  It was of course taken for granted that the\nvarious layers of oak planking and spruce were chests containing the\ntreasure.\n\nDuring the various borings, seven different chests or casks, or\nwhatever they may be, have been encountered.  It seems incredible that\nany pirates or buccaneers known to the American coast should have been\nat such prodigious pains to conceal their plunder as to dig a hole a\ngood deal more than a hundred feet deep, connect it with the sea by an\nunderground passage, and safeguard it by many layers of timber, cement,\nand other material.  Possibly some of the famous freebooters of the\nSpanish Main in Henry Morgan's time might have achieved such a task,\nbut Nova Scotia was a coast unknown to them and thousands of miles from\ntheir track.  Poor Kidd had neither the men, the treasure, nor the\nopportunity to make such a memorial of his career as this.\n\nQuite recently a new company was formed to grapple with the secret of\nOak Island which has already swallowed at least a hundred thousand\ndollars in labor and machinery.  For more than a century, sane,\nhard-headed Nova Scotians have tried to reach the bottom of the \"Money\nPit,\" and as an attractive speculation it has no rival in the field of\ntreasure-seeking.  There may be documents somewhere in existence, a\nchart or memorandum mouldering in a sea chest in some attic or cellar\nof France, England, or Spain, that will furnish the key to this rarely\npicturesque and tantalizing puzzle.  The unbeliever has only to go to\nNova Scotia in the summer time and seek out Oak Island, which is\nreached by way of the town of Chester, to find the deeply pitted area\nof the treasure hunt, and very probably engines and workmen busy at the\nfine old game of digging for pirates' gold.\n\nLet us now give the real Captain Kidd his due, painting him no blacker\nthan the facts warrant, and at the same time uncover the true story of\nhis treasure, which is the plum in the pudding.  He had been a merchant\nshipmaster of brave and honorable repute in an age when every\ndeep-water voyage was a hazard of privateers and freebooters of all\nflags, or none at all.  In one stout square-rigger after another, well\narmed and heavily manned, he had sailed out of the port of New York, in\nwhich he dwelt as early as 1689.  He had a comfortable, even prosperous\nhome in Liberty Street, was married to a widow of good family, and was\nhighly thought of by the Dutch and English merchants of the town.  A\nshrewd trader who made money for his owners, he was also a fighting\nseaman of such proven mettle that he was given command of privateers\nwhich cruised along the coasts of the Colonies and harried the French\nin the West Indies.  His excellent reputation and character are\nattested by official documents.  In the records of the Proceedings of\nthe Provincial Assembly of New York is the following entry under date\nof April 18, 1691:\n\n\"Gabriel Monville, Esq. and Thomas Willet, Esq. are appointed to attend\nthe House of Representatives and acquaint them of the many good\nservices done to this Province by Captain William Kidd in his attending\nhere with his Vessels before His Excellency's[1] arrival, and that it\nwould be acceptable to His Excellency and this Board that they consider\nof some suitable reward to him for his good services.\"\n\nThis indicates that Captain Kidd had been in command of a small\nsquadron engaged in protecting the commerce of the colony.  On May 14,\nthe following was adopted by the House of Representatives:\n\n\"Ordered, that His Excellency be addressed unto, to order the Receiver\nGeneral to pay to Captain William Kidd, One Hundred and Fifty Pounds\ncurrent money of this Province, as a suitable reward for the many good\nservices done to this Province.\"\n\nIn June, only a month after this, Captain Kidd was asked by the Colony\nof Massachusetts to punish the pirates who were pestering the shipping\nof Boston and Salem.  The negotiations were conducted in this wise:\n\n\n_By the Governor and Council._\n\nProposals offered to Captain Kidd and Captain Walkington to encourage\ntheir going forth in their Majesties' Service to suppress an Enemy\nPrivateer now upon this Coast.\n\nThat they have liberty to beat up drums for forty men apiece to go\nforth on this present Expedition, not taking any Children or Servants\nwithout their Parents' or Masters' Consent.  A list of the names of\nsuch as go in the said Vessels to be presented to the Governor before\ntheir departure.\n\nThat they cruise upon the Coast for the space of ten or fifteen days in\nsearch of the said Privateer, and then come in again and land the men\nsupplied them from hence.\n\nThat what Provisions shall be expended within the said time, for so\nmany men as are in both the said Vessels, be made good to them on their\nreturn, in case they take no purchase;[2] but if they shall take the\nPrivateer, or any other Vessels, then only a proportion of Provisions\nfor so many men as they take in here.\n\nIf any of our men happen to be wounded in the engagement with the\nPrivateer, that they be cured at the public charge.\n\nThat the men supplied from hence be proportionable sharers with the\nother men belonging to said Vessels, of all purchase that shall be\ntaken.\n\nBesides the promise of a Gratuity to the Captains, Twenty Pounds apiece\nin money.\n\nBoston, June 8th, 1691.\n\n\nTo this thrifty set of terms, Captain Kidd made reply:\n\n\"_Imprimis_, To have forty men, with their arms, provisions, and\nammunition.\n\n\"_2dly_.  All the men that shall be wounded, which have been put in by\nthe Country, shall be put on shore, and the Country to take care of\nthem.  And if so fortunate as to take the Pirate and her prizes, then\nto bring them to Boston.\n\n\"_3rdly_.  For myself, to have One Hundred Pounds in money; Thirty\nPounds thereof to be paid down, the rest upon my return to Boston; and\nif we bring in said Ship and her Prizes, then the same to be divided\namongst our men.\n\n\"_4thly_.  The Provisions put on board must be ten barrels Pork and\nBeef, ten barrels of Flour, two hogsheads of Peas, and one barrel of\nGunpowder for the great guns.\n\n\"_5thly_.  That I will cruise on the coast for ten days' time; and if\nso that he is gone off the coast, that I cannot hear of him, I will\nthen, at my return, take care and set what men on shore that I have\nhad, and are willing to leave me or the Ship.\"\n\nThese records serve to show in what esteem Captain Kidd was held by the\nhighest officials of the Colonies.  Such men as he were sailing out of\nBoston, New York, and Salem to trade in uncharted seas on remote coasts\nand fight their way home again with rich cargoes.  They hammered out\nthe beginnings of a mighty commerce for the New World and created, by\nthe stern stress of circumstances, as fine a race of seamen as ever\nfilled cabin and forecastle.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The Idle Apprentice goes to sea.  (From Hogarth's\nseries, \"Industry and Idleness.\")]\n\nOn the shore of this reach of the Thames, at Tilbury, is shown a\ngibbeted pirate hanging in chains, just as it befell Captain William\nKidd.\n\n======================================================================\n\nIn the year 1695, Captain Kidd chanced to be anchored in London port in\nhis brigantine _Antigoa_, busy with loading merchandise and shipping a\ncrew for the return voyage across the Atlantic.  Now, Richard Coote,\nEarl of Bellomont, an ambitious and energetic Irishman, had just then\nbeen appointed royal governor of the Colonies of New York and\nMassachusetts, and he was particularly bent on suppressing the swarm of\npirates who infested the American coast and waxed rich on the English\ncommerce of the Indian Ocean.  Their booty was carried to Rhode Island,\nNew York, and Boston, even from far-away Madagascar, and many a\ncolonial merchant, outwardly the pattern of respectability, was\nsecretly trafficking in this plunder.\n\n\"I send you, my Lord, to New York,\" said King William III to Bellomont,\n\"because an honest and intrepid man is wanted to put these abuses down,\nand because I believe you to be such a man.\"\n\nThereupon Bellomont asked for a frigate to send in chase of the bold\nsea rogues, but the king referred him to the Lords of the Admiralty who\ndiscovered sundry obstacles bound in red tape, the fact being that\nofficial England was at all times singularly indifferent, or covertly\nhostile, toward the maritime commerce of her American colonies.  Being\ndenied a man-of-war, Bellomont conceived the plan of privately\nequipping an armed ship as a syndicate enterprise without cost to the\ngovernment.  The promoters were to divide the swag captured from\npirates as dividends on their investment.\n\nThe enterprise was an alluring one, and six thousand pounds sterling\nwere subscribed by Bellomont and his friends, including such\nillustrious personages as Somers, the Lord Chancellor and leader of the\nWhig party; the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Orford, First Lord of\nthe Admiralty; the Earl of Romney, and Sir Richard Harrison, a wealthy\nmerchant.  According to Bishop Burnet, it was the king who \"proposed\nmanaging it by a private enterprise, and said he would lay down three\nthousand pounds himself, and recommended it to his Ministers to find\nout the refit.  In compliance with this, the Lord Somers, the Earl of\nOrford, Romney, Bellomont and others, contributed the whole expense,\nfor the King excused himself by reason of other accidents, and did not\nadvance the sum he had promised.\"\n\nMacauley, discussing in his \"History of England\" the famous scandal\nwhich later involved these partners of Kidd, defends them in this\nspirited fashion:\n\n\"The worst that could be imputed even to Bellomont, who had drawn in\nall the rest, was that he had been led into a fault by his ardent zeal\nfor the public service, and by the generosity of a nature as little\nprone to suspect as to devise villainies.  His friends in England might\nsurely be pardoned for giving credit to his recommendations.  It is\nhighly probable that the motive which induced some of them to aid his\ndesigns was a genuine public spirit.  But if we suppose them to have\nhad a view to gain, it would be legitimate gain.  Their conduct was the\nvery opposite of corrupt.  Not only had they taken no money.  They had\ndisbursed money largely, and had disbursed it with the certainty that\nthey should never be reimbursed unless the outlay proved beneficial to\nthe public.\"\n\nIt would be easy to pick flaws in this argument.  Bellomont's partners,\nno matter how public spirited, hoped to reimburse themselves, and\nsomething over, as receivers of stolen goods.  It was a dashing\nspeculation, characteristic of its century, and neither better nor\nworse than the privateering of that time.  What raised the subsequent\nrow in Parliament and made of Kidd a political issue and a party\nscapegoat, was the fact that his commission was given under the Great\nSeal of England, thus stamping a private business with the public\nsanction of His Majesty's Government.  For this Somers, as Lord\nChancellor, was responsible, and it later became a difficult\ntransaction for his partisans to defend.\n\nThere was in London, at that time, one Robert Livingston, founder of a\nfamily long notable in the Colony and State of New York, a man of large\nproperty and solid station.  He was asked to recommend a shipmaster\nfitted for the task in hand and named Captain Kidd, who was reluctant\nto accept.  His circumstances were prosperous, he had a home and family\nin New York, and he was by no means anxious to go roving after pirates\nwho were pretty certain to fight for their necks.  His consent was won\nby the promise of a share of the profits (Kidd was a canny Scot by\nbirth) and by the offer of Livingston to be his security and his\npartner in the venture.\n\nAn elaborate contract was drawn up with the title of \"Articles of\nAgreement made this Tenth day of October in the year of Our Lord, 1695,\nbetween the Right Honorable Richard, Earl of Bellomont, of the one\npart, and Robert Livingston Esq., and Captain William Kidd of the other\npart.\"\n\nIn the first article, \"the said Earl of Bellomont doth covenant and\nagree at his proper charge to procure from the King's Majesty or from\nthe Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, as the case may require, one\nor more Commissions impowering him, the said Captain Kidd, to act\nagainst the King's enemies, and to take prizes from them as a private\nman-of-war, in the usual manner, and also to fight with, conquer and\nsubdue pyrates, and to take them and their goods, _with such large and\nbeneficial powers and clauses in such commissions as may be most proper\nand effectual in such cases_.\"\n\nBellomont agreed to pay four-fifths of the cost of the ship, with its\nfurnishings and provisions, Kidd and Livingston to contribute the\nremainder, \"in pursuance of which Bellomont was to pay down 1600 pounds\non or before the 6th of November, in order to the speedy buying of said\nship.\" The Earl agreed to pay such further sums as should \"complete and\nmake up the said four parts of five of the charge of the said ship's\napparel, furniture, and victualling, within seven weeks after date of\nthe agreement,\" and Kidd and Livingston bound themselves to do likewise\nin respect of their fifth part of the expense.  Other articles of the\nagreement read:\n\n\"7.  The said Captain Kidd doth covenant and agree to procure and take\nwith him on board of the said ship, one hundred mariners, or seamen, or\nthereabout, and to make what reasonable and convenient speed he can to\nset out to sea with the said ship, and to sail to such parts and places\nwhere he may meet with the said Pyrates, and to use his utmost endeavor\nto meet with, subdue, and conquer the said Pyrates, and to take from\nthem their goods, merchandise, and treasures; also to take what prizes\nhe can from the King's enemies, and forthwith to make the best of his\nway to Boston in New England, and that without touching at any other\nport or harbor whatsoever, or without breaking bulk, or diminishing any\npart of what he shall so take or obtain; (of which he shall make oath\nin case the same is desired by the said Earl of Bellomont), and there\nto deliver the same into the hands or possession of the said Earl.\n\n\"8.  The said Captain Kidd doth agree that the contract and bargain\nwhich he will make with the said ship's crew shall be no purchase,[3]\nno pay, and not otherwise; and that the share and proportion which his\nsaid crew shall, by such contract, have of such prizes, goods,\nmerchandise and treasure, as he shall take as prize, or from any\nPyrates, shall not at the most exceed a fourth part of the same, and\nshall be less than a fourth part, in case the same may reasonably and\nconveniently be agreed upon.\n\n\"9.  Robert Livingston Esq. and Captain William Kidd agree that if they\ncatch no Pyrates, they will refund to the said Earl of Bellomont all\nthe money advanced by him on or before March 25th, 1697, and they will\nkeep the said ship.\"\n\nArticle 10 allotted the captured goods and treasures, after deducting\nno more than one-fourth for the crew.  The remainder was to be divided\ninto five equal parts, of which Bellomont was to receive four parts,\nleaving a fifth to be shared between Kidd and Livingston.  The stake of\nCaptain Kidd was therefore to be three one-fortieths of the whole, or\nseven and one-half per cent. of the booty.\n\nIt is apparent from these singular articles of agreement that Robert\nLivingston, in the role of Kidd's financial backer, was willing to run\nboldly speculative chances of success, and was also confident that a\nrich crop of \"pyrates\" could be caught for the seeking.  If Kidd should\nsail home empty-handed, then these two partners stood to lose a large\namount, by virtue of the contract which provided that Bellomont and his\npartners must be reimbursed for their outlay, less the value of the\nship itself.  Livingston also gave bonds in the sum of ten thousand\npounds that Kidd would be faithful to his trust and obedient to his\norders, which in itself is sufficient to show that this shipmaster was\na man of the best intentions, and of thoroughly proven worth.\n\nCaptain Kidd's privateering commission was issued by the High Court of\nAdmiralty on December 11, 1695, and licensed and authorized him to \"set\nforth in war-like manner in the said ship called the _Adventure\nGalley_, under his own command, and therewith, by force of arms, to\napprehend, seize, and take the ships, vessels, and goods belonging to\nthe French King and his subjects, or inhabitants within the dominion of\nthe said French King, and such other ships, vessels, and goods as are\nor shall be liable to confiscation,\" etc.\n\nThis document was of the usual tenor, but in addition, Captain Kidd was\ngranted a special royal commission, under the Great Seal, which is\ngiven herewith because it so intimately concerned the later fortunes of\nhis noble partners:\n\n\nWILLIAM REX.\n\nWILLIAM THE THIRD, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland,\nFrance, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.  To our trusty and\nwell beloved Captain William Kidd, Commander of the ship _Adventure\nGalley_, or to any other, the commander of the same for the time being,\nGREETING:\n\nWhereas, we are informed that Captain Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Capt.\nThomas Wake, and Capt. William Maze, and other subjects, natives, or\ninhabitants of New York and elsewhere, in our plantations in America,\nhave associated themselves with divers other wicked and ill-disposed\npersons, and do, against the law of nations, commit many and great\npiracies, robberies, and depredations on the seas upon the parts of\nAmerica and in other parts, to the great hindrance and discouragement\nof trade and navigation, and to the great danger and hurt of our loving\nsubjects, our allies, and of all others navigating the seas upon their\nlawful occasions,\n\nNOW, KNOW YE, that we being desirous to prevent the aforesaid mischief,\nand as much as in us lies, to bring the said pirates, freebooters, and\nsea rovers to justice, have thought fit, and do hereby give and grant\nto the said Robert Kidd (to whom our Commissioners for exercising the\noffice of Lord High Admiral of England have granted a commission as a\nprivate man-of-war, bearing date of the 11th day of December, 1695),\nand unto the Commander of the said ship for the time being, and unto\nthe Officers, Mariners, and others which shall be under your command,\nfull power and authority to apprehend, seize, and take into your\ncustody, as well the said Captain Tew, John Ireland, Capt. Thomas Wake,\nand Capt. William Maze, or Mace, and all such pirates, freebooters, and\nsea rovers, being either our subjects or of other nations associated\nwith them, which you shall meet with upon the seas or coasts of\nAmerica, or upon any other seas or coasts, with all their ships and\nvessels, and all such merchandizes, money, goods, and wares as shall be\nfound on board, or with them, in case they shall willingly yield\nthemselves up, but if they will not yield without fighting, then you\nare by force to compel to yield.\n\nAnd we also require you to bring, or cause to be brought, such pirates,\nfreebooters, or sea rovers as you shall seize, to a legal trial to the\nend that they may be proceeded against according to the law in such\ncases.  And we do hereby command all our Officers, Ministers, and\nothers our loving subjects whatsoever to be aiding and assisting you in\nthe premises, and we do hereby enjoin you to keep an exact journal of\nyour proceedings in execution of the premises, and set down the names\nof such pirates and of their officers and company, and the names of\nsuch ships and vessels as you shall by virtue of these presents take\nand seize, and the quantity of arms, ammunition, provisions, and lading\nof such ships, and the true value of the same, as near as you judge.\n\nAnd we do hereby strictly charge and command, and you will answer the\ncontrary to your peril, that you do not, in any manner, offend or\nmolest our friends and allies, their ships or subjects, by colour or\npretense of these presents, or the authority thereof granted.  _In\nwitness_ whereof, we have caused our Great Seal of England to be\naffixed to these presents.  Given at our Court in Kensington, the 26th\nday of January, 1696, in the seventh Year of our Reign.\n\n\nIt was privately understood that the King was to receive one-tenth of\nthe proceeds of the voyage, although this stipulation does not appear\nin the articles of agreement.  By a subsequent grant from the Crown,\nthis understanding was publicly ratified and all money and property\ntaken from pirates, except the King's tenth, was to be made over to the\nowners of the _Adventure Galley_, to wit, Bellomont and his partners,\nand Kidd and Livingston, as they had agreed among themselves.\n\nThe _Adventure Galley_, the ship selected for the cruise, was of 287\ntons and thirty-four guns, a powerful privateer for her day, which Kidd\nfitted out at Plymouth, England.  Finding difficulty in recruiting a\nfull crew of mettlesome lads, he sailed from that port for New York in\nApril of 1696, with only seventy hands.  While anchored in the Hudson,\nhe increased his company to 155 men, many of them the riff-raff of the\nwater-front, deserters, wastrels, brawlers, and broken seamen who may\nhave sailed under the black flag aforetime.  It was a desperate\nventure, the pay was to be in shares of the booty taken, \"no prizes, no\nmoney,\" and sober, respectable sailors looked askance at it.  Kidd was\nimpatient to make an offing.  Livingston and Bellomont were chafing at\nthe delay, and he had to ship what men he could find at short notice.\n\nThe _Adventure Galley_ cruised first among the West Indies, honestly in\nquest of \"pirates, freebooters and sea rovers,\" and not falling in with\nany of these gentry, Kidd took his departure for the Cape of Good Hope\nand the Indian Ocean.  This was in accordance with his instructions,\nfor in the preamble of the articles of agreement it was stated that\n\"certain persons did some time since depart from New England, Rhode\nIsland, New York, and other parts in America and elsewhere with an\nintention to pyrate and to commit spoyles and depredations in the Red\nSea and elsewhere, and to return with such riches and goods as they\nshould get to certain places by them agreed upon, of which said persons\nand places the said Captain Kidd hath notice.\"\n\nThis long voyage was soundly planned.  Madagascar was the most\nnotorious haunt of pirates in the world.  Their palm-thatched villages\nfringed its beaches and the blue harbors sheltered many sail which\nsallied forth to play havoc with the precious argosies of the English,\nFrench, and Dutch East India Companies.  Kidd hoped to win both favor\nand fortune by ridding these populous trade routes of the perils that\nmenaced every honest skipper.\n\nWhen, at length, Madagascar was sighted, the _Adventure Galley_ was\nnine months from home, and not a prize had been taken.  Kidd was short\nof provisions and of money with which to purchase supplies.  His crew\nwas in a grumbling, mutinous temper, as they rammed their tarry fists\ninto their empty pockets and stared into the empty hold.  The captain\nquieted them with promises of dazzling spoil, and the _Adventure\nGalley_ vainly skirted the coast, only to find that some of the pirates\nhad got wind of her coming while others were gone a-cruising.  From the\ncrew of a wrecked French ship, Kidd took enough gold to buy provisions\nin a Malabar port.  This deed was hardly generous, but by virtue of his\nletters of marque Kidd was authorized to despoil a Frenchman wherever\nhe caught him.\n\nAfter more futile cruising to and fro, Kidd fell from grace and crossed\nthe very tenuous line that divided privateering from piracy in his\ncentury.  His first unlawful capture was a small native vessel owned by\nAden merchants and commanded by one Parker, an Englishman, the mate\nbeing a Portuguese.  The plunder was no more than a bale or two of\npepper and coffee, and a few gold pieces.  It was petty larceny\ncommitted to quiet a turbulent crew and to pay operating expenses.\nParker made loud outcry ashore and a little later Kidd was overtaken by\na vengeful Portuguese man-of-war off the port of Carawar.  The two\nships hammered each other with broad-sides and bow-chasers six hours on\nend, when Kidd went his way with several men wounded.\n\nSundry other small craft were made to stand and deliver after this\nwithout harm to their crews, but no treasure was lifted until Kidd\nventured to molest the shipping of the Great Mogul.  That fabled\npotentate of Asia whose empire had been found by Genghis Khan and\nextended by Tamerlane, and whose gorgeous palaces were at Samarcand,\nhad a mighty commerce between the Red Sea and China, and his rich\nfreights also swelled the business of the English East India Company.\nHis ships were often convoyed by the English and the Dutch.  It was\nfrom two of these vessels that Kidd took his treasure and thus achieved\nthe brief career which rove the halter around his neck.\n\nThe first of these ships of the Great Mogul he looted and burned, and\nto the second, the _Quedah Merchant_, he transferred his flag after\nforsaking the leaky, unseaworthy _Adventure Galley_ on the Madagascar\ncoast.  Out of this capture he took almost a half million dollars'\nworth of gold, jewels, plate, silks, and other precious merchandise of\nwhich his crew ran away with by far the greater share, leaving Kidd\nwith about one hundred thousand dollars in booty.\n\nIt was charged that while on this coast Kidd amicably consorted with a\nvery notorious pirate named Culliford, instead of blowing him out of\nthe water as he properly deserved.  This was the most damning feature\nof his indictment, and there is no doubt that he sold Culliford cannon\nand munitions and received him in his cabin.  On the other hand, Kidd\ndeclared that he would have attacked the pirate but he was overpowered\nby his mutinous crew who caroused with Culliford's rogues and were\nwholly out of hand.  And Kidd's story is lent the color of truth by the\nfact that ninety-five of his men deserted to join the _Mocha Frigate_\nof Culliford and sail with him under the Jolly Roger.  It is fair to\nassume that if William Kidd had been the successful pirate he is\nportrayed, his own rascals would have stayed with him in the _Quedah\nMerchant_ which was a large and splendidly armed and equipped ship of\nbetween four and five hundred tons.\n\nAbandoned by two-thirds of his crew, and unable to find trustworthy men\nto fill their places, Kidd was in sore straits and decided to sail for\nhome and square accounts with Bellomont, trusting to his powerful\nfriends to keep him out of trouble.  In the meantime, the Great Mogul\nand the English East India Company had made vigorous complaint and Kidd\nwas proclaimed a pirate.  The royal pardon was offered all pirates that\nshould repent of their sins, barring Kidd who was particularly excepted\nby name.  Many a villain whose hands were red with the slaughter of\nships' crews was thus officially forgiven, while Kidd who had killed no\nman barring that mutineer, the gunner, William Moore, was hunted in\nevery sea, with a price on his head.\n\nOn April 1, 1699, after an absence of almost two years, Kidd arrived at\nAnguilla,[4] his first port of call in the West Indies, and went ashore\nto buy provisions.  There he learned, to his consternation, that he had\nbeen officially declared a pirate and stood in peril of his life.  The\npeople refused to have any dealings with him, and he sailed to St.\nThomas, and thence to Curacoa where he was able to get supplies through\nthe friendship of an English merchant of Antigua, Henry Bolton by name,\nwho was not hampered by scruples or fear of the authorities.  Under\ndate of February 3, the Governor of Barbadoes had written to Mr.\nVernon, Secretary of the Lords of the Council of Trade and Plantations\nin London:\n\n\"I received Yours of the 23rd. of November in relation to the\napprehending your notorious Pyrat Kidd.  He has not been heard of in\nthese Seas of late, nor do I believe he will think it safe to venture\nhimself here, where his Villainies are so well known; but if he does,\nall the dilligence and application to find him out and seize him shall\nbe used on my part that can be, with the assistance of a heavy, crazy\nVessell, miscalled a Cruizer, that is ordered to attend upon me.\"\n\nThe first news of Kidd was received from the officials of the island of\nNevis who wrote Secretary Vernon on May 18, 1699, as follows:\n\n\nYour letter of 23rd, November last in relation to that notorious Pirate\nCapt. Kidd came safe to our hands ... have sent copies thereof to the\nLieut, or Deputy Governor of each respective island under this\nGovernment: since which we have had this following acct. of the said\nKidd:\n\nThat he lately came from Mallagascoe,[5] in a large Gennowese vessell\nof about foure hundred Tons; Thirty Guns mounted and eighty men.  And\nin his way from those partes his men mutiny 'd and thirty of them lost\ntheir lives: That his Vessell is very leaky; and that several of his\nmen have deserted him soe that he has not above five and twenty or\nthirty hands on board.  About twenty days since he landed at Anguilla\n... where he tarry'd about foure hours; but being refused Succour\nsailed thence for the Island of St. Thomas ... and anchored off that\nharbour three dayes, in which time he treated with them alsoe for\nrelief; but the Governor absolutely Denying him, he bore away further\nto Leeward (as tis believ'd) for Porto Rico or Crabb Island.  Upon\nwhich advice We forthwith ordered his Majestie's Ship _Queensborough_,\nnow attending this Government, Capt. Rupert Billingsly, Commander, to\nmake the best of his way after him.  And in case he met with his men,\nvessell and effects, to bring them upp hither.\n\nThat no Imbezzlem't may be made, but that they may be secured until we\nhave given you advice thereof, and his Majestie's pleasure relating\nthereto can be knowne, we shall by the first conveyance transmitt ye\nlike account of him to the Governor of Jamaica.  So that if he goes\nfarther to Leeward due care may be taken to secure him there.  As for\nthose men who have deserted him, we have taken all possible care to\napprehend them, especially if they come within the districts of this\nGovernment, and hope on return of his Majestie's frigate we shall be\nable to give you a more ample acct. hereof.\n\nWe are with all due Respect:\n\nRt. Hon'ble,\n  YOUR MOST OBEDT. HUMBLE SERVANTS.\n\n\nKidd dodged all this hue and cry and was mightily anxious to get in\ntouch with Bellomont without loss of time.  He bought at Curacoa,\nthrough the accommodating Henry Bolton, a Yankee sloop called the _San\nAntonio_ and transferred his treasure and part of his crew to her.  The\n_Quedah Merchant_ he convoyed as far as Hispaniola, now San Domingo,\nand hid her in a small harbor with considerable cargo, in charge of a\nhandful of his men under direction of Bolton.\n\nThen warily and of an uneasy mind, Captain Kidd steered his sloop for\nthe American coast and first touched at the fishing hamlet of Lewes at\nthe mouth of Delaware Bay.  All legend to the contrary, he made no\ncalls along the Carolinas and Virginia to bury treasure.  The testimony\nof Kidd's crew and passengers cannot be demolished on this score,\nbesides which he expected to come to terms with Bellomont and adjust\nhis affairs within the law, so there was no sane reason for his\nstopping to hide his valuables.\n\nThe first episode that smacks in the least of buried treasure occurred\nwhile the sloop was anchored off Lewes.  There had come from the East\nIndies as a passenger one James Gillam, pirate by profession, and he\nwished no dealings with the authorities.  He therefore sent ashore in\nDelaware Bay his sea chest which we may presume contained his private\nstore of stolen gold.  Gillam and his chest bob up in the letters of\nBellomont, but for the present let this reference suffice, as covered\nby the statement of Edward Davis of London, mariner, made during the\nproceedings against Kidd in Boston:\n\n\nThat in or about the month of November, 1697, the Examinant came\nBoatswain of the ship _Fidelia_, Tempest Rogers, Commander, bound on a\ntrading voyage for India, and in the month of July following arrived at\nthe Island of Madagascar and after having been there about five weeks\nthe Ship sailed thence and left this Examinant in the Island, and being\ndesirous to get off, enter'd himself on board the Ship whereof Capt.\nKidd was Commander to worke for his passage, and accordingly came with\nhim in the sd. Ship to Hispaniola, and from thence in the Sloop\n_Antonio_ to this place.\n\nAnd that upon their arrival at the Hoor Kills, in Delaware Bay, there\nwas a chest belonging to one James Gillam put ashore there and at\nGard'ner's Island, there was several chests and packages put out of\nCapt. Kidd's Sloop into a Sloop belonging to New Yorke.  He knows not\nthe quantity, nor anything sent on Shore at the sd. Island nor doth he\nknow that anything was put on Shore at any Island or place in this\nCountry, only two Guns of ... weight apeace or thereabout at Block\nIsland.\n\nSigned, (his mark)\n  EDWARD (E* D.) DAVIS.\n\n\nIn Delaware Bay Kidd bought stores, and five of the people of Lewes\nwere thrown into jail by the Pennsylvania authorities for having traded\nwith him.  Thence he sailed for Long Island Sound, entered it from the\neastward end, and made for New York, cautiously anchoring in Oyster\nBay, nowadays sedulously avoided by malefactors of great wealth.  It\nwas his purpose to open negotiations with Bellomont at long range,\nholding his treasure as an inducement for a pardon.  From Oyster Bay he\nsent a letter to a lawyer in New York, James Emmot who had before then\ndefended pirates, and also a message to his wife.  Emmot was asked to\nserve as a go-between, and he hastened to join Kidd on the sloop,\nexplaining that Bellomont was in Boston.  Thereupon the _Antonio_\nweighed anchor and sailed westward as far as Narragansett Bay where\nEmmot landed and went overland to find Bellomont.\n\n\n\n[1] Governor Henry Sloughter.\n\n[2] Prizes.\n\n[3] Prizes.\n\n[4] Anguilla, or Snake Island, is a small island of the Leeward Group\nof the West Indies, considerably east of Porto Rico, and near St.\nMartin.  It belongs to England.\n\n[5] Madagascar.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nCAPTAIN KIDD, HIS TREASURE[1]\n\n  \"You captains brave and bold, hear our cries, hear our cries,\n  You captains brave and bold, hear our cries.\n  You captains brave and bold, though you seem uncontrolled,\n  Don't for the sake of gold lose your souls, lose your souls,\n  Don't for the sake of gold lose your souls.\"\n        (_From the old Kidd ballad._)\n\n\nThe negotiations between Kidd and the Earl of Bellomont were no more\ncreditable to the royal governor than to the alleged pirate.  Already\nthe noble partners in England were bombarded with awkward questions\nconcerning the luckless enterprise, and Bellomont, anxious to clear\nhimself and his friends, was for getting hold of Kidd and putting him\nin Boston jail at the earliest possible moment.  He dared not reveal\nthe true status of affairs to Kidd by means of correspondence lest that\nwary bird escape him, and he therefore tried to coax him nearer in a\nletter sent back in care of Emmot, that experienced legal adviser of\npirates in distress.  This letter of Bellomont was dated June 19, 1699,\nand had this to say:\n\n\n_Captain Kidd:_\n\nMr. Emmot came to me last Tuesday night late, telling me he came from\nyou, but was shy of telling me where he parted with you, nor did I\npress him to it.  He told me you came to Oyster Bay in Nassau Island\nand sent for him to New York.  He proposed to me from you that I would\ngrant you a pardon.  I answered that I had never granted one yet, and\nthat I had set myself a safe rule not to grant a pardon to anybody\nwhatsoever without the King's express leave or command.  He told me you\ndeclared and protested your innocence, and that if your men could be\npersuaded to follow your example, you would make no manner of scruple\nof coming to this port or any other within her Majestie's Dominions;\nthat you owned there were two ships taken but that your men did it\nviolently against your will and had us'd you barbarously in imprisoning\nyou and treating you ill most part of the Voyage, and often attempting\nto murder you.\n\nMr. Emmot delivered me two French passes taken on board the two ships\nwhich your men rifled, which passes I have in my custody and I am apt\nto believe they will be a good Article to justifie you if the peace\nwere not, by the Treaty between England and France, to operate in that\npart of the world at the time the hostility was committed, as I almost\nconfident it was not to do!  Mr. Emmot also told me that you had to\nabout the value of 10,000 pounds in the Sloop with you, and that you\nhad left a Ship somewhere off the coast of Hispaniola in which there\nwas to the Value of 30,000 pounds more which you had left in safe hands\nand had promised to go to your people in that Ship within three months\nto fetch them with you to a safe harbour.\n\nThese are all the material particulars I can recollect that passed\nbetween Mr. Emmot and me, only this, that you showed a great sense of\nHonour and Justice in professing with many asseverations your settled\nand serious design all along to do honor to your Commission and never\nto do the least thing contrary to your duty and allegiance to the King.\nAnd this I have to say in your defense that several persons at New York\nwho I can bring to evidence it, if there be occasion, did tell me that\nby several advices from Madagascar and that part of the world, they\nwere informed of your men revolting from you in one place, which I am\npretty sure they said was at Madagascar; and that others of them\ncompelled you much against your will to take and rifle two Ships.\n\nI have advised with his Majesty's Council and showed them this letter\nthis afternoon, and they are of opinion that if your case be so clear\nas you (or Mr. Emmot for you) have said, that you may safely come\nhither, and be equipped and fitted out to go and fetch the other Ship,\nand I make no manner of doubt but to obtain the King's pardon for you\nand those few men you have left, who I understand have been faithful to\nyou and refused as well as you to dishonor the Commission you had from\nEngland.\n\nI assure you on my word and on my honor I will performe nicely what I\nhave now promised, tho' this I declare before hand that whatever\ntreasure of goods you bring hither, I will not meddle with the least\nbit of them, but they shall be left with such trusty persons as the\nCouncil will advise until I receive orders from England how they shall\nbe disposed of.  Mr. Campbell will satisfie you that this that I have\nnow written is the Sense of the Council and of\n\nYOUR HUMBLE SERVANT.\n  (Not signed but endorsed, \"A true copy, Bellomont.\")\n\n\nThese were fair words but not as sincere as might have been.  Governor\nBellomont was anxious to lay hands on Kidd by fair means or foul, and\nin the light of subsequent events this letter appears as a disingenuous\ndecoy.  It was carried back to Narragansett Bay by Emmot, and with him\nBellomont sent one Duncan Campbell, postmaster of Boston, as an\nauthorized agent to advance the negotiations.  Campbell was a Scotchman\nwho had been a friend of Kidd.  He is mentioned in John Dunton's\n\"Letter Written from New England, A. D. 1686.\"\n\n\"I rambled to the Scotch book-seller, one Campbell.  He is a brisk\nyoung fellow that dresses All-a-mode, and sets himself off to the best\nAdvantage, and yet thrives apace.  I am told (and for his sake I wish\nit may be true) that a Young Lady of Great Fortune has married him.\"\n\nIn reply to Bellomont's letter, thus delivered, Captain Kidd replied as\nfollows:\n\n\nFROM BLOCK ISLAND ROAD, ON BOARD THE SLOOP ST. ANTONIO,\n\nJune 24th, 1699.\n\n_May It please your Excellencie_:\n\nI am hon'rd with your Lordship's kind letter of ye 19th., Current by\nMr. Campbell which came to my hands this day, for which I return my\nmost hearty thanks.  I cannot but blame myself for not writing to your\nLordship before this time, knowing it was my duty, but the clamorous\nand false stories that has been reported of me made me fearful of\nwriting or coming into any harbor till I could hear from your Lordship.\nI note the contents of your Lordship's letter as to what Mr. Emmot and\nMr. Campbell Informed your Lordship of my proceedings.  I do affirm it\nto be true, and a great deal more may be said of the abuses of my men\nand the hardships I have undergone to preserve the Ship and what goods\nmy men had left.  Ninety-five men went away from me in one day and went\non board the _Moca Frigott_, Captain Robert Cullifer, Commander, who\nwent away to the Red Seas and committed several acts of pyracy as I am\ninformed, and am afraid that because of the men formerly belonging to\nmy Galley, the report is gone home against me to the East India\nCompanee.\n\nA Sheet of paper will not contain what may be said of the care I took\nto preserve the Owners' interest and to come home to clear up my own\nInnocency.  I do further declare and protest that I never did in the\nleast act Contrary to the King's Commission, nor to the Reputation of\nmy honorable Owners, and doubt not but I shall be able to make my\nInnocency appear, or else I had no need to come to these parts of the\nworld, if it were not for that, and my owners' Interest.\n\nThere is five or six passengers that came from Madagascar to assist me\nin bringing the Ship home, and about ten of my own men that came with\nme would not venture to go into Boston till Mr. Campbell had Ingaged\nbody for body for them that they should not be molested while I staid\nat Boston, or till I returned with the ship.  I doubt not but your\nLordship will write to England in my favor and for these few men that\nare left.  I wish your Lordship would persuade Mr. Campbell to go home\nto England with your Lordship's letters, who will be able to give\naccount of our affairs and diligently forward the same that there may\nbe speedy answer from England.\n\nI desired Mr. Campbell to buy a thousand weight of rigging for the\nfitting of the Ship, to bring her to Boston, that I may not be delay'd\nwhen I come there.  Upon receiving your Lordship's letter I am making\nthe best of my way for Boston.  This with my humble duty to your\nLordship and the Countess is what offers from,\n\nMy Lord, Your Excellency's\n  Most humble and dutyfull Servant,\n    WM. KIDD.\n\n\nNotwithstanding these expressions of confidence, Kidd suspected\nBellomont's intentions and decided to leave his treasure in safe hands\ninstead of carrying it to Boston with him.  Now follows the documentary\nnarrative of the only authenticated buried treasure of Captain Kidd and\nthe proofs that he had no other booty of any account.  At the eastern\nend of Long Island Sound is a beautiful wooded island of three thousand\nacres which has been owned by the Gardiner family as a manor since the\nfirst of them, Lionel Gardiner, obtained a royal grant almost three\ncenturies ago.  In June of 1699, John Gardiner, third of the line of\nproprietors, sighted a strange sloop anchored in his island harbor, and\nrowed out to make the acquaintance of Captain William Kidd who had\ncrossed from Narragansett Bay in the San Antonio.  What happened\nbetween them and how the treasure was buried and dug up is told in the\nofficial testimony of John Gardiner, dated July 17th, 1699.\n\n\n\"THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN GARD(I)NER OF GARD(I)NER ISLAND, ALIAS ISLE OF\nWIGHT, RELATING TO CAPTAIN WILLIAM KIDD.\n\nThat about twenty days ago Mr. Emmot of New York came to the Narrator's\nhouse and desired a boat to go to New York, telling the Narrator he\ncame from my Lord at Boston, whereupon the Narrator furnished Mr. Emmot\nwith a boat and he went for New York.  And that evening the Narrator\nsaw a Sloop with six guns riding an Anchor off Gardiner's Island and\ntwo days afterwards in the evening the Narrator went on board said\nSloop to enquire what she was.\n\nAnd so soon as he came on board, Capt. Kidd (then unknown to the\nNarrator) asked him how himself and family did, telling him that he,\nthe said Kidd, was going to my Lord at Boston, and desired the Narrator\nto carry three Negroes, two boys and a girl ashore to keep till he, the\nsaid Kidd, or his order should call for them, which the Narrator\naccordingly did.\n\nThat about two hours after the Narrator had got the said Negroes\nashore, Capt. Kidd sent his boat ashore with two bales of goods and a\nNegro boy; and the morning after, the said Kidd desired the Narrator to\ncome immediately on board and bring six Sheep with him for his voyage\nfor Boston, which the Narrator did.  Kidd asked him to spare a barrel\nof Cyder, which the Narrator with great importunity consented to, and\nsent two of his men for it, who brought the Cyder on board said Sloop.\nWhilst the men were gone for the Cyder, Capt. Kidd offered the Narrator\nseveral pieces of damnified[2] Muslin and Bengali as a present to his\nWife, which the said Kidd put in a bagg and gave the Narrator.  And\nabout a quarter of an hour afterwards the said Kidd took up two or\nthree (more) pieces of damnified Muslin and gave the Narrator for his\nproper use.\n\nAnd the Narrator's men then coming on board with the said barrel of\nCyder as aforesaid, Kidd gave them a piece of Arabian gold for their\ntrouble and also for bringing him word.  Then the said Kidd, ready to\nsail, told this Narrator he would pay him for the Cyder, to which the\nNarrator answered that he was already satisfied for it by the Present\nmade to his wife.  And it was observed that some of Kidd's men gave to\nthe Narrator's men some inconsiderable things of small value which were\nMuslins for neck-cloths.\n\nAnd then the Narrator tooke leave of the said Kidd and went ashore and\nat parting the said Kidd fired four guns and stood for Block Island.\nAbout three days afterwards, said Kidd sent the Master of the Sloop and\none Clark in his boat for the Narrator who went on board with them, and\nthe said Kidd desired him to take ashore with him and keep for him a\nChest and a box of Gold and a bundle of Quilts and four bales of Goods,\nwhich box of Gold the said Kidd told the Narrator was intended for my\nLord.  And the Narrator complied with the request and took on Shore the\nsaid Chest, box of Gold, quilts and bales goods.\n\nAnd the Narrator further saith that two of Kidd's crew who went by the\nnames of Cooke and Parrat delivered to him, the Narrator, two baggs of\nSilver which they said weighed thirty pound weight, for which he gave\nreceipt.  And that another of Kidd's men delivered to the Narrator a\nsmall bundle of gold and gold dust of about a pound weight to keep for\nhim, and did present the Narrator with a sash and a pair of wortsed\nstockins.  And just before the Sloop sailed, Capt. Kidd presented the\nNarrator with a bagg of Sugar, and then took leave and sailed for\nBoston.\n\nAnd the Narrator further saith he knew nothing of Kidd's being\nproclaimed a Pyrate, and if he had, he durst not have acted otherwise\nthan he had done, having no force to oppose them and for that he hath\nformerly been threatened to be killed by Privateers if he should carry\nunkindly to them.\n\nThe within named Narrator further saith that while Capt. Kidd lay with\nhis Sloop at Gardner's Island, there was a New York Sloop whereof one\nCoster is master, and his mate was a little black man, unknown by name,\nwho as it is was said, had been formerly Capt. Kidd's quartermaster,\nand another Sloop belonging to New Yorke, Jacob Fenick, Master, both\nwhich lay near to Kidd's Sloop three days together.  And whilst the\nNarrator was on board with Capt. Kidd, there was several bales of Goods\nput on board the other two Sloops aforesaid, and the said two Sloops\nsailed up the Sound.  After which Kidd sailed with his sloop for Block\nIsland; and being absent by the space of three days, returned to\nGardner's Island again in Company of another Sloop belonging to New\nYork, Cornelius Quick, Master, on board of which were one Thomas Clarke\nof Setauket, commonly called Whisking Clarke, and one Harrison of\nJamaica, father to a boy that was with Capt. Kidd, and Capt. Kidd's\nWife was then on board his own Sloop.\n\nAnd Quick remained with his Sloop there from noon to the evening of the\nsame day, and took on board two Chests that came out of Kidd's Sloop,\nunder the observance of this Narrator, and he believes several Goods\nmore and then Sailed up the Sound.  Kidd remained there with his Sloop\nuntil next morning, and then set sail intending, as he said, for\nBoston.  Further the Narrator saith that the next day after Quick\nsailed with his Sloop from Gardner's Island he saw him turning out of a\nBay called Oyster Pan Bay, altho' the wind was all the time fair to\ncarry him up the Sound.  The Narrator supposes he went in thither to\nland some Goods.\n\nJOHN GARDINER.\n\nBoston, July 17th, 1699.\n\nThe Narrator, John Gardiner, under Oath before his Excellency and\nCouncil unto the truth of his Narrative in this sheet of paper.\n\nADDINGTON, Sec'ry.\"\n\n\nThis artless recital has every earmark of truth, and it was confirmed\nin detail by other witnesses and later events.  Before we fall to\ndigging up the treasure of Gardiner's Island, carried ashore in the\n\"Chest and box of Gold,\" it is well to follow those other goods which\nwere carried away in the sloops about which so much has been said by\nJohn Gardiner.  No more is heard of that alluring figure, \"the little\nblack man, unknown by name, who as it was said had been formerly Capt.\nKidd's Quarter-Master,\" but \"Whisking\" Clarke was duly overhauled.  All\nof the plunder transferred from Kidd's sloop to those other craft was\nconsigned to him, and some of it was put ashore at Stamford, Conn., in\ncharge of a Major Sellick who had a warehouse hard by the Sound.\nClarke was arrested by order of Bellomont and gave a bond of L12,000\nthat he would deliver up all to the government.  This he did, without\ndoubt, but legend has been busy with this enterprising \"Whisking\"\nClarke.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: John Gardiner's sworn statement of the goods and\ntreasure left with him by Kidd.]\n\nGovernor Bellomont's endorsement of the official inventory of Kidd's\ntreasure found on Gardiner's Island.\n\n======================================================================\n\nIn the Connecticut River off the \"upper end of Pine Meadow,\" near\nNorthfield, Mass., is Clarke's Island which was granted by the town to\nWilliam Clarke in 1686, and confirmed to his heirs in 1723, It then\ncontained ten and three-fourth acres, and was a secluded spot, well\ncovered with trees.  Later, what with cutting off the woods and the\nwork of the freshets, a large part of the island was washed away.  It\nwas here, tradition has it, that some of Kidd's treasure was hidden by\n\"Whisking\" Clarke.\n\nThe local story is that Kidd and his men ascended the river, though how\nthey got over the series of falls is not explained, and made a landing\nat Clarke's Island.  Here, having placed the chest in a hole, they\nsacrificed by lot one of their number and laid his body on top of the\ntreasure in order that his ghost might forever defend it from\nfortune-seekers.  One Abner Field, after consulting a conjurer who\nshowed him precisely where the chest was buried resolved to risk a\ntussle with the pirate's ghost, and with two friends waited in fear and\ntrembling for the auspicious time when the moon should be directly\noverhead at midnight.\n\nThey were to work in silence, and to pray that no cock should crow\nwithin earshot and break the spell.  At length, one of them raised his\ncrow-bar for a mighty stroke, down it went, and clinked against metal.\n\"You've hit it,\" cried another, and alas, instantly the chest sank out\nof reach, and the ghost appeared, and very angry it was.  A moment\nlater, the devil himself popped from under the bank, ripped across the\nisland like a tornado and plunged into the river with a prodigious,\nhissing splash.  The treasure hunters flew for home, and told their\ntale, but village rumor whispered it about that one Oliver Smith and a\nconfederate had impersonated the ghost and the energetic Evil One.\n\nOn October 20, 1699, Bellomont wrote in a letter to England:\n\n\n\"I have prevailed with Governor Winthrop of Connecticut to seize and\nsend Thomas Clarke of N. York prisoner hither.  He has been on board\nKidd's sloop at the east end of Long Island and carried off to the\nvalue of about 5000 pounds in goods and treasure (that we know of and\nperhaps a great deal more) into Connecticut Colony; and thinking\nhimself safe from under our power, writ my Lt. Governor of New York a\nvery saucy letter and bade us defiance.  I have ordered him to be\nsafely kept prisoner in the fort, because the gaol of New York is weak\nand insufficient.  And when orders come to me to send Kidd and his men\nto England (which I long for impatiently), I will also send Clarke[3]\nas an associate of Kidd.\"\n\n\nThree days later, the Lieutenant Governor of New York wrote Bellomont\nas follows:\n\n\n\"Clarke proffers 12,000 pounds good Security and will on oath deliver\nup all the goods he hath been entrusted with from Kidd, provided he may\ngo and fetch them himself, but says he will rather die or be undone\nthan to bring his friends into a Predicament.  I told him if he would\nlet me know where I might secure these goods or Bullion, I would\nrecommend his case to your Lordship's favour.  He answered 'twas\nimpossible to recover anything until he went himself.\"\n\n\nAfter leaving the bulk of his treasure on Gardiner's Island, Kidd\nreceived another friendly message from Lord Bellomont, and was by now\npersuaded that he could go to Boston without danger.  With his wife on\nboard his sloop, and she stood by him staunchly, he laid a course\naround Cape Cod and made port on the first day of July.  Captain and\nMrs. William Kidd found lodgings in the house of their friend, Duncan\nCampbell, and he walked unmolested for a week, passing some of the time\nin the Blue Anchor tavern.  \"Being a very resolute fellow,\" wrote\nHutchinson, \"when the officer arrested him in his lodgings, he\nattempted to draw his sword, but a young gentleman who accompanied the\nofficer, laying hold of his arm, prevented him and he submitted.\"\n\n\nIn the letters of Lord Bellomont to the Lords of Plantations and\nColonies are fully related the particulars of Kidd's downfall and of\nthe finding of his treasure.  On July 26th, he stated:\n\n\n\"_My Lords:_\n\n\"I gave your Lordships a short account of my taking Capt. Kidd in my\nletter of the 8th. Inst.  I shall in this letter confine myself wholly\nto an account of my proceedings with him.  On the 13th, of last month\nMr. Emmot, a lawyer of N. York came to me late at night and told me he\ncame from Capt. Kidd who was on the Coast with a Sloop, but would not\ntell me where; that Kidd had brought 60 pounds weight of gold, about\n100 weight of silver, and 17 bales of East India goods (which was less\nby 24 bales than we have since got out of the sloop).  That Kidd had\nleft behind him a great Ship near the coast of Hispaniola that nobody\nbut himself could find out, on board whereof there were in bale goods,\nsaltpetre, and other things to the value of at least 30,000 pounds.\nThat if I would give him a pardon, he would bring in the sloop and\ngoods hither and fetch his great ship and goods afterwards.\n\n\"Mr. Emmot delivered me that night two French passes which Kidd took on\nboard the two Moors' ships which were taken by him in the seas of India\n(or as he alleged by his men against his will).  One of the passes\nwants a date in the original as in the copy I sent your Lordships, and\nthey go (No. 1) and (No. 2).  On the said 19th. of June as I sat in\nCouncil I wrote a letter to Capt. Kidd and showed it to the Council,\nand they approving of it I despatched Mr. Campbell again to Kidd with\nmy said letter, a copy whereof goes (No. 4).  Your Lordships may\nobserve that the promise I made Capt. Kidd in my said letter of a kind\nreception and procuring the King's pardon for him, is conditional, that\nis, provided he were as Innocent as he pretended to be.  But I quickly\nfound sufficient cause to suspect him very guilty, by the many lies and\ncontradictions he told me.\n\n\"I was so much upon my guard with Kidd that he arriving here on\nSaturday of this month, I would not see him but before witnesses; nor\nhave I ever seen him but in Council twice or thrice that we examined\nhim, and the day he was taken up by the Constable.  It happened to be\nby the door of my Lodging, and he rush'd in and came rushing to me, the\nConstable after him.  I had him not seiz'd till Thursday, the 6th Inst.\nfor I had a mind to discover where he had left the great Ship, and I\nthought myself secure enough from his running away because I took care\nnot to give him the least umbrage or design of seizing him.  Nor had I\ntill that day (that I produced my orders from Court for apprehending)\ncommunicated them to anybody and I found it necessary to show my order\nto the Council to animate them to join heartily with me in securing\nKidd and examining his affairs nicely,[4] ... discover what we could of\nhis behaviour in his whole voyage.  Another reason why I took him up no\nsooner was that he had brought his wife and children hither in his\nSloop with him who I believ'd he would not easily forsake.\n\n\"He being examined twice or thrice by me and the Council, and also some\nof his men, I observed he seemed much disturbed, and the last time we\nexamined him I fancied he looked as if he were upon the wing and\nresolved to run away.  And the Gentlemen of the Council had some of\nthem the same thought with mine, so that I took their consent in\nseizing and committing him.  But the officers appointed to seize his\nmen were so careless as to let three or four of his men escape which\ntroubled me the more because they were old N. York Pyrates.  The next\nthing the Council and I did was to appoint a Committee of trusty\npersons to search for the goods and treasure brought by Kidd and to\nsecure what they should find till the King's pleasure should be known\nas to the disposition thereof, as my orders from Mr. Secretary Vernon\nimport.  The said Committee were made up of two Gentlemen of the\nCouncil, two merchants, and the Deputy Collector, whose names are to\nthe enclosed Inventory of the goods and treasure.\n\n\"They searched Kidd's lodgings and found hid and made up in two sea\nbeds a bag of gold dust and Ingots of the value of about 1000 pounds\nand a bag of silver, part money and part pieces and piggs of silver,\nvalue as set down in the said Inventory.  In the above bag of gold were\nseveral little bags of gold; all particulars are very justly and\nexactly set down in the Inventory.  For my part I have meddled with no\nmatter of thing under the management of the Council, and into the\nCustody of the aforementioned Committee, that I might be free from the\nsuspicion and censure of the world.\n\n\"The enamel'd box mentioned in the beginning of the Inventory is that\nwhich Kidd made a present of to my wife by Mr. Campbell, which I\ndelivered in Council to the said Committee to keep with the rest of the\ntreasure.  There was in it a stone ring which we take to be a Bristol\nstone.  If it was true[5] it would be worth about 40 pounds, and there\nwas a small stone unset which we believe is also counterfeit, and a\nsort of a Locket with four sparks which seem to be right diamonds: for\nthere's nobody that understands Jewels[6] ... box and all that's in it\nwere right, they cannot be worth above 60 pounds.\n\n\"Your Lordships will see in the middle of the Inventory a parcel of\ntreasure and Jewels delivered up by Mr. Gardiner of Gardiner's Island\nin the province of New York and at the East end of Nassau Island, the\nrecovery and saving of which treasure is owing to my own care and\nquickness.  I heard by the greatest accident in the world the day Capt.\nKidd was committed, that a man[6] ... offered 30 pounds for a sloop to\ncarry him to Gardiner's Island, and Kidd having owned to burying some\ngold on that Island (though he never mentioned to us any jewels nor do\nI believe he would have own'd to the gold there but that he thought he\nshould himself be sent for it), I privately posted away a messenger to\nMr. Gardiner in the King's name to come forthwith and deliver up such\ntreasure as Kidd or any of his crew had lodg'd with him, acquainting\nhim that I had committed Kidd to Gaol as I was ordered to do by the\nKing.\n\n\"My messenger made great haste and was with Gardiner before anybody,\nand Gardiner, who is a very substantial man, brought away the treasure\nwithout delay; and by my direction delivered it into the hands of the\nCommittee.  If the Jewels be right, as 'tis suppos'd they are, but I\nnever saw them nor the gold and silver brought by Gardiner, then we\nguess that the parcel brought by him may be worth (gold, silver, and\nJewels) 4500 pounds.  And besides Kidd had left six bales of goods with\nhim, one of which was twice as big as any of the rest, and Kidd gave\nhim a particular charge of that bale and told him 'twas worth 2000\npounds.  The six bales Gardiner could not bring, but I have ordered him\nto send 'em by a Sloop that is since gone from hence to N. York, and\nwhich is to return speedily.\n\n\"We are not able to set an exact value on the goods and treasure we\nhave got because we have not open'd the bales we took on board the\n(Kidd's) sloop, but we hope when the six bales are sent in by Gardiner,\nwhat will be in the hands of the Gentlemen appointed to that trust will\namount to about 14,000 pounds.\n\n\"I have sent strict orders to my Lt. Governor at N. York to make\ndiligent search for the goods and treasure sent by Kidd to N. York in\nthree Sloops mentioned in Gardiner's affidavit.[7] ... I have directed\nhim where to find a purchase[8] in a house in N. York which I am apt to\nbelieve will be found in that house.  I have sent to search elsewhere a\ncertain place strongly suspected to have received another deposition of\ngold from Kidd.\n\n\"I am also upon the hunt after two or three Arch-Pyrates which I hope\nto give your Lordships a good account of by the next conveyance.  If I\ncould have but a good able Judge and Attorney General at N. York, a\nman-of-war there and another here, and the companies recruited and well\npaid, I will rout Pyrates and pyracy entirely out of this North part of\nAmerica, but as I have too often told your Lordships 'tis impossible\nfor me to do all this alone in my single person.\n\n\"I wrote your Lordships in my last letter of the 8th. Inst. that\nBradish, the Pyrate, and one of his crew were escap'd out of the gaol\nin this town.  We have since found that the Gaoler was Bradish's\nkinsman, and the Gaoler confessed they went out at the prison door and\nthat he found it wide open.  We had all the reason in the world to\nbelieve the Gaoler was consenting to the escape.  By much ado I could\nget the Council to resent the Gaoler's behavior, and by my Importunity\nI had the fellow before us.  We examin'd him, and by his own story and\naccount given us of his suffering other prisoners formerly to escape, I\nprevailed to have him turn'd out and a prosecution order'd against him\nto the Attorney Gen'l.  I have also with some difficulty this last\nsession of Assembly here, got a bill to pass that the Gaol be committed\nto the care of the High Sheriff of the County, as in England with a\nsalary of 30 pounds paid to the said Sheriff.\n\n\"I am forced to allow the Sheriff 40 Shillings per week for keeping\nKidd safe.  Otherwise I should be in some doubt about him.  He has\nwithout doubt a great deal of gold, which is apt to corrupt men that\nhave not principles of honour.  I have therefore, to try the power of\nIron against Gold, put him into irons that weigh 16 pounds.  I thought\nit moderate enough, for I remember poor Dr. Gates[9] had a 100 weight\nof Iron on him while he was a prisoner in the late reign.\n\n\"There never was a greater liar or thief in the world than this Kidd;\nnotwithstanding he assured the Council and me every time we examined\nhim that the great Ship and her cargo awaited his return to bring her\nhither, and now your Lordships will see by the several informations of\nMasters of Ships from Curacoa that the cargo has been sold there, and\nin one of them 'tis said they have burnt that noble ship.  And without\ndoubt, it was by Kidd's order, that the ship might not be an evidence\nagainst him, for he would not own to us that her name was the _Quedah\nMerchant_, tho' his men did.\n\n\"Andres ...[10] eyne and two more brought the first news to New York of\nthe sale of that cargo at Curacoa, nor was ever such pennyworths heard\nfor cheapness.  Captain Evertz is he who has brought the news of the\nship's being burnt.  She was about 500 tons, and Kidd told us at\nCouncil that never was there a stronger or stauncher ship seen.  His\nlying had like to have involved me in a contract that would have been\nvery chargeable and to no manner of purpose.  I was advised by the\nCouncil to dispatch a Ship of good condition to go and fetch away that\nship and cargo.  I had agreed for a ship of 300 tons, 22 guns, and I\nwas to man her with 60 men to force (if there had been need of it) the\nmen to yield who were left with the ship.\n\n\"I was just going to seal the writing, when I bethought myself 'twere\nbest to press Kidd once more to tell me the truth.  I therefore sent to\nhim two gentlemen of the Council to the gaol, and he at last own'd that\nhe had left a power (of attorney) with one Henry Bolton, a Merchant of\nAntigua, to whom he had committed the care of the ship, to sell and\ndispose of all the cargo.  Upon which confession of Kidd's I held my\nhand from hiring that great ship which would have cost 1700 pounds by\ncomputation, and now to-morrow I send the sloop Kidd came in with\nletters to the Lieut. Govn'r of Antigua, Col. Yoemans, and to the\nGovernors of St. Thomas Island and Curacoa to seize and secure what\neffects they can that were late in the possession of Kidd and on board\nthe _Quedah Merchant_.\n\n\"There is one Burt, an Englishman, that lives at St. Thomas, who has\ngot a great store of the goods and money for Kidd's account.  St.\nThomas belongs to the Danes, but I hope to retrieve what Burt has in\nhis hands.  The sending this Sloop will cost but about 300 pounds, if\nshe be out three months.  I hope your Lordships will take care that\nimmediate orders will be sent to Antigua to secure Bolton who must have\nplayed the Knave egregiously, for he could not but know that Kidd came\nknavishly by the ship and goods.\n\n\"'Tis reported that the Dutch at Curacoa have loaded three sloops with\ngoods and sent them to Holland.  Perhaps 'twere not amiss to send and\nwatch their arrival in Holland, if it be practicable to lay claim to\n'em there.\n\n\"Since my commitment of Kidd, I heard that upon his approach to this\nport, his heart misgave him and he proposed to his men putting out to\nsea again, and going to Caledonia, the new Scotch settlement near\nDarien, but they refused.  I desire I may have orders what to do with\nKidd and all his and Bradish's crew, for as the Law stands in this\nCountry, if a Pyrate were convicted, yet he cannot suffer death; and\nthe Council here refused the bill to punish Privateers and Pyrates,\nwhich your Lordships sent with me from England with a direction to\nrecommend it at N. York and here, to be passed into a Law....\n\n\"You will observe by some of the information I now send that Kidd did\nnot only rob the two Moors' ships, but also a Portuguese ship, which he\ndenied absolutely to the Council and me.  I send your Lordships 24\nseveral papers and evidences relating to Capt. Kidd.  'Tis impossible\nfor me to animadvert and make remarks on the several matters contain'd\nin the said papers in the weak condition I am at present....\"\n\n\nMy Lord Bellomont was in the grip of the gout at this time, which\nmisfortune perhaps increased his irritation toward his partner, Captain\nWilliam Kidd.  In a previous letter to the authorities in London, this\nroyal governor had explained quite frankly that he was trying to lure\nthe troublesome pirate into his clutches, and called Emmot, the lawyer,\n\"a cunning Jacobite, a fast friend of Fletcher's[11] and my avowed\nenemie.\"  He also made this interesting statement:\n\n\n\"I must not forget to tell your Lordships that Campbell brought three\nor four small Jewels to my Wife which I was to know nothing of, but she\ncame quickly and discover'd them to me and asked me whether she would\nkeep them, which I advised her to do for the present, for I reflected\nthat my showing an over nicety might do hurt before I had made a full\ndiscovery what goods and treasure were in the Sloop....\n\n\"Mr. Livingston also came to me in a peremptory manner and demanded up\nhis Bond and the articles which he seal'd to me upon Kidd's Expedition,\nand told me that Kidd swore all the Oaths in the world that unless I\ndid immediately indemnify Mr. Livingston by giving up his Securities,\nhe would never bring in that great ship and cargo.  I thought this was\nsuch an Impertinence in both Kidd and Livingston that it was time for\nme to look about me, and to secure Kidd.  I had noticed that he\ndesigned my wife a thousand pounds in gold dust and Ingotts last\nThursday, but I spoil'd his compliment by ordering him to be arrested\nand committed that day, showing the Council's orders from Court for\nthat purpose....\n\n\"If I had kept Mr. Secretary Vernon's orders for seizing and securing\nKidd and his associates with all their effects with less secrecy, I had\nnever got him to come in, for his countrymen, Mr. Graham and\nLivingston, would have been sure to caution him to shift for himself\nand would have been well paid for their pains.\"\n\n\nOne by one, Kidd's plans for clearing himself were knocked into a\ncocked hat.  His lawyer did him no good, his hope of bribing the\nCountess of Bellomont with jewels, \"gold dust and Ingotts\" went wrong,\nand his buried treasure of Gardiner's Island was dug up and confiscated\nby officers of the Crown.  It is regrettable that history, by one of\nits curious omissions, tells us no more about this titled lady.  Did\nKidd have reason to suppose that she would take his gifts and try to\nbefriend him?  When he was in high favor she may, perchance, have\nadmired this dashing shipmaster and privateer as he spun his\nadventurous yarns in the Governor's mansion.  He may have jestingly\npromised to fetch her home jewels and rich silk stuffs of the Indies\nfilched from pirates.  At any rate, she was not to be bought over, and\nKidd sat in jail anchored by those sixteen-pound irons, and biting his\nnails in sullen wrath and disappointment, while a messenger was posting\nto Gardiner's Island with this order from Bellomont to the proprietor:\n\n\nBOSTON IN NEW ENGLAND, 8th July, 1699...\n\n_Mr. Gardiner:_\n\nHaving received the King's express Orders for Seizing and Securing the\nbody of Capt. Kidd and all his associates together with all their\neffects till I should receive his Majesty's Royal pleasure how to\ndispose of the same, I have accordingly secured Capt. Kidd in the Gaol\nof this Town and some of his men.  He has been examined by myself and\nthe Council and has confessed among other things that he left with you\na parcel of gold made up in a box and some other parcels besides, all\nof which I require you in his Majesty's name immediately to fetch\nhither to me, that I may secure them for his Majesty's use, and I shall\nrecompense your pains in coming hither.\n\nI am,\n\nYour friend and servant,\n  BELLOMONT.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The official inventory of the Kidd treasure found on\nGardiner's Island.  This is the only original and authenticated record\nof any treasure belonging to Captain Kidd.  (From the British State\nPapers in the Public Record Office, London.)]\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe box and the chest were promptly delivered by honest John Gardiner,\nwho had no mind to be mixed in the affairs of the now notorious Kidd,\ntogether with the bales of goods left in his care.  This booty was\ninventoried by order of Bellomont and the Governor's Council and the\noriginal document is photographed herewith, as found in the Public\nRecord Office, London.  It possessed a singular interest because it\nrecords and vouches for the only Kidd treasure ever discovered.  Nor\nare its detailed items a mere dusty catalogue of figures and\nmerchandise.  This is a document to gloat over.  If one has a spark of\nimagination, he smacks his lips.  Instead of legend and myth, here is a\nveritable pirate's hoard, exactly as it should be, with its bags of\ngold, bars of silver, \"Rubies great and small,\" candlesticks and\nporringers, diamonds and so on.  The inventory contains also other\nbooty found in the course of the treasure hunt, and lest the document\nitself may prove too hard reading, its contents are transcribed as\nfollows to convince the most skeptical mind that there was a real Kidd\ntreasure and that it was found in the Year of our Lord, 1699.\n\n\nBOSTON, NEW ENGLAND, July 25th, 1699.\n\nA true Accompt. of all such Gold, Silver, Jewels, and Merchandises in\nthe Possession of Capt. William Kidd, Which have been seized and\nsecured by us under-writing Pursuant to an Order from his Excellency,\nRichard, Earle of Bellomont, Capt. Generall and Governor-in-Chief in\nand over his Majestie's Province of ye Massachusetts Bay, etc., bearing\ndate[12] ... 1699, Vizt.\n\nIn Capt. William Kid's Box--\n\n  One Bag Fifty-three Silver Barrs.\n  One Bag Seventy-nine Barrs and pieces of silver....\n  One Bag Seventy-four Bars Silver.\n\n  One Enamel'd Silver Box in which are 4 diamonds\n  set in gold Lockets, one diamond loose,\n  one large diamond set in a gold ring.\n\nFound in Mr. Duncan Campbell's House,\n\n  No. 1.  One Bag Gold.\n      2.  One Bag Gold.\n      3.  One Handkerchief Gold.\n      4.  One Bag Gold.\n      5.  One Bag Gold.\n      6.  One Bag Gold.\n      7.  One Bag Gold.\n\nAlso Twenty Dollars, one halfe and one quart. pcs. of eight, Nine\nEnglish Crowns, one small Barr of Silver, one small Lump Silver, a\nsmall Chaine, a small bottle, a Corral Necklace, one pc. white and one\npc. of Checkquer'd Silk....\n\nIn Capt. William Kidd's Chests--Two Silver Boxons, Two Silver\nCandlesticks, one Silver Porringer, and some small things of\nSilver--Rubies small and great Sixty-seven, Green Stones two.  One\nlarge Load Stone....\n\nLanded from on board the Sloop _Antonio_ Capt. Wm. Kidd late\nCommand....  57 Baggs of Sugar, 17 pieces canvis, 38 Bales of\nMerchandize.\n\nReceived from Mr. Duncan Campbell Three Bailes Merchandise, Whereof one\nhe had opened being much damnified by water....  Eighty-five ps. Silk\nRumals and Bengalis, Sixty ps. Callicoes and Muslins.\n\n  Received the 17th. instant of Mr. John Gardiner.\n\n  No. 1.  One Bag dust Gold.\n      2.  One Bag Coyned Gold and in it silver.\n      3.  One p'cl dust Gold.\n      4.  One Bag three Silver Rings and Sundry precious\n          stones.  One bag of unpolished Stones.  One\n          ps. of Cristol and Bazer Stone, Two Cornelion\n          Rings, two small Agats.  Two Amathests all in\n          the same Bag.\n      5.  One Bag Silver Buttons and a Lamp.\n      6.  One Bag broken Silver.\n      7.  One Bag Gold Bars.\n      8.  One Bag Gold Barrs.\n      9.  One Bag Dust Gold.\n     10.  One Bag of Silver Bars.\n     11.  One Bag Silver Bars.\n\nThe whole of the Gold above mentioned is Eleven hundred, and Eleven\nounces, Troy Weight.\n\nThe silver is Two Thousand, three Hundred, Fifty-three ounces.\n\nThe Jewels or Precious Stones Weight are seventeen Ounces ... an Ounce,\nand Six[13] ... Stone by Tale.\n\nThe Sugar is Contained in Fifty-Seven Baggs.\n\nThe Merchandize is Contained in Forty-one Bailes.\n\nThe Canvis is Seventeen pieces.\n\n  SAM. SEWALL.\n  NATH'L BYFIELD.\n  JER. DUMMER.\n  LAUR. HAMMOND, Lt. Coll.\n  ANDR. BELCHER.\n\n_Endorsed:_\n\nInventory of the Gold, Silver, Jewels and Merchandize late in the\npossession of Capt. Wm.  Kidd and Seiz'd and secured by ordr. of the E.\nof Bellomont, 28th of July 1699.  This is an original paper.\n\nBELLOMONT.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: A memorandum of Captain Kidd's treasure left on\nGardiner's Island.  This is his own declaration, signed and sworn.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nThat famous sloop, the _San Antonio_, was also carefully inventoried\nbut her contents were for the most part sea gear and rough furnishings,\nbarring a picturesque entry of \"ye boy Barleycorn,\" an apprentice\nseaman who had sailed with Kidd.  Robert Livingston has something to\nsay about Kidd's property in his statement under examination, which has\nbeen preserved as follows:\n\n\"Robert Livingston, Esq. being notified to appear before his Excellency\nand Council this day and sworn to give a true Narrative and Relation of\nhis knowledge or information of any Goods, Gold, Silver, Bullion, or\nother Treasure lately imported by Capt. William Kidd, his Company and\nAccomplices, or any of them, into this Province, or any other of his\nMajesty's Provinces, Colonies, or Territories in America, and by them\nor any of them imbezelled, concealed, conveyed away, or any ways\ndisposed of, saith:\n\n\"That hearing Capt. Kidd was come into these parts to apply himself\nunto his Excellency the Earl of Bellomont, the said Narrator came\ndirectly from Albany ye nearest way through the woods to meet the said\nKidd here and to wait upon his Lordship.  And at his arrival at Boston\nCapt. Kidd informed him there was on board his Sloop then in Port forty\nbales of Goods, and some Sugar, and also said he had about eighty pound\nweight in Plate.  The Narrator does not remember whether he said this\nwas on board the Sloop or not.  And further the sd. Kidd said he had\nForty pound weight in Gold which he hid and secured in some place in\nthe Sound betwixt this and New York, not naming any particular place,\nwhich nobody could find but himself.  And that all the said Goods,\nGold, Plate and Sloop was for accompt. of the Owners of the _Adventure\nGalley_, whereof this Narrator was one.\n\n\"And upon further discourse, Kidd acknowledged that several Chests and\nbundles of Goods belonging to the men were taken out of his Sloop\nbetwixt this place and New York, and put into other sloops, saying he\nwas forced thereto, that his men would otherwise have run the Sloop on\nshore.  And he likewise acknowledged that he had given Mr. Duncan\nCampbell one hundred pieces of eight when he was on board his Sloop at\nRhode Island.  And he knows no further of any concealment, imbezelment,\nor disposal made by said Kidd, his Company, or accomplices of any\nGoods, Gold, money, or Treasure whatsoever, saving that Kidd did\nyesterday acknowledge to this Narrator that ye Gold aforementioned was\nhid upon Gardiner's Island.  He believed there was about fifty pound\nweight of it and that in the same box with it there was about three or\nfour hundred pieces of eight and some pieces of Plate belonging to his\nboy Barleycorn and his Negro man which he had gotten by[14] ... for the\nmen.  Also the said Kidd gave this Narrator a negro boy and another to\nMr. Duncan Campbell.\"\n\n\nThere is reproduced herewith the original statement of Kidd touching\nthis Gardiner Island treasure.  The document is badly torn and\ndisfigured, but the gaps can be supplied from a copy made at that time,\nand here is what he had to say under oath:\n\n\nBOSTON, Sept. 4th. 1699.\n\nCaptain William Kidd declareth and Saith that in his Chest which he\nleft at Gardiner's Island there were three small baggs or more of\nJasper Antonio, or Stone of Goa, several pieces of silk stript with\nSilver and gold Cloth of Silver, about a Bushell of Cloves and Nutmegs\nmixed together, and strawed up and down, several books of fine white\nCallicoa, several pieces of fine Muzlins, several pieces more of\nflowered silk.  He does not well remember what further was in it.  He\nhad an invoice thereof in his other chest.  All that was contained in\nye said Chest was bought by him and some given him at Madagascar.\nNothing thereof was taken in ye ship Quidah Merchant.  He esteemed it\nto be of greater value than all else that he left at Gardiner's Island\nexcept ye Gold and Silver.  There was neither Gold nor Silver in ye\nChest.  It was fastened with a Padlock and nailed and corded about.\n\nFurther saith that he left at said Gardiner's Island a bundle of nine\nor ten fine Indian quilts, some of ye silk with fringes and Tassels.\n\nWM. KIDD.\n\n\nThe Earl of Bellomont was as keen as a bloodhound on the scent of\ntreasure and it is improbable that any of the Kidd plunder escaped his\nsearch.  He lost no time in the quest of that James Gillam whose chest\nhad been landed in Delaware Bay, and a singularly diverting episode is\nrelated by Bellomont in one of his written reports to the Council of\nTrade and Plantations:\n\n\"I gave you an account, Oct. 24th, of my taking Joseph Bradish and\nWetherly, and writ that I hoped in a little time to be able to send\nNews of my taking James Gillam, the Pyrate that killed Capt. Edgecomb,\ncommander of the _Mocha Frigate_ for the East India Co., and that with\nhis own hand, while the captain was asleep.  Gillam is supposed to be\nthe man that encouraged the Ship's Company to turn pyrates, and the\nship has ever since been robbing in the Red Sea and Seas of India.  If\nI may believe the report of men lately come from Madagascar, she has\ntaken above 2,000,000 pounds sterling.\n\n\"I have been so lucky as to take James Gillam, and he is now in irons\nin the gaol of this town.  And at the same time we seized on Francis\nDole, in whose house he was harboured, who proved to be one of Hore's\ncrew.  My taking of Gillam was so very accidental one would believe\nthere was a strange fatality in the man's stars.  On Saturday, 11th\ninst., late in the evening, I had a letter from Col. Sanford, Judge of\nthe Admiralty Court in Rhode Island, giving me an account that Gillam\nhad been there, but was come towards Boston a fortnight before, in\norder to ship himself for some of the Islands, Jamaica or Barbadoes.\n\n\"I was in despair of finding the man.  However, I sent for an honest\nConstable I had made use of in apprehending Kidd and his men, and sent\nhim with Col. Sanford's messenger to search all the Inns in town and at\nthe first Inn they found the mare on which Gillam had rode into town,\ntied up in the yard.  The people of the Inn reported that the man who\nbrought her hither had alighted off her about a quarter of an hour\nbefore, and went away without saying anything.\n\n\"I gave orders to the master of the Inn that if anybody came to look\nafter the mare, he should be sure to seize him, but nobody came for\nher.  Next morning I summoned a Council, and we published a\nProclamation, wherein I promised a reward of 200 Pieces of Eight for\nthe seizing and securing of Gillam, whereupon there was the strictest\nsearch made all that day and the next that was ever made in this part\nof the world.  But we would have missed had I not been informed of one\nCapt. Knott as an old Pyrate and therefore likely to know where Gillam\nwas conceal'd.  I sent for Knott and examined him, promising if he\nwould make an ingenious Confession I would not molest him.\n\n\"He seemed much disturbed but would not confess anything to purpose.  I\nthen sent for his wife and examined her on oath apart from her husband,\nand she confessed that one who went by the name of James Kelly had\nlodged several nights in her house, but for some nights past he lodged,\nas she believed, in Charlestown, cross the River.  I knew that he\n(Gillam) went by the name of Kelly.  Then I examined Captain Knott\nagain, telling him his wife had been more free and ingenious than him,\nwhich made him believe she had told all.  And then he told me of\nFrancis Dole in Charlestown, and that he believed that Gillam would be\nfound there.\n\n\"I sent half a dozen men immediately, and Knott with 'em.  They beset\nthe House and searched it, but found not the man.  Two of the men went\nthrough a field behind Dole's house and ... met a man in the dark whom\nthey seized at all adventure, and it happened as oddly as luckily to be\nGillam.  He had been treating two young women some few miles off in the\nCountry, and was returning at night to his landlord Dole's house.\n\n\"I examined him but he denied everything, even that he came with Kidd\nfrom Madagascar, or even saw him in his life; but Capt. Davis who came\nthence with Kidd's men is positive he is the man and that he went by\nhis true name Gillam all the while he was on the voyage with 'em.  And\nMr. Campbell, Postmaster of this town, whom I sent to treat with Kidd,\noffers to swear this is the man he saw on board Kidd's sloop under the\nname of Gillam.  He is the most impudent, hardened Villain I ever\nsaw....\n\n\"In searching Captain Knott's house a small trunk was found with some\nremnants of East India Goods and a letter from Kidd's Wife to Capt.\nThomas Paine, an old pyrate living on Canonicut Island in Rhode Island\nGovernment.  He made an affidavit to me when I was in Rhode Island that\nhe had received nothing from Kidd's sloop, when she lay at anchor\nthere, yet by Knott's deposition, he was sent with Mrs. Kidd's letter\nto Paine for 24 ounces of Gold, which Kidd accordingly brought, and\nMrs. Kidd's injunction to Paine to keep all the rest that was left with\nhim till further notice was a plain indication that there was a good\ndeal of treasure still left behind in Paine's Custody.\n\n\"Therefore I posted away a messenger to Gov.  Cranston and Col. Sanford\nto make a strict search of Paine's house before he could have notice.\nIt seems nothing was then found, but Paine has since produced 18 ounces\nand odd weight of Gold, as appears by Gov. Cranston's letter, Nov. 25,\nand pretends 'twas bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may pass as a\nsalve for the oath he has made.  I think it is plain he foreswore\nhimself.  I am of opinion he has a great deal more of Kidd's goods\nstill in his hands, but he is out of my Power and being in that\nGovernment I cannot compel him to deliver up the rest....\"\n\n\nThat \"Edward Davis, Mariner,\" who came home with Kidd and who made the\nstatement already quoted concerning Gillam's chest, found himself in\ntrouble with the others of that crew, and the tireless Bellomont refers\nto him in this fashion:\n\n\"When Capt Kidd was committed to Gaol, there was also a Pyrate\ncommitted who goes by the name of Captain Davis, that came passenger\nwith Kidd from Madagascar.  I suppose him to be that Captain Davis that\nDampier and Wafer speak of, in their printed relations of Voyages, for\nan extraordinary stout man; but let him be as stout as he will, here he\nis a prisoner, and shall be forthcoming upon the order I receive from\nEngland concerning Kidd and his men.\n\n\"When I was at Rhode Island there was one Palmer, a Pyrate, that was\nout upon Bail, for they cannot be persuaded there to keep a Pyrate in\nGaol, they love 'em too well.  He went out with Kidd from London and\nforsook him at Madagascar to go on board the _Mocha Frigate_, where he\nwas a considerable time, committing several Robberies with the rest of\nthe Pyrates in that Ship, and was brought home by Shelly of New York.\n\n\"I asked Gov. Cranston how he could answer taking bail for him, when he\nhad received so strict Orders from Mr. Secretary Vernon to seize and\nsecure Kidd and his associates with their effects.  I desired Col.\nSanford to examine Palmer on oath.  I enclose his Examination where\nyour Lordships may please to observe that he accuses Kidd of murdering\nhis Gunner, which I never heard before.\"\n\n\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Statement of Edward Davis, who sailed home with Kidd,\nconcerning the landing of the treasure and goods.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nIt may be that the \"old Pyrate,\" Thomas Paine buried a bag of Kidd's\ngold but it is much more likely that whatever had been stored with him\nwas turned over to that astute helpmeet, Mrs. William Kidd, for whom it\nhas been left in his keeping.  As for that \"most impudent, hardened\nVillain,\" James Gillam, it is unreasonable to suppose that his sea\nchest was buried by the friends who took it off his hands in Delaware\nBay.  Indeed, there was no motive for putting booty underground when it\ncould be readily disposed of in the open market.  Bellomont complained\nin one of his letters of this same eventful summer:\n\n\"There are about thirty Pyrates come lately into the East end of Nassau\nIsland and have a great deal of Money with them, but so cherished are\nthey by the Inhabitants that not a man among them is taken up.  Several\nof them I hear, came with Shelly from Madagascar.  Mr. Hackshaw, one of\nthe Merchants in London that plotted against me, is one of the owners\nof Shelley's Sloop, and Mr. De Lancey, a Frenchman at New York is\nanother.  I hear that Capt. Kidd dropped some Pyrates in that Island\n(Madagascar).  Till there be a good Judge or two, and an honest, active\nAttorney General to prosecute for the King, all my Labour to suppress\nPyracy will signify even just nothing.  When Fred Phillip's ship and\nthe other two come from Madagascar, which are expected every day, New\nYork will abound with Gold.  'Tis the most beneficial Trade, that to\nMadagascar with the Pyrates, that ever was heard of, and I believe\nthere's more got that way than by turning Pirates and robbing.  I am\ntold this Shelley sold rum, which cost but 2 s. per Gallon in New York\nfor 50 s. at Madagascar, and a pipe of Madeira wine, which cost him 19\npounds at New York, he sold for 300 pounds.  Strong liquors and gun\npowder and ball are the commodities that go off there to best\nAdvantage, and those four ships last summer carried thither great\nquantities of things.\"\n\nThere is another authentic glimpse of Kidd and his men and his spoils,\nas viewed by Colonel Robert Quarry,[15] Judge of the Admiralty Court\nfor the Province of Pennsylvania.\n\n\"There is arrived in this Government,\" he reported, \"about 60 pirates\nin a ship directly from Madagascar.  They are part of Kidd's gang, and\nabout 20 of them have quitted the Ship and are landed in this\nGovernment.  About sixteen more are landed at Cape May in the\nGovernment of West Jersey.  The rest of them are still on board the\nship at Anchor near the Cape waiting for a sloop from New York to\nunload her.  She is a very rich Ship.  All her loading is rich East\nIndia Bale Goods to a very great value, besides abundance of money.\nThe Captain of the Ship is one Shelley of New York and the ship belongs\nto Merchants of that place.  The Goods are all purchased from the\nPirates at Madagascar which pernicious trade gives encouragement to the\nPirates to continue in those parts, having a Market for all the Goods\nthey plunder and rob in the Red Sea and several other parts of East\nIndia.\"\n\nColonel Quarry caught two of these pirates and lodged them in jail at\nBurlington, New Jersey, and later tucked away two others in\nPhiladelphia jail.  From the former two thousand pieces of eight were\ntaken, a neat little fortune to show that piracy was a paying business.\nA few days later Colonel Quarry got wind of no other than Kidd himself\nand would have caught him ahead of Bellomont had he been properly\nsupported.  He protested indignantly:\n\n\"Since my writing the enclosed I have by the assistance of Col. Bass,\nGovernor of the Jerseys, apprehended four more of the Pirates at Cape\nMay and might have with ease secured all the rest of them and the Ship\ntoo, had this Government (Pennsylvania) given me the least aid or\nassistance.  But they would not so much as issue a Proclamation, but on\nthe contrary the people have entertained the Pirates, convey'd them\nfrom place to place, furnished them with provisions and liquors, and\ngiven them intelligence, and sheltered them from justice.  And now the\ngreater part of them are conveyed away in boats to Rhode Island.  All\nthe persons I have employed in searching for and apprehending these\nPirates are abused and affronted and called Enemies of the Country for\ndisturbing and hindering honest men (as they are pleased to call the\nPirates) from bringing their money and settling amongst them....\n\n\"Since my writing this, Capt. Kidd is come in this (Delaware) Bay.  He\nhath been here about ten days.  He sends his boat ashore to the Hore\nKills where he is supplied with what he wants and the people frequently\ngo on board him.  He is in a Sloop with about forty men with a Vast\nTreasure, I hope the express which I sent to his Excellency Governor\nNicholson will be in time enough to send the man-of-war to come up with\nKidd....\n\n\"The Pirates that I brought to this Government have the liberty to\nconfine themselves to a tavern, which is what I expected.  The six\nother Pirates that are in Burlington are at liberty, for the Quakers\nthere will not suffer the Government to send them to Gaol.  Thus his\nMajesty may expect to be obeyed in all places where the Government is\nin Quakers' hands....\"\n\n\n\n[1] Mr. F. L. Gay of Boston very kindly gave the author the use of his\nvaluable collection of documentary material concerning Captain Kidd,\nsome of which is contained in this chapter.  In addition, the author\nconsulted many of the original documents among the state papers in the\nPublic Record Office, London.\n\n[2] Damaged.\n\n[3] Clarke managed to clear himself and this threat was not carried out.\n\n[4] Ms. torn.\n\n[5] Genuine.\n\n[6] Ms. torn.\n\n[7] Ms. torn.\n\n[8] Prize, or plunder.\n\n[9] Titus Gates, the notorious informer, who revealed an alleged\n\"Papist plot\" to massacre the English Protestants in the reign of\nCharles II.  He was later denounced, pilloried, and publicly flogged\nwithin an inch of his life.\n\n[10] Ms. torn.\n\n[11] Lieutenant-governor at New York.\n\n[12] Ms. torn.\n\n[13] Ms. torn.\n\n[14] Ms. torn.\n\n[15] Colonel Robert Quarry cut a rather odd figure as a prosecutor of\npirates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  He had been secretary to the\nGovernor of Carolina and assumed that office without authority from the\nproprietors, at the death of Sir Richard Kyle who was appointed in 1684.\n\n\"A few months before it had been recommended that 'as the Governor will\nnot in all probability always reside in Charles Town, which is so near\nthe sea as to be in danger from a sudden invasion of Pirates,' Governor\nKyle should commissionate a particular Governor for Charles Town who\nmay act in his absence.\"  (South Carolina Historical Society\nCollections.)\n\nGovernor Kyle suggested as a suitable person for this office his\nsecretary, Robert Quarry, and \"probably this recommendation made Quarry\nfeel justified in assuming control when Kyle died.  So flagrant was\nQuarry's encouragement of pirates, and his cupidity so notorious that\nhe was removed from office after two months.  Later \"he went north and\nwas appointed Admiralty Judge for New York and Pennsylvania.\"  (\"The\nCarolina Pirates,\" by S. C. Hughson, Johns Hopkins University Studies.)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nCAPTAIN KIDD, HIS TRIAL, AND DEATH\n\nAs the under dog in a situation where the most powerful influences of\nEngland conspired to blacken his name and take his life, Captain\nWilliam Kidd, even at this late day, deserves to be heard in his own\ndefense.  That he was unfairly tried and condemned is admitted by\nvarious historians, who, nevertheless, have twisted or overlooked the\nfacts, as if Kidd were, in sooth, a legendary character.  This\nblundering, careless treatment is the more surprising because Kidd was\nmade a political issue of such importance as to threaten the overthrow\nof a Ministry and the Parliamentary censure of the King himself.  At\nthe height of the bitter hostility against Somers, the Whig Lord\nChancellor of William III, the Kidd affair presented itself as a ready\nweapon for the use of his political foes.\n\n\"About the other patrons of Kidd the chiefs of the opposition cared\nlittle,\" says Macauley.[1]  \"Bellomont was far removed from the\npolitical scene.  Romney could not, and Shrewsbury would not play a\nfirst part.  Orford had resigned his employments.  But Somers still\nheld the Great Seal, still presided in the House of Lords, still had\nconstant access to the closet.  The retreat of his friends had left him\nthe sole and undisputed head of that party which had, in the late\nParliament, been a majority, and which was in the present Parliament\noutnumbered indeed, disorganized and threatened, but still numerous and\nrespectable.  His placid courage rose higher and higher to meet the\ndangers which threatened him.\n\n\"In their eagerness to displace and destroy him, they overreached\nthemselves.  Had they been content to accuse him of lending his\ncountenance, with a rashness unbecoming his high place, to an\nill-concerted scheme, that large part of mankind which judges of a plan\nsimply by the event would probably have thought the accusation well\nfounded.  But the malice which they bore to him was not to be so\nsatisfied.  They affected to believe that he had from the first been\naware of Kidd's character and designs.  The Great Seal had been\nemployed to sanction a piratical expedition.  The head of the law had\nlaid down a thousand pounds in the hopes of receiving tens of thousands\nwhen his accomplices should return laden with the spoils of ruined\nmerchants.  It was fortunate for the Chancellor that the calumnies of\nwhich he was object were too atrocious to be mischievous.\n\n\"And now the time had come at which the hoarded ill-humor of six months\nwas at liberty to explode.  On the sixteenth of November the House\nmet....  There were loud complaints that the events of the preceding\nsession had been misrepresented to the public, that emissaries of the\nCourt, in every part of the kingdom, declaimed against the absurd\njealousies or still more absurd parsimony which had refused to his\nMajesty the means of keeping up such an army as might secure the\ncountry against invasion.  Angry resolutions were passed, declaring it\nto be the opinion of the House that the best way to establish entire\nconfidence between the King and the Estates would be to put a brand on\nthose evil advisers who had dared to breathe in the royal ear calumnies\nagainst a faithful Parliament.\n\n\"An address founded on these resolutions was voted; many thought that a\nviolent rupture was inevitable.  But William returned an answer so\nprudent and gentle that malice itself could not prolong the dispute.\nBy this time, indeed, a new dispute had begun.  The address had\nscarcely been moved when the House called for copies of the papers\nrelating to Kidd's expedition.  Somers, conscious of his innocence,\nknew that it was wise as well as right and resolved that there should\nbe no concealment.\n\n\"Howe raved like a maniac.  'What is to become of the country,\nplundered by land, plundered by sea?  Our rulers have laid hold of our\nlands, our woods, our mines, our money.  And all this is not enough.\nWe cannot send a cargo to the farthest ends of the earth, but they must\nsend a gang of thieves after it.'  Harley and Seymour tried to carry a\nvote of censure without giving the House time to read the papers.  But\nthe general feeling was strongly for a short delay.  At length on the\nsixth of December, the subject was considered in a committee of the\nwhole House.  Shower undertook to prove that the letters patent to\nwhich Somers had put the Great Seal were illegal.  Cowper replied to\nhim with immense applause, and seems to have completely refuted him.\n\n\"At length, after a debate which lasted from mid-day till nine at\nnight, and in which all the leading members took part, the committee\ndivided on the question that the letters patent were dishonorable to\nthe King, inconsistent with the laws of nations, contrary to the\nstatutes of the realm, and destructive of property and trade.  The\nChancellor's enemies had felt confident of victory, and made the\nresolution so strong in order that it might be impossible for him to\nretain the Great Seal.  They soon found that it would have been wise to\npropose a gentler censure.  Great numbers of their adherents, convinced\nby Cowper's arguments, or unwilling to put a cruel stigma on a man of\nwhose genius and accomplishments the nation was proud, stole away\nbefore the doors were closed.  To the general astonishment, there were\nonly one hundred and thirty-three Ayes to one hundred and eighty-nine\nNoes.  That the city of London did not consider Somers as the\ndestroyer, and his enemies as the protectors of trade, was proved on\nthe following morning by the most unequivocal of signs.  As soon as the\nnews of the triumph reached the Royal Exchange, the price of stocks\nwent up.\"\n\nThere is a very rare pamphlet which illuminates the matter in much more\ndetail.  It was written and published as a defense of Bellomont and his\npartners and the very length, elaboration, and heat its argument shows\nhow furiously the political pot was boiling while Kidd was imprisoned\nin London awaiting his trial.  This _ex parte_ production is entitled\n\"A Full Account of the Actions of the Late Famous Pyrate, Captain Kidd,\nWith the Proceedings against Him and a Vindication of the Right\nHonourable Richard, Earl of Bellomont, Lord Caloony, late Governor of\nNew England, and other Honourable Persons from the Unjust Reflection;\nCast upon Them.  By a Person of Quality.\"[2]\n\nIt is herein recorded that the arguments to support the question moved\nin Parliament were:\n\n\"1--That by law the King could not grant the Goods of Pirates, at\nleast, not before conviction.\n\n\"2--That the Grant was extravagant, for all Goods of Pirates, taken\nwith or by any persons in any part of the world, were granted away.\n\n\"3--Not only the Goods of the Pirates, but all Goods taken with them\nwere granted, which was illegal, because tho' the Goods were taken by\nPirates, the rightful Owners have still a Title to them, Piracy working\nno change of Property.\n\n\"5--By this Grant a great Hardship was put upon the Merchants whose\nGoods might be taken with the Pirates, for they had nowhere to go for\nJustice.  They could not hope for it in the Chancery, the Lord\nChancellor being interested; nor at the Board of Admiralty where the\nEarl of Orford presided; nor from the King, all access to him being by\nthe Duke of Shrewsbury; nor in the Plantations where the Earl of\nBellomont was.  So the only Judge who the Pirates were, and what goods\nwere theirs, was Captain Kidd himself.\"\n\nWhatsoever may have been wrong with his contract or his commissions,\nand Parliament sustained them by vote as already mentioned, Captain\nKidd cannot be held blameworthy on this score.  And it is absurd to\ncall him a premeditated pirate who sailed from Plymouth with evil\npurpose in his heart.  His credentials and endorsements, his record as\na shipmaster, and his repute at home, cannot be set aside.  They speak\nfor themselves.  Nor is it possible to reconcile the character of the\nman, as he was known by his deeds up to that time, with the charges\nlaid against him.\n\nIt is worth noting that the complaints made against his conduct in the\nwaters of the Far East came from the East India Company which denounced\nand proclaimed him as a pirate with a price on his head.  It was a case\nof the pot calling the kettle black.  Although the House of Commons had\ndecided five years before that the old Company should no longer have a\nmonopoly of English trade in Asiatic seas, the merchants of London or\nBristol dared not fit out ventures to voyage beyond the Cape of Good\nHope, and found it necessary to send their goods in the ships that flew\nthe flag of India House.  The private trader still ran grave of being\ntreated as a smuggler, if not as a pirate.  \"He might, indeed, if he\nwas wronged, apply for redress to the tribunals of his country.  But\nyears must elapse before his cause could be heard; his witnesses must\nbe conveyed over fifteen thousand miles of sea; and in the meantime he\nwas a ruined man.\"[3]\n\nThis powerful corporation which ruled the Eastern seas as it pleased,\nconfiscating the ships and goods of private traders, accused Kidd of\nseizing two ships with their cargoes which belonged to the Great Mogul,\nand of several petty depredations hardly to be classed as piracy.  The\ncase against him was built up around the two vessels known as the\n_November_ and the _Quedah Merchant_.  His defense was that on board\nthese prizes he had found French papers, or safe conduct passes made\nout in the name of the King of France and issued by the French East\nIndia Company.  He therefore took the ships as lawful commerce of the\nenemy.\n\nThe crews of such trading craft as these comprised men of many nations,\nArabs, Lascars, Portuguese, French, Dutch, English, Armenian, and\nHeaven knows what else.  The nationality of the skipper, the mate, the\nsupercargo, or the foremast hands had nothing to do with the ownership\nof the vessel, or the flag under which she was registered, or\nchartered.  The papers found in her cabin determined whether or not she\nshould be viewed as a prize of war, or permitted to go on her way.  In\norder to protect the ship as far as possible, it was not unusual for\nthe master to obtain two sets of papers, to be used as occasion might\nrequire, and it is easily possible that the _Quedah Merchant_, trading\nwith the East India Company, may have taken out French papers, in order\nto deceive any French privateer or cruiser that might be encountered.\nNor did the agents of the East India Company see anything wrong in\nresorting to such subterfuges.\n\nThe corner stone of Kidd's defense and justification was these two\nFrench passes, which precious documents he had brought home with him,\nand it was admitted even by his enemies that the production of them as\nevidence would go far to clear him of the charges of piracy.  That they\nwere in his possession when he landed in New England and that Bellomont\nsent them to the Lords of Plantations in London is stated in a letter\nquoted in the preceding chapter.  The documents then disappeared, their\nvery existence was denied, and Kidd was called a liar to his face, and\nhis memory damned by historians writing later, for trying to save his\nneck by means of evidence which he was powerless to exhibit.\n\nIt would appear that these papers were not produced in court because it\nhad been determined that Kidd should be found guilty as a necessary\nscapegoat.  But he told the truth about the French passes, and after\nremaining among the state papers for more than two centuries, the\noriginal of one of them, that found by him aboard the _Quedah\nMerchant_, was recently discovered in the Public Record Office by the\nauthor of this book, and it is herewith photographed in _fac simile_.\nIts purport has been translated as follows:\n\n\nFROM THE KING.\n\nWE, FRANCOIS MARTIN ESQUIRE, COUNCILLOR OF THE ROYAL DIRECTOR, Minister\nof Commerce for the Royal Company of France in the Kingdom of Bengal,\nthe Coast of Coramandel, and other (dependencies).  To all those who\nwill see these presents, Greetings:\n\nThe following, _Coja Quanesse, Coja Jacob, Armenian; Nacodas_, of the\nship _Cara Merchant_, which the Armenian merchant Agapiris Kalender has\nfreighted in Surate from Cohergy ... having declared to us that before\ntheir departure from Surate they had taken a passport from the Company\nwhich they have presented to us to be dated from the first of January,\n1697, signed _Martin_ and subscribed _de Grangemont_; that they feared\nto be molested during the voyage which they had to make from this port\nto Surate, and alleging that the aforementioned passport is no longer\nvalid, and that for this reason they begged of us urgently to have\nanother sent to them;--For these reasons we recommend and enjoin upon\nall those under the authority of the Company; we beg the Chiefs of\nSquadrons and Commanders of Vessels of His Majesty: and we request all\nthe friends and allies of the Crown in nowise to retard the voyage and\nto render all possible aid and comfort, promising on a similar occasion\nto do likewise.  In testimony of which we have signed these presents,\nand caused them to be countersigned by the Secretary of the Company,\nand the seal of his arms placed thereon.\n\nMARTIN.\n\n(Dated Jan. 16, 1698.)\n\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The French pass or safe conduct paper found by Kidd in\nthe ship _Quedah Merchant_.  This document, which was suppressed by the\nprosecution, is evidence that the prize was a lawful capture.  Kidd\nvainly begged at his trial that this was another French pass be\nproduced as evidence in his favor.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nIt is reasonable to assume that the _Cara Merchant_ of the passport, is\nintended to designate the ship in which the document was found by Kidd.\nIn various reports of the episode, the name of the vessel was spelled\n_Quidah, Quedah, Queda_ and _Quedagh_.  The word is taken from the name\nof a small native state of the Malay Peninsula, and even to-day it is\nset down in various ways, as _Quedah, Kedda_, or _Kedah_.  Other\ncircumstances confirm this supposition and go far to prove that the\nship was a lawful prize for an English privateer.  During the period\nbetween the Revolution and the War of 1812, England confiscated many\nAmerican merchant vessels in the West Indies under pretexts not a whit\nmore convincing than Kidd's excuse for snapping up the _Quedah\nMerchant_.\n\nWhat Kidd himself had to say about this affair is told in his narrative\nof the voyage as he related it during his preliminary examination while\nunder arrest in Boston.  It runs as follows:\n\n\nA Narrative of the Voyage of Capt. William Kidd, Commander of the\n_Adventure Galley_, from London to the East Indies.\n\nThat the Journal of the said Capt. Kidd being violently taken from him\nin the Port of St. Maries in Madagascar; and his life many times being\nthreatened to be taken away from him by 97 of his men that deserted him\nthere, he cannot give that exact Account he otherwise would have done,\nbut as far as his memory will serve, it is as follows, Vizt:\n\nThat the said _Adventure Galley_ was launched in Castles Yard at\nDeptford about the 4th. day of December, 1695, and about the latter end\nof February the said Galley came to ye buoy in the Nore, and about the\nfirst day of March following, his men were pressed from him for the\nFleet which caused him to stay there about 19 days, and then sailed for\nthe Downs and arrived there about the 8th or 10th day of April 1696,\nand sailed thence to Plymouth and on the 23rd. day of the said month of\nApril he sailed from Plymouth on his intended Voyage.  And some time in\nthe month of May met with a small French Vessel with Salt and Fishing\ntackle on board, bound for Newfoundland, which he took and made prize\nof and carried the same into New York about the 4th day of July where\nshe was condemned as lawful prize, and the produce whereof purchased\nProvisions for the said Galley for her further intended Voyage.\n\nThat about the 6th. day of September, 1696, the said Capt. Kidd sailed\nfor the Madeiras in company with one Joyner, Master of a Brigantine\nbelonging to Bermuda, and arrived there about the 8th. day of October\nfollowing, and thence to Bonavista where they arrived about the 19th.\nof the said month and took in some Salt and stay'd three or four days\nand sailed thence to St. Jago and arrived there the 24th, of the said\nmonth, where he took in some water and stay'd about 8 or 9 days, and\nthence sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and in the Latitude of 32, on\nthe 12th day of December, 1696, met with four English men of war\nwhereof Capt. Warren was Commodore and sailed a week in their company,\nand then parted and sailed to Telere, a port in the Island of\nMadagascar.\n\nAnd being there about the 29th day of January, there came in a Sloop\nbelonging to Barbadoes loaded with Rum, Sugar, Powder, and Shott, one\nFrench, Master, and Mr. Hatton and Mr. John Batt, merchants, and the\nsaid Hatton came on board the said _Galley_ and was suddenly taken ill\nand died in the Cabbin.  And about the latter end of February sailed\nfor the Island of Johanna, and the said Sloop keeping company, and\narrived thereabout the 18th day of March, where he found four East\nIndia merchantmen, outward bound, and watered there all together and\nstay'd about four days, and from thence about the 22nd day of March\nsailed for Mehila, an Island ten Leagues distant from Johanna, where he\narrived the next morning, and there careened the said _Galley, and\nabout fifty men died there in a week's time_.[4]\n\nAnd about the 25th day of April, 1697, set sail for the coast of India,\nand came upon the coast of Malabar, in the beginning of the month of\nSeptember, and went into Carawar upon that coast about the middle of\nthe same month, and watered there.  The Gentlemen of the English\nFactory gave the Narrator an account that the Portugese were fitting\nout two men of war to take him, and advised him to set out to sea, and\nto take care of himself from them, and immediately he set sail\ntherefrom about the 22nd of the said month of September.  And the next\nmorning, about break of day, saw the said two men-of-war standing for\nthe said _Galley_, and they spoke with him and asked him whence he was,\nwho replied from London, and they returned answer from Goa, and so\nparted, wishing each other a good Voyage.\n\nAnd making still along the coast, the Commodore of the said men-of-war\nkept dogging the said _Galley_ at night, waiting an opportunity to\nboard the same, and in the morning without speaking a word fired six\ngreat guns at the _Galley_, some whereof went through her and wounded\nfour of his men.  And therefore he fired upon him again, and the fight\ncontinued all day, and the Narrator had eleven men wounded.  The other\nPortugese men of war lay some distance off, and could not come up with\nthe _Galley_, being calm, else would have likewise assaulted the same.\nThe said fight was sharp and the said Portugese left the said Galley\nwith such satisfaction that the Narrator believes no Portugese will\never attack the King's Colours again, in that part of the World\nespecially.\n\nAfterwards continued upon the said coast till the beginning of the\nmonth of November 1697 cruising upon the Cape of Cameroon for Pyrates\nthat frequent that coast.  Then he met with Capt. How in the _Loyal\nCaptain_, a Dutch Ship belonging to Madras, bound to Surat whom he\nexamined and finding his pass good, designed freely to let her pass\nabout her affairs.  But having two Dutchmen on board, they told the\nNarrator's men that they had divers Greeks and Armenians on board who\nhad divers precious Stones and other rich goods, which caused his men\nto be very mutinous, and they got up their Arms, and swore they would\ntake the Ship.  The Narrator told them the small arms belonged to the\n_Galley_, and that he was not come to take any Englishmen or lawful\nTraders, and that if they attempted any such thing, they should never\ncome on board the _Galley_ again, nor have the boat or small arms, for\nhe had no Commission to take any but the King's Enemies and Pyrates and\nthat he would attack them with the _Galley_ and drive them into Bombay,\n(the other Vessel being a Merchantman, and having no guns, they might\neasily have done it with a few hands).\n\nWith all the arguments and menaces he could use, he could scarce\nrestrain them from their unlawful design, but at last prevail'd and\nwith much ado got him clear and let him go about his business.  All of\nwhich Captain How will attest if living.\n\nAnd about the 18th. or 19th day of the said month of November met with\na Moors' Ship of about 200 Tons coming from Surat, bound to the Coast\nof Malabar, loaded with two horses, Sugar and Cotton, having about 40\nMoors on board with a Dutch Pylot, Boatswain, and Gunner, which said\nShip the Narrator hailed, and commanded (the Master) on board and with\nhim came 8 or 9 Moors and the said three Dutchmen, who declared it was\na Moors' {109} ship, and he (the Narrator) demanding their Pass from\nSurat which they showed and the same was a French Pass which he\nbelieved was showed by mistake, for the Pylot swore by Sacrament she\nwas a Prize and staid on board the _Galley_ and would not return again\non board the Moors' Ship but went in the _Galley_ to the port of St.\nMaries.\n\nAnd that about the first day of February following, upon the same\ncoast, under French Colours with a designe to decoy, met a Bengali\nmerchantman[5] belonging to Surat, of the burthen of 4 or 500 tons, 10\nguns, and he commanded the master on board, and a Frenchman, Inhabitant\nof Surat and belonging to the French Factory there and Gunner of said\nship, came on board as Master, and when he came on board the Narrator\ncaused the English Colours to be hoysted, and the said Master was\nsurprised, and said \"You are all English,\" and asked which was the\nCaptain, whom when he (the Frenchman) saw, he said, \"Here is a good\nprize\" and delivered him the French pass.\n\nAnd that with the said two Prizes, he (the Narrator) sailed for the\nPort of St. Maries in Madagascar, and sailing thither the _Galley_ was\nso leaky that they feared she would have sunk every hour, and it\nrequired eight men every two glasses to keep her free, and they were\nforced to woold her round with Cables to keep her together, and with\nmuch ado carried her into port....  And about the 6th day of May, the\nlesser Prize was haled into the careening island or key (the other not\nhaving arrived), and ransacked and sunk by the mutinous men who\nthreatened the Narrator and the men that would not join with them, to\nburn and sink the other Ship that they might not go home and tell the\nnews.\n\nAnd that when he arrived in the said port, there was a Pyrate Ship,\ncalled the _Moca Frigat_, at an Anchor, Robert Culliford, Commander\nthereof, who with his men left the same and ran into the woods, and the\nNarrator proposed to his men to take the same, having sufficient power\nand authority so to do, but the mutinous crew told him if he offered\nthe same they would rather fire two guns into him than one into the\nother; and thereupon 97 deserted and went into the _Moca Frigat_, and\nsent into the woods for the said Pyrates and brought the said Culliford\nand his men on board again.  And all the time she (the _Moca Frigat_)\nstaid in the said Port, which was for the space of 4 or 5 days, the\nsaid deserters, sometimes in great numbers, came on board the\n_Adventure Galley_ and her prize and carried away the great gun,\npowder, shot, arms, sails, anchors, etc., and what they pleased, and\nthreatened several times to murder the Narrator (as he was informed and\nadvised to take care of himself), which they designed in the night to\neffect, but was prevented by his locking himself in his Cabbin and\nsecuring himself with barricading the same with bales of Goods, and\nhaving about forty Small arms besides Pistols ready charged, kept them\nout.  Their wickedness was so great that after they had plundered and\nransacked sufficiently, they went four miles off to one Edward Welche's\nhouse where his (the Narrator's) chest was lodged, and broke it open\nand took out 10 ounces of gold, forty pounds of plate, 370 pieces of\neight, the Narrator's Journal, and a great many papers that belonged to\nhim, and to the people of New Yorke that fitted him out.\n\nThat about the 15th day of June the _Moca Frigate_ went away, being\nmanned with about 130 men and forty guns, bound out to take all\nNations.  Then it was that the Narrator was left with only about 13\nmen, so that the Moors he had to pump and keep the _Adventure Galley_\nabove water being carried away, she sank in the Harbour, and the\nNarrator with the said Thirteen men went on board of the _Adventure's_\nPrize where he was forced to stay five months for a fair wind.  In the\nmeantime some Passengers presented themselves that were bound for these\nparts, which he took on board to help to bring the said _Adventure's_\nPrize[6] home.\n\nThat about the beginning of April 1699, the Narrator arrived at\nAnguilla in the West Indies and sent his boat on shore where his men\nheard the News that he and his People were proclaimed Pirates, which\nput them into such a Consternation that they sought all opportunities\nto run the Ship on shore upon some reefs or shoal, fearing the Narrator\nshould carry them into some English port.\n\nFrom Anguilla, they came to St. Thomas where his brother-in-law, Samuel\nBradley, was put on shore, being sick, and five more went away and\ndeserted him.  There he heard the same News, that the Narrator and his\nCompany were proclaimed Pirates, which incensed the people more and\nmore.  From St. Thomas set sail for Mona, an Island between Hispaniola\nand Porto Rico, where they met with a Sloop called the _St. Anthony_,\nbound for Antigua from Curacoa, Mr. Henry Bolton, Merchant, and Samuel\nWood, Master.  The men on board then swore they would bring the ship no\nfarther.  The Narrator then sent the said Sloop, _St. Anthony_, to\nCuracoa for canvas to make sails for the Prize, she being not able to\nproceed, and she returned in 10 days, and after the canvas came he\ncould not persuade the men to carry her for New England.\n\nSix of the men went and carried their Chests and things on board of two\nDutch Sloops bound for Curacoa, and would not so much as heel the\nVessel or do anything.  The remainder of the men, not being able to\nbring the _Adventure_ Prize to Boston, the Narrator secured her in a\ngood safe harbour in some part of Hispaniola and left her in the\npossession of M. Henry Bolton of Antigua, Merchant, and the Master, and\nthree of the old men, and 15 or 16 of the men that belonged to the said\nsloop, _St. Anthony_, and a Brigantine belonging to one Burt of Curacoa.\n\nThat the Narrator bought the said Sloop, _St. Anthony_, of Mr. Bolton,\nfor the Owners' account, after he had given directions to the said\nBolton to be careful of the Ship and lading and persuaded him to stay\nthree months till he returned.  And he then made the best of his way\nfor New York where he heard the Earl of Bellomont was, who was\nprincipally concerned in the _Adventure Galley_, and hearing his\nLordship was at Boston, came thither and has now been 45 days from the\nsaid Ship.  Further, the Narrator saith that the said ship was left at\nSt. Katharine on the southeast part of Hispaniola, about three Leagues\nto leeward of the westerly end of Savano.  Whilst he lay at Hispaniola\nhe traded with Mr. Henry Bolton of Antigua and Mr. William Burt of\nCuracoa, Merchants, to the value of Eleven Thousand Two Hundred Pieces\nof Eight, whereof he received the Sloop _Antonio_ at 3000 Ps. of eight,\nand Four Thousand Two Hundred Ps. of Eight in Bills of Lading drawn by\nBolton and Burt upon Messers. Gabriel and Lemont, Merchants, in\nCuracoa, made payable to Mr. Burt who went himself to Curacoa, and the\nvalue of Four Thousand Pieces of Eight more in dust and bar gold.\nWhich gold, with some more traded for at Madagascar, being Fifty pounds\nweight or upwards in quantity, the Narrator left in custody of Mr.\nGardiner of Gardiner's Island, near the eastern end of Long Island,\nfearing to bring it about by sea.\n\nIt is made up in a bagg put into a little box, lockt and nailed, corded\nabout and sealed.  The Narrator saith he took no receipt for it of Mr.\nGardiner.  The gold that was seized at Mr. Campbell's, the Narrator\ntraded for at Madagascar, with what came out of the _Galley_.  He saith\nthat he carried in the _Adventure Galley_ from New York 154 men,\nseventy whereof came out of England with him.\n\nSome of his Sloop's company put two bails of Goods on store at\nGardiner's Island, being their own property.  The Narrator delivered a\nchest of Goods, Vizt; Muslins, Latches, Romals, and flowered silk unto\nMr. Gardiner of Gardiner's Island to be kept there for him.  _He put no\ngoods on shore anywhere else_.  Several of his company landed their\nChests and other goods at several places.\n\nFurther saith he delivered a small bail of coarse callicoes unto a\nSloopman of Rhode Island that he had employed there.  The Gold seized\nat Mr. Campbell's, the Narrator intended for presents to some that he\nexpected to do him kindness.\n\nSome of his company put their Chests and bails on board a New York\nSloop lying at Gardiner's Island.\n\nWM. KIDD.\n\n  Presented and taken _die praedict_\n  before his Exc'y and Council\n    Addington, Sec'y.\n\n\nMore than a year after Kidd had been carried to England with twelve of\nhis crew, he was arraigned for trial at the Old Bailey.  Meantime Lord\nBellomont had died in Boston.  Trials for piracy were common enough,\nbut this accused shipmaster was confronted by such an array of titled\nbig-wigs and court officials as would have been sufficient to try the\nLord Chancellor himself.  For the government, the Lord Chief Baron, Sir\nEdward Ward, presided, and with him sat Sir Henry Hatsell, Baron of the\nExchequer; Sir Salathiel Lovell, the Recorder of London; Sir John\nTurton and Sir Henry Gould, Justices of the King's Bench, and Sir John\nPowell, a Justice of the Common Pleas.  As counsel for the prosecution,\nthere was the Solicitor General, Dr. Oxenden; Mr. Knapp, Mr. Coniers,\nand Mr. Campbell.\n\nFor Captain William Kidd, there was no one.  By the law of England at\nthat time, a prisoner tried on a criminal charge could employ no\ncounsel and was permitted to have no legal advice, except only when a\npoint of law was directly involved.  Kidd had been denied all chance to\nmuster witnesses or assemble documents, and, at that, the court was so\nfearful of failing to prove the charges of piracy that it was decided\nto try him first for killing his gunner, William Moore, and convicting\nhim of murder.  He would be as conveniently dead if hanged for the one\ncrime as for the other.\n\nNow, it is not impossible that Kidd had clean forgotten that trifling\nepisode of William Moore.  For a commander to knock down a seaman\nguilty of disrespect or disobedience was as commonplace as eating.  The\noffender was lucky if he got off no worse.  Discipline in the naval and\nmerchant services was barbarously severe.  Sailors died of flogging or\nkeelhauling, or of being triced up by the thumbs for the most trifling\nmisdemeanors.  As for Moore, he was a mutineer, and an insolent rogue\nbesides, who had stirred up trouble in the crew, and nothing would have\nbeen said to any other skipper than Kidd for shooting him or running\nhim through.  However, let the testimony tell its own story.\n\nAfter the Grand Jury had returned the bill of indictment for murder,\nthe Clerk of Arraignment said:\n\n\"William Kidd, hold up thy hand.\"\n\nWith a pluck and persistence which must have had a certain pathetic\ndignity, Kidd began to object.\n\n\"May it please your Lordship, I desire you to permit me to have\ncounsel.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"What would you have counsel for?\"\n\nKidd.  \"My Lord, I have some matters of law relating to the indictment,\nand I desire I may have counsel to speak to it.\"\n\n_Dr. Oxenden_.  \"What matter of law can you have?\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"How does he know what he is charged with?  I\nhave not told him.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"You must let the Court know what these matters of law\nare before you can have counsel assigned you.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"They be matters of law, my Lord.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"Mr. Kidd, do you know what you mean by matters of\nlaw?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I know what I mean.  I desire to put off my trial as long as\nI can, till I can get my evidence ready.\"\n\n_The Recorder_: \"Mr. Kidd, you had best mention the matter of law you\nwould insist on.\"\n\n_Dr. Oxenden_.  \"It cannot be matter of law to put off your trial, but\nmatter of fact.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I desire your Lordship's favor.  I desire that Dr. Oldish and\nMr. Lemmon here be heard as to my case (indicating lawyers present in\ncourt).\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"What can he have counsel for before he has\npleaded?\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"Mr. Kidd, the Court tells you it shall be heard what\nyou have to say when you have pleaded to your indictment.  If you plead\nto it, if you will, you may assign matter of law, if you have any, but\nthen you must let the Court know what you would insist on.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I beg your Lordship's patience, till I can procure my papers.\nI had a couple of French passes which I must make use of, in order to\nmy justification.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"This is not matter of law.  You have had long notice\nof your trial, and might have prepared for it.  How long have you had\nnotice of your trial?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"A matter of a fortnight.\"\n\n_Dr. Oxenden_.  \"Can you tell the names of any persons that you would\nmake use of in your defense?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I sent for them, but I could not have them.\"\n\n_Dr. Oxenden_.  \"Where were they then?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I brought them to my Lord Bellomont in New England.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"What were their names?  You cannot tell without book.\nMr. Kidd, the Court sees no reason to put off your trial, therefore you\nmust plead.\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"William Kidd, hold up thy hand.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I beg your Lordship I may have counsel admitted, and that my\ntrial may be put off, I am not really prepared for it.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"Nor never will, if you could help it.\"\n\n_Dr. Oxenden_.  \"Mr. Kidd, you have had reasonable notice, and you know\nyou must be tried, and therefore you cannot plead you are not ready.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"If your Lordships permit those papers to be read, they will\njustify me.  I desire my counsel may be heard.\"\n\n_Mr. Coniers_.  \"We admit of no counsel for him.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"There is no issue joined, and therefore there can be\nno counsel assigned.  Mr. Kidd, you must plead.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I cannot plead till I have those papers that I insisted upon.\"\n\n_Mr. Lemmon_.  \"He ought to have his papers delivered to him, because\nthey are very material for his defense.  He has endeavored to have\nthem, but could not get them.\"\n\n_Mr. Coniers_.  \"You are not to appear for anyone, (Mr. Lemmon) till he\npleads, and that the Court assigns you for his counsel.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"They would only put off the trial.\"\n\n_Mr. Coniers_.  \"He must plead to the indictment.\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"Make silence.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"My papers are all seized, and I cannot make my defense\nwithout them.  I desire my trial may be put off till I can have them.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"The Court is of opinion that they ought not to stay\nfor all your evidence; it may be they will never come.  You must plead;\nand then if you can satisfy the Court that there is a reason to put off\nthe trial, you may.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"My Lord, I have business in law, and I desire counsel.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"The course of Courts is, when you have pleaded, the\nmatter of trial is next; if you can then show there is cause to put off\nthe trial, you may, but now the matter is to plead.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"It is a hard case when all these things shall be kept from\nme, and I am forced to plead.\"\n\n_The Recorder_.  \"If he will not plead, there must be judgment.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"Would you have me plead and not have my vindication by me?\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"Will you plead to the indictment?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I would beg that I may have my papers for my vindication.\"\n\nIt is very obvious that up to this point Kidd was concerned only with\nthe charges of piracy, and attached no importance to the fact that he\nhad been indicted for the murder of his gunner.  Regarding the matter\nof the French passes, Kidd was desperately in earnest.  He knew their\nimportance, nor was he begging for them as a subterfuge to gain time.\nHe had been employed as a privateering commander against the French in\nthe West Indies and on the New England coast, as the documents of the\nProvincial Government have already shown.  It is fair to assume that he\nknew the rules of the game and the kind of papers necessary to make a\nprize a lawful capture by the terms of the English privateering\ncommission which he held.  But his efforts to introduce this evidence\nwhich had been secured by Bellomont and forwarded to the authorities in\nLondon, were of no avail.  Compelled to plead to the indictment for\nmurder, Kidd swore that he was not guilty, and the trial then proceeded\nunder the direction of Lord Chief Baron Ward.  Dr. Oldish, who sought\nto be assigned, with Mr. Lemmon, as counsel for the prisoner, was not\nto be diverted from the main issue, and he boldly struck in.\n\n\"My Lord, it is very fit his trial should be delayed for some time\nbecause he wants some papers very necessary for his defense.  It is\nvery true he is charged with piracies in several ships, but they had\nFrench passes when the seizure was made.  Now, if there were French\npasses, it was a lawful seizure.\"\n\n_Mr. Justice Powell_.  \"Have you those passes?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"They were taken from me by my Lord Bellomont, and these\npasses would be my defense.\"\n\n_Dr. Oldish_.  \"If those ships that he took had French passes, there\nwas just cause of seizure, and it will excuse him from piracy.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"They were taken from me by my Lord Bellomont and those passes\nshow there was just cause of seizure.  That we will prove as clear as\nthe day.\"\n\n_The Lord Chief Baron_.  \"What ship was that which had the French\npasses?\"\n\n_Mr. Lemmon_.  \"The same he was in; the same he is indicted for.\"\n\n_Clerk of Arraignment_.  \"Let all stand aside but Captain Kidd.\nWilliam Kidd, you are now to be tried on the Bill of Murder; the jury\nis going to be sworn.  If you have any cause of exception, you may\nspeak to them as they come to the Book.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I challenge none.  I know nothing to the contrary but they\nare honest men.\"\n\nThe first witness for the Crown was Joseph Palmer, of the _Adventure\nGalley_ (who had been captured by Bellomont in Rhode Island and who had\ninformed him of the incident of the death of Moore, the gunner).  He\ntestified as follows:\n\n\"About a fortnight before this accident fell out, Captain Kidd met with\na ship on that coast (Malabar) that was called the _Loyal Captain_.\nAnd about a fortnight after this, the gunner was grinding a chisel\naboard the _Adventure_, on the high seas, near the coast of Malabar in\nthe East Indies.\"\n\n_Mr. Coniers_.  \"What was the gunner's name!\"\n\n_Palmer_.  \"William Moore.  And Captain Kidd came and walked on the\ndeck, and walked by this Moore, and when he came to him, says, 'How\ncould you have put me in a way to take this ship (_Loyal Captain_) and\nbeen clear?'  'Sir,' says William Moore, 'I never spoke such a word,\nnor thought such a thing.'  Upon which Captain Kidd called him a lousie\ndog.  And says William Moore, 'If I am a lousie dog, you have made me\nso.  You have brought me to ruin and many more.'  Upon him saying this,\nsays Captain Kidd, 'Have I ruined you, ye dog?' and took a bucket bound\nwith iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which\nhe died next day.\"\n\n_Mr. Coniers_.  \"Tell my Lord what passed next after the blow.\"\n\n_Palmer_.  \"He was let down the gun-room, and the gunner said\n'Farewell, Farewell!  Captain Kidd has given me my last.'  And Captain\nKidd stood on the deck and said, 'You're a villain.'\"\n\nRobert Bradingham, who had been the surgeon of the _Adventure Galley_,\nthen testified that the wound was small but that the gunner's skull had\nbeen fractured.\n\n_Mr. Cooper_.  \"Had you any discourse with Captain Kidd after this,\nabout the man's death?\"\n\n_Bradingham_.  \"Some time after this, about two months, by the coast of\nMalabar, Captain Kidd said, 'I do not care so much for the death of my\ngunner, as for other passages of my voyage, for I have good friends in\nEngland, who will bring me off for that.'\"\n\nWith this, the prosecution rested, and the Lord Chief Baron addressed\nKidd.\n\n\"Then you may make your defense.  You are charged with murder, and you\nhave heard the evidence that has been given.  What have you to say for\nyourself?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I have evidence to prove it is no such thing, if they may be\nadmitted to come hither.  My Lord, I will tell you what the case was.\nI was coming up within a league of the Dutchman (the _Loyal Captain_),\nand some of my men were making a mutiny about taking her, and my gunner\ntold the people he could put the captain in a way to take the ship and\nbe safe.  Says I, 'How will you do that?'  The gunner answered, 'We\nwill get the captain and men aboard.'  'And what then?'  'We will go\naboard the ship and plunder her and we will have it under their hands\nthat we did not take her.'  Says I, 'This is Judas-like.  I dare not do\nsuch a thing.'  Says he, '_We_ may do it.  We are beggars already.'\n'Why,' says I, 'may we take the ship because we are poor?' Upon this a\nmutiny arose, so I took up a bucket and just throwed it at him, and\nsaid 'You are a rogue to make such a notion.'  This I can prove, my\nLord.\"\n\nThereupon Kidd called Abel Owens, one of his sailors, and asked him:\n\n\"Can you tell which way this bucket was thrown?\"\n\n_Mr. Justice Powell_ (to Owens).  \"What was the provocation for\nthrowing the bucket?\"\n\n_Owens_.  \"I was in the cook-room, and hearing some difference on the\ndeck, I came out, and the gunner was grinding a chisel on the\ngrind-stone, and the captain and he had some words, and the gunner said\nto the captain, 'You have brought us to ruin, and we are desolate.'\n'And,' says he, (the captain) 'have I brought you to ruin?  I have not\nbrought you to ruin.  I have not done an ill thing to ruin you; you are\na saucy fellow to give me these words.'  And then he took up the\nbucket, and did give him the blow.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"Was there a mutiny among the men?\"\n\n_Owens_.  \"Yes, and the bigger part was for taking the ship, and the\ncaptain said, 'You that will take the Dutchman, you are the strongest,\nyou may do what you please.  If you will take her, you may take her,\nbut if you go from aboard here, you shall never come aboard again.'\"\n\n_The Lord Chief Baron_.  \"When was this mutiny you speak of?\"\n\n_Owens_.  \"When we were at sea, about a month before this man's death.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"Call Richard Barlicorn.\"\n\n(Barlicorn was an apprentice who has been mentioned in the inventory of\nthe Sloop _San Antonio_.)\n\n_Kidd_.  \"What was the reason the blow was given to the gunner?\"\n\nBarlicorn.  \"At first, when you met with the ship (_Loyal Captain_)\nthere was a mutiny, and two or three of the Dutchmen came aboard, and\nsome said she was a rich vessel, and they would take her.  And the\ncaptain (Kidd) said, 'No, I will not take her,' and there was a mutiny\nin the ship, and the men said, 'If you will not, we will.'  And he\nsaid, 'If you have a mind, you may, but they that will not, come along\nwith me.'\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"Do you think William Moore was one of those that was for\ntaking her?\"\n\n_Barlicorn_.  \"Yes.  And William Moore lay sick a great while before\nthis blow was given, and the doctor said when he visited him, that this\nblow was not the cause of his death.\"\n\n_The Lord Chief Baron_.  \"Then they must be confronted.  Do you hear,\nBradingham, what he says?\"\n\n_Bradingham_.  \"I deny this.\"\n\nAs for this surgeon, Kidd swore that he had been a drunken, useless\nidler who would lay in the hold for weeks at a time.  Seaman Hugh\nParrott was then called and asked by Kidd:\n\n\"Do you know the reason why I struck Moore?\"\n\n_Parrott_.  \"Yes, because you did not take the _Loyal Captain_, whereof\nCaptain How was commander.\"\n\n_The Lord Chief Baron_.  \"Was that the reason that he struck Moore,\nbecause this ship was not taken?\"\n\n_Parrott_.  \"I shall tell you how this happened, to the best of my\nknowledge.  My commander fortuned to come up with this Captain How's\nship and some were for taking her, and some not.  And afterwards there\nwas a little sort of mutiny, and some rose in arms, the greater part;\nand they said they would take the ship.  And the commander was not for\nit, and so they resolved to go away in the boat and take her.  Captain\nKidd said, 'If you desert my ship, you shall never come aboard again,\nand I will force you into Bombay, and I will carry you before some of\nthe Council there.'  Inasmuch that my commander stilled them again and\nthey remained on board.  And about a fortnight afterwards, there passed\nsome words between this William Moore and my commander, and then, says\nhe (Moore), 'Captain, I could have put you in a way to have taken this\nship and been never the worse for it.'  He says, (Kidd), 'Would you\nhave had me take this ship?  I cannot answer it.  They are our\nfriends,' and with that I went off the deck, and I understood\nafterwards the blow was given, but how I cannot tell.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I have no more to say, but I had all the provocation in the\nworld given me.  I had no design to kill him.  I had no malice or\nspleen against him.\"\n\nThe Lord Chief Baron.  \"That must be left to the jury to consider the\nevidence that has been given.  You make out no such matter.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"It was not designedly done, but in my passion, for which I am\nheartily sorry.\"\n\nKidd was permitted to introduce no evidence as to his previous good\nreputation, and the Court concluded that it had heard enough.  Lord\nChief Baron Ward thereupon delivered himself of an exceedingly adverse\ncharge to the jury, virtually instructing them to find the prisoner\nguilty of murder, which was promptly done.  Having made sure of sending\nhim to Execution Dock, the Court then proceeded to try him for piracy,\nwhich seems to have been a superfluous and unnecessary pother.  Kidd\ndeclared, when this second trial began:\n\n\"It is vain to ask any questions.  It is hard that the life of one of\nthe King's subjects should be taken away upon the perjured oaths of\nsuch villains as these (Bradingham and Palmer).  Because I would not\nyield to their wishes and turn pirate, they now endeavor to prove I was\none.  Bradingham is saving his life to take away mine.\"\n\nThe Crown proved the capture of the two ships belonging to the Great\nMogul, and an East Indian merchant, representing the merchants,\ntestified as to the value of the lading and the regularity of the\nship's papers.  Kidd challenged this evidence, and once more pleaded\nwith the Court that he be allowed to bring forward the French passes.\nHe asserted that the _Quedah Merchant_ had a French Commission, and\nthat her master was a tavern keeper of Surat.  That he told the truth,\nthe accompanying photograph of the said document bears belated witness.\nThe Lord Chief Baron put his finger on the weak point of the case by\nasking to know why Kidd had not taken the ship to port to be lawfully\ncondemned as a prize, as demanded by the terms of his commission from\nthe King.  To this Kidd replied that his crew were mutinous, and the\n_Adventure Galley_ unseaworthy, for which reasons he made for the\nnearest harbor of Madagascar.  There his men, to the number of ninety\nodd, mutinied and went over to the pirate Culliford in the _Mocha\nFrigate_.  He was left short-handed, his own ship was unfit to take to\nsea, so he burned her, and transferred to the _Quedah Merchant_, after\nwhich he steered straight for Boston to deliver her prize to Lord\nBellomont, which he would have done had he not learned in the West\nIndies that he had been proclaimed a pirate.\n\nEdward Davis, mariner, confirmed the statement regarding the French\npasses, in these words:\n\n\"I came home a passenger from Madagascar and from thence to Amboyna,\nand there he (Kidd) sent his boat ashore, and there was one that said\nCaptain Kidd was published a pirate in England, and Captain Kidd gave\nthose passes to him to read.  The Captain said they were French passes.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"You heard that one, Captain Elms, say they were French\npasses?\"\n\n_Davis_.  \"Yes, I heard Captain Elms say they were French passes.\"\n\n_Mr. Baron Hatsell_.  \"Have you any more to say, Captain Kidd?\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"I have some papers, but my Lord Bellomont keeps them from me,\nso that I cannot bring them before the Court!\"\n\nBradingham and other members of the crew admitted that they understood\nfrom Kidd that the captured ships were sailing under French passes.\nKidd, having been convicted of murder, was now allowed to fetch in\nwitnesses as to his character as a man and a sailor previous to the\nfatal voyage.  One Captain Humphrey swore that he had known Capt. Kidd\nin the West Indies twelve years before.  \"You had a general applause,\"\nsaid he, \"for what you had done from time to time.\"\n\n_The Lord Chief Baron_.  \"That was before he was turned pirate.\"\n\nCaptain Bond then declared:\n\n\"I know you were very useful at the beginning of the war in the West\nIndies.\"\n\nColonel Hewson put the matter more forcibly and made no bones of\ntelling the Court:\n\n\"My Lord, he was a mighty man there.  He served under my command there.\nHe was sent to me by the order of Colonel Codrington.\"\n\n_The Solicitor General_.  \"How long was this ago?\"\n\n_Colonel Hewson_.  \"About nine years ago.  He was with me in two\nengagements against the French, and fought as well as any man I ever\nsaw, according to the proportion of his men.  We had six Frenchmen\n(ships) to deal with, and we had only mine and his ship.\"\n\n_Kidd_.  \"Do you think I was a pirate?\"\n\n_Colonel Hewson_.  \"I knew his men would have gone a-pirating, and he\nrefused it, and his men seized upon his ship; and when he went this\nlast voyage, he consulted with me, and told me they had engaged him in\nsuch an expedition.  And I told him that he had enough already and\nmight be content with what he had.  And he said that was his own\ninclination, but Lord Bellomont told him if he did not go the voyage\nthere were great men who would stop his brigantine in the river if he\ndid not go.\"\n\n_Thomas Cooper_.  \"I was aboard the _Lyon_ in the West Indies and this\nCaptain Kidd brought his ship from a place that belonged to the Dutch\nand brought her into the King's service at the beginning of the war,\nabout ten years ago.  And he took service under the Colonel (Hewson),\nand we fought Monsieur Du Cass a whole day, and I thank God we got the\nbetter of him.  And Captain Kidd behaved very well in the face of his\nenemies.\"\n\nIt may be said also for Captain William Kidd that he behaved very well\nin the face of the formidable battery of legal adversaries.\n\nAs a kind of afterthought, the jury found him guilty of piracy along\nwith several of his crew, Nichols Churchill, James How, Gabriel Loiff,\nHugh Parrott, Abel Owens, and Darby Mullins.  Three of those indicted\nwere set free, Richard Barlicorn, Robert Lumley, and William Jenkins,\nbecause they were able to prove themselves to have been bound seamen\napprentices, duly indentured to officers of the ship who were\nresponsible for their deeds.  Before sentence was passed on him, Kidd\nsaid to the Court:\n\n\"My Lords, it is a very hard judgment.  For my part I am the most\ninnocent person of them all.\"\n\nExecution Dock long since vanished from old London, but tradition has\nsurvived along the waterfront of Wapping to fix the spot, and the worn\nstone staircase known as the \"Pirates' Stairs,\" still leads down to the\nriver, and down these same steps walked Captain William Kidd.  The\n_Gentleman's Magazine_ (London) for 1796 describes the ancient\nprocedure, just as it had befallen Captain Kidd and his men:\n\n\"Feb. 4th.  This morning, a little after ten o'clock, Colley, Cole, and\nBlanche, the three sailors convicted of the murder of Captain Little,\nwere brought out of Newgate, and conveyed in solemn procession to\nExecution Dock, there to receive the punishment awarded by law.  On the\ncart on which they rode was an elevated stage; on this were seated\nColley, the principal instigator in the murder, in the middle, and his\ntwo wretched instruments, the Spaniard Blanche, and the Mulatto Cole,\non each side of him; and behind, on another seat, two executioners.\n\n\"Colley seemed in a state resembling that of a man stupidly\nintoxicated, and scarcely awake, and the two discovered little\nsensibility on this occasion, nor to the last moment of their\nexistence, did they, as we hear, make any confession.  They were turned\noff about a quarter before twelve in the midst of an immense crowd of\nspectators.  On the way to the place of execution, they were preceded\nby the Marshall of the Admiralty in his carriage, the Deputy Marshall,\nbearing the silver oar, and the two City Marshals on horseback,\nSheriff's officers, etc.  The whole cavalcade was conducted with great\nsolemnity.\"\n\nJohn Taylor, \"the water poet,\" who lived in the time of Captain Kidd,\nwrote these doleful lines, which may serve as a kind of obituary:\n\n  \"There are inferior Gallowses which bear,\n  (According to the season) twice a year;\n  And there's a kind of waterish tree at Wapping\n  Where sea-thieves or pirates are catched napping.\"\n\n\nKidd's body, covered with tar and hung in chains, was gibbeted on the\nshore of the reach of the Thames hard by Tilbury Fort, as was the\ncustomary manner of displaying dead pirates by way of warning to\npassing seamen.  His treasure was confiscated by the Crown, and what\nwas left of it, after the array of legal gentlemen had been paid their\nfees, was turned over to Greenwich Hospital by act of Parliament.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Kidd hanging in chains.  (_From The Pirates' Own Book_.)]\n\n\"The Pirates' Stairs\" leading to the site of Execution Dock at Wapping\nwhere Kidd was hanged.  The old stone steps are visible beneath the\nmodern iron bridge.\n\n======================================================================\n\nThus lived and died a man, who, whatever may have been his faults, was\nunfairly dealt with by his patrons, misused by his rascally crew, and\nslandered by credulous posterity.\n\n\n\n[1] History of England.\n\n[2] Published in 1701.\n\n[3] Macauley.\n\n[4] \"From hence putting off to the West Indies, wee were not many dayes\nat sea, but there beganne among our people such mortalitie as in fewe\ndays there were dead above two or three hundred men.  And until some\nseven or eight dayes after our coming from S. Iago, there had not died\nany one man of sickness in all the fleete; the sickness shewed not his\ninfection wherewith so many were stroken until we were departed thence,\nand then seazed our people with extreme hot burning and continuall\nagues, whereof very fewe escaped with life, and yet those for the most\npart not without great alteration and decay of their wittes and\nstrength for a long time after.\"--Hakluyt's Voyages.--(A Summarie and\nTrue Discourse of Sir Francis Drake's West Indian voyage begun in the\nYear 1585.)\n\n[5] The _Quedah Merchant_.\n\n[6] The _Quedah Merchant_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE WONDROUS FORTUNE OF WILLIAM PHIPS\n\nThe flaw in the business of treasure hunting, outside of fiction, is\nthat the persons equipped with the shovels and picks and the ancient\ncharts so seldom find the hidden gold.  The energy, credulity, and\npersistence of these explorers are truly admirable but the results have\nbeen singularly shy of dividends the world over.  There is genuine\nsatisfaction, therefore, in sounding the name and fame of the man who\nnot only went roving in search of lost treasure but also found and\nfetched home more of it than any other adventurer known to this kind of\nquest.\n\nOn the coast of Maine, near where the Kennebec flows past Bath into the\nsea, there is a bit of tide water known as Montsweag Bay, hard by the\ntown of Wiscasset.  Into this little bay extends a miniature cape,\npleasantly wooded, which is known as Phips Point, and here it was that\nthe most illustrious treasure seeker of them all, William Phips, was\nborn in 1650.  The original Pilgrim Fathers, or some of them, were\nstill hale and hearty, the innumerable ship-loads of furniture brought\nover in the _Mayflower_ had not been scattered far from Plymouth, and\nthis country was so young that the \"oldest families\" of Boston were all\nbrand-new.\n\nJames Phips, father of the great William, was a gun-smith who had come\nover from Bristol in old England to better his fortunes.  With the true\npioneering spirit he obtained a grant of land and built his log cabin\nat the furthest outpost of settlement toward the eastward.  He cleared\nhis fields, raised some sheep, and betimes repaired the blunderbusses\nwith which Puritan and Pilgrim were wont to pot the aborigine.  The\nfirst biography of William Phips was written by Cotton Mather, whom the\nbetter you know the more heartily you dislike for a canting old bigot\nwho boot-licked men of rank, wealth, or power, and was infernally\nactive in getting a score of hapless men and women hanged for\nwitchcraft in Salem.\n\nCotton Mather deserves the thanks of all good treasure seekers,\nhowever, for having given us the first-hand story of William Phips whom\nhe knew well and extravagantly admired.  In fact, after this hero had\ncome sailing home with his treasures and because of these riches was\nmade Sir William Phips and Royal Governor of Massachusetts by Charles\nII, he had his pew in the old North Church of Boston of which Rev.\nCotton Mather was pastor.  But this is going ahead too fast, and we\nmust hark back to the humble beginnings.  \"His faithful mother, yet\nliving,\" wrote Mather in his very curious _Magnalia Christi Americana_,\n\"had no less than Twenty-six Children, whereof Twenty-one were Sons:\nbut Equivalent to them all was William, one of the youngest, whom his\nFather dying, was left young with his mother, and with her he lived,\nkeeping ye Sheep in the Wilderness until he was Eighteen Years old.\"\n\nThen William decided that the care of the farm and the sheep might\nsafely be left to his twenty brothers, and he apprenticed himself to a\nshipwright who was building on the shore near the settlement those\nlittle shallops, pinnaces, and sloops in which our forefathers dared to\ntrade up and down their own coasts and as far as the West Indies, mere\ncockle-shells manned by seamen of astonishing temerity and hardihood.\nWhile at work with hammer and adze, this strapping lump of a lad\nlistened to the yarns of skippers who had voyaged to Jamaica and the\nBahamas, dodging French privateers or running afoul of pirates who\nstripped them of cargo and gear, and perhaps it was then that he first\nheard of the treasures that had been lost in wrecked galleons, or\nburied by buccaneers of Hispaniola.  At any rate, William Phips wished\nto see more of the world and to win a chance to go to sea in a ship of\nhis own, wherefore he set out for Boston after he had served his time,\n\"having an accountable impulse upon his mind, persuading him, as he\nwould privately hint unto some of his friends, that he was born to\ngreater matters.\"\n\nTwenty-two years old, not yet able to read and write, young Phips found\nwork with a ship-carpenter and studied his books as industriously as he\nplied his trade.  Soon he was wooing a \"young gentlewoman of good\nrepute, the daughter of one Captain Roger Spencer,\" and there was no\nresisting this headstrong suitor.  They were married, and shortly after\nthis important event Phips was given a contract to build a ship at a\nsettlement on Sheepscot river, near his old home on the Kennebec,\n\"where having launched the ship,\" Cotton Mather relates, \"he also\nprovided a lading of lumber to bring with him, which would have been to\nthe advantage of all concerned.\n\n\"But just as the ship was hardly finished, the barbarous Indians on\nthat river broke forth into an open and cruel war upon the English, and\nthe miserable people, surprised by so sudden a storm of blood, had no\nrefuge from the infidels but the ship now finishing in the harbor.\nWherefore he left his intended lading behind him, and instead thereof\ncarried with him his old neighbors and their families, free of all\ncharges, to Boston.  So the first thing he did, after he was his own\nman, was to save his father's house, with the rest of the neighborhood\nfrom ruin; but the disappointment which befell him from the loss of his\nother lading plunged his affairs into greater embarrassment with such\nas he had employed him.  But he was hitherto no more than beginning to\nmake scaffolds for further and higher actions.  He would frequently\ntell the gentlewoman, his wife, that he should yet be Captain of a\nKing's Ship; that he should come to have the command of better men than\nhe was now accounted himself, and that he would be the owner of a fair\nbrick house in the Green Lane of North Boston.\"[1]\n\nInasmuch as William Phips would have been a very sorry scoundrel\nindeed, to run away, for the sake of a cargo of lumber, and leave his\nold friends and neighbors to be scalped, it seems as Cotton Mather was\nsounding the timbrel of praise somewhat over-loud, but the parson was a\nfulsome eulogist, and for reasons of his own he proclaimed this\nroaring, blustering seafarer and hot-headed royal governor as little\nlower than the angels.  Here and there Mather drew with firm stroke the\ncharacter of the man, so that we catch glimpses of him as a live and\nmoving figure.  \"He was of an inclination cutting rather like a hatchet\nthan a razor; he would propose very considerable matters and then so\ncut through them that no difficulties could put by the edge of his\nresolution.  Being thus of the true temper for doing of great things,\nhe betakes himself to the sea, the right scene for such things.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Sir William Phips, first royal governor of\nMassachusetts.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nPhips had no notion of being a beggarly New England trading skipper,\ncarrying codfish and pine boards to the West Indies and threshing\nhomeward with molasses and niggers in the hold, or coasting to Virginia\nfor tobacco.  A man of mettle won prizes by bold strokes and large\nhazards, and treasure seeking was the game for William.  Among the\ntaverns of the Boston water-front he picked up tidings and rumors of\nmany a silver-laden galleon of Spain that had shivered her timbers on\nthis or that low-lying reef of the Bahama Passage where there was\nneither buoy nor lighthouse.  Here was a chance to win that \"fair brick\nhouse in the Green Lane of North Boston\" and Phips busied himself with\npicking up information until he was primed to make a voyage of\ndiscovery.  Keeping his errand to himself, he steered for the West\nIndies, probably in a small chartered sloop or brig, and prowled from\none key and island to another.\n\nThis was in the year 1681, and the waters in which Phips dared to\nventure were swarming with pirates and buccaneers who would have cut\nhis throat for a doubloon.  Morgan had sacked Panama only eleven years\nbefore; Tortuga, off the coast of Hayti, was still the haunt of as\nchoice a lot of cutthroats as ever sailed blue water; and men who had\nbeen plundering and killing with Pierre le Grande, Bartholomew Portugez\nand Montbars the Exterminator, were still at their old trade afloat.\nMariners had not done talking about the exploit of L'Ollonais who had\nfound three hundred thousand dollars' worth of Spanish treasure hidden\non a key off the coast of Cuba.  He it was who amused himself by\ncutting out the hearts of live Spaniards and gnawing these morsels, or\nslicing off the heads of a whole ship's crew and drinking their blood.\nA rare one for hunting buried treasure was this fiend of a pirate.\nWhen he took Maracaibo, as Esquemeling relates in the story of his own\nexperiences as a buccaneer, \"L'Ollonais, who never used to make any\ngreat amount of murdering, though in cold blood, ten or twelve\nSpaniards, drew his cutlass and hacked one to pieces in the presence of\nall the rest, saying: 'If you do not confess and declare where you have\nhidden the rest of your goods, I will do the like to all your\ncompanions.'  At last, amongst these horrible cruelties and inhuman\nthreats, one was found who promised to conduct him and show the place\nwhere the rest of the Spaniards were hidden.  But those that were fled,\nhaving intelligence that one discovered their lurking holes to the\nPirates, changed the place, and buried all the remnant of their riches\nunderground; insomuch that the Pirates could not find them out, unless\nsome other person of their own party should reveal them.\"\n\nFrom this first voyage undertaken by Phips he escaped with his skin and\na certain amount of treasure, \"what just served him a little to furnish\nhim for a voyage to England,\" says Mather.  The important fact was that\nhe had found what he sought and knew where there was a vast deal more\nof it.  A large ship, well armed and manned, was needed to bring away\nthe booty, and Captain William Phips intended to find backing in London\nfor the adventure.  He crossed the Atlantic in \"a vessel not much\nunlike that which the Dutchmen stamped on their first coin,\" and no\nsooner had his stubby, high-pooped ark of a craft cast anchor in the\nThames than he was buzzing ashore with his tale of the treasure wreck.\n\nIt was no less a person than the king himself whom Phips was bent on\nenlisting as a partner, and he was not to be driven from Whitehall by\nlords or flunkies.  With bulldog persistence he held to his purpose\nmonth after month, until almost a year had passed.  At length, through\nthe friends he had made at Court, he gained the ear of Charles II, and\nthat gay monarch was pleased to take a fling at treasure hunting as a\nsporting proposition, with an eye also to a share of the plunder.\n\nHe gave Phips a frigate of the king's navy, the _Rose_ of eighteen guns\nand ninety-five men, which had been captured from the Algerine\ncorsairs.  As \"Captain of a King's Ship,\" he recruited a crew of all\nsorts, mostly hard characters, and sailed from London in September,\n1683, bound first to Boston, and thence to find the treasure.  Alas,\nfor the cloak of piety with which Cotton Mather covered William Phips\nfrom head to heels.  Other accounts show convincingly that he was a\nbullying, profane, and godless sea dog, yet honest withal, and as brave\nas a lion, an excellent man to have at your elbow in a tight pinch, or\nto be in charge of the quarter-deck in a gale of wind.  The real Phips\nis a more likeable character than the stuffed image that Cotton Mather\ntried to make of him.\n\nWhile in Boston harbor in the _Rose_, Captain Phips carried things with\na high hand.  Another skipper had got wind of the treasure and was\nabout to make sail for the West Indies in a ship called the _Good\nIntent_.  Phips tried to bluff him, then to frighten him, and finally\nstruck a partnership so that the two vessels sailed in company.\nRefusing to show the Boston magistrates his papers, Phips was haled to\ncourt where he abused the bench in language blazing with deep-sea\noaths, and was fined several hundred pounds.  His sailors got drunk\nashore and fought the constables and cracked the heads of peaceable\ncitizens.  Staid Boston was glad when the _Rose_ frigate and her\nturbulent company bore away for the West Indies.\n\nThere was something wrong with Phip's information or the Spanish wreck\nhad been cleaned of her treasure before he found the place.  The _Rose_\nand the _Good Intent_ lay at the edge of a reef somewhere near Nassau\nfor several months, sending down native divers and dredging with such\nscanty returns that the crew became mutinous and determined on a\nprogram very popular in those days.  Armed with cutlasses, they charged\naft and demanded of Phips that he \"join them in running away with the\nship to drive a trade of piracy in the South Seas.  Captain Phips ...\nwith a most undaunted fortitude, rushed in upon them, and with the\nblows of his bare hands felled many of them and quelled all the rest.\"\n\nIt became necessary to careen the _Rose_ and clean the planking all\nfouled with tropical growth, and she was beached on \"a desolate Spanish\nisland.\"  The men were given shore liberty, all but eight or ten, and\nthe rogues were no sooner out of the ship than \"they all entered into\nan agreement which they signed in a ring (a round-robin), that about\nseven o'clock that evening they would seize the captain and those eight\nor ten which they knew to be true to him, and leave them to perish on\nthe island, and so be gone away into the South Seas to seek their\nfortune....  These knaves, considering that they should want a\ncarpenter with them in their villainous expedition, sent a messenger to\nfetch unto them the carpenter who was then at work upon the vessel; and\nunto him they showed their articles; telling him what he must look for\nif he did not subscribe among them.\n\n\"The carpenter, being an honest fellow, did with much importunity\nprevail for one half hour's time to consider the matter; and returning\nto work upon the vessel, with a spy by them set upon him, he feigned\nhimself taken with a fit of the collick, for the relief whereof he\nsuddenly ran into the captain in the great cabin for a dram.  Where,\nwhen he came, his business was only in brief to tell the captain of the\nhorrible distress which he has fallen into; but the captain bid him as\nbriefly return to the rogues in the woods and sign their articles, and\nleave him to provide for the rest.\n\n\"The carpenter was no sooner gone than Captain Phips, calling together\nthe few friends that were left him aboard, whereof the gunner was one,\ndemanded of them whether they would stand by him in this extremity,\nwhereto they replied they would stand by him if he could save them, and\nhe answered, 'By the help of God, he did not fear it.'  All their\nprovisions had been carried ashore to a tent made for that purpose,\nabout which they had placed several great guns, to defend it in case of\nany assault from Spaniards.  Wherefore Captain Phips immediately\nordered those guns to be silently drawn and turned; and so pulling up\nthe bridge, he charged his great guns aboard and brought them to bear\non every side of the tent.\n\n\"By this time the army of rebels came out of the woods; but as they\ndrew near to the tent of provisions they saw such a change of\ncircumstances that they cried out, _We are betrayed_!  And they were\nsoon confirmed in it when they heard the captain with a stern fury call\nto them, _Stand off, ye wretches, at your peril_.  He quickly cast them\ninto more than ordinary confusion when they saw him ready to fire his\ngreat guns upon them.\n\n\"And when he had signified unto them his resolve to abandon them unto\nall the desolation which they had proposed for him, he caused the\nbridge to be again laid, and his men began to take the provisions on\nboard.  When the wretches beheld what was coming upon them, they fell\nto very humble entreaties; and at last fell down upon their knees\nprotesting that they never had anything against him, except only his\nunwillingness to go away with the King's ship upon the South Sea\ndesign.  But upon all other accounts they would choose rather to live\nand die with him than with any man in the world.  However, when they\nsaw how much he was dissatisfied at it, they would insist upon it no\nmore, and humbly begged his pardon.  And when he judged that he had\nkept them on their knees long enough, he having first secured their\narms, received them aboard, but he immediately weighed anchor and\narriving at Jamaica, turned them off.\"\n\nThis is a very proper incident to have happened in a hunt for hidden\ntreasure, and Cotton Mather tells it well.  One forgives Phips for\ndamning the eyes of the Boston magistrates, and likely enough they\ndeserved it, when it is recalled that the witchcraft trials were held\nonly a few years later.  Having rid himself of the mutineers, Captain\nPhips shipped other scoundrels in their stead, there being small choice\nat Jamaica where every other man had been pirating or was planning to\ngo again.  His first quest for treasure had been a failure, but he was\nnot the man to quit, and so he filled away for Hispaniola, now Hayti\nand San Domingo, where every bay and reef had a treasure story of its\nown.\n\nThe small island of Tortuga off that coast had long been the\nheadquarters of the most successful pirates and buccaneers of those\nseas, and Frederick A. Ober, who knows the West Indies as well as any\nliving man, declares not only that Cuba, the Isle of Pines, Jamaica,\nand Hispaniola are girdled with Spanish wrecks containing \"as yet\nunrecovered millions and millions in gold and silver,\" but also that\n\"during the successive occupancies of Tortuga by the various pirate\nbands great treasure was hidden in the forest, and in the caves with\nwhich the island abounds.  Now and again the present cultivators of\nTortuga find coins of ancient dates, fragments of gold chains, and\npieces of quaint jewelry cast up by the waves or revealed by the\nshifting sands.\n\n\"It was not without reason that the only harbor of the buccaneers was\ncalled Treasure Cove, nor for nothing that they dug the deep caves\ndeeper, hollowing out lateral tunnels and blasting holes beneath the\nfrowning cliffs.  The island now belongs to Hayti, the inhabitants of\nwhich have not the requisite sagacity to conduct an intelligent search\nfor the long-buried treasures; and as they resent the intrusion of\nforeigners, it is probable that the buccaneers' spoils will remain an\nunknown quantity for many years to come.\"\n\nCaptain William Phips lay at anchor off one of the rude settlements of\nHispaniola for some time, and his rough-and-ready address won him\nfriends, among them \"a very old Spaniard\" who had seen many a galleon\npillaged by the pirates.  From this informant Phips \"fished up a little\nadvice about the true spot where lay the wreck which he had hitherto\nbeen seeking ... that it was upon a reef of shoals a few leagues to the\nnorthward of Port de la Plata upon Hispaniola, a port so called, it\nseemed, from the landing of some of a shipwrecked company, with a boat\nfull of plate saved out of their sunken Frigot.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Map of Hispaniola (Hayti and San Domingo) engraved in\n1723, showing the buccaneers at their trade of hunting wild cattle.\nThe galleon due north of Port Plate on the north coast is almost\nexactly in the place where Phips found his treasure.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nOn the very old map of Hispaniola, reproduced herewith, this place is\nindicated on the north coast as \"Port Plate,\" and due north of it is\nthe spirited drawing of a galleon which happens to be very nearly in\nthe position of the sunken treasure which the old Spaniard described to\nCaptain Phips.  The _Rose_ frigate sailed in search of the reef and\nexplored it with much care but failed to find the wreck.  Phips was\nconfident that he was on the right track, however, and decided to\nreturn to England, refit and ship a new crew.  The riff-raff which he\nhad picked up at Jamaica in place of the mutineers were hardly the lads\nto be trusted with a great store of treasure on board.\n\nAt about this time, Charles II quit his earthly kingdom and it is to be\nhoped found another kind of treasure laid up for him.  James II needed\nall his warships, and he promptly took the _Rose_ frigate from Captain\nPhips and set him adrift to shift for himself.  A man of less\ninflexible resolution and courage might have been disheartened, but\nPhips made a louder noise than ever with his treasure story, and would\nnot budge from London.  He was put in jail, somehow got himself out,\nand stood up to his enemies and silenced them, all the while seeking\nnoble patrons with money to venture on another voyage.\n\nAt length, and a year had been spent in this manner, Phips interested\nthe Duke of Albemarle, son of the famous General Monk who had been\nactive in restoring Charles II to the throne of the Stuarts.  Several\nother gentlemen of the Court took shares in the speculation, including\na naval man, Sir John Narborough.  They put up L2,400 to outfit a ship,\nand the King was persuaded to grant Phips letters of patent, or a\ncommission as a duly authorized treasure seeker, in return for which\nfavor His Majesty was to receive one-tenth of the booty.  To Phips was\npromised a sixteenth of what he should recover.\n\nThis enterprise was conceived in 1686, and was so singularly like the\npartnership formed ten years later to finance the cruise of Captain\nKidd after pirates' plunder that the Earl of Bellomont, Lord Chancellor\nSomers, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and William III may have been somewhat\ninspired to undertake this unlucky venture by the dazzling success of\nthe Phips \"syndicate.\"\n\nIn a small merchantman called the _James and Mary_, Captain Phips set\nsail from England in 1686, having another vessel to serve as a tender.\nArriving at Port de la Plata, he hewed out a large canoe from a\ncotton-wood tree, \"so large as to carry eight or ten oars,\" says Cotton\nMather, \"for the making of which perigua (as they call it), he did,\nwith the same industry that he did everything else, employ his own hand\nand adze, and endure no little hardship, lying abroad in the woods many\nnights together.\"  The canoe was used by a gang of native divers\nquartered on board the tender.  For some time they worked along the\nedge of a reef called the Boilers, guided by the story of that ancient\nSpaniard, but found nothing to reward their exertions.\n\nThis crew was returning to report to Captain Phips when one of the men,\nstaring over the side into the wonderfully clear water, spied a \"sea\nfeather\" or marine plant of uncommon beauty growing from what appeared\nto be a rock.  An Indian was sent down to fetch it as a souvenir of the\nbootless quest, that they might, however, carry home something with\nthem.  This diver presently bobbed up with the sea feather, and\ntherewithal a surprising story \"that he perceived a number of great\nguns in the watery world, where he had found the feather; the report of\nwhich great guns exceedingly astonished the whole company; and at once\nturned their despondencies for their ill success into assurances that\nthey had now lit upon the true spot of ground which they had been\nlooking for; and they were further confirmed in these assurances when\nupon further diving, the Indian fetched up a _Sow_ as they styled it,\nor a lump of silver worth perhaps two or three hundred pounds.  Upon\nthis they prudently buoyed the place, that they might readily find it\nagain; and they went back unto their Captain whom for some while they\ndistressed with nothing but such bad news as they formerly thought they\nmust have carried him.  Nevertheless, they so slipped the Sow of silver\non one side under the table (where they were now sitting with the\nCaptain, and hearing him express his resolutions to wait still\npatiently upon the Providence of God under these disappointments), that\nwhen he should look on one side, he might see that Odd Thing before\nhim.  At last he saw it and cried out with some agony:\n\n\"'_What is this?  Whence comes this?_'  And then with changed\ncountenance they told him how and where they got it.  Then said he,\n'_Thanks be to God!  We are made!_'  And so away they went, all hands\nto work; wherein they had this further piece of remarkable prosperity,\nthat whereas if they had first fallen upon that part of the Spanish\nwreck where the Pieces of Eight had been stowed in bags among the\nballast, they had seen more laborious and less enriching times of it.\nNow, most happily, they first fell upon that room in the wreck where\nthe Bullion had been stored up, and then so prospered in this new\nfishery that in a little while they had without the loss of any man's\nlife, brought up _Thirty Two Tons_ of silver, for it was now come to\nmeasuring silver by tons.\"\n\nWhile these jolly treasure seekers were hauling up the silver hand over\nfist, one Adderley, a seaman of the New Providence in the Bahamas, was\nhired with his vessel to help in the gorgeous salvage operations.\nAlas, after Adderley had recovered six tons of bullion, the sight of so\nmuch treasure was too much for him.  He took his share to the Bermudas\nand led such a gay life with it that he went mad and died after a year\nor two.  Hard-hearted William Phips was a man of another kind, and he\ndrove his crew of divers and wreckers, the sailors keeping busy on deck\nat hammering from the silver bars a crust of limestone several inches\nthick from which \"they knocked out whole bushels of pieces of eight\nwhich were grown thereinto.  Besides that incredible treasure of plate\nin various forms, thus fetched up from seven or eight fathoms under\nwater, there were vast riches of Gold, and Pearls, and Jewels, which\nthey also lit upon: and indeed for a more comprehensive invoice, I must\nbut summarily say, _All that a Spanish frigot was to be enriched\nwithal_.\"\n\nAt length the little squadron ran short of provisions, and most\nreluctantly Captain Phips decided to run for England with his precious\ncargo and return the next year.  He swore all his men to secrecy,\nbelieving that there was more good fishing at the wreck.  During the\nhomeward voyage, his seamen quite naturally yearned for a share of the\nprofits, they having signed on for monthly wages.  They were for taking\nthe ship \"to be gone and lead a short life and a merry one,\" but Phips\nargued them out of this rebellious state of mind, promising every man a\nshare of the silver, and if his employers would not agree to this, to\npay them from his own pocket.\n\nUp the Thames sailed the lucky little merchantman, _James and Mary_ in\nthe year of 1687, with three hundred thousand pounds sterling\nfreightage of treasure in her hold, which would amount to a good deal\nmore than a million and a half dollars nowadays.  Captain Phips played\nfair with his seamen, and they fled ashore in the greatest good humor\nto fling their pieces of eight among the taverns and girls of Wapping,\nLimehouse, and Rotherhite.  The King was given his tenth of the cargo,\nand a handsome fortune it was.  To Phips fell his allotted share of a\nsixteenth, which set him up with sixteen thousand pounds sterling.  The\nDuke of Albemarle was so much gratified that he sent to that\n\"gentlewoman\" Mrs. William Phips, a gold cup worth a thousand pounds.\nPhips showed himself an honest man in age when sea morals were\nexceeding lax, and not a penny of the treasure, beyond what was due\nhim, stuck to his fingers.  Men of his integrity were not over\nplentiful in England after the Restoration, and the King liked and\ntrusted this brusque, stalwart sailor from New England.  At Windsor\nCastle he was knighted and now it was Sir William Phips, if you please.\n\nJudge Sewall's diary contains this entry, Friday, October 21, 1687:\n\n\"I went to offer my Lady Phips my House by Mr. Moody's and to\ncongratulate her preferment.  As to the former, she had bought Sam'\nWakefield's House and Ground last night for L350.  I gave her a Gazette\nthat related her Husband's Knighthood, which she had not seen before;\nand wish'd this success might not hinder her passage to a greater and\nbetter estate.  She gave me a cup of good Beer and thank'd me for my\nvisit.\"\n\nSir William would have still another try at the wreck, and this time\nthere was no lack of ships and patronage.  A squadron was fitted out in\ncommand of Sir John Narborough, and one of the company was the Duke of\nAlbemarle.  They made their way to the reef, but the remainder of the\ntreasure had been lifted, and the expedition sailed home empty-handed.\nAdderley of New Providence had babbled in his cups and one of his men\nhad been bribed to take a party of Bermuda wreckers to the reef.  The\nplace was soon swarming with all sorts of craft, some of them from\nJamaica and Hispaniola, and they found a large amount of silver before\nthey stripped the wreck clean.\n\nThe King offered Sir William a place as one of the Commissioners of the\nRoyal Navy, but he was homesick for New England and desired to be a\nperson of consequence in his own land.  His friends obtained for him a\npatent as High Sheriff of Massachusetts and he returned to Boston after\nfive years' absence \"to entertain his Lady with some accomplishment of\nhis predictions; and then built himself a fair brick house in the very\nplace which was foretold.\"\n\nThe \"fair brick house\" was of two stories with a portico and columns.\nIt stood on the corner of the present Salem Street (then the Green\nLane) and Charter Street, so named by Sir William Phips in honor of the\nnew charter under which he became the first provincial or royal\ngovernor.  There was a lawn and gardens, a watch-house and stables, and\na stately row of butternuts.  \"North Boston\" was then the fashionable\nor \"Court end\" of the town.\n\nThe Puritans and Pilgrims were seething with indignation against the\nroyal government overseas.  The original charter under which the Colony\nof Massachusetts Bay exercised self-government had been annulled, and\nCharles II was determined to bring all the New England Colonies under\nthe sway of a royal governor.  The question of taxation had also begun\nto simmer a full century before the Revolution.  Sir William Phips\nfound his berth of High Sheriff a difficult and turbulent business, and\n\"the infamous Government then rampant there, found a way wholly to put\nby the execution of his patent; yea, he was like to have had his person\nassassinated in the face of the sun, before his own door.\"\n\nThis rough ship carpenter and treasure seeker weathered the storm and\nrose so high in the good graces of the throne that in 1692 he carried\nto Massachusetts the new charter signed by William III by virtue of\nwhich he became the first royal governor of that colony, and as an\nadministrator he was no less interesting than when he was cruising off\nthe coast of Hispaniola.  The manners of the quarterdeck he carried to\nthe governor's office.  His fists were as ready as his tongue, and his\nterm of two years was enlivened by one lusty quarrel after another.  In\nnowise ashamed of his humble beginnings, he gave a dinner to his old\nfriends of the Boston ship-yard and told these honest artisans that if\nit were not for his service to the people, he \"would be much easier in\nreturning to his broad axe again.\"\n\nHawthorne has given a picture of him in the days of his greatness, \"a\nman of strong and sturdy frame, whose face has been roughened by\nnorthern tempests, and blackened by the burning sun of the West Indies.\nHe wears an immense periwig flowing down over his shoulders.  His coat\nhas a wide embroidery of golden foliage, and his waistcoat likewise is\nall flowered over and bedizened with gold.  His red, rough hands, which\nhave done many a good day's work with the hammer and adze, are half\ncovered by the delicate lace ruffles at his wrists.  On a table lies\nhis silver-headed sword, and in a corner of the room stands his\ngold-headed cane, made of a beautifully polished West India wood.\"\n\nCotton Mather helps to complete the presentment by relating that \"he\nwas very tall, beyond the common set of men, and thick as well as tall,\nand strong as well as thick.  He was in all respects exceedingly\nrobust, and able to conquer such difficulties of diet and travel as\nwould have killed most men alive.  Nor did the fat whereinto he grew\nvery much in his later years, take away the vigor of his motions.\"\n\nAs a fighting seaman and soldier, Sir William Phips saw hard service\nbefore he was made royal governor.  In 1690 he was in command of an\nexpedition which made a successful raid on the French in Arcadia,\ncaptured Port Royal, and conquered the province.  Among the English\nstate papers in the Public Record office is his own account of this\nfeat of arms of his expedition against Quebec.  \"In March, 1690,\" he\nwrote, \"I sailed with seven ships and seven hundred men, raised by the\npeople of New England, reduced Arcadia in three weeks and returned to\nBoston.  It was then thought well to prosecute a further expedition.\n2300 men were raised, with whom and with about thirty ships I sailed\nfrom New England on the 10th, August, 1690, but by bad weather and\ncontrary winds did not reach Quebec till October.  The frost was\nalready so sharp that it made two inches of ice in a night.\n\n\"After summoning Count de Frontenac and receiving a reviling answer, I\nbrought my ships up within musket shot of their cannon and fired with\nsuch success that I dismounted several of their largest cannon and beat\nthem from their works in less than twenty-four hours.  At the same time\n1400 men, who had been landed, defeated a great part of the enemy, and\nby the account of the prisoners, the city must have been taken in two\nor three days, but the small-pox and fever increased so fast as to\ndelay the pushing of the siege till the weather became too severe to\npermit it.  On my leaving Quebec, I received several messages from\nFrench merchants of the best reputation, saying how uneasy they were\nunder French administration, and how willing they were to be under\ntheir Majesties.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Permit issued by Sir William Phips as royal governor in\nwhich he uses the title \"Vice Admiral\" which involved him in disastrous\nquarrels.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nIn a \"Narrative of the Expedition against Quebec,\" written at the time,\nis this passage:\n\n\"Whilst these things were doing on shore, Sir Wm. Phips with his men of\nwar came close up to ye City.  He did acquit himself with ye greatest\nbravery.  I have diligently enquired of those that know it who affirm\nthere was nothing wanting in his Part, either as to Conduct or Courage.\nHe ventured within Pistol shot of their cannon, and soon beat them from\nthence, and battered ye Town very much.  He was for some Hours warmly\nentertained with their great Guns.  The Vessel wherein Sir William\ncommanded had 200 men.  It was shot through in a hundred places with\nshot of twenty-four pound weight; yet through ye wonderful Providence\nof God, but one man was killed and two mortally wounded in that hot\nEngagement, which continued ye greatest part of ye night and ye next\nday several hours.\"\n\nAnother letter written by Sir William Phips, addressed from Boston to\nWilliam Blathwayt, soon after he was made Governor, shows him in a\nlight even more engaging.  The witchcraft frenzy was at its height, and\nonly three weeks before this date, October 12, 1692, fourteen men and\nwomen had been hanged in Salem.  This letter, as copied from the\noriginal document, runs as follows:\n\n\"On my arrival I found this Province miserably harrassed by a most\nhorrible witchcraft or possession of devils, which had broken in upon\nseveral towns.  Some scores of poor people were taken with\npreternatural torments; some were scalded with brimstone; some had pins\nstuck into their flesh, others were hurried into fire and water, and\nsome were dragged out of their houses and carried over the tops of\ntrees and hills for many miles together.\n\n\"It has been represented to me as much like that of Sweden thirty years\nago, and there were many committed to prison on suspicion of witchcraft\nbefore my arrival.  The loud cries and clamor of the friends of the\nafflicted, together with the advice of the Deputy Governor and Council,\nprevailed with me to appoint a Court of Oyer and Terminer to discover\nwhat witchcraft might be at the bottom, and whether it were not a\npossession.  The chief judge was the Deputy Governor, and the rest\npeople of the best prudence and figure that could be pitched upon.\n\n\"At Salem in Essex County they convicted more than twenty persons of\nwitchcraft, and some of the accused confessed their guilt.  The Court,\nas I understand, began their proceedings with the accusations of the\nafflicted persons, and then went upon other evidences to strengthen\nthat.  I was in the East of the Colony throughout almost the whole of\nthe proceedings, trusting to the Court as the right method of dealing\nwith cases of witchcraft.  But when I returned I found many persons in\na strange ferment of dissatisfaction which was increased by some hot\nspirits that blew upon the flame.  But on enquiry into the matter, I\nfound that the Devil had taken upon him the name and shape of several\npersons who were doubtless innocent, for which cause I have now\nforbidden the committal of any more accused persons.\n\n\"And them that have been committed I would shelter from any proceedings\nwherein the innocent could suffer wrong.  I would also await the King's\norders in this perplexing affair.  I have put a stop to the printing of\nany discourses on either side that may increase useless disputes, for\nopen contests would mean an unextinguishable flame.  I have been\ngrieved to see that some who should have done better services to their\nMajesties and this Province have so far taken counsel with passion as\nto declare the precipitancy of these matters....  As soon as I had done\nfighting the King's enemies, and understood the danger of innocent\npeople through the accusations of the afflicted, I put a stop to the\nCourt proceedings till the King's pleasure should be known.\"\n\nIt was Governor Phips who suppressed the witchcraft persecutions and\nthe special court that had passed so many wicked death sentences was\nshorn of its powers by his order.  Other prisoners were later\nacquitted, and a hundred and fifty released from jail.  No sooner was\nthis burly figure of a man finished with the witchcraft business than\nhe was leading a force of Indian allies against the French.  \"His birth\nand youth in the East had rendered him well known to the Indians\nthere,\" says Cotton Mather, \"he had hunted and fished many a weary day\nin his childhood with them; and when these rude savages had got the\nstory that he had found a ship full of money, and was now become all\none a King, they were mightily astonished at it; but when they further\nunderstood that he was now become the Governor of New England, it added\na further degree of consternation to their astonishment.\"\n\nHe was too strenuous a person, was this astonishing William Phips, to\nremain tamed and conservative when there was no strong work in hand.\nWith that gold-headed cane of his he cracked the head of the Captain of\nthe _Nonesuch_ frigate of the royal navy, and with his hard fists he\npounded the Collector of the Port after swearing at him with such oaths\nas better befitted a buccaneer than the governor of the province.\nThese quarrels arose from a dispute over the authority of Sir William\nto lay down the law as he pleased.  By virtue of his commission as Vice\nAdmiral of the Colony he held that he had the right to judge and\ncondemn naval prizes.  The Collector claimed jurisdiction and when he\nrefused to deliver a cargo of plunder brought in by a privateer, the\ngovernor blacked his eyes for him.\n\nAs for the naval skipper, Captain Short, his experience with the Phips\ntemper was even more disastrous.  He refused to lend some of his men to\nman a cruiser which the governor wished to send after coastwise\npirates.  When next the twain met, Captain Short was first well\nthreshed,  then bundled off to prison, and from there skipped home to\nEngland in a merchantman.\n\nSuch methods of administration had served admirably well to rule those\nmutinous dogs of seamen aboard the _Rose_ frigate, but they were\nresented in Boston, and after other altercations, Governor Phips found\nit necessary to go to England to answer the complaints which had been\npiling up in the offices of the Lords of the Council of Trade and\nPlantations.  He sailed in his own yacht, a brigantine built in a\nBoston shipyard, and we may be sure that he was ready to face his\naccusers with a stout heart.\n\nHutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, analyzed the trouble as\nfollows:\n\n\"Sir William Phips' rule was short.  His conduct when captain of a ship\nof war is represented very much to his advantage; but further talents\nwere necessary for the good government of a province.  He was of a\nbenevolent, friendly disposition; at the same time quick and\npassionate....\n\n\"A vessel arrived from the Bahamas, with a load of fustick, for which\nno bond had been given.  Col. Foster, a merchant of Boston, a member of\nthe Council, and fast friend of the Governor, bought the fustick at\nsuch price that he was loth to give up the bargain.  The Collector\nseized the vessel and goods; and upon Foster's representation to the\nGovernor, he interposed.  There was at that time no Court of Admiralty.\nSir William took a summary way of deciding this case, and sent an order\nto the Collector to forbear meddling with the goods, and upon his\nrefusal to observe orders, the Governor went to the wharf, and after\nwarm words on both sides, laid hands upon the Collector, but with what\ndegree of violence was controverted by both.  The Governor prevailed,\nand the vessel and goods were taken out of the hands of the Collector.\n\n\"There had been a misunderstanding also between the Governor and\nCaptain Short of the _Nonesuch_ frigate.  In their passage from England\na prize was taken; and Short complained that the Governor had deprived\nhim of part of his share or legal interest in her.  Whether there were\ngrounds for it does not appear.  The captains of men of war stationed\nin the colonies were in those days required to follow such instructions\nas the governors gave them relative to their cruises and the protection\nof the trade of the colonies, and the Governor, by his commission, had\npower in case of any great crime committed by any of the captains of\nmen of war, to suspend them, and the next officer was to succeed.\n\n\"The Governor required Captain Short to order part of the men belonging\nto the _Nonesuch_ upon some service, which I do not find mentioned,\nprobably to some cruiser, there being many picaroons about the eastern\ncoasts, but he refused to do it.  This was ill taken by the Governor;\nand meeting Captain Short in the street, warm words passed, and at\nlength the Governor made use of his cane and broke Short's head.  Not\ncontent with this, he committed him to prison.  The right of a governor\nto commit by his own warrant had not then been questioned.\n\n\"From the prison he removed him to the castle, and from those on board\na merchant bound to London, to be delivered to the order of one of\ntheir Majesties' principal secretaries of state; giving the master a\nwarrant or authority to do so.  The vessel, by some accident, put into\nPortsmouth in New Hampshire.  Sir William who seems to have been\nsensible of some irregularity in these proceedings, went to Portsmouth,\nrequired the master of the merchantman to return him the warrant, which\nhe tore to pieces, and then ordered the cabin of the ship to be opened,\nsecured Short's chests, and examined the contents.\n\n\"Short was prevented going home in this vessel, and went to New York to\ntake passage from thence for England; but Sir F. Wheeler arriving soon\nafter at Boston, went for him and carried him home with him.  The next\nofficer succeeded in the command of the ship, until a new captain\narrived from England.  Short was restored to the command of as good a\nship.\"\n\nKing William refused to depose the famous treasure finder without\nhearing what he had to say in his defense, and Sir William stoutly\nswore that those whom he had punished got no more than they deserved.\nA strong party had been mustered against him, however, and he waged an\nuphill fight for vindication until Death, the one foe for whom he did\nnot think himself a match, took him by the heels and laid him in a\nvault beneath the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth, London.  A guide-book of\nthat city, published in 1708, contained this description of the\nmemorial placed therein:\n\n\"At the east end of the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth, near the northeast\nangle, is a pretty white marble monument, adorned with an urn between\ntwo Cupids, the figure of a ship, and also a boat at sea, with persons\nin the water; these beheld by a winged eye, all done in basso relieve;\nalso the seven medals, as that of King William and Queen Mary; some\nwith Spanish impressions, as the castle, cross-portent, etc. and\nlikewise the figures of a sea quadrant; cross-staff, and this\ninscription:\n\n\"'Near this place is interred the Body of Sir William Phips, knight;\nwho in the year 1687, by his great industry, discovered among the rocks\nnear the Banks of Bahama on the north side of Hispaniola a Spanish\nplate-ship which had been under water 44 years, out of which he took in\ngold and silver to the value of L300,000 sterling: and with a fidelity\nequal to his conduct, brought it all to London, where it was divided\nbetween himself and the rest of the adventurers.  For which great\nservice he was knighted by his then Majesty, King James the 2nd, and at\nthe request of the principal inhabitants of New England, he accepted of\nthe Government of the Massachusetts, in which he continued up to the\ntime of his death; and discharged his trust with that zeal for the\ninterests of the country, and with so little regard to his own private\nadvantage, that he justly gained the good esteem and affection of the\ngreatest and best part of the inhabitants of that Colony.\n\n\"'He died the 18th of February, 1694, and his lady, to perpetuate his\nmemory, hath caused this monument to be erected.'\"\n\nIt is far better to know the man as he was, rough-hewn, hasty,\nunlettered, but simple and honest as daylight, than to accept the false\nand silly epitaph of Cotton Mather, that \"he was a person of so sweet a\ntemper that they who were most intimately acquainted with him would\ncommonly pronounce him the Best Conditioned Gentleman in the World.\"\nAfter he had wrested his fortune from the bottom of the sea in\ncircumstances splendidly romantic, he used the power which his wealth\ngained for him wholly in the service of the people of his own country.\n\nDuring his last visit to London, when he had grown tired of being a\nroyal governor, he harked back to his old love, and was planning\nanother treasure voyage.  \"The Spanish wreck was not the only nor the\nrichest wreck which he knew to be lying under the water.  He knew\nparticularly that when the ship which had Governor Bobadilla aboard was\ncast away, there was, as Peter Martyr says, an entire table of Gold of\nThree Thousand Three Hundred and Ten Pounds Weight.  And supposing\nhimself to have gained sufficient information of the right way to such\na wreck, it was his purpose upon his dismission from his Government,\nonce more to have gone upon his old Fishing-Trade, upon a mighty shelf\nof rocks and bank of sands that lie where he had informed himself.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The oldest existing print of Boston harbor as it\nappeared in the time of Sir William Phips, showing the kind of ships in\nwhich he sailed to find his treasure.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nNever was there so haunting a reference to lost treasure as this\nmention of that gold table that went down with Governor Bobadilla.  The\nwords ring like a peal of magic bells.  Alas, the pity of it, that Sir\nWilliam Phips did not live to fit out a brave ship and go in quest of\nthis wondrous treasure, for of all men, then or since, he was the man\nto find it.\n\nBobadilla was that governor of Hispaniola who was sent from Spain in\n1500 by Ferdinand and Isabella to investigate the affairs of the colony\nas administered by Christopher Columbus.  He put Columbus in chains and\nshipped him home, but the great discoverer found a friendly welcome\nthere, and was sent back for his fourth voyage.  He reached Hispaniola\non the day that Bobadilla was sailing for Spain, in his turn to give\nplace to a new Governor, Ovando by name.  Bobadilla embarked at San\nDomingo in the largest ship of the fleet on board of which was put an\nimmense amount of gold, the revenue collected for the Crown during his\ngovernment, which he hoped might ease the disgrace of his recall.\n\nThe Spanish historian, Las Casas, besides other old chroniclers,\nmention this solid mass of virgin gold which Peter Martyr affirmed had\nbeen fashioned into a table.  This enormous nugget had been found by an\nIndian woman in a brook on the estate of Francisco de Garay and Miguel\nDiaz and had been taken by Bobadilla to send to the king.  According to\nLas Casas, it weighed three thousand, six hundred castellanos.\n\nWhen Bobadilla's fleet weighed anchor, Columbus sent a messenger urging\nthe ships to remain in port because a storm was imminent.  The pilots\nand seamen scoffed at the warning, and the galleons stood out from San\nDomingo only to meet a tropical hurricane of terrific violence.  Off\nthe most easterly point of Hispaniola, Bobadilla's ship went down with\nall on board.  If this galleon carrying the gold table, besides much\nother treasure, had foundered in deep water, it is unlikely that Sir\nWilliam Phips would have planned to go in search of her.  If, however,\nthe ship had been smashed on a reef, he may have \"fished up\"\ninformation from some other ancient Spaniard as to her exact location.\n\nThe secret was buried in his grave and he left no chart to show where\nhe hoped to find that marvelous treasure, and nobody knows the bearings\nof that \"mighty shelf of rock and bank of sands that lie where he had\ninformed himself.\"\n\n\n\n[1] In order to make easier reading, this and the following extracts\nfrom Cotton Mather's narrative are somewhat modernized in respect of\nquaint spelling, punctuation, and the use of capitals, although, of\ncourse, the wording is unchanged.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE BOLD SEA ROGUE, JOHN QUELCH\n\nThe Isles of Shoals, lying within sight of Portsmouth Harbor on the New\nHampshire coast, are rich in buried treasure legends and rocky\nAppledore is distinguished by the ghost of a pirate, \"a pale and very\ndreadful specter,\" whose neck bears the livid mark of the hangman's\nnoose.  This is a ghost in whose case familiarity has bred contempt\namong the matter-of-fact islanders, for they call him \"Old Bab\" and\nemploy him to frighten naughty children.  Drake's \"Nooks and Corners of\nthe New England Coast\" narrates in the proper melodramatic manner the\nbest of these traditions.\n\n\"Among others to whom it is said these islands were known was the\ncelebrated Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, as he was often called.  He is\nsupposed to have buried immense treasure here, some of which has been\ndug up and appropriated by the islanders.  On one of his cruises, while\nlying off the Scottish coast waiting for a rich trader, he was boarded\nby a stranger who came off in a small boat from the shore.  The visitor\ndemanded to be led before the pirate chief in whose cabin he remained\ncloseted for some time.  At length Blackbeard appeared on deck with the\nstranger whom he introduced as a comrade.  The vessel they were\nexpecting soon came in sight, and, after a bloody conflict, became the\nprize of Blackbeard.  The newcomer had shown such bravery that he was\ngiven command of the captured merchantman.\n\n\"The stranger soon proved himself a pirate leader of great skill and\nbravery and went cruising off to the southward and the coasts of the\nSpanish Main.  At last after his appetite for wealth had been satiated\nhe sailed back to his native land of Scotland, made a landing, and\nreturned on board with the insensible body of a beautiful young woman\nin his arms.\n\n\"The pirate ship then made sail, crossed the Atlantic, and anchored in\nthe roadstead of the Isles of Shoals.  Here the crew passed the time in\nsecreting their riches and in carousing.  The commander's portion was\nburied on an island apart from the rest.  He roamed over the isles with\nhis beautiful companion, forgetful, it would seem, of his fearful\ntrade, until one day a sail was seen standing in for the islands.  All\nwas now activity on board the pirate; but before getting under way the\noutlaw carried the maiden to the island where he had buried his\ntreasure, and made her take a fearful oath to guard the spot from\nmortals until his return, were it not 'til doomsday.\n\n\"The strange sail proved to be a warlike vessel in search of the\nfreebooter.  A long and desperate battle ensued, in which the cruiser\nat last silenced her adversary's guns.  The vessels were grappled for a\nlast struggle when a terrible explosion strewed the sea with the\nfragments of both.  Stung to madness by defeat, knowing that if taken\nalive a gibbet awaited him, the rover had fired the magazine, involving\nfriend and foe in a common fate.\n\n\"A few mangled wretches succeeded in reaching the islands, only to\nperish miserably one by one, from hunger and cold.  The pirate's\nmistress remained true to her oath to the last, or until she had\nsuccumbed to want and exposure.  By report, she has been seen more than\nonce on White Island--a tall shapely figure, wrapped in a long sea\ncloak, her head and neck uncovered, except by a profusion of golden\nhair.  Her face is described as exquisitely rounded, but pale and still\nas marble.  She takes her stand on the verge of a low, projecting\npoint, gazing fixedly out upon the ocean in an attitude of intense\nexpectation.  A forager race of fishermen avouched that her ghost was\ndoomed to haunt those rocks until the last trump shall sound, and that\nthe ancient graves to be found on the islands were tenanted by\nBlackbeard's men.\"\n\nIt is more probable that whatever treasure may be hidden among the\nIsles of Shoals was hidden there by the shipmates of a great scamp of a\npirate named John Quelch who fills an interesting page in the early\nhistory of the Massachusetts Colony.  In proof of this assertion is the\nentry in one of the old records of Salem, written in the year 1704:\n\n\"Major Stephen Sewall, Captain John Turner, and 40 volunteers embark in\na shallop and Fort Pinnace after Sunset to go in search of some Pirates\nwho sailed from Gloucester in the morning.  Major Sewall brought into\nSalem a Galley, Captain Thomas Lowrimore, on board of which he had\ncaptured some Pirates, and some of their Gold at the Isle of Shoals.\nMajor Sewall carries the Pirates to Boston under a strong guard.\nCaptain Quelch and five of his crew are hung.  About 13 of the ship's\nCompany remain under sentence of death and several more are cleared.\"\n\nBy no means all of the bloodstained gold of Quelch was recovered by\nthis expedition which went to the Isles of Shoals and it is more likely\nto be hidden there to this day than anywhere else.  Quelch was a bold\nfigure of a pirate worthy to be named in the company of the most\ndashing of his profession in the era of Kidd, Bradish, Bellamy, and\nLow.  His story is worth the telling because it is, in a way, a sequel\nof the tragedy of Captain Kidd.\n\nIn 1703, the brigantine _Charles_, of about eighty tons, owned by\nleading citizens and merchants of Boston, was fitted out as a privateer\nto go cruising against the French off the coasts of Arcadia and\nNewfoundland.  On July 13th of that year, her commander, Captain David\nPlowman, received his commission from Governor Dudley of the province\nto sail in pursuit of the Queen's enemies and pirates, with other\ncustomary instructions.  There was some delay in shipping a crew, and\non the first of August the _Charles_ was riding off Marblehead when\nCaptain Plowman was taken ill.  He sent a letter to his owners, stating\nthat he was unable to take the vessel to sea, and suggesting that they\ncome on board next day and \"take some speedy care in saving what we\ncan.\"\n\nThe owners went to Marblehead, but the captain was too ill to confer\nwith them.  He was able, however, to write again, this time urging them\nto have the vessel carried to Boston, and the arms and stores landed in\norder to \"prevent embezzlement,\" and advising against sending the\n_Charles_ on her cruise under a new commander, adding the warning that\n\"it will not do with these people,\" meaning the crew then on board.\n\nBefore the owners could take any measures to safeguard their property,\nthe brigantine had made sail and was standing out to sea, stolen by her\ncrew.  The helpless captain was locked in his cabin, and the new\nCommander on the quarter-deck was John Quelch who had planned and led\nthe mutiny.  Instead of turning to the northward, the bow of the\n_Charles_ was pointed for the South Atlantic and the track of the\nSpanish trade where there was rich pirating.  Somewhere in the Gulf\nStream, poor Captain Plowman was dragged on deck and tossed overboard\nby order of Quelch.\n\nA flag was then hoisted, called \"Old Roger,\" described as having \"in\nthe middle of it an Anatomy (skeleton) with an Hourglass in one hand,\nand a dart in the Heart with 3 drops of Blood proceeding from it in the\nother.\"  When the coast of Brazil was reached, Quelch and his men drove\na thriving trade.  Between November 15, 1703, and February 17, 1704,\nthey boarded and took nine vessels, of which five were brigantines, and\none a large ship carrying twelve guns.  All these craft flew the\nPortugese flag, and Portugal was an ally of England by virtue of a\ntreaty which had been signed at Lisbon on May 16, 1703.  What became of\nthe crews of these hapless vessels was not revealed, but the plunder\nincluded salt, sugar, rum, beer, rice, flour, cloth, silk, one hundred\nweight of gold dust, gold and silver coin to the value of a thousand\npounds, two negro boys, great guns, small arms, ammunition, sails, and\ncordage.  One of the largest of the brigantines was kept to serve as a\ntender.\n\nTwo weeks after the _Charles_ had taken French leave from Marblehead,\nher owners, surmising that she had been headed toward the West Indies,\npersuaded Governor Dudley to take action, and letters were sent to\nofficials in various islands instructing them to be on the look-out for\nthe runaway privateer and to seize her crew as pirates.  Quelch was a\nwily rogue, however, and kept clear of all pursuit, nor was anything\nmore heard of the _Charles_ until with extraordinary audacity he came\nsailing back to New England in the following May and dropped anchor off\nMarblehead.  His men quickly scattered alongshore, and gave out the\nstory which he had cooked up for them, that Captain Plowman had died of\nhis illness while at sea, that Quelch had been obliged to take command,\nand that they had recovered a great deal of treasure from the wreck of\na Spanish galleon.\n\nThe yarn was fishy, the men talked too much in their cups, and the\nowners of the _Charles_ were not satisfied with Quelch's glib\nexplanation.  They laid information against him in writing, and the\nvessel was searched, the plunder indicating that the lawless crew had\nbeen lifting the goods of subjects of the King of Portugal.  The first\nmention of the affair in the _Boston News-Letter_ was in the issue for\nthe week of May 15, 1704:\n\n\"Arrived at Marblehead, Captain Quelch in the Brigantine that Captain\nPlowman went out in.  Is said to come from New Spain and have made a\ngood Voyage.\"\n\nQuelch was a good deal more of a man than Captain Kidd who skulked\nhomeward, hiding his treasure, parleying with Governor Bellomont at\nlong range, afraid to come to close quarters.  A strutting, swaggering,\nvillain was John Quelch, daring to beard the lion in his den, trusting\nto his ability to deceive with the authorities.  To have run away with\na privateer, thrown the captain overboard, filled the hold with loot,\nand then sailed back to Marblehead was no ordinary achievement.\nHowever, this truly artistic piracy was so coldly welcomed that a week\nafter his arrival had been chronicled, he was in jail and the following\nproclamation issued:\n\n\"By the Honourable THOMAS POVEY, Esq., Lieut. Governour and Commander\nin Chief, for the time being, of Her Majesties Province of the\nMassachusetts Bay in New England.\n\n\nA PROCLAMATION\n\nWhereas, John Quelch, late Commander of the Brigantine _Charles_ and\nCompany to her belonging, Viz, John Lambert, John Miller, John\nClifford, John Dorothy, James Parrot, Charles James, William Whiting,\nJohn Pitman, John Templeton, Benjamin Perkins, William Wiles, Richard\nLawrance, Erasmus Peterson, John King, Charles King, Isaac Johnson,\nNicholas Lawson, Daniel Chevalle, John Way, Thomas Farrington, Matthew\nPrimer, Anthony Holding, William Raynor, John Quittance, John Harwood,\nWilliam Jones, Denis Carter, Nicholas Richardson, James Austin, James\nPattison, Joseph Hutnot, George Pierse, George Norton, Gabriel Davis,\nJohn Breck, John Carter, Paul Giddens, Nicholas Dunbar, Richard\nThurbar, Daniel Chuly, and others; Have lately imported a considerable\nquantity of Gold dust, and some Bar and Coin'd Gold, which they are\nViolently suspected to have gotten and obtained by Felony and Piracy\nfrom some of Her Majesties Friends and Allies, and have Imported and\nShared the same among themselves without any Adjudication or\nCondemnation thereof to be lawful Prizes; The said Commander and some\nothers being apprehended and in Custody, the rest are absconded and\nfled from Justice.\n\n\"I have therefore thought fit, by and with the advice of Her Majesties\nCouncil, strictly to Command and Require all Officers Civil and\nMilitary, and others Her Majesties loving Subjects to Apprehend and\nSeize the said Persons, or any of them, whom they may know or find, and\nthem secure and their Treasure, and bring them before one of the\nCouncil, or next Justice of the Peace, in order to their being safely\nconveyed to Boston, to be Examined and brought to Answer what shall be\nObjected against them, on Her Majesties behalf.\n\n\"And all Her Majesties Subjects, and others, are hereby strictly\nforbidden to entertain, harbour, or conceal any of the said Persons, or\ntheir Treasure, or to convey away, or in any manner further the Escape\nof any of them, on pain of being proceeded against with utmost Severity\nof Law, as accessories and partakers with them in their Crime.\n\nGiven at the Council Chamber in Boston the 24th Day of May in the Third\nYear of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady ANNE, by the Grace of GOD of\nEngland, Scotland, France, and Ireland, QUEEN, Defender of the Faith,\netc.  Annoque Domi.  1704.\n\nT. POVEY.\n\n  By Order of the Lieut.\n  Governor and Council,\n    Isaac Addington, Secr.\n        GOD Save The QUEEN.\"\n\n\nThe editor of _The Boston News-Letter_, commenting on the foregoing\nfulmination, saw fit to qualify his previous mention of Quelch's\nvoyage, and announced under date of May 27:\n\n\"Our last gave an Account of Captain Quelch's being said to Arrive from\nN. Spain, having made a good Voyage, but by the foregoing Proclamation\n'tis uncertain whence they came, and too palpably evident they have\ncommitted Piracies, either upon her Majesties Subjects or Allies....\nWilliam Whiting lyes sick, like to dye, not yet examined.  There are\ntwo more of them sick at Marble head, and another in Salem Gaol, and\nJames Austin imprisoned at Piscataqua.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: An ancient map of Jamaica showing the haunts of the\npirates and the track of the treasure galleons.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nAs soon as Governor Dudley returned to Boston, a few days later, he\nissued a proclamation to reinforce that of the Lieutenant Governor, and\none paragraph indicated that the case of John Quelch was moving swiftly\ntoward the gallows.\n\n\"And it being now made Evident by the Confession of some of the said\nPersons apprehended and Examined, that the Gold and Treasure by them\nImported was robb'd and taken from the Subject of the Crown of\nPortugal, on which they have also acted divers Villainous Murders, I\nhave thought fit,\" etc.\n\nIt was believed that several of the crew had scampered off with a large\namount of the treasure, for Governor Dudley laid great stress on\noverhauling sundry of them, mentioned by name, \"with their Treasure\nconcealed.\"  In his speech at the opening of the General Court on June\n1, he stated:\n\n\"The last week has discovered a very notorious piracy, committed upon\nher Majesties Allies, the Portugal, on the coast of Brazil, by Quelch\nand company, in the _Charles Galley_; for the discovery of which all\npossible methods have been used, and the severest process against those\nvile men shall be speedily taken, that the Province be not thereby\ndisparaged, as they have been heretofore; and I hope every good man\nwill do his duty according to the several Proclamations to discover the\npirates and their treasure, agreable to the Acts of Parliament in that\ncase made and provided.\"\n\nDudley was as energetic in pursuit of the runaway pirates as Bellomont\nhad been, and the _News-Letter_ recorded his activities in this wise:\n\n\"Warrants are issued forth to seize and apprehend Captain Larimore in\nthe _Larimore Galley_, who is said to have Sailed from Cape Anne with 9\nor 11 Pirates of Captain Quelch's Company.\"\n\n\"There is two more of the Pirates seized this week and in Custody viz.\nBenjamin Perkins, and John Templeton.\"\n\n\"Rhode Island, June 9.  The Honorable Samuel Cranston, Esq., Governour\nof Her Majesties Colony of Rhode Island, etc., Having received a\nProclamation Emitted by His Excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq. General and\nGov. in Chief in and over Her Majesties Province of the Mass. Bay,\netc., for Seizing and Apprehending the late Company of Pirates\nbelonging to the Briganteen _Charles_, of whom John Quelch was\nCommander, By and with the advice of the Deputy Governour and Council\nPresent, issued forth his further Proclamation to Seize and Apprehend\nsaid Pirates, or any of their Treasure, and to bring them before one of\nthe Council, or next Justice of the Peace, in order to be conveyed to\nthe town of Newport, to be examined and proceeded with according to\nLaw.  Commanding the Sheriff to Publish this and His Excellencies\nProclamation in the Town of New-port, and in other Towns of the Colony.\nStrictly forbidding all Her Majesties Subjects and others to conceal\nany of them or their treasure, or convey and further their escape, on\npain of being proceeded against with utmost severity of law.\"\n\n\"Marblehead, June 9.  The Honorable Samuel Sewall, Nathanael Byfield,\nand Paul Dudley, Esqrs.  came to this place yesterday, in obedience to\nHis Excellency the Governour, his Order for the more effectual\ndiscovering and Seizing the Pirates lately belonging to the Briganteen\n_Charles_, John Quelch Commander, with their Treasure.  They made Salem\nin their way, where Samuel Wakefield the Water Baily informed them of a\nrumour that two of Quelch's Company were lurking at Cape Anne, waiting\nfor a Passage off the Coast.  The Commissioners made out a Warrant to\nWakefield to Search for them, and dispatched him away on Wednesday\nnight.  And having gain'd intelligence this Morning that a certain\nnumber of them well Armed, were at Cape Anne, designing to go off in\nthe _Larimore Galley_, then at Anchor in the Harbour, they immediately\nsent Men from the several adjacent Towns by Land and Water to prevent\ntheir escape, and went thither themselves, to give necessary orders\nupon the place.\"\n\n\"Gloucester, upon Cape Anne, June 9.  The Commissioners for Seizing the\nPirates and their Treasure arrived here this day, were advised that the\n_Larimore Galley_ Sail'd in the Morning Eastward, and that a Boat was\nseen to go off from the head of the Cape, near Snake Island, full of\nmen, supposed to be the Pirates.  The Commissioners, seeing the\nGovernment mock'd by Captain Larimore and his officers, resolved to\nsend after them.  Major Stephen Sewall who attended with a Fishing\nShallop, and the Fort Pinnace, offered to go in pursuit of them, and\nCaptain John Turner, Mr. Robert Brisco, Capt. Knight, and several other\ngood men voluntarily accompanied him, to the Number of 42 men who rowed\nout of the Harbour after Sun-sett, being little Wind.\"\n\n\"Salem, June 11.  This afternoon Major Sewall brought into this Port\nthe _Larimore Galley_ and Seven Pirates, viz., Erasmus Peterson,\nCharles James, John Carter, John Pitman, Francis King, Charles King,\nJohn King, whom he with his Company Surprized and Seized at the Isles\nof Sholes the 10th. Instant viz. four of them on Board the _Larimore\nGalley_, and three on shoar on Starr Island, being assisted by John\nHinckes and Thomas Phipps, Esqrs., two of her Majesties Justices of New\nHampshire, who were happily there, together with the Justices and the\nCaptain of the Place.  He also seized 45 Ounces and Seven Penny weight\nof Gold of the said Pirates.  Captain Thomas Larimore, Joseph Wells,\nLieutenant, and Daniel Wormall, Master, and the said Pirates are\nSecured in our Gaol.\"\n\n\"Gloucester, June 12.  Yesterday Major Sewall passed by this place with\nthe _Larimore Galley_ and Shallop _Trial_ standing for Salem, and\nhaving little wind, set our men ashore on the Eastern Point, giving of\nthem notice that William Jones and Peter Roach, two of the Pirates had\nmistook their way, and were still left at the Cape, with strict charge\nto search for them, which our Towns People performed very\nindustriously.  Being strangers and destitute of all Succours, they\nsurrendered themselves this Afternoon, and were sent to Salem Prison.\"\n\n\"Boston, June 17.  On the 13th. Instant, Major Sewall attended with a\nstrong guard brought to Town the above mentioned Pirates and Gold he\nhad seized and gave His Excellency a full Account of his Procedure in\nSeizing them.  The Prisoners were committed to Gaol in order to a\nTryal, and the Gold delivered to the Treasurer and Committee appointed\nto receive the same.  The service of Major Sewall and Company was very\nwell Accepted and Rewarded by the Governour.\n\n\"His Excellency was pleased on the 13 Currant to open the High Court of\nAdmiralty for trying Capt. John Quelch, late Commander of the\nBriganteen _Charles_, and Company for Piracy, who were brought to the\nBarr, and the Articles exhibited against them read.  They all pleaded\nNot Guilty, excepting three, viz. Matthew Primer, John Clifford, and\nJames Parrot, who were reserved for Evidences and are in her Majesties\nMercy.  The Prisoners moved for Council, and His Excellency assigned\nthem Mr. James Meinzes.  The Court was adjourned to the 16th.  When met\nagain Capt. Quelch preferr'd a Petition to His Excellency and Honorable\nCourt, craving longer time which was granted till Monday Morning at\nNine of the Clock, when said Court is to sit again in order to their\nTryal.\"\n\nNewspaper reporting was primitive in the Year of Our Lord, 1704, and we\nare denied further information of the merry chase after the fleeing\npirates and their treasure.  One would like to know more of that\nadventure at the Isles of Shoals and what the fugitives were doing \"on\nshoar\" at Starr Island.  The trial of Quelch and his companions was\nrecorded with much more detail because it had certain important and\nmemorable aspects.  It will be recalled that Kidd and his men were sent\nto England for trial by Bellomont for the reason that the colonial laws\nmade no provision for executing the death sentence in the case of a\nconvicted pirate.  The difficulties and delays and the large expense\nincident to the Kidd proceedings were among the considerations which\nmoved Parliament, by an act passed in the reign of William III, to\nconfer upon the Crown authority to issue commissions for the trial of\npirates by Courts of Admiralty out of the realm.  Such a commission was\nfinally sent to Lord Bellomont for the trial of pirates in\nMassachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.  Another document of\nthe same kind, granting him this power for New York, arrived there\nafter his death.\n\nThese rights were confirmed by Queen Anne, and in her instructions to\nGovernor Dudley she expressed \"her will and pleasure that in all\nmatters relating to the prosecution of pirates, he govern himself\naccording to the act and commission aforesaid.\"  The trial of Quelch\nwas the first to be held by virtue of these authorizations, and\ntherefore the first capital proceedings against pirates in the New\nEngland Colonies.  A special court was convened, and an imposing\ntribunal it was, comprising the Governors and Lieutenant Governors of\nthe Provinces of Massachusetts Bay, and New Hampshire, the Judge of\nVice Admiralty in each, the Chief Justices of the Superior Court of\nJudicature, the Secretary of the Province, Members of the Council of\nMassachusetts Bay, and the Collector of Customs for New England.\n\nThe sessions were held in the Star Tavern, on the present Hanover\nStreet of Boston, and Quelch was tried first, \"being charged with nine\nseveral articles of piracy and murder.\" He was very expeditiously found\nguilty and sentenced to death, after which nineteen of his company, in\ntwo batches, were dealt the same verdict.  From this wholesale\npunishment only two were excepted, William Whiting, \"the witnesses\nproving no matter of fact upon him, said Whiting being sick all the\nvoyage and not active,\" and John Templeton, \"a servant about fourteen\nyears of age, and not charged with any action.\"  These were acquitted.\n\nThere are preserved only two copies of a broadside published in Boston\nin July of 1704 which quaintly portrays the strenuous efforts made to\nsave the souls of the condemned pirates who must have been men of\nuncommonly stout endurance to stand up under the sermons with which\nthey were bombarded.  This little pamphlet may serve as a warning to\nventuresome boys of the twentieth century who yearn to go a-pirating\nand to bury treasure.\n\n\nAn Account of the Behaviour and Last Dying SPEECHES\n\nOf the Six Pirates that were Executed on Charles River, Boston side, On\nFryday, June 30th.  1704.  Viz.\n\nCaptain John Quelch, John Lambert, Christopher Scudamore, John Miller,\nErasmus Peterson, and Peter Roach.\n\nThe Ministers of the Town had used more than ordinary Endeavours to\nInstruct the Prisoners, and bring them to Repentance.  There were\nSermons Preached in their hearing Every Day; And Prayers daily made\nwith them.  And they were Catechised; and they had many occasional\nExhortations.  And nothing was left that could be done for their Good.\n\nOn Fryday, the 30th of June, 1704, Pursuant to Orders in the Dead\nWarrant, the aforesaid Pirates were guarded from the Prison in Boston\nby Forty Musketeers, Constables of the Town, the Provost Marshal and\nhis Officers, etc, with two Ministers who took great pains to prepare\nthem for the last Article of their Lives.  Being allowed to walk on\nfoot through the Town, to Scarlet's Wharf: where the Silver Oar being\ncarried before them, they went by Water to the Place of Execution being\ncrowded and thronged on all sides by Multitudes of Spectators.  The\nMinisters then spoke to the Malefactors to this Effect:\n\n\"We have told you often, yea, we have told you weeping, that you have\nby Sin undone yourselves; That you were born Sinners; That you have\nlived Sinners; That your Sins have been many and mighty; and that the\nSins for which you are now to Dy, are of no Common aggravation.  We\nhave told you that there is a Saviour for Sinners, and we have shewn\nyou how to commit yourselves into his Saving and Healing Hands.  We\nhave told you that if He Save you He will give you as hearty Repentance\nfor all your Sins, and we have shewn you how to Express that\nRepentance.  We have told you what Marks of Life must be desired for\nyour Souls, that you may Safely appear before the Judgment Seat of God.\nOh!  That the means used for your Good may by the Grace of God be made\nEffectual.  We can do no more, but leave you in His Merciful Hands.\"\n\nWhen they were gone upon the Stage, and Silence was Commanded, One of\nthe Ministers Prayed as followeth:\n\n\"Oh!  Thou most Great and Glorious LORD!  Thou art a Righteous and a\nTerrible God.  It is a righteous and an Holy Law that thus hast given\nunto all, but what would soon have done the worst things in the World.\nOh!  The Free-Grace!  Oh!  The Riches of that Grace, which has made all\nthe Difference!  But now, we cry us.  To break that Good Law, and Sin\nagainst thy Infinite Majesty can be no little Evil.  Thy Word is always\nTrue, and very Particular, that Word of thine which has told us and\nwarned us, EVIL PURSUETH SINNERS.  We have seen it, we have seen it.\nWe have before our Eyes a dreadful Demonstration of it.  Oh!  Sanctify\nunto us, a Sight that has in it so much of the Terror of the Lord!\n\n\"Here is a Number of men that have been very great Sinners, and that\nare to Dy before their Time, for their being wicked overmuch.\n\n\"... But now we cry mightily to Heaven, we Lift up our Cries to the God\nof all Grace, for the Perishing Souls which are just now going to\nExpire under the Stroke of Justice, before our Eyes.  We Mourn, we\nMourn, that upon some of them at least, we do unto this minute see no\nbetter Symptoms.  But, Oh! is there not yet a Room for Sovereign Grace\nto be display'd, in their Conversion and Salvation?  They Perish if\nthey do not now Sincerely turn from Sin to God, and give themselves up\nto the Lord JESUS CHRIST; They Righteously and Horribly Perish!  And\nyet, without Influences from above, they can do none of those things\nwhich must be done if they do not perish.  Oh! let us beg it of our God\nthat He would not be so Provoked at their Multiplied and Prodigious\nImpieties, and at their obstinate Hardness under means of Good formerly\nafforded them, as to withhold those Influences from them.  We cry to\nthee, O God of all Grace, That thou wouldst not Suffer them to continue\nin the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity, and in the Possession\nof the Devil.  Oh!  Knock off the Chains of Death which are upon their\nSouls; Oh!  Snatch the prey out of the Hands of the Terrible.\n\n\"... Discover to them, the only Saviour of their Souls.  Oh!  Dispose\nthem, Oh!  Assist them to give the Consent of their Souls unto His\nWonderful Proposals.  Let them dy Renouncing all Dependence on any\nRighteousness of their own.  Alas, what can they have of their own to\nDepend upon!  As a Token and Effect of their having Accepted the\nRighteousness of God, Let them heartily Repent of all their Sins\nagainst thee, and Abhor and cast up every Morsel of their Iniquity.\nOh!  Let them not go out of the World raging and raving against the\nJustice of God and Man.  And whatever part of the Satanick Image is yet\nremaining on their Souls, Oh!  Efface it!  Let them now dy in such a\nState and such a Frame as may render them fit to appear before God the\nJudge of all.  What shall plead for them?\n\n\"Great GOD grant that all the Spectators may get Good by the horrible\nSpectacle that is now before them!  Let all the People hear and fear,\nand let no more any such Wickedness be done as has produced this woeful\nSpectacle.  And let all the People beware how they go on in the ways of\nSin, and in the paths of the Destroyer, after so Solemn Warnings.\n\n\"Oh! but shall our _Sea-faring Tribe_ on this Occasion be in a Singular\nmanner affected with the Warnings of God!  Lord, May those our dear\nBretheren be Saved from the Temptations which do so threaten them!  Oh!\nLet them not Abandon Themselves to Profanity, to Swearing, to Cursing,\nto Drinking, to Lewdness, to a cursed Forgetfulness of their Maker, and\nof the End for which He made them!  Oh!  Let them not be abandoned of\nGod unto those Courses that will hasten them to a Damnation that\nslumbers not!  Oh!  Let the men hear the Lord exceedingly, We Pray\nthee!  Let the Condition of the Six or Seven men whom they now see\nDying for their Wickedness upon the Sea be Sanctified unto them....\"\n\nThey then severally Spoke, Viz.\n\n--I--_Captain John Quelch_.  The last Words he spoke to one of the\nMinisters at his going up the Stage were, _I am not afraid of Death.  I\nam not afraid of the Gallows, but I am afraid of what follows; I am\nafraid of a Great God, and a Judgment to Come_.  But he afterwards\nseem'd to brave it out too much against that fear; also when on the\nStage first he pulled off his Hat, and bowed to the Spectators, and not\nconcerned, nor behaving himself so much like a Dying man as some would\nhave done.  The Ministers had in the Way to his Execution much desired\nhim to Glorify God at his Death, by bearing a due Testimony against the\nSins that had ruined him, and for the ways of Religion which he had\nmuch neglected; yet now being called upon to speak what he had to say,\nit was but this much.  _What I have to say is this.  I desire to be\ninformed for what I am here.  I am Condemned only upon Circumstances.\nI forgive all the World.  So the Lord be Merciful to my Soul_.  When\n_Lambert_ was Warning the Spectators to beware of Bad Company, _Quelch_\njoyning _They should also take care how they brought Money into New\nEngland, to be Hanged for it!_\n\n--II--_John Lambert_.  He appeared much hardened, and pleaded much on\nhis Innocency; He desired all men to beware of Bad Company; he seem'd\nin a great Agony near his Execution; he called much and frequently on\nChrist for Pardon of Sin, that God Almighty would save his innocent\nSoul; he desired to forgive all the World.  His last words were, _Lord,\nforgive my Soul!  Oh, receive me into Eternity!  Blessed Name of\nChrist, receive my Soul_.\n\n--III--_Christopher Scudamore_.  He appeared very Penitent since his\nCondemnation, was very diligent to improve his time going to, and at\nthe place of Execution.\n\n--IV--_John Miller_.  He seem'd much concerned, and complained of a\ngreat Burden of Sins to answer for; expressing often _Lord, what shall\nI do to be Saved_!\n\n--V--_Erasmus Peterson_.  He cryed of injustice done him, and said _It\nis very hard for so many lives to be taken away for a little Gold_.  He\noften said his Peace was made with God, and his Soul would be with God,\nyet extream hard to forgive those he said had wronged him.  He told the\nExecutioner, _he was a strong man, and Prayed to be put out of misery\nas soon as possible_.\n\n--VI--_Peter Roach_.  He seem'd little concerned, and said but little\nor nothing at all.  Francis King was also brought to the place of\nExecution but Repriev'd.\n\nPrinted for and Sold by Nicholas Boone, at his Shop near the Old\nMeeting-House in Boston.  1704.\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThere is now in the Press and will speedily be Published: The\nArraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain John Quelch, and others\nof his Company etc.  for sundry Piracies, Robberies and Murder\ncommitted upon the Subjects of the King of Portugal, Her Majesties\nAllie, on the Coast of Brasil etc.  Who upon full Evidence were found\nguilty at the Court-House in Boston on the 13th of June 1704.  With the\nArguments of the Queen's Council and Council for the Prisoners, upon\nthe Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy.  With an account\nof the Ages of the several Prisoners, and the Places where they were\nBorn.\n\n\nThe _News-Letter_ was less inclined to vouch for the pious inclinations\nof these poor wretches, and gravely stated that \"notwithstanding all\nthe great labour and pains taken by the Reverend Ministers of the Town\nof Boston, ever since they were first Seized and brought to Town, both\nbefore and since their Tryal and Condemnation, to instruct, admonish,\npreach, and pray for them: yet as they had led a wicked and vicious\nlife, so to appearance they dyed very obdurately and impenitently,\nhardened in their Sins.\"\n\nBe that as it may, the figure of bold John Quelch on the gallows,\nbowing to the spectators, hat in hand, was that of no whimpering\ncoward, and one admires him for that grimly sardonic touch of humor as\nhe warned the silent, curious multitude to take care \"how they brought\nmoney into New England, to be hanged for it.\"  Among these devout and\nsomber Pilgrims and Puritans who Listened to that singularly moving\nprayer, tremendous in its sincerity, were more than a few who were\nbringing money into New England by means of trade in rum and negroes,\nor very quietly buying and selling the merchandise fetched home by\npirates who were lucky enough to keep clear of the law.  The\nMassachusetts colonists dearly loved to make public parade of a rogue\ncaught in the act, and to see six pirates hanged at once was a rare\nholiday indeed.\n\nThese only of the number convicted and condemned were hanged.  All the\nothers were pardoned a year later by Queene Anne at the recommendation\nof Governor Dudley, with the exhortation \"that as they had now new\nLives given them, they should be new men, and be very faithful and\ndiligent in the Service of Her Majesty; who might as easily and justly\nhave ordered their Execution this day as sent their Pardon.\"  As one\nway of turning pirates to some useful account, these forgiven rogues\nwere promptly drafted into the royal navy as able seamen, and doubtless\nmade excellent food for powder.\n\nAlthough a large part of that hundred weight of gold was successfully\nconcealed by Quelch and his comrades, either buried at the Isles of\nShoals, or otherwise spirited away, enough of it was recovered to\nafford a division of the spoils among various officials in a manner so\nsuggestive of petty graft as to warrant the conclusion that piracy was\nnot entirely a maritime trade in Puritan Boston.  Every man Jack of\nthem who had anything whatever to do with catching or keeping or\nhanging Quelch and his fellows poked his fingers into the bag of gold.\nIt seems like very belated muck-raking to fish up the document that\ntells in detail what became of so much of the Quelch treasure as fell\ninto the greedy hands of the authorities, but here are the tell-tale\nfigures:\n\n\"To Stephen North, who kept the Star Tavern in which the trial was\nheld, for entertainment of the Commissioners during the sitting of the\nCourt of Admiralty, and for Witnesses, Twenty-eight pounds, Eleven\nshillings, and six pence.\n\n\"To Lieut. Gov. Usher, Expenses in securing and returning of James\nAustin's Gold from the Province of New Hampshire, Three pounds, ten\nshillings.\n\n\"To Richard Jesse, Sheriffe of New Hampshire and his Officers and under\nkeeper, for charge of keeping the said Austin, expenses in his\nsickness, and charge of conveying him into this Province, Nine pounds,\nfive shillings.\n\n\"To Mr. James Menzies of Council for the Prisoners on their Tryal, as\nsigned by the Commissioners, Twenty Pounds.\n\n\"To Henry Franklyn, Marshal of the Admiralty for the Gibbet, Guards,\nand execution, Twenty-nine pounds, nineteen shillings.  Later forty\nshillings added to Thomas Barnard for erecting the gibbet.\n\n\"To Samuel Wakefield, Deputy Marshal of the Admiralty, for charges in\napprehending several of the said Pirates, Four Pounds, five shillings\nand six pence.\n\n\"To Mr. Apthorp and Mr. Jesse, two of the Constables of Boston for\ntheir service about apprehending the said Pirates, forty shillings.\n\n\"To the Constables of the Several Towns betwixt Bristol and Boston for\napprehending and conveying of Christopher Scudamore, two pounds,\neighteen shillings.\n\n\"To Captain Edward Brattle, charges on a Negro boy imported by the said\nPirates, Twenty five shillings.\n\n\"To Andrew Belcher, Esq., charges for Clothing of the Witnesses sent to\nEngland with Larrimore and Wells, charged as accessories, seven pounds,\neighteen shillings.\n\n\"To Paul Dudley, Esq., the Queen's Advocate for the prosecution of the\nsaid Pirates, preparing the said Tryal for the press, supervising of\nthe same, and for his service relating to Captain Larrimore, in the\nwhole, Thirty-six pounds.\n\n\"To Thomas Newton, Esq. of Council for the Queen in the said Tryal, ten\npounds.\n\n\"To Mr. John Valentine, Register, for his service on the Tryal and for\ntranscribing them to be transmitted to her Majesty's High Court of\nAdmiralty in England, Thirteen pounds.\n\n\"To Mr. Sheriffe Dyer, for his service relating to the said Prisoners,\nFive pounds.\n\n\"To Wm. Clarke of Boston, for Casks, shifting and landing the Sugar and\nother things piratically and feloniously obtained by Captain Quelch and\nCompany, and for storage of them, Thirteen pounds.\n\n\"To Daniel Willard, Keeper of the Prison in Boston, toward the charge\nof feeding and keeping of the said Pirates, Thirty pounds.\n\n\"To Andrew Belcher, the Commissary-General, an additional sum of five\npounds nine shillings and six pence for necessary clothing supplied to\nsome of the Pirates in prison.\n\n\"To Major James Sewall for his pursuit and apprehension of seven of the\nPirates, and for the gratification of himself, Captain Turner, and\nother officers, one hundred and thirty-two pounds, five shillings.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The town and bay of Tobermory, Island of Mull.  The\ntreasure galleon is supposed to have gone down in the place indicated\nby the cross at the right hand side of the photograph.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe commissioners, Sewall, Byfield and Paul Dudley, received for their\nexpenses and services, twenty-five pounds, seven shillings, and ten\npence.\n\nFinally, there were given to the captains of the several companies of\nmilitia in the town for Boston, \"for their charges and expenses on\nGuards and Watches on the Pirates during their Imprisonment,\nTwenty-seven pounds, sixteen shillings, and three pence: to Captain\nTuthill, for his assistance to secure and bring about the Vessel and\ngoods from Marblehead, five pounds; to Mr. Jeremiah Allen, the\nTreasurer's bookkeeper, for his care and service about the said Gold\nand goods, five pounds; to Constable Apthorp and Jesse, for their\nservices, a further allowance of three pounds.\"\n\nThe amount of the \"royal bounty\" given the Governor as his share of the\npirates' booty, is not recorded.  If the belief of those of their\ncontemporaries who best know the Dudleys may be relied on, the fees and\nemoluments officially awarded them were by no means the extent of the\nprofits from their dealings with the pirates and their treasure.  When\nCotton Mather quarreled with Governor Dudley a few years later he did\nnot hesitate to intimate this charge pretty broadly in the following\npassage in his memorial on Dudley's administration:\n\n\"There have been odd _Collusions_ with the Pyrates of Quelch's Company,\nof which one instance is, That there was extorted the sum of about\nThirty Pounds from some of the crew for liberty to walk at certain\ntimes in the prison yard.  And this liberty having been allowed for two\nor three days unto them, they were again confined to their former\nwretched circumstances.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE ARMADA GALLEON OF TOBERMORY BAY\n\nBetween the western Highlands of Scotland and the remote, cloudy\nHebrides lies the large island of Mull on a sound of that name.  Its\nbold headlands are crowned with the ruins of gray castles that were\nonce the strongholds of the clans of the MacLeans and the MacDonalds.\nAlong these shores and waters one generation after another of kilted\nfighting men, savage as red Indians, raided and burned and slew in\nfeuds whose memories are crowded with tragedy and romance.  Near where\nMull is washed by the Atlantic and the Sound opens toward the\nthoroughfares of the deep-sea shipping is the pleasant town of\nTobermory, which in the Gaelic means Mary's Well.  The bay that it\nfaces is singularly beautiful, almost landlocked, and of a depth\nsufficient to shelter a fleet.\n\nInto this Bay of Tobermory there sailed one day a great galleon of\nSpain, belonging to that mighty Armada which had been shattered and\ndriven in frantic flight by English seamen with hearts of oak under\nDrake, Hawkins, Howard, Seymour, and Martin Frobisher, names to make\nthe blood beat faster even now.  The year was 1588, in the reign of\nElizabeth, long, long, ago.  This fugitive galleon, aforetime so tall\nand stately and ornate, was racked and leaking, her painted sails in\ntatters, her Spanish sailors sick, weary, starved, after escaping from\nthe English Channel and faring far northward around the stormy Orkneys.\nMany of her sister ships had crashed ashore on the Irish coast while\nthe surviving remnant of this magnificent flotilla wallowed forlornly\nhome.  Seeking provisions, repairs, respite from the terrors of the\nimplacable ocean the galleon _Florencia_ dropped anchor in Tobermory\nBay, and there she laid her bones.\n\nWith her, it is said, was lost a great store of treasure in gold and\nplate, and ever since 1641, for more than two and a half centuries, the\nsearch for these riches has been carried on at intervals.  More than\nlikely, if you should go in one of Donald MacBrayne's steamers through\nthe Sound of Mull next summer, and a delightful excursion it is, you\nwould find an up-to-date suction dredge and a corps of divers, employed\nby the latest syndicate to finance the treasure hunt, ransacking the\nmud of Tobermory Bay in the hope of finding the Spanish gold of the\n_Florencia_.  Many thousands have been vainly spent in the quest, but\nthe lure of lost treasure has a fascination of its own, and after all\nthe failure of Scotch and English seekers, American enterprise and\ncapital have now taken hold of this romantic task.\n\nWith the history of the _Florencia_ galleon and her treasure is\nintimately interwoven the stirring chronicle of the deeds of the\nMacLeans of Mull and the MacDonalds of Islay and Skye.  Out of the\nechoing past, the fanfare of Spanish trumpets is mingled with the skirl\nof the pipes, and the rapier of Toledo flashes beside the claymore of\nthe Highlanders.  The story really begins long before the doomed\ngalleon sought refuge in Tobermory Bay.  There were island chieftains\nof the Clan MacLean, busy at cutting the throats of their enemies, as\nfar remote in time as the thirteenth century, but their turbulent\npedigrees need not concern our narrative until the warlike figure of\nLachlan Mo'r MacLean, \"Big Lachlan,\" steps into its pages in the year\nof 1576.\n\nIt was then that he came of age and set out from the Court of James VI\nat Edinburgh, where he had been brought up, to claim his inherited\nestates of Mull.  His wicked step-father, Hector, met him in the castle\nof Duart whose stout walls and battlements still loom not far from\nTobermory and tried to set him aside with false and foolish words.  The\nastute youth perceived that if he were to come into his own, he must be\nup and doing, wherefore he speedily mustered friends and led them into\nCastle Duart by night.  They carried this scheming step-father to the\nisland of Coll and there beheaded him, which made Lachlan's title clear\nto the lands of his ancestors.\n\nThe next to mistake the mettle of young Lachlan Mo'r was no less than\nColin Campbell, sixth Earl of Argyll, head of a family very powerful in\nthe Highlands even to this day.  He was for seizing the estate by force\nafter plotting to no purpose, and Angus MacDonald of Dunyweg was\npersuaded to help him with several hundred fighting men.  Thus began\nthe feud between the MacLeans and MacDonalds which a few years later\nwas to involve that great galleon _Florencia_ of the Armada.  Argyll\nand his force wasted the lands of Lachlan with fire and sword, and\nbesieged one of his strongholds with twelve hundred followers.\n\nWar thus begun was waged without mercy, and one bloody episode followed\non the heels of another.  At the head of his clansmen, Lachlan swept\ninto Argyle's country and made him cry quits.  This was a large\nachievement, and the spirited young Lord of Duart was hailed as a\nHighland chief worthy of the king's favor.  He went to court, was\nflattered by the great men there, and became the hero of as pretty and\ngallant a romance as heart could wish.  The king arranged that he\nshould marry the daughter of the powerful Earl of Athol, and Lachlan\ncould not say his sovereign nay.  The contract arranged, he started for\nMull to make ready for the wedding, but chanced to visit on the way\nWilliam Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn, at his castle overlooking the\nClyde.\n\nCards were played to while away the evening, and Lachlan's partner was\none of the daughters of the host.  It so happened that the game was\nchanged and the players again cut for partners.  At this another\ndaughter, the fair Margaret Cunningham, whispered to her sister that if\nthe handsome Highland chief had been _her_ partner, \"she would not have\nhazarded the loss of him by cutting anew.\"  Lachlan overheard the\ncompliment, as perhaps he was meant to do, and so far as he was\nconcerned hearts were trumps from that moment.  He wooed and won\nMargaret Cunningham and married her forthwith.  The king was greatly\noffended but what cared this happy man!  He carried his bride to Duart\nand laughed at his foes.\n\nThe quiet life at home was not for him, however.  Soon he was playing\nthe game of the sword with the MacDonalds of Islay until a truce was\npatched by means of a marriage between the clans.  There was peace for\na time, but the trouble blazed anew over the matter of some lifted\ncattle, and they were at it again hammer-and-tongs.  The royal policy\nseems to have been to permit these Highland gamecocks to fight each\nother so long as they were fairly well matched.  In this case the\nvarious MacDonalds combined in such numbers against Lachlan MacLean\nthat the king interfered and persuaded them to seek terms of\nreconciliation.  Accordingly the Lord of the MacDonalds journeyed to\nDuart Castle with his retinue of bare-legged gentlemen and was\nhospitably received.  Lachlan was canny as well as braw, and he\nclinched the terms of peace by first locking the visitors in a room\nwhose walls were some twenty feet thick, and then holding as hostages\nthe two young sons of Angus MacDonald.\n\nThe high-tempered MacDonald was naturally more exasperated than\npacified, and he turned the tables when Lachlan soon after went to\nIslay to receive performance of the promises made touching certain\nlands in dispute.  The Highland code of honor was peculiar in that\ntreachery appears to have been a weapon used without scruple.  The\nMacDonalds swore that not a MacLean should suffer harm, but no sooner\nhad Lachlan and his clansmen and servants arrived than they were\nattacked at night by a large force.  The party would have been put to\nthe sword, but that Lachlan rushed into the midst of the foe holding\naloft one of MacDonald's sons as a shield.\n\nThis caused postponement of the slaughter, MacDonald offering quarter\nif his child should be delivered to him.  The MacLeans were disarmed\nand bound, except two young men who had distinguished themselves by\nlaying many a MacDonald low in the heather.  These were beheaded at\nonce, and beginning next morning two MacLeans were led out and executed\neach day in the presence of their own chief until no more than Lachlan\nand his uncle were left.  They were spared only because the sanguinary\nAngus MacDonald fell from his horse and was badly hurt before he could\nfinish his program.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Duart Castle, chief stronghold of the MacLeans.]\n\nArdnamurchan Castle, seat of the MacIans and the MacDonalds.\n\n======================================================================\n\nIt would be tiresome to relate much more of this ensanguined,\ninterminable game of give and take which was the chief business of the\nHighland clans in that century.  The clan of the MacIans whose seat was\nat Ardnamurchan Castle on Mull later sided actively with the MacDonalds\nand the feud became three-cornered.  Lachlan Mo'r MacLean was no petty\nwarrior, and his men were numbered by the thousand when he was in the\nprime of his power.  Once he fell upon the island of Islay and put to\nthe sword as many as five hundred of his foes, \"all the men capable of\nbearing arms belonging to the Clan-donald,\" says an old account.  Angus\nhimself was chased into his castle and forced to give over half of\nIslay to Lachlan to save his skin.\n\nNow, indeed, was there a mustering of the MacDonalds from near and far\nto invade Mull.  They gathered under the chiefs of Kintyre, Skye and\nIslay, with the lesser clans under MacNeil of Gigha, the MacAllisters\nof Loupe, and the MacPhees of Colonsay.  Bold Lachlan Mo'r MacLean was\noutnumbered, but a singular stroke of luck enabled him to win a\ndecisive battle.  That MacDonald who was called the Red Knight of\nSleat, was much disturbed and shaken by a dream in which a voice\nchanted a very doleful prophecy of which this is a sample:\n\n  \"Dire are the deeds the fates have doomed on thee!\n  Defeated by the sons of Gillean the invading host shall be.\n  On thee, Gearna-Dubh,[1] streams of blood shall flow;\n  And the bold Red Knight shall die ere a sword is sheathed.\"\n\n\nThis message caused the Red Knight to sound the retreat soon after the\nfray began, and his example spread panic among the force which broke\nand ran for their boats, and the best MacDonald was he who first\nreached the beach.  The claymores of the MacLeans hewed them down\nwithout mercy and their heads were chopped off and thrown into a well\nwhich has since borne a Gaelic name descriptive of the event.  It would\nseem that these clans must have exterminated each other by this time,\nbut the bleak moors and rocky slopes of these western islands bore a\nwonderful crop of fighting men, and soon the MacLeans were invading the\ncoast of Lorn and spreading havoc among the MacDonalds with great\nslaughter.\n\nLachlan found time also to seek vengeance on the MacIans for daring to\nmeddle in his affairs.  John MacIan, chief of that smaller clan which\nowed fealty to the MacDonalds, had been a suitor for the hand of\nLachlan Mo'r MacLean's mother, who was a sister of the Earl of Carlyle,\nand had a fortune in her own right.  Now the MacIan renewed his\nattentions, and Lachlan looked on grimly, aware that the motive was\ngreed of gold and lands.  His mother gave her consent but her\ntwo-fisted son made no objection until the MacIan came to Mull to claim\nhis bride.  The marriage was performed in the presence of Lachlan and\nhis most distinguished retainers, and there was a feast and much\nroaring conviviality.  In the evening, the company being hot with wine,\na rash MacIan brought up the matter of the recent feud and a pretty\nquarrel was brewed in a twinkling.\n\nSeveral of the MacIans boasted that their chief had wed \"the old lady\"\nfor the sake of her wealth.  \"Drunkards ever tell the truth,\" flung\nback a MacLean with which he plunged a dirk into the heart of the\ntactless guest.  Instantly the swords were flashing, and hardly a\nMacIan came alive out of the banqueting hall.  Lachlan missed this\nmelee, for some reason or other, but coming on the scene a little later\nhe quoted in the Gaelic a proverb which means, \"If the fox rushes upon\nthe hounds he must expect to be torn.\"  His followers took it that he\nfelt no sorrow at the fate of the MacIans, and forthwith they rushed\ninto the chamber of the bridegroom, dragged him forth, and would have\ndispatched him, but the lamentations of Lachlan's mother for once moved\nher rugged son to pity, and he contented himself with throwing the\nchief of the MacIans into the dungeon of Duart Castle.\n\nThis happened in the summer of 1588, and affairs were in this wise when\nthe galleon _Florencia_ came sailing into Tobermory Bay.  Her captain,\nDon Pareira, was a fiery sea-fighter whom misfortune had not tamed.\nThese savage Highlanders were barbarians in his eyes, and he would\nwaste no courtesy on them.  There were several hundred Spanish soldiers\nin the galleon, of the great army of troops which had been sent in the\nArmada to invade England, and Captain Pareira thought himself in a\nposition to demand what he wanted.  He sent a boat ashore with a\nmessage to Lachlan Mo'r MacLean at his castle at Duart, asking that\nprovisions be furnished him, and adding that in case of refusal or\ndelay he should take them by force.  To this Lachlan sent back the\nhaughty reply that \"the wants of the distressed strangers should be\nattended to after the captain of the Spanish ship had been taught a\nlesson in courteous behavior.  In order that the lesson might be taught\nhim as speedily as possible, he was invited to land and supply his\nwants by the forcible means of which he boasted.  It was not the custom\nof the Chief of the MacLeans to pay attention to the demands of a\nthreatening and insolent beggar.\"\n\nAt this it may be presumed that Captain Pareira swore a few rounds of\ncrackling oaths in his beard as he strode his high-pooped quarter-deck.\nHis men who had gone ashore reported that the MacLean was an ill man to\ntrifle with and that he had best be let alone.  Already the clan was\ngathering to repel a landing force from the galleon.  The captain of\nthe battered _Florencia_ took wiser counsel with himself and perceived\nthat he had threatened over hastily.  Pocketing his pride, he assured\nthe ruffled Lachlan of Castle Duart that he would pay with gold for\nwhatever supplies might be granted him.\n\nLachlan had other fish to fry, for the MacDonalds, exceedingly wroth at\nthe scurvy treatment dealt that luckless bridegroom and ally, the chief\nof the MacIans, were up in arms and making ready to avenge the black\ninsult.  In need of men to defend himself, Lachlan MacLean struck a\nbargain with the captain of the galleon.  If Pareira should lend him a\nhundred soldiers from the _Florencia_ he would consider this service as\npart payment for the supplies and assistance desired.\n\nAway marched the contingent from the galleon in company with the\nMacLean clansmen, and laid siege to the MacIan castle of Mingarry after\nravaging the small islands of Rum and Eigg.  Lachlan Mo'r was carrying\nall before him, burning, killing, plundering both MacDonalds and\nMacIans, when Captain Pareira sent him word that the _Florencia_ was\nready to sail, and he should like to have his soldiers returned.  To\nthis MacLean replied that the account between them had not been wholly\nsquared.  There was the matter of payment promised in addition to the\nloan of the soldiers.  The people of Tobermory and thereabouts had sent\ngrain and cattle aboard the galleon, and they must have their money\nbefore sailing day.\n\nCaptain Pareira promised that every satisfaction should be given before\nhe left the country, and again requested that his hundred _soldadoes_\nbe marched back to their ship.\n\nThis Lachlan was willing to do, but still suspecting the commander of\nthe galleon as a wily bird, he detained three of the officers of the\ntroops as hostages to assure final settlement.  Then he sent on board\nthe _Florencia_ young Donald Glas, son of the MacLean of Morvern, to\ncollect what was due and adjust the affair.  No sooner had he set foot\non deck, than he was disarmed and bundled below by order of Pareira who\nconsidered that two could play at holding that form of collateral known\nas hostages.\n\nNow ensued a dead-lock.  Lachlan MacLean refused to yield up his brace\nof Spanish officers unless the demands of his people were paid in full,\nwhile Captain Pareira kept Donald Glas locked in a cabin and swore to\ncarry him to sea.  The tragedy which followed is told in the traditions\nof Mull to this day.  When Donald Glas learned that he was kidnapped in\nthe galleon, he resolved to wreak dreadful revenge for the treachery\ndealt his kinsmen.  On the morning when the _Florencia_ weighed anchor,\nan attendant who had been confined with him was sent on shore and\nDonald sent word of his fell intention to the chief of the clan.\n\nOvernight Donald Glas had discovered that only a bulkhead separated his\ncabin from the powder magazine of the galleon, and by some means, which\ntradition omits to explain, he cut a hole through the planking and laid\na train ready for the match.  Just before the _Florencia_ weighed\nanchor he was fetched on deck for a moment to take his last sight of\nthe heathery hills of Mull and Morvern.  Then the captive was thrust\nback into his cabin, and with her great, gay banners trailing from\naloft, the galleon made sail and began slowly to move away from the\nshore of Tobermory Bay.\n\nIt was then that Donald Glas, true MacLean was he, fired his train of\npowder, and bang! the magazine exploded.  The galleon was torn asunder\nwith terrific violence, and the bodies of her soldiers and mariners\nwere flung far over the bay and even upon the shore.  So complete was\nthe destruction that only three of the several hundred Spaniards\nescaped alive.  The _Florencia_ had vanished in a manner truly epic,\nand proud were the MacLeans of the deed of young Donald Glas who gave\nhis life for the honor of his clan.\n\nOne of the surviving traditions is that a dog belonging to Captain\nPareira was hurled ashore alive.  The faithful creature, when it had\nrecovered from its hurts, refused to leave that part of the strand\nnearest the wreck, and continued to howl most piteously by day and\nnight as long as it existed, which was more than a year.  The Spanish\nofficers, who had remained as hostages in the hands of Lachlan Mo'r\nMacLean were set at liberty by that sometimes courteous chief, and were\npermitted to proceed to Edinburgh where they lodged complaint with the\nking touching the destruction of their galleon.  The matter of Captain\nPareira having been disposed of in this explosive fashion, Lachlan\nMacLean returned to his main business of harrying the MacDonalds, and\nso fiercely and destructively was the feud conducted thereafter, that\nKing James thought it time to interfere, lest he should have no\nsubjects left in the Western Highlands.  The warring chiefs were\nsummoned to Edinburgh and imprisoned and fined, after which they made\ntheir peace with the king and returned to their island realms.  The\naffair of the _Florencia_ was named in the charges brought against\nMacLean.  In the official records of Holyrood Palace, seat of the\nScottish kings, is this information, laid before the Privy Council on\nJanuary 3rd, 1591:\n\nThat in the preceding October, Lachlan MacLean \"accompanied with a\ngreat number of thieves, broken men and ... of clans, besides the\nnumber of one hundred Spaniards, came to the properties of His Majesty,\nCanna, Rum, Eigg and the Isle of Elenole, and after they had wracked\nand spoiled the said islands, they treasonably raised fire, and in\nmaist barbarous, shameful and cruel manner, burnt the same island, with\nthe men, women and children there, not sparing the youths and infants;\nand at the same time past came to the Castle of Ardnamurchan, besieged\nthe same, and lay about the said castle three days, using in the\nmeantime all kinds of hostilities and force, both by fire and sword....\nThe like barbarous and shameful cruelty has seldom been heard of among\nChristians in any kingdom or age.\"\n\nOn the 20th of March, 1588, King James \"granted a remission to Lachlan\nMacLean of Duart for the cruel murder of certain inhabitants of the\nislands of Rum, Canna, and Eigg,\" but from the remission was excepted\nthe \"plotting or felonious burning and flaming up, by sulphurous\npowder, of a Spanish ship and of the men and provisions in her, near\nthe island of Mull.\"\n\nSwift and tragic as was the fate of Captain Pareira and his ship's\ncompany, it was perhaps more merciful than that which befell the great\nsquadron of galleons of the Armada that were cast on the coast of\nIreland, on the rocks of Clare and Kerry, in Galway Bay, and along the\nshores of Sligo and Donegal.  More than thirty ships perished in this\nway, and of the eight thousand half-drowned wretches who struggled\nashore no more than a handful escaped slaughter at the hands of the\nwild Irish who knocked them on the head with battle-axes or stripped\nthem naked and left them to die of the cold.  Many were Spanish\ngentlemen, richly clad, with gold chains and rings, and the common\nsailors and soldiers had each a bag of ducats lashed to his wrist when\nhe landed through the surf.  They were slain for their treasure, and on\none sand strip of Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred\nbodies.\n\nIn a letter to Queen Elizabeth, Sir E. Bingham, Governor of Ulster,\nwrote of the wreckage of twelve Armada ships which he knew of, \"the men\nof which ships did all perish in the sea save the number of eleven\nhundred or upwards which we put to the sword; amongst whom there were\ndivers gentlemen of quality and service, as captains, masters of ships,\nlieutenants, ensign bearers, other inferior officers and young\ngentlemen to the number of some fifty.... which being spared from the\nsword till orders must be had from the Lord Deputy how to proceed\nagainst them, I had special directions sent me to see them executed as\nthe rest were, only reserving alive one Don Luis de Cordova, and a\nyoung gentleman, his nephew, till your Highness's pleasure be known.\"\n\nAlas, Elizabeth could not find it in her heart to spare even these two\nluckless gentlemen of Spain, and one judges those rude Highlanders less\nharshly for their bloodthirsty feuds at learning that the great Queen\nherself \"ordered their immediate execution when she received the\nletter, and it was duly carried out.\"\n\nFroude, in his essay \"The Defeat of the Armada,\" comes to the defense\nof Elizabeth, or at least he pleads extenuating circumstances.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Defeat of the Spanish Armada.  From the painting by P.\nde Loutherbourg.]\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who fell into the hands of\nthe English garrisons of Galway and Mayo.  Galleons had found their way\ninto Galway Bay,--one of them had reached Galway itself,--the crews\nhalf dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water.\nThe Galway townsmen were humane, and tried to feed and care for them.\nMost were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion.  Some\nmight have recovered, but recovered they would be a danger to the\nState.  The English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the\nmidst of a sullen, half-conquered population.  The ashes of the Desmond\nrebellion were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine\nCommission were fresh in immediate memory.  The defeat of the Armada in\nthe Channel could only have been vaguely heard of.\n\n\"All that the English officers could have accurately known must have\nbeen that an enormous expedition had been sent to England by Philip to\nrestore the Pope; and Spaniards, they found, were landing in thousands\nin the midst of them with arms and money; distressed for the moment,\nbut sure, if allowed time to get their strength again, to set Connaught\nin a blaze.  They had no fortresses to hold so many prisoners, no means\nof feeding them, no more to spare to escort them to Dublin.  They were\nresponsible to the Queen's Government for the safety to the country.\nThe Spaniards had not come on any errand of mercy to her or hers.  The\nstern order went out to kill them all wherever they might be found, and\ntwo thousand or more were shot, hanged, or put to the sword.  Dreadful!\nYes, but war itself is dreadful, and has its own necessities.\"\n\nA quaint recital of the fate of these fleeing galleons is to be found\nin a history published by order of Oliver Cromwell, with the title of\n\"Old England Forever, or Spanish Cruelty Displayed.\"  One chapter runs\nas follows:\n\n\"_Here followeth a particular Account of the Miserable Condition of the\nSpanish Fleet, fled to the North of Scotland, and scattered, for many\nWeeks, on the Sea-Coasts of Ireland.  Written October 19, 1588_.\n\n\"About the Beginning of August, the Fleet was, by Tempest, driven\nbeyond the Isles of Orkney, the Place being above 60 Leagues North\nLatitude (as already mentioned) a very unaccustomed climate for the\nYoung Gallants of Spain, who did never before feel Storms on the Sea\nnor cold weather in August.  And about those Northern Islands their\nMariners and Soldiers died daily by Multitudes, as by their Bodies cast\non land did appear.  And after twenty Days or more, having passed their\nTime in great Miseries, they being desirous to return Home to Spain,\nsailed very far Southward into the Ocean to recover Spain.\n\n\"But the Almighty, who always avenges the Cause of his afflicted People\nwho put their Confidence in Him, and brings down his Enemies who exalt\nthemselves to the Heavens, order'd the Winds to be violently\ncontrarious to this proud Navy, that it was with Force dissevered on\nthe High Seas to the West of Ireland; and so a great number of them\nwere driven into divers dangerous Bays, and upon Rocks, all along the\nWest and North Parts of Ireland, in sundry Places distant above an\nhundred Miles asunder, and there cast away, some sunk, some broken,\nsome run on sands, and some were burned by the Spaniards themselves.\n\n\"As in the North Part of Ireland, towards Scotland, between the two\nRivers of Lough-foile and Lough-sivelly, nine were driven on Shore, and\nmany of them broke, and the Spaniards forced to come to Land for Succor\namong the Wild Irish.\n\n\"In another Place, twenty miles South West from thence, in a Bay called\nBorreys, twenty Miles Northward from Galloway, belonging to the Earl of\nOrmond, one special great Ship of 1000 Tons, with 50 Brass Pieces, and\nfour Cannons was sunk, and all the People drowned, saving 16, who by\ntheir Apparel, as it is advertized out of Ireland, seemed to be Persons\nof Great Distinction.\n\n\"Then to come more to the Southward, thirty Miles upon the coast of\nThomond, North from the River of Shannon, two or three more perished,\nwhereof one was burned by the Spaniards themselves, and so driven to\nthe Shore.  Another was of San Sebastian, wherein were 300 men, who\nwere also all drowned, saving 60; a third Ship, with all her Lading was\ncast away at a Place called Breckan.\n\n\"In another Place, opposite Sir Tirlogh O'Brien's House, there was\nanother great Ship lost, supposed to be a Galleass.  The Losses above\nmentioned were betwixt the 5th, and 10th of September; as was\nadvertized from sundry Places out of Ireland.  So as by accompt. from\nthe 21st of July, when this Navy was first beaten by the Navy of\nEngland, until the 10th of September, being the space of Seven Weeks,\nand more, it is very probable that the said Navy had never had one good\nDay or Night.\"\n\n\nThat much treasure of gold and jewels and plate went down in these lost\ngalleons was the opinion of Scotch and Irish tradition, but these\nstories gained the greatest credence in the case of the _Florencia_ of\nTobermory Bay.  She was said to have contained the paymaster's chests\nof the Armada, and to have carried to the bottom thirty million ducats\nof money, and the church plate of fabulous richness.  It is certain\nthat the _Florencia_ was one of the largest galleons of the Armada and\nthat she never returned to Spain.  Her armament comprised fifty-two\nguns, and her company numbered 400 soldiers and eighty-six sailors.  It\nis probable that this was the _Florencia_ belonging to the Duke of\nTuscany, which was refitting at Santander in September, 1587,\nconcerning which Lord Ashley wrote to Walsingham, after the destruction\nof the Armada, that she was commanded by a grandee of the first rank\nwho was always \"served on silver.\"\n\nWhile even now the most painstaking investigation is unable to find\ndefinite information regarding the amount of treasure lost in the\ngalleon of Tobermory Bay, that she contained a vast amount of riches\nwas believed as early as a half century after her destruction.  The\npapers of the great house of Argyll record the beginning of the search\nalmost as far away as 1640.  Of these fascinating documents, the first\nis the grant to the Marquis of Argyll and his heirs by the Duke of\nLennox and Richmond, Lord High Admiral, with consent of King Charles\nthe First, of all rights and ownership in the wreck of the _Florencia_\nand her treasure.  The deed of gift is dated from the Court of St.\nTheobold's, February 5th, 1641 and \"proceeds upon the narrative that in\nthe year 1588, when the great Spanish Armada was sent from Spain\ntowards England and Scotland, and was dispersed by the mercie of God,\nthere were divers ships and other vessels of the Armada, with\nornaments, munition, goods, and gear, which were thought to be of great\nworth, cast away, and sunk to the sea ground on the coast of Mull, near\nTobermory, in the Scots seas, where they lay, and still lie as lost;\nand that the Marquis of Argyll, near whose bounds the ships were lost,\nhaving taken notice thereof, and made inquiries therefor, and having\nheard some doukers[2] and other experts in such matters state that they\nconsider it possible to recover some of the ships and their valuables,\nwas moved to take and to cause pains to be taken thereupon at his own\ncharges and hazard.\n\n\"For this reason, the Great Admiral, with the King's consent, gives,\ngrants, and disposes to the Marquis the said ships, ornaments,\nmunition, etc.  of the Spanish Armada, and the entire profit that might\nfollow, or that he had already obtained therefrom, with full power to\nthe Marquis, his doukers, seamen, and others to search for the ships,\nand intromit with them, providing the Marquis were accountable and made\nprompt payment to the Duke of Lennox and Richmond of a hundredth part\nof the ships, etc. with deduction of the expenses incurred for their\nrecovery, _pro rata_.\"\n\nIn these words the Crown assigned the treasure of the _Florencia_ to\nthe house of Argyll as part of its admiralty rights along that coast\nwhere marched the family estates.  In 1665, the ninth Earl of Argyll,\nson of him who had obtained ownership of the galleon, employed an\nexpert diver and wrecker by the name of James Mauld to search for the\ntreasure of ducats and plate.  It was an attractive speculation for\nthat notable \"douker\" who was promised four-fifths of all the \"gold,\nsilver, metal, goods, etc.\" recovered and incidentally the Earl bound\nhimself \"that the same James Mauld shall not be molested in his work,\nand that his workmen shall have peaceable living in these parts during\ntheir stay, and traveling through the Highlands and Isles, and shall be\nfree from all robberies, thefts, etc. so far as the said Earl can\nprevent the same.  The said contract provides further lodging houses\nfor the workmen at the usual rates, and is fixed to endure for three\nyears after March 1, 1666.\"\n\nThese divers easily found the hull of the galleon, and they made a\nchart showing its exact bearings by landmarks on two sides of the bay.\nThis ancient chart of the \"Spanish wrack\" as it is labeled, is owned by\nthe present Duke of Argyll, and has been used by the modern treasure\nseekers who are unable even with its aid to find the remains of the\n_Florencia_, so deeply have her timbers sunk in the tide-swept silt of\nthe bay.  The interest of the ninth Earl of Argyll in exploring the\ngalleon was diverted by Monmouth's Rebellion in which luckless\nadventure he became an active leader.  He was made prisoner and\nsuffered the loss of his head which abruptly snuffled out his romantic\nactivities as a seeker after lost treasure.\n\nHe left among his papers a memorandum concerning the galleon, under\ndate of 1677, which states that \"the Spanish wrackship was reputed to\nhave been the _Admiral of Florence_, one of the Armada of 1588, a ship\nof fifty-six guns, with 30,000,000 of money on board.  It was burned\nand so blown up that two men standing upon the cabin were cast safe on\nshore.  It lay in a very good road, landlocked betwixt a little island\nand a bay in the Isle of Mull, a place where vessels ordinarily\nanchored free of any violent tide, with hardly any stream, a clean,\nhard channel, with a little sand on the top, and little or no mud in\nmost places about, upon ten fathoms at high water and about eight at\nground ebb.\n\n\"The fore part of the ship above water was quite burned, so that from\nthe mizzen mast to the foreship, no deck was left.  The hull was full\nof sand and the Earl caused it to be searched a little without finding\nanything but a great deal of cannon ball about the main mast, and some\nkettles, and tankers of copper, and such like in other places.  Over\nthe hindship, where the cabin was, there was a heap of great timber\nwhich it would be difficult to remove, but under this is the _main\nexpectation_.\n\n\"The deck under the cabin was thought to be entire.  The cannon lay\ngenerally at some yards distance from the ship, from two to twenty.\nThe Earl's father had the gift of the ship, and attempted the recovery\nof it, but from want of skilled workmen he did not succeed.  In 1666,\nthe Laird of Melgum (James Mauld), who had learned the art of the\n(diving) bell in Sweden and had made a considerable fortune by it,\nentered into a contract with the Earl for three years by which Melgum\nwas to be at all the charge, and to give the Earl the fifth part of\nwhat was brought up.  He wrought only three months, and most of the\ntime was spent in mending his bells and sending for material he needed,\nso that he raised only two brass cannon of a large calibre, but very\nbadly fortified, and a great iron gun.\n\n\"After this, being invited to England, he wrought no more, thinking his\ntrade a secret, and that the Spanish ship would wait for him.  On the\nexpiring of the contract, the Earl undertook the work alone and without\nthe aid of any one who had ever seen diving, recovered six cannon, one\nof which weighed near six hundred weight.  The Earl afterwards entered\ninto a contract with a German who undertook great things, and talked of\nbringing a vessel of forty guns, but instead brought only a yacht and\nrecovered only one anchor, going away soon after, taking his gold with\nhim and leaving some debt behind.\n\n\"The contract with the German has expired, and the Earl is provided\nwith a vessel, bells, ropes, and tongs, and with men to work by\ndirection, yet, although he is confident in his own understanding of\nthe art of diving with the bell, he is willing to enter into a\ncontract.  He will dispone (grant) the vessel for three years, provided\nthe contractor should keep four skilled men to work in seasonable\nweather from May 1 to October 1.  The Earl will furnish a ship of 60 or\n70 tons with twelve seamen, and give his partner a fifth part of the\nproceeds.  If a Crown were found it was to be exempted from the\ndivision and presented to his Majesty....\n\n\"It is concluded that if the money expected be fallen upon, the fifth\npart will quickly pay all expenses, and reward the ingenious artist,\nand if that fail, the cannon will certainly repay the charges.\"\n\nThere are also preserved articles of agreement, dated December 18th,\n1676, by which the Earl makes over a three-year concession to John\nSaint Clare, minister at Ormistoun in Scotland, \"for himself and as\ntaking burden for his father,\" to search the wreck on shares, the Earl\nreserving \"one-third part of what should be recovered during the first\nyear, and one-half of what should be recovered during the last two\nyears.\"  It is also provided that \"if the Saint Clares were disturbed\nduring the first year, so as not to be able to work or raise the wreck\nwithout damage to their persons (by reason of the unsettled state of\nthe country), the contract should be regarded as not taking effect for\na year.  The Earl binds himself to produce before November 1, 1676, his\nright to the ship, under the Great Seal of Scotland, at Edinburgh, and\nto deliver a copy of it to the Saint Clares.  John Saint Clare,\nyounger, binds himself to repair with all skill for its recovery, and\nfor the recovery of the valuables, during the space of three years, and\nto make true account and payment of the shares above reserved to the\nEarl and his heirs, etc.  Lastly, both parties oblige themselves\nfaithfully to observe all the articles of agreement under the\nliquidated penalty of 2,000 marks, Scots.\"\n\nThe Saint Clares, or Sinclairs, as the name is spelled in other\ndocuments of the same tenor, assigned their rights and contract to one\nHans Albricht von Treibelen, who was probably that German referred to\nby the Earl as taking his gold with him and leaving his debts behind.\nThis document contains a fascinating mention of \"all that might be\nfound in the water and about the ship, as gold, silver, bullion,\njewels, etc.\" and sets forth a new scheme of division of the spoils.\nNow there appears Captain Adolpho E. Smith as a partner of Hans\nAlbricht von Treibelen, and one finds another parchment executed by the\nEarl who appears to have thought that these \"doukers\" would bear\nwatching, for they are enjoined \"immediately on the recovery of the\nwreck to deliver on the spot to the Earl's factors or servants who are\ndaily to attend the work and to be witnesses of what is recovered....\nShould the work be impeded by the violence of the country people, it is\nprovided that the term of the contract might be lengthened.\"\n\nThe repeated references to molestation by the inhabitants round about\nwere aimed at the Clan MacLean.  The great Lachlan M'or had long since\nclosed his stormy career, and, wrapped in his plaid, his bones were\nsmouldering in a grave by Duart Castle.  His kinsmen had good memories,\nhowever, and there was that debt for provisions which had been left\nowing by Captain Pareira of the _Florencia_ some eighty years before.\nIt might seem that young Donald Glas had squared the account when he\nblew the galleon and her crew to kingdom come, but the MacLeans were\nmen to nurse the embers of a feud and set the sparks to flying at the\nnext opportunity.  They held it that theirs was the first right to the\nwreck, and cared not a rap for any documentary rights that might have\nbeen granted to the Campbells (the clan of the Earls of Argyll), by the\nGreat Admiral of Scotland.\n\nHector MacLean, brother of Lachlan MacLean of Castle Torloisk, near\nTobermory, rallied a force and drove the divers from the wreck.  Then,\nin order that there might be no doubt about the views of the MacLeans,\nthey built a small fort overlooking the bay and the scene of the wreck,\nthe ruins of which still survive.  There a detachment was posted with\norders to make it hot for any interlopers who might try to find the\nsunken treasure without first consulting the MacLeans.\n\nThis interference found its way into the Courts at Edinburgh in the\nform of a petition of grievances suffered by Captain Adolpho E. Smith.\nHe swore before a notary that John MacLean, of Kinlochalan, and John\nMacLean, a servitor to Lachlan MacLean of Torloisk, \"had convocated six\nor seven score of armed men, and he had exhibited to them a royal\nwarrant bearing his Majesty's protection and free liberty to Captain\nSmith and his servants to work at the wreck-ship at Tobermory, and\nprohibiting any of his Majesty's subjects from interrupting them.\nCaptain Smith then required the MacLeans to dissipate the armed men,\npart of whom were in a fort or trench at Tobermory, newly built by them\nfor interrupting the work, and the rest in the place or houses\nadjacent,--as John MacLean of Kinlochalan acknowledged,--and in his\nMajesty's name required them to give him and his men liberty to\nprosecute their work at the wreck.\n\n\"Upon this Kinlochalan answered that the men in arms were not commanded\nby him but by Hector MacLean, brother of Lachlan MacLean of Torloisk,\nand others; and he declared that not only would Captain Smith and his\nmen be hindered, but that the men in arms would shoot guns, muskets and\npistols at them, should any of them offer to duck or work at the wreck.\nWhereupon Captain Smith took this instrument, protesting against the\naforesaid MacLeans and their accomplices, at Tobermory in Mull, 7\nSeptember, 1678.\"  The militant and tenacious MacLeans struck terror to\nthe heart of Captain Adolpho Smith, according to another official\ndocument called a \"notorial instrument at the instance of William\nCampbell, skipper to the Earl of Argyll's frigate, called _Anna of\nArgyll_.  This worthy sea dog, it appears, as procurator for the Earl,\"\nhad compeared, desired, and required Captain Adolpho E. Smith and his\nmen to duck and work at the wreckship and to conform to the minutes of\ncontract betwixt the Earl and him, otherwise to give the bells, sinks,\nand other instruments necessary for ducking to William Campbell, and\nthe men on board the Earl's frigate, who would duck them without any\nregard to the threatenings of the MacLeans.\n\n\"Notwithstanding this, Captain Smith and his men refused to duck and\nwork, or to give over the bells, etc., necessary for the work to\nWilliam Campbell who thereupon, as procurator for the Earl of Argyll\nasked and took instruments and protested against Captain Smith for\ncost, skaith, and damage conform to the contract.  The instrument was\ntaken by Donald McKellar, notary public, at and aboard the yacht\nbelonging to Captain Adolpho E. Smith, lying in the Bay of Tobermory in\nMull, 7 September, 1678.\"\n\nThe wreck of the galleon was fought over about this time, not only by\nthe mettlesome MacLeans but also by the Duke of York as Lord High\nAdmiral of Scotland and the Isles, succeeding in that office the Duke\nof Lennox.  He challenged the rights of the house of Argyll to the\n_Florencia_ and her treasure and instituted legal proceedings in due\nform which were decided in favor of the defendant, thereby confirming\nfor all time the possession of the wreck, which belongs to the present\nDuke of Argyll.  The verdict read in part as follows:\n\n\"The rights, reasons, and allegations of the parties, and the gifts and\nratifications therein referred to, produced by Archibald, Earl of\nArgyll, being at length heard and seen, the Lords of Council and\nSession assoilized the said Archibald Earl of Argyll from the hail\npoints and articles of the summons libelled or precept intended and\npursued against him at the instance of said William Aikman,\nProcurator-Fiscal of the Admiralty, before said Lord High Admiral and\nhis deputies, and decreed and declared him quit and free thereof in all\ntime coming.  Dated 27th, July, 1677.\"\n\nThere comes into the story, during the lifetime of the ninth Earl, the\nfigure of Sir William Sacheverall, Governor of the Isle of Man, who was\ninterested as a partner in one of the several concessions granted.  He\nhad left an account of his voyage to Mull in the year 1672, printed\nshortly after the event, in which he not only records sundry efforts to\nfish up the treasure but gives also a lively and vivid picture of the\nprimitive Highlander on his native heather.\n\n\"About twelve o'clock,\" he wrote, \"we made the Sound of Mull.  We\nsaluted the Castle of Duart with five guns, and they returned three.  I\nsent in my pinnace for the boats, and things you had left there; and in\nthe evening we cast anchor in the Bay of Tauber Murry, which for its\nbigness, is one of the finest and fastest in the world.  The mouth of\nit is almost shut up with a little woody island call'd the Calve, the\nopening to the South not passable for small boats at low-water, and\nthat to the North barely Musquet-shot over.  To the Landward, it is\nsurrounded with high Mountains cover'd with woods, pleasantly\nintermixed with rocks, and three or four Cascades of water which throw\nthemselves from the top of the Mountain with a pleasure that is\nastonishing, all of which together make one of the oddest and most\ncharming Prospects I ever saw.\n\n\"Italy itself, with all the assistance of Art, can hardly afford\nanything more beautiful and diverting; especially when the weather was\nclear and serene, to see the Divers sinking three-score foot under\nwater and stay sometimes above an hour, and at last returning with the\nspoils of the Ocean; whether it were Plate, or Money, it convinced us\nof the Riches and Splendor of the once thought _Invincible Armada_.\nThis rais'd a variety of Ideas, in a Soul as fond of Novelty as mine.\nSometimes I reflected with horror on the danger of the British Nation,\nsometimes with Pleasure on that generous Courage and Conduct that sav'd\na sinking State; and sometimes of so great an Enterprize baffled and\nlost, by accidents unthought of and unforseen....\n\n\"The first week the weather was pleasant, but spent in fitting our\nEngines, which proved very well, and every way suited to the design;\nand our Divers outdid all examples of this nature.  But with the\nDog-Days the autumnal rains usually begin in these parts, and for six\nweeks we had scarce a good day.  The whole frame of Nature seem'd\ninhospitable, bleak, stormy, rainy, windy, so that our Divers could not\nbear the cold, and despairing to see any amendment of weather I\nresolved on a journey across the Isle of Mull, to the so much\ncelebrated II-Columb-Kill,[3] in English St. Columb's Church....\n\n\"The first four miles we saw but few houses, but cross'd a wild desert\ncountry, with a pleasant mixture of Woods and Mountains.  Every man and\nthing I met seem'd a Novelty.  I thought myself entering upon a new\nScene of Nature, but Nature rough and unpolished, in her undress.  I\nobserved the men to be large bodied, stout, subtile, active, patient of\ncold and hunger.  There appeared in all their actions a certain\ngenerous air of freedom, and contempt of those trifles, Luxury and\nAmbition, which we so servilely creep after.  They bound their\nappetites by their necessities and their happiness consists not in\nhaving much, but in coveting little.\n\n\"The Women seem to have the same sentiments as the men; tho' their\nHabits were mean, and they had not our sort of breeding, yet in many of\nthem there was a natural Beauty, and a graceful Modesty which never\nfails of attracting.  The usual outward habit of both sexes is the\nPlaid; the women's much finer, the colours more lively, and the squares\nlarger than the men's, and put me in mind of the ancient Picts.  This\nserves them for a Veil and covers both head and body.  The men wear\ntheirs after another manner; when designed for ornament it is loose and\nflowing, like the mantles our painters give their Heroes.\n\n\"Their thighs are bare, with brawny Muscles; a thin brogue on the foot,\na short buskin of various colours on the leg, tied above the calf with\na strip'd pair of garters.  On each side of a large Shot-pouch hangs a\nPistol and a Dagger; a round Target on their backs, a blue Bonnet on\ntheir heads, in one hand a broadsword, and a musquet in the other.\nPerhaps no nation goes better arm'd, and I assure you they will handle\nthem with bravery and dexterity, especially the Sword and Target, as\nour veteran Regiments found to their cost at Killie Crankie.\"\n\nAlthough Sir William Sacheverall, he of the facile pen and the romantic\ntemper, brought no Spanish treasure to light, he helped us to see those\nfighting MacLeans and MacDonalds as they were in their glory, and his\ndescription was written almost two and a half centuries ago.\n\nThe \"Spanish wrack\" was handed down from one chief of the Campbell clan\nto another, as part of the estate, until in 1740, John, the second Duke\nof Argyll, decided to try his luck, and employed a diving bell, by\nwhich means a magnificent bronze cannon was recovered.  It has since\nbeen kept at Inverary Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Argyll, as an\nheirloom greatly esteemed.  This elaborately wrought piece of ordnance,\nalmost eleven feet in length, bears the arms of Francis I of France\n(for whom it was cast at Fontainebleau) and the fleur-de-lis.  It was\nprobably captured from Francis at the battle of Pavia during his\ninvasion of Italy, and the Spanish records state that several of such\ncannon were put on a vessel contributed to the Armada by the state of\nTuscany.  At the same time a large number of gold and silver coins were\nfound by the divers, and the treasure seeking was thereby freshly\nencouraged.  Modern experts in wrecking and salvage have agreed that\nthe crude apparatus of those earlier centuries was inadequate to combat\nthe difficulties of exploring a wreck of the type of the _Florencia_\ngalleon, built as she was of great timbers of the iron-like African oak\nwhich to-day is found to be staunch and unrotted after a submersion of\nmore than three hundred years.\n\nThe diving bells of those times were dangerous and clumsy, and easily\ncapsized.  The men worked from inside them by thrusting out hooks and\ntong-like appliances, and dared venture no deeper than eight fathoms,\nor less than fifty feet.  In other words, the treasure might be in the\ngalleon, but it was impossible to find and bring it up.  For another\ncentury and more, the _Florencia_ was left undisturbed until about\nforty years ago, the present Duke of Argyll, then Marquis of Lorne,\nconsidered it his family duty to investigate the bottom of Tobermory\nBay, his curiosity being pricked at finding the ancient chart, and\nother documents already quoted, among the archives stored in Inverary\nCastle.  More for sport than for profit, he sent down a diver who found\na few coins, pieces of oak, and a brass stanchion, after which the\nowner bothered his head no more about these phantom riches for some\ntime.\n\nIn 1903, or three hundred and fifteen years after the _Florencia_ found\nher grave in Tobermory Bay, a number of gentlemen of Glasgow, rashly\nspeculative for Scots, formed a company and subscribed a good many\nthousand dollars to equip and maintain a treasure-seeking expedition by\nmodern methods.  The Duke of Argyll, like his ancestors before him, was\nready to grant permission to search the wreck of the galleon for a term\nof years, conditioned upon a fair division of the spoils.  He let them\nhave the chart, without which no treasure hunt deserves the name, and\nall the family papers dealing with the _Florencia_.  In charge of the\noperations was placed Captain William Burns of Glasgow, a hard-headed\nand vastly experienced wrecker who had handled many important salvage\nenterprises for the marine underwriters in seas near and far.\n\nThe contrast between this twentieth century syndicate with its steam\ndredges and electric lights, and that primitive age when the MacLeans\nwere harassing Captain Adolpho Smith from their fort beside the bay, is\nfairly astonishing.  The gentlemen of Glasgow were not moved by\nsentiment, however, and soon Captain Burns was spending their money in\na preliminary survey of the waters and the sands where the galleon was\nsupposed to be.  Although the ancient chart was explicit in its\nbearings, and these were made when men were living who had seen a part\nof the wreck above tide, locating the _Florencia_ proved to be a\nbaffling puzzle.  During the first season, 1903, divers and lighters\nwere employed in this work of searching, but the salvage consisted of\nno more than another bronze cannon loaded with a stone ball, several\nswords, scabbards, and blunderbusses, a gold ring, and some fifty\ndoubloons bearing the names of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Don Carlos.\n\nTwo years later, in 1905, the work was fairly begun with a costly\nequipment.  The bottom of the bay was photographed and a mound of sand\nrevealed, which, it was concluded, covered the surviving part of the\ngalleon.  Digging into this bank, the divers found many curious\ntrophies, among them more arms and munition, bottles or canteens,\nboarding pikes, copper powder pans, and other small furniture, much\ncorroded and encrusted.  It was surmised that the vessel lay with her\nstern cocked up, and that in this end, indicated by the swelling of the\nsand bank, the treasure was hidden.\n\nPowerful suction pumps worked by steam were set going to clear away\nthis bank, and they bored into it steadily for three weeks while the\ndivers dug shafts to clear away obstructions.  At length, a massive\nsilver candlestick was fetched up, and the sand pumps clanked more\nindustriously than ever.  At the end of the summer, about one hundred\nsquare feet of the bank had been removed, but the whereabouts of the\ngalleon was by no means certain.\n\nAs soon as the weather became favorable in the following spring,\nCaptain Burns and his crew returned to the quest with more men and\nmachinery than before.  It was really impossible that such a business\nas this could be carried on without some touch of the fantastic and the\npicturesque.  There now intrudes a Mr. Cossar, employed as \"the famous\nexpert, who, by means of delicate apparatus can indicate where metal or\nwood is buried in any quantity underground,\" and he spent the summer\ntaking observations and buoying the bay with floats or markers.  At\nthese places boring was carried on means of steel rods to a depth of\none hundred and forty feet, while the dredges were busy exploring the\nvicinity of the sand bank.\n\nThe area thoroughly explored was increased to eight acres in 1906, in\nwater from seven to fourteen fathoms deep.  That famous expert, Mr.\nCossar, and his delicate apparatus were reinforced by Mr. John Stears\nof Yorkshire, one of the most notable diviners of England.  He operated\nwith no more apparatus than a hawthorn twig and professed to be able to\nlocate precious metals no matter how many fathoms deep, and more than\nthis, _mirabile dictu_, to tell you whether it was gold, or silver, or\ncopper that made his inspired twig twist and bend in his fingers.  Mr.\nStears was taken as seriously as Mr. Cossar had been, and the findings\nof one confirmed the verdicts of the other.  The powerful salvage\nsteamer _Breamer_ with a large crew searched where the diviner told\nthem to go, and several pieces of silver plate were recovered amid the\nexcitement of all hands.\n\nThe _Breamer_ continued work in 1907, but during the next year the\nwaters of Tobermory Bay were unvexed by the treasure-seekers.  Then the\nsyndicate went into its pockets for more cash, got its second wind, so\nto speak, and wrapped its operations in a cloud of secrecy, quite the\nproper dodge for a venture of this kind.  A new and taciturn crew was\nhired for the _Breamer_, and whatever was found under water was hidden\nfrom prying eyes.  The additional funds raised amounted to $15,000, and\nCaptain Burns was told to obtain the best equipment possible.  It was\nreported in the autumn of that year that \"Mr. Cossar, the mineral\nexpert, by whose skill the scope of the operations was more or less\ncontrolled, had broken down in health owing to the severe strain, and\nhad gone home to recruit,\" but John Stears of Yorkshire with his\nhawthorn twig was still finding treasure which refused to be found by\ndivers.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Diving to find the treasure galleon in Tobermory Bay.\n(Photographed in 1909.)]\n\nThe salvage steamer _Breamer_ equipped with suction dredge, removing a\nsandbank from the supposed location of the Florencia galleon in 1909.\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe five-year concession from the Duke of Argyll had expired and was\nrenewed by a syndicate organized in London, the manager a Col. K. M.\nFoss, an American, who appeared in Tobermory and conveyed an impression\nof cock-sure Yankee hustle.  He announced that his agents were making\nhistorical researches in the libraries and museums of Europe and had\nalready convinced him that the lost galleon was crammed with treasure;\nthat the chart relied on in past searches was all wrong, and expressed\nhis surprise that the extensive salvage operations of recent years\nshould have failed to locate the exact position of the wreck.  In a\nword, Scotchmen might know a thing or two, but your up-to-date Yankee\nwas the man to crack the nut of the lost _Florencia_ and deftly extract\nthe kernel.  The appearance of this Colonel Foss in this storied\nlandscape of Tobermory Bay has a certain humorous aspect.  He hardly\nseems to belong in the _ensemble_ of the search for the treasure\ngalleon which has been carried on for centuries.\n\nThis entertaining American may perhaps have unearthed information\nhitherto unknown, but the fact is worth some stress that all previous\ninvestigations had failed to prove beyond doubt that the _Florencia_\nbore from Spain the thirty millions of money reputed to have been\nstowed in her lazarette.  An ancient document known as \"The Confession\nof Gregorie de Sotomeya of Melgaco in Portugal\" contains a list of the\ntreasure ships of the Armada.  He was with the fleet in the galleon\n_Neustra Senora del Rosario_, commanded by Dom Pedro de Valdes, and he\ngoes on to say:\n\n\"To the sixth question concerning what treasure there was in the fleet,\nI say there was great stories of money and plate which came in the\ngalleon wherein the Duke of Medina was (_The San Martin_), and in the\nship of Dom Pedro de Valdez which was taken, and in the Admiral of the\ngalleons (_The San Lorenzo_), and in the Galley Royal (_The Capitana\nRoyale_), and in the Vice Admiral wherein was Juan Martinez de Ricalde\n(_The Santa Anna_), and in the Vice Admiral whereof was General Diego\n(_The San Christobel_), and in the Vice Admiral of the pinnaces (_N. S.\nde Pilar de Targoza_), and in the Vice-Admiral of the hulks (_The Gran\nGrifon_), and in a Venitian ship in which came General Don Alonzo de\nLeyna.  The report goeth that this ship brought great stores of\ntreasure, for that there came in her the Prince of Ascoli, and many\nother noblemen.  This is all I know touching the treasure.\"\n\nThe name of the _Florencia_ does not appear herein, yet the report of\nher vast riches was current in the Western Highlands no more than one\nlifetime after the year of the Armada.  That men of solid business\nstation and considerable capital can be found to-day to charter\nwrecking steamers, divers, dredges, and what not to continue this\nenterprise proves that romance is not wholly dead.\n\nIn the town of Tobermory, the busy, mysterious parties of treasure\nseekers, as they come year after year with their impressive flotilla of\napparatus, furnish endless diversion and conjecture.  The people will\ntell you, in the broad English of the Highlander, and in the Gaelic,\neven more musical, as it survives among the Western Islands, the legend\nof the beautiful Spanish princess who came in the _Florencia_, and was\nwooed and won by a bold MacLean, and they will show you the old mill\nwhose timbers, still staunchly standing, were taken from the wreck of\nthe galleon.  In Mull, and oftener among the islands further seaward\nand toward the Irish coast, are to be found black-eyed and black-haired\nmen and women, not of the pure Celtic race, in whose blood is the\ndistant strain bequeathed by those ancestors who married shipwrecked\nSpanish sailors of the Armada, and perhaps among them are descendants\nof these two or three seamen who were hurled ashore alive when the\n_Florencia_ was destroyed by the hand of young Donald Glas MacLean.\n\nIn quaint Tobermory whose main street nestles along the edge of the\nbay, the ancient foemen, MacLeans and MacDonalds, tend their shops side\nby side, and it seems as if almost every other signboard bore one of\nthese clan names.  If you would hear the best talk of the galleon and\nher treasure, it is wise to seek the tiny grocery and ship chandlery of\nCaptain Coll MacDonald, a gentle white-bearded man, so slight of\nstature and mild of mien and speech that you are surprised to learn\nthat for many years he was master of a great white-winged clipper ship\nof the famous City Line of Glasgow, in the days when this distinction\nmeant something.  Now he has come back to spend his latter days in this\ntranquil harbor and to spin yarns of many seas.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Scabbards, flasks, cannon balls, and small objects\nrecovered from the sunken Armada galleon.]\n\nStone cannon balls and breech-block of a breech loading gun fished up\nfrom the wreck of the Florencia galleon.\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"The scour of the tide has settled the wreck of the galleon many feet\nin the sand,\" he told me.  \"I can show you on a chart what the old\nbearings were, as they were handed down from one generation to the\nnext, but Captain Burns is not sure that he has yet found her.  The\nmoney is there, I have no doubt.  There was a bark in the bay not long\nago, and when she pulled up anchor a Spanish doubloon was sticking to\none fluke.  Mr. Stears, the Yorkshireman with the divining rod, did\nsome wonderful things, but the treasure was not found.  To test him,\nbags of silver and gold and copper money were buoyed under water in the\nbay, with no marks to show.  It was done by night and he was kept away.\nHe went out in a boat next morning and was rowed around a bit, and\nwherever the metal was hid under water, his twig told him, without a\nmistake.  More than that, he knew what kind of metal it was under the\nwater.\"\n\n\"And how was that!\" I asked of Captain Coll MacDonald.\n\n\"He would hold a piece of gold money in each hand when the twig began\nto twist and dip.  If the gold was under the water, the twig would pull\nwith a very strong pull, so that he knew.  If it was undecided like, he\nwould hold silver money, and the twig told him the proper message.  I\nwatched him working many a time, and it was very wonderful.\"\n\n\"But he did not find the treasure,\" I ventured to observe.\n\n\"Ah, lad, it was no fault of his,\" returned the old gentleman.  \"The\nSpanish gold is scattered far and wide over the bottom of the bay, I\nhave no doubt.  Donald Glas MacLean did a very thorough job when he\nblew the galleon to hell.\"\n\nThe present Duke of Argyll, brother-in-law of the late King Edward,\nbears among the many and noble and resonant titles that are his by\ninheritance, several which recall the earlier pages of the history of\nthe Clan Campbell, the brave days of the feudal Highlands, and the\nancient rights in the Armada Galleon of Tobermory Bay.  He is Baron\nInverary, Mull, Morvern, and Tiry; twenty-ninth Baron of Lochow, with\nthe Celtic title of the Cailean Mo'r, chief of the Clan Campbell, from\nSir Colin Campbell, knighted in 1286; Admiral of the Western Coast and\nIslands, Marquis of Lorne and Kintye; Keeper of the Great Seal of\nScotland and of the Castles of Dunstaffnage, Dunoon and Carvick,\nHereditary High Sheriff of the County of Argyll.\n\nHe once explained how the ownership of the _Florencia_ galleon came to\nhis family by means of the ancient grant already quoted.  The Campbells\nheld the admiralty rights of the coast of Mull at the time of the\nArmada, and any wreck was lawfully theirs for this reason.  The\ndocument was simply a formal confirmation of these rights.  The\n_Florencia_ was flotsam and jetsam to be taken by whatever chiefs held\nthe rights of admiralty.  A case involving the salmon fishing rights of\na Scottish river was recently decided by virtue of a charter of\nadmiralty rights granted by Robert the Bruce, who ruled and fought six\nhundred years ago.\n\nIn order to complete the documentary links of this true story of the\nArmada galleon, it may be of interest to quote from a letter recently\nreceived by the author from the present Duke of Argyll, in which he\nsays:\n\n\nThe galleon was the ship furnished by Tuscany as her contribution to\nthe Armada.  She was called the _Florencia_, or _City of Florence_, and\nwas commanded by Captain Pereira, a Portugese, and had a crew largely\nPortugese on board.  We have found specimens of his plate with the\nPereira arms engraved on the plate border.  She carried breech loading\nguns on her upper deck, and you will see one of them at the Blue Coat\nSchool now removed from London to the suburbs.\n\nOn the lower deck were some guns got from Francis I at the Battle of\nPavia.  I have a very fine one at Inverary Castle, got from the wreck\nin 1740.  Diving with a diving bell was commenced in 1670 and\ndiscontinued on account of civil troubles.  Pereira foolishly took part\nin local clan disputes, helping the MacLeans of Mull against the\nMacDonalds.  One of the MacDonalds, when a prisoner on board, is said\nto have blown up the vessel as she was warping out of harbor.\n\nI found an old plan and located the \"Spanish wrack\" from the plan, but\nonly sent a man down once from a yacht.\n\nThere was little obtained during the last divings, cannon balls,\ntimber, a few pieces of plate, small articles--about 70 dollars, etc.\n\nYours faithfully,\n  ARGYLL.\n\nKensington Palace,\n  April 25,--1910.\"\n\n\n\n\n[1] A cliff which was the key to the position held by the MacLeans.\n\n[2] Divers.\n\n[3] Iona.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE LOST PLATE FLEET OF VIGO\n\nNo treasure yarn is the real thing unless it glitters with ducats,\ningots, and pieces of eight, which means that in the brave days when\nriches were quickest won with cutlass, boarding pike, and carronade, it\nwas Spain that furnished the best hunting afloat.  For three centuries\nher galleons and treasure fleets were harried and despoiled of wealth\nthat staggers the imagination, and their wreckage littered every ocean.\nEnglish sea rovers captured many millions of gold and silver, and\npirates took their fat shares in the West Indies, along the coasts of\nAmerica from the Spanish Main to Lima and Panama, and across the\nPacific to Manila.  And to-day, the quests of the treasure seekers are\nmostly inspired by hopes of finding some of the vanished wealth of\nSpain that was hidden or sunk in the age of the Conquistadores and the\nViceroys.\n\nOf all the argosies of Spain, the richest were those plate fleets which\neach year carried to Cadiz and Seville the cargoes of bullion from the\nmines of Peru, and Mexico, and the greatest treasure ever lost since\nthe world began was that which filled the holds of the fleet of\ngalleons that sailed from Cartagena, Porto Bello, and Vera Cruz in the\nyear 1702.  What distinguishes this treasure story from all others is\nthat it is not befogged in legend and confused by mystery and\nuncertainty.  And while ships' companies are roaming the Seven Seas to\nfind what small pickings the pirates and buccaneers may have lifted in\ntheir time, the most marvelous Spanish treasure of them all is no\nfarther away than a harbor on the other side of the Atlantic.\n\nAt the bottom of Vigo Bay, on the coast of Spain, lies that fleet of\ngalleons and one hundred millions of dollars in gold ingots and silver\nbars.  This estimate is smaller than the documentary evidence vouches\nfor.  In fact, twenty-eight million pounds sterling is the accepted\namount, but one hundred million dollars has a sufficiently large and\nimpressive sound, and it is wise to be conservative to the verge of\ncaution in dealing with lost treasure which has been made so much more\nthe theme of fiction than a question of veracity.  After escaping the\nperils of buccaneer and privateer and frigate, this treasure fleet went\ndown in a home port, amid smoke and flame and the thunder of guns\nmanned by English and Dutch tars under that doughty admiral of Queen\nAnne, Sir George Rooke.  It was the deadliest blow ever dealt the\nmighty commerce of Spain during those centuries when her ruthless grasp\nwas squeezing the New World of its riches.\n\nThere, indeed, is the prize for the treasure seeker of to-day who\ndreams of doubloons and pieces of eight.  Nor could pirate hoard have a\nmore blood-stained, adventurous history than these millions upon\nmillions, lapped by the tides of Vigo Bay, which were won by the sword\nand lost in battle.  During these last two hundred years many efforts\nhave been made to recover the freightage of this fleet, but the bulk of\nthe treasure is still untouched, and it awaits the man with the cash\nand the ingenuity to evolve the right salvage equipment.  At work now\nin Vigo Bay is the latest of these explorers, an Italian, Pino by name,\ninventor of a submarine boat, a system of raising wreck, and a\nwonderful machine called a hydroscope for seeing and working at the\nbottom of the sea.\n\nWith Pino it is a business affair operated by means of a concession\nfrom the Spanish government, but he is something more than an inventor.\nHe is a poet, he has the artistic temperament, and when he talks of his\nplans it is in words like these:\n\n\"I have found means to disclose to human eyes the things hidden in the\nbeing of the furious waves of the infinite ocean, and how to recover\nthem.  Mine is the simple key with which to open to man the mysterious\nvirgin temples of the nymphs and sirens who, by their sweet singing,\ndraw men to see and to take their endless treasures.\"\n\nThis interesting Pino is no dreamer, however, and he has enlisted ample\ncapital with which to build costly machinery and charter yachts and\nsteamers.  With him is associated Carlo L. Iberti, and there is an\nideal pattern of a treasure seeker for you, a man of immense\nenthusiasm, of indefatigable industry, dreaming, thinking, living in\nthe story of the galleons of Vigo Bay.  It was he who secured the\nconcession from Madrid, it was he who as he says, \"was flying from\nprovince to province, from country to country, from archives to\narchives, from library to library, ever studying, copying, and\nacquiring all documents relating to Vigo.  I had made up my mind to\nfind out all that was to be known about the treasure.  And I believe I\nhave succeeded.\"\n\nNever was there such a prospectus as Iberti wrote to awaken the\ninterest of investors in the undertaking of Pino.  It was a historical\nwork bristling with data, authorities, references, from French,\nSpanish, and English sources.  It was convincing, final, positively\nsuperb.  One blinked at reading it, as if dazzled by the sight of\nmountains of gold, and moreover every word of it was true.  As a text\nfor this narrative, his summary, the peroration, so to speak, fairly\nhits one between the eyes:\n\n\"As the total quantity of treasure which arrived at Vigo in 1702\namounted to 126,470,600 pesos, or L27,493,609, there is not the least\ndoubt that the treasure in gold and silver still lying in the galleons\nof Vigo Bay amounts to as much as 113,396,085 pieces of eight, or\nL24,651,323, after deducting the treasure unloaded before the battle,\nthe booty taken by the victors, and that recovered by explorers.  That\nwould have been the value of the treasure two hundred years ago.\nTo-day, its value would be greater, at a moderate estimate of\nL28,000,000.  Such is the sum which we who are interested in the\nrecovery of the treasure have set our hearts on winning from the sea.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Sir George Rooke, commanding the British fleet at the\nbattle of Vigo Bay.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nAfter this, the hoards of the most notorious and hard-working pirates\nseem picayune, trifling, shabby, the small change of the age of buried\ntreasure.  Why Signor Iberti is so cock-sure of his figures, and how\nthat wondrous treasure fleet was lost in Vigo Bay is a story worth\ntelling if there be any merit in high adventures, hard fighting, and\nthe tang of salty seas in the days when the world was young.  No more\nthan nine years after the first voyage of Columbus, galleons laden with\ntreasure were winging it from the West Indies to Spain, and this golden\nstream was flowing year by year until the time of the American\nRevolution.  The total was to be counted not in millions but in\nbillions, and this prodigious looting of the New World gave to Spain\nsuch wealth and power that her centuries of greatness were literally\nbuilded upon foundations of ingots and silver bars.\n\nBefore Sir Francis Drake sailed into the Caribbean, the Dutch and\nEnglish had been playing at the great game of galleon hunting, but\ntheir exploits had been no more than vexations, and the security of the\nplate fleets was not seriously menaced until \"El Draque\" spread terror\nand destruction down one coast of the Americas and up the other, from\nNombre de Dios to Panama.  Heaven alone knows how many great galleons\nhe shattered and plundered, but from the _San Felipe_ and the\n_Cacafuego_ he took two million dollars in treasure, and he numbered\nhis other prizes by the score.  Martin Frobisher carried the huge East\nIndia galleon _Madre de Dios_ by boarding in the face of tremendous\nodds, the blood running from her scuppers, and was rewarded with\n$1,250,000 worth of precious stones, ebony, ivory, and Turkish carpets.\n\nDuring the period of the English Commonwealth, Admiral Stayner pounded\nto pieces a West Indian treasure fleet of eight sail, and from one of\nthem took two millions in silver, while Blake fought his way into the\nharbor of Teneriffe and destroyed another splendid argosy under the\nguns of the forts.  It is recorded that thirty-eight wagons were\nrequired to carry the gold and jewels thus obtained from Portsmouth to\nLondon.  The records of the British Admiralty have preserved a\nmemorandum of the prize money distributed to the officers and men of\nthe _Active_ and _Favorite_ from the treasures taken in the _Hermione_\ngalleon off Cadiz in 1762, and it is a document to make a modern\nmariner sigh for the days of his forefathers.  Here is treasure finding\nas it used to flourish:\n\n  The Admiral and the Commander of the Fleet.... $324,815\n  The Captain of the _Active_...................  332,265\n  Each of three Commissioned Officers...........   65,000\n   \"   \"  Eight Warrant Officers................   21,600\n   \"   \"  Twenty Officers.......................    9,030\n   \"   \"  150 Seamen and Marines................    2,425\n  The Captain of the _Favorite_.................  324,360\n  Each of 2 Commissioned Officers...............   64,870\n   \"   \"  77 Warrant Officers...................   30,268\n   \"   \"  15 Petty Officers.....................    9,000\n   \"   \"  100 Seamen and Marines................    2,420\n\n\nIn 1702 it happened that no treasure fleet had returned to Spain for\nthree years, and the gold and silver and costly merchandise were piling\nup at Cartagena and Porto Bello and Vera Cruz waiting for shipment.\nSpain was torn with strife over the royal succession, and inasmuch as\nthe king claimed as his own one-fifth of all the treasure coming from\nthe New World, the West India Company and the officials of the treasury\nkept the galleons away until it should be known who had the better\nright to the cargoes.  Moreover, the high seas were perilous for the\npassage of treasure ships, what with the havoc wrought by the cursed\nEnglish men-of-war and privateers, not to mention the buccaneers of San\nDomingo and the Windward Islands who had a trick of storming aboard a\ngalleon from any crazy little craft that would float a handful of them.\n\nTimidly the galleons delayed until a fleet of French men-of-war was\nsent out to convey them home, and at length this richest argosy that\never furrowed blue water, freighted with three years' treasure from the\nmines, made its leisurely way into mid-ocean by way of the Azores,\nbound to the home port of Cadiz.  There were forty sail in all,\nseventeen of the plate fleet, under Don Manuel de Velasco, and\ntwenty-three French ships-of-the-line and frigates obeying the\nAdmiral's pennant of the Count of Chateaurenaud.\n\nThe news came to Queen Anne that this fleet had departed from the\nSpanish Main, and a squadron of twenty-seven British war vessels,\ncommanded by the famous Sir Cloudesley Shovel, was fitted out to\nintercept and attack it.  The manoeuvres of the hunted galleons and\ntheir convoy wear an aspect grimly humorous as pictured in the letters\nand narratives of that time.  One of these explains that \"the fleet was\nperforming its voyage always with the fear that the enemy was lying in\nwait for it; the King of France also was in continual anxiety on the\nsame account, and urged by these forebodings he sent dispatches in\ndifferent vessels so that the fleet might avoid the threatened danger.\nOne of the dispatch boats met it on the open sea, and gave it notice of\nthe enemy's armada being over against Cadiz, upon which warning the\ncommander called a council of war in the ship _Capitana_ to consider\nand fix upon the port which they ought to make for.  At this meeting\nvarious views were expressed, for the French held that the fleet would\nbe more secure in the ports of France, and especially in that of\nRochelle.  Of the same opinion were many of the Spaniards, who were\nlooking not to the interests of individuals, but to the public good.\n\n\"And yet there were also seen the ill-consequences that might arise\nfrom the treasure not being conveyed to its proper destination and the\npossibility of the Most Christian King's finding some pretext which\nwould endanger its safety.\"\n\nWhich is to say that if \"His Most Christian Majesty,\" Louis XIV of\nFrance, who was safe-guarding the treasure, should once entice it into\none of his own ports, he was likely to keep it there.  And so the\ncourteous Spanish captains and the equally polite French captains eyed\none another suspiciously in the cabin of the galleon and held council\nuntil it was decided to seek refuge in Vigo Bay on the coast of\nGallicia, thereby both dodging the English and remaining at a\nsufficient distance from France to spoil any designs which might be\nprompted by the greed of \"His Most Christian Majesty.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: The Royal Sovereign, one of Admiral Sir George Rooke's\nline-of-battle ships, engaged at Vigo Bay.]\n\n======================================================================\n\nWithout mishap, the treasure fleet and the convoy anchored in the\nsheltered, narrow stretch of Vigo harbor, and preparations for standing\noff an English attack were begun at once.  The forts were manned, the\nmilitia called out, and a great chain boom stretched across the\nentrance of the inner roadstead.  This was all very well in its way,\nbut so incredible a comedy of blundering, stupid delay ensued that\nalthough for one whole month the galleons lay unmolested, the treasure\nwas not unloaded and carried to safety ashore.  In a letter from\nBrussels, printed in the _London Postman_ of November 10, 1702, the\ngrave results of this Spanish procrastination were indicated in these\nwords:\n\n\"The last advices from Spain and Paris have caused great consternation\nhere.  The treasure and other goods brought by the said fleet are of\nsuch consequence to Spain, and in particular to this province, that\nmost of our traders are ruined if this fleet is taken and destroyed.\"\n\nWhile the English and their allies, the Dutch, were making ready to\ntake this treasure fleet bottled up in Vigo Bay, the officials of Spain\nwere so entangled in red tape that there seemed to be no way of\nunloading the galleons.  A Spanish writer of that era thus describes\nthe lamentable state of affairs:\n\n\"The commerce of Cadiz maintained that nothing could be disembarked in\nGallicia,--that to unload the fleet was their privilege, and that the\nships ought to be kept safe in the harbor of Vigo, without discharging\ntheir cargoes, till the enemies were gone away.  In addition to this,\nthe settlement of the matter in the Council of the Indies was not so\nspeedy as the emergency demanded,--both through the slowness and\nprudence natural to the Spaniard, and through the diversity of opinions\non the subject.\"\n\nDon Modesto Lafuento, a later Spanish historian, gravely explains that\n\"as the arrival of the fleet at this port was unexpected and contrary\nto the usual custom, there was no officer to be found who could examine\nmerchandise for the payment of duties, without which no disembarkation\ncould be lawfully made.  When notice of this was at length sent to the\nCourt, much discussion arose there as to who should be sent.  They\nfixed upon Don Juan de Larrea, but this councillor was in no hurry\nabout setting out on his journey, and spent a long time in making it,\nand when he arrived he occupied himself with discussion about the\ndisposition of the goods that had come in the fleet.  This gave the\nopportunity for the Anglo-Dutch fleet, which had notice of everything,\nto set out and arrive in the waters of Vigo before the disembarkation\nwas effected.\"\n\nSurely never was so much treasure so foolishly endangered, and although\na small part of it was taken ashore, notwithstanding the asinine\nproceedings of the government and Don Juan de Larrea, the English\n_Post_ newspaper of November 2, asserted that \"the Spaniards, being\ninformed that the enemy's fleet was returned home, sent aboard a great\nquantity of their plate which they had carried to land for fear of\nthem.\"\n\nAdmiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel had missed finding the treasure fleet at\nsea, but a lucky chance favored another sterling English commander, Sir\nGeorge Rooke.  He was homeward bound from a disastrous attempt to take\nCadiz, in which affair the Duke of Ormond had led the troops engaged.\nOne of his ships, the _Pembroke_, was detached from the fleet and while\ncalling at Lagos Bay for water, the chaplain became friendly with a\ngentleman of the port who passed him word that the galleons and the\nFrench fleet were safe at Vigo.  This talkative informant proved to be\na messenger from Lisbon, sent by the German minister with dispatches\nfor the treasure fleet which he had first sought in vain at Cadiz.\n\nThe chaplain carried the rare tidings to Captain Hardy of the\n_Pembroke_ who instantly made sail to find Sir George Rooke and the\nEnglish fleet, which was jogging along toward England.  The admiral was\n\"extream glad,\" says an old account, and \"imparted the same immediately\nto the Dutch Admiral, declaring it his opinion that they should go\ndirectly to Vigo.\"  The Dutchman and his tars joyfully agreed, and\nDalrymple, in his memoirs, relates that \"at the sound of treasure from\nthe South Seas, dejection and animosity ceased, and those who a few\ndays before would not speak when they met, now embraced and felicitated\neach other, etc.  All the difficulties that had appeared to be\nmountainous at Cadiz, dwindled into mole-hills at Vigo.\n\n\"The gunners agreed that their bombs would reach the town and the\nshipping; the engineers, that lodgments and works could easily be made;\nthe soldiers, that there was no danger in landing; the seamen that the\npassage of the Narrows could easily be forced, notwithstanding all the\ndefenses and obstructions; and the pilots, that the depth of water was\neverywhere sufficient, and the anchorage safe.  Rooke's gout incommoded\nhim no longer; he went from ship to ship, even in the night time, and\nbecame civil,--and the Duke of Ormond, with his father's generosity,\nhis brother's and his own, forgot all that was past.\"\n\nThese were the sentiments of men who had no more rations left aboard\nship than two biscuits per day, whose fleet was leaky, battered, and\nunseaworthy after the hard fighting at Cadiz, and who were going to\nattack a powerful array of French vessels, protected by numerous forts\nand obstructions, and supported by the seventeen galleons which in\narmament and crews were as formidable as men-of-war.  At a council of\nflag officers called by Sir George Rooke, it was resolved:\n\n\"That, considering the attempting and destroying these ships would be\nof the greatest advantage and honor to her Majesty and her allies, and\nvery much tend to the reducing of the power of France, the fleet should\nmake the best of its way to the port of Vigo, and insult them\nimmediately with the whole line in case there was room enough for it,\nand if not, by such detachment as might render the attack most\neffective.\"\n\nIn naval history no swifter and more deadly \"insult\" was ever\nadministered than that which befell when Sir George Rooke, his gout\nforgotten, appeared before Vigo and lost no time in coming to close\nquarters.  He called a council of the general land and sea officers who\nconcluded that \"in regard the whole fleet could not without being in\ndanger of being in a huddle, attempt the ships and galleons where they\nwere, a detachment of fifteen English and ten Dutch ships of the line\nof battle with all the fire ships should be sent to use their best\nendeavors to take or destroy the aforesaid ships of the enemy, and the\nfrigates and bomb vessels should follow the rear of the fleet, and the\ngreat ships move after them to go in if there should be occasion.\"\n\nNext morning the Duke of Ormond landed two thousand British infantry to\ntake the forts and destroy the landward end of the boom, made of chain\ncables and spars which blocked the channel.  These errands were\naccomplished with so much spirit and determination that the Grenadiers\nfairly chased the Spanish garrisons out of their works.  Rooke did not\nwait for the finish of this task, but flew the signal to get under way,\nVice Admiral Hopson leading in the _Torbay_.  British and Dutch\ntogether, the wind blowing half a gale behind them, surged toward the\ninner harbor, stopped not for the boom but cut a way through it, and\nbecame engaged with the French men-of-war at close range.  The hostile\nfleets were so jammed together that it was not a battle of broadsides.\nA Spanish chronicler related that \"they fought with fires of inhuman\ncontrivance, hand grenades, fire-balls, and lumps of burning pitch.\"\n\nWithin one-half hour after the English and Dutch had gained entrance to\nthe bay, its surface was an inferno of blazing galleons and men-of-war.\nSome of the French ships were carried with the cutlass and boarding\npike, but fire was the chief weapon used by both sides.  The flaming\nvessels drifted against each other, some of them set purposely alight\nand filled with explosives.  When the galleons tried to move further up\nthe bay, British troops on shore raked them with musketry, and\nprevented the attempts to put some of the treasure on land.  The lofty\ntreasure ships, their huge citadels rising fore and aft, and gay with\ncarving and gilt, burned like so much tinder.\n\nThe English had no desire to destroy these golden prizes, and as soon\nas the French fleet had been annihilated, every ship burned, sunk,\ncaptured, or driven ashore, heroic efforts were made to save the\ngalleons still unharmed, \"whereupon Don Manuel de Velasco, who was not\nwanting in courage, but only in good fortune, ordered them to be set on\nfire....  The enemy saw the greater part of the treasure sunk in the\nsea.  Many perished seeking for riches in the middle of the flames;\nthese, with those who fell in the battle, were 800 English and Dutch;\n500 were wounded, and one English three-decker was burnt.\nNevertheless, they took thirteen French and Spanish ships, seven of\nwhich were men-of-war, and six merchantmen, besides some others much\ndamaged and half-burnt.  There fell 2000 Spaniards and French, few\nescaped unwounded.\n\n\"The day after the bloody battle, they sent down into the water a great\nmany divers, but with little result, for the artillery of the city\nhindered them.  So setting to work to embark their people, and covering\ntheir masts with flags and streamers, they celebrated their victory\nwith flutes and fifes.  Thus they steered for their own ports, leaving\nthat country full of sadness and terror.\"\n\nIt was a prodigiously destructive naval engagement, the costliest in\npoint of material losses that history records.  The victors got much\nbooty to take home to England and the Netherlands, and were handsomely\nrewarded for their pains.  Sir George Rooke carried to London the\ngalleon _Tauro_ which had escaped burning, and she had a mighty freight\nof bullion in her hold.  Of this ship the _Post Boy_ newspaper made\nmention, January 19, 1703:\n\n\"There was found in the galleon unloaded last week abundance of wrought\nplate, pieces of eight, and other valuable commodities, and so much\nthat 'tis computed the whole cargo is worth L200,000.\"\n\nAll records of that time and event agree, however, that the treasure\nsaved by the allied fleet was no more than a small part of what was\nlost by the wholesale destruction of the galleons, and chiefly\ninteresting to the present day are the most reliable estimates of the\namount of gold and silver that still rests embedded in the tidal silt\nof Vigo Bay.  There were sunk in water too deep to be explored by the\nengineers of that century eleven French men-of-war, and at least a\nround dozen of treasure laden galleons.  The French fleet carried no\nsmall amount of gold and silver which had been entrusted to the Admiral\nand his officers by merchants of the West Indies.  As for the galleons,\nthe English _Post_ of November 13,1702, stated:\n\n\"Three Spanish officers belonging to the galleons, one of whom was the\nAdmiral of the Assogna ships, are brought over who report that the\neffects that were on board amounted to nine millions sterling, and that\nthe Spaniards, for want of mules to carry the plate into the country,\nhad broke the bulk of very few ships before the English forced the\nboom.\"\n\nThe amount of the treasure is greatly underestimated in the foregoing\nassertion, for the annual voyage of the plate fleet had carried to\nSpain an average lading worth from thirty to forty million dollars, and\nthis doomed flota bore the accumulated treasure of three years.  Not\nmore than ten million dollars in bullion and merchandise could have\nbeen looted by the Dutch and English victors, according to the most\nreliable official records.  Our enthusiastic friend, Signor Don Carlos\nIberti, he who had been \"flying from province to province,\" in behalf\nof the latest treasure company of Vigo Bay, dug deep into the musty\nrecords of the \"Account Books of the Ministry of Finance, of the\nColonies, of the Royal Treasury, of the Commercio of Cadiz, of the\nCouncil of the West Indies,\" and so on, and can tell you to the last\npeso how much gold and silver was sent from the mines of America in the\ntreasure fleets, and precisely the value of the shipments entrusted to\nthe magnificent flota of 1702.  A score of English authorities might be\nquoted to confirm what has been said of the vastness of this lost\ntreasure.  The event was the sensation of the time in Europe, and many\npens were busy chronicling in divers tongues the details of the\ncatastrophe and the results thereof.  In a letter from Madrid which\nreached England a few days after the event, the writer lamented:\n\n\"Yesterday an express arrived from Vigo with the melancholy news that\nthe English and Dutch fleets came before that place the 22nd past and\nhaving made themselves masters of the mouth of the river, in less than\ntwo hours took and burnt all the French men-of-war and galleons in the\nharbour.  We have much greater reason to deplore our misfortune in\nsilence and tears than to give you a particular account of this\nunspeakable loss, which will hasten the utter ruin of this our monarchy.\n\n\"The inhabitants of this place, not being able to re-collect themselves\nfrom their consternation, have shut up their houses and shops for fear\nof being plundered by the common people who exclaim publicly against\nthe government, and particularly against Cardinal Porto Carrero and\nothers of the Council, who not being content with the free gift of\nthree millions offered to the king out of the galleons, besides an\n_indulto_ of two millions, hindered the landing of the plate at Vigo\nbefore the enemy arrived there.  But the Cardinal laid the blame upon\nthe Consultat of Seville, who, mistrusting the French, would not suffer\nthem to carry the galleons to Brest or Port Lewis, but gave orders that\nthey should sail back from Vigo to Cadiz after the English and Dutch\nfleets were returned home.  'Tis said that only three of the galleons\nput their cargo ashore before the arrival of the enemy.\"\n\nThe news was a most bitter pill for His Christian Majesty, Louis XIV of\nFrance, and put him and his court \"into a mighty consternation.\"  He\nwas quoted as saying that \"there was not one-tenth part of the plate\nand merchandise landed from on board the fleet.  This is the most\nfacetious piece of news that could come to the enemies of France and\nSpain.\"\n\nAll the records lay stress on the immense value of the treasure lost,\none that \"the Spanish galleons were coming from Mexico overladen with\nriches,\" another that \"vast wealth in gold, silver, and merchandise was\nlost in that terrible battle of Vigo,\" a third that \"this was the\nrichest flota that ever came into Europe.\"  It is extraordinary that\nmost of this treasure has remained untouched for more than two\ncenturies at the bottom of Vigo Bay.  The records of the Spanish\ngovernment contain almost complete memoranda of every concession\ngranted to searching parties, and of the valuables recovered, which\ntotal to date is no more than a million and a half of dollars.\n\nSoon after the battle, Spain began to fish for her lost galleons and in\nthat same year of 1702, the official newspaper of Madrid recorded that\n\"we are instructed from Vigo that they are proceeding with success in\nthe raising of the precious burden belonging to the _Capitana_, and\n_Almiranta_ of the Flota.\"  For some reason or other, the task was\nshortly abandoned, and the work turned over to private enterprise and\ncompanies which were granted special charters, the Crown demanding as\nmuch as ninety-five per cent. of all the treasure recovered.  During\nthe half century following the loss of the fleet, as many as thirty of\nthese concessions were granted, but most of them accomplished nothing.\nThe first treasure hunter to achieve results worth mention was a\nFrenchman, Alexandre Goubert, who went to work in 1728, and after\nprodigious exertion succeeded in dragging almost ashore a hulk which\nturned put to be no galleon but one of the men-of-war of his own\ncountry, at which there was much merriment in \"perfidious Albion.\"\nThis disgusted M. Goubert and he was heard of no more.\n\nAn Englishman, William Evans, tried a diving bell of his own invention\nin the same century, and raised many plates of silver, but a Spanish\nconcessionaire, jealous of this good fortune, persuaded his government\nthat it was in bad taste to let history repeat itself by giving the\nEnglish another fling at the treasure.  In 1825, time having softened\nthese poignant memories, a Scotchman was permitted to work in the bay,\nand local tradition affirms that he found much gold and silver,\noutwitting the officials at Madrid who demanded eighty per cent. of his\nfindings.  The inspectors posted to keep watch of his operations he\nmade comfortably drunk, bundled them ashore, clapped sail on his\nbrigantine, and vanished with his booty.  Later a castle was built near\nPerth in Scotland, and given the name of Dollar House.  Here the\nScotchman aforesaid \"lived happily ever afterwards\" for all that is\nknown to the contrary.\n\nThrough the eighteenth century French, English, and Spanish exploring\nparties were intriguing, quarreling, buying one another out, now and\nthen finding some treasure, and locating the positions of most of the\ngalleons.  In 1822, American treasure hunters invaded the bay,\norganized as the International Submarine Company, and hailing from\nPhiladelphia.  Nothing worth mention was done until these adventurous\ngentlemen after a good deal of bickering, made a fresh start under the\nname of the Vigo Bay Treasure Company.  Their affairs dragged along for\na half century or so, during which they lifted one galleon from the\nbottom but the weight of mud in her hull broke her to small bits.  A\nSpanish war-vessel watched the operations, by night and day, the\ngovernment being somewhat sensitive and suspicious ever since the\nflight of that Scotchman and his brigantine.\n\nAt last the American company was unable to get a renewal of its long\ndrawn out concession, and for some time the galleons were left alone.\nIt was in 1904, that Signor Don Carlos Iberti obtained the \"Royal\nDecree of Concession\" for the Pino Company, Limited, of Genoa, and now\nindeed there was to be treasure seeking in earnest.\n\n\"Until recently the search for the treasure in the Bay of Vigo seemed\nonly an Utopian mania,\" cried Iberti.  \"Those who set about the arduous\nenterprise were taken for mad scientists, rascals, or deceivers of\ninnocent speculators.  But for my part I shall always admire those\nbands of adventurers who sought to recover this treasure, from the\nfirst day after the battle until the present time.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Framework of an \"elevator\" devised by Pino for raising\nthe galleons in Vigo Bay.]\n\nAn \"elevator\" with air bags inflated.  Photographed in Vigo Bay.\n\n(_By permission of The World's Work, London._)\n\n======================================================================\n\nPino's first invention was a submarine boat which was tested with\nbrilliant success before putting it into service at Vigo Bay.  For the\npreliminary work of treasure finding, he perfected his hydroscope, a\nkind of sea telescope consisting of a floating platform from which\ndepend a series of tubes ending in a chamber equipped with electric\nlamps, lenses and reflectors, like so many gigantic eyes through which\nthe observer is able to view the illuminated bottom of bay or ocean.\n\nTo lift the galleons bodily is Pino's plan, and he has devised what he\ncalls \"elevators\" or clusters of great bags of waterproofed canvas each\ncapable of raising forty tons in the water when pumped full of air.\nThese are placed in the hull of the sunken ship or attached outside,\nand when made buoyant by means of powerful air pumps, exert a lifting\nforce easily comprehended.  In addition, this ingenious Italian\nengineer, who has made a science of treasure seeking, makes use of\nmetal arms capable of embracing a rotting, flimsy hull, huge tongs\nwhich are operated by a floating equipment of sufficient engine power\nto lift whatever is made fast to.  The Japanese government successfully\nemployed his submarine inventions in raising the Russian war ships sunk\nat Port Arthur.\n\nAlready one of the Spanish galleons has been brought to the surface of\nVigo Bay, but she happened to have been laden with costly merchandise\ninstead of plate, and her cargo was long since ruined by water and\ncorrosion.  The list of articles recovered during the searches of\nrecent years is a fascinating catalogue to show that the story of the\nlost fleet is a true romance of history.  I quote Iberti who dwells\nwith so much joyous enthusiasm over \"the anchors, including that of the\n_Misericordia_, of Santa Cruz, guns of different caliber, wood of\nvarious kinds, thirty gun carriages, wheels, mortars, silver spoons,\nmariner's compasses, enormous cables, innumerable balls and bombs,\nstatuettes of inlaid gold, magnificently engraved pipe holders, Mexican\nporcelain, tortas, or plates of silver, some weighing as much as eighty\npounds; gold pieces stamped by the Royal Mint of Mexico and ingots from\nPeru.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Cannon of the treasure galleons recovered by Pino from\nthe bottom of Vigo Bay.]\n\nHydroscope invented by Pino for exploring the sea bottom and\nsuccessfully used in finding the galleons of Vigo Bay.\n\n(_By permission of The World's Work, London._)\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe latest of the concession held by Pino and his company whose\nshareholders have invested large sums of real money, is an unusual\ndocument in that bona-fide treasure seeking seems so incongruous an\nindustry in this twentieth century.  It bears the signature of His\nExcellency Don Jose Ferrandiz, Minister of the Royal Navy, and was\ngranted on August 24, 1907, to be in force until 1915.  The wording\nruns thus:\n\n\"With this date, I say to the Director General of the Mercantile Marine\nas follows:\n\n\"Most Excellent Sir,--Having taken into consideration the petition\npresented by the Italian subject, Don Carlos Iberti, representing Cav.\nDon Jose Pino, inventor of the hydroscope apparatus for seeing,\nphotographing, and recovering objects sunk to the bottom of the sea, in\nwhich petition he explains that he obtained a Concession for the term\nof eight years to exploit what there is in the Bay of Vigo appertaining\nto the galleons which came from America, which Concession was published\nin the _Gaceta Official_ of the 5th of January, 1904; that he was at\nthe Bay of Vigo from the month of April until the end of the said year,\ncarrying on dredging operations; but unforeseen difficulties prevented\nthem from effecting a real and direct exploitation, so that the work\naccomplished was only preliminary, as that of seeing, examining, and\nstudying the difficulties of the submarine bed, and the conditions in\nwhich the submerged galleons are; that having obtained all these data\nnecessary for undertaking the work for recovery, in accord with the\nCommander of the Marine at Vigo, and other gentlemen who constitute the\nCouncil of Inspection, they suspended the operations in order to study\nand construct new apparatus, more powerful and more adapted to this\nkind of operation, and they returned to Italy with the intention of\ngoing again to Vigo as soon as they had finished the new appliances\nwith which to complete the work of recovery; that they have already\nspent large sums there, the greater part of which have gone to benefit\nthe inhabitants of Vigo; that in view of all this that has been put\nforward he prays for an extension on the same terms in which the\nConcession was granted:\n\n\"Considering, that by granting him the solicited extension, the State\ninterests would not be prejudiced, on the condition of its receiving 20\nper cent. of all that is recovered, irrespective of the artistic and\nhistoric value of the objects recovered:\n\n\"_His Majesty the King_ in accord with what has been proposed by the\nCouncil of Ministers, has deigned to grant the solicited extension on\nthe same conditions which were already put in the concession, which\nare:--\n\n\"First,--The Concessionaire shall utilize for all manual labor which\nshall be necessary, the small craft of the locality and sailors of the\nmaritime department.\n\n\"Second,--The work once commenced shall be carried on without\ninterruption unless there shall be justifiable cause to hinder it.\n\n\"Third,--He undertakes to give to the State 20 per cent. of the value\nof the objects recovered.\n\n\"Fourth,--In fulfilment of what has been established by Art. 351 of the\nCivil Code, if any objects of interest to science or art or of any\nhistoric value should be extracted, they shall be given to the State,\nif it requires, and the State will pay the fair price, which will be\nfixed by experts, taking into account the expenses of their recovery.\n\n\"Which by Royal Decree I have the pleasure to announce to you for your\nknowledge and satisfaction.  May God preserve you for many years.\"\n\nThis long-winded proclamation seems faintly to echo of another and far\ndistant day \"appertaining to the galleons which came from America,\"\nthat day on which the news of the catastrophe was received in the\npalace of Madrid.  Gabriel de Savoy, the child queen, then only\nfourteen years old and wed to Philip V, heard the tidings of the battle\nof Vigo Bay, \"on the day and hour which was fixed upon for her to go in\npublic to give thanks to the Virgin of Atocha for the triumphs of the\nking, and to place in that temple the banners captured from the enemy\nin Italy.  This wise lady lamented bitterly such fatal news, but not\nwishing to discourage and afflict her people, she put on courage, and\nresolving to go forth presented herself with so serene a countenance as\nto impose upon all, who were astonished at her courage, and the\nceremony was performed as if nothing had happened.\"\n\nVigo to-day is a pretty and thriving town of 30,000 people, with a\nlarge trade by sea, and fertile fields stretching between bay and\nmountain.  Round about are the ancient forts and castles which were\nstormed and battered by the grenadiers of the Duke of Ormond and the\nguns of the British and Dutch ships under Sir George Rooke.  Vigo won a\nmelancholy renown on that terrific day so long ago, and its blue waters\nhave a haunting interest even now, recalling the glory of the age of\nthe galleons and the wild romance of their voyaging from the Spanish\nMain.  Perhaps the ingenious Don Jose Pino, with his modern machinery,\nmay find the greatest treasure ever lost, certain as he is that \"in dim\ngreen depths rot ingot-laden ships, with gold doubloons that from the\ndrowned hand fell.\"  At any rate, there is treasure-trove in the very\nstory of that fight in Vigo Bay, in the contrast between the timid,\nblundering, procrastinating Spanish, afraid to leave their gold and\nsilver in the galleons, yet afraid to unload it; and the instant\ndecision of the English admiral who cared not a rap for the odds.  His\nbusiness it was to smash the French fleet and destroy the plate ships,\nand he went about it like the ready, indomitable sea dog that he was.\n\nAmong the English state papers is the manuscript log-book of the\ncaptain of the Torbay, flag ship of Vice Admiral Hopson who led the\nattack.  This is how a fighting seaman of the old school disposed of so\nmomentous and severe a naval action as that of Vigo Bay, as if it were\nno more than a common-place item in the day's work:\n\n\"This 24 hours little wind, the latter part much rain and dirty\nweather.  Yesterday about 3 in the afternoon we anchored before Vigo\nTown in 15 fathoms water.  This morning Vice Admiral Hopson hoisted the\nred flag at our fore-topmast head in order to go ahead of the fleet to\ndefeat the French and Spanish galleons which lay up the river.  About\nnoon we weighed, having sent our soldiers on there to engage the forts\nwhich opposed our coming.  We being come near, the forts fired at us.\n\n\"About one o'clock, coming across the forts which were on each side the\nharbor, they fired smartly at us, and we fired our guns at both sides\nof them again, and went past and broke the boom which crossed the river\nto hinder our passage so that 4 and 5 men-of-war engaged us at once,\nbut soon deserted, firing and burnt their ships.  They sent a fireship\nwhich set us on fire.\"\n\nIt was a very simple business, to hear the captain of the _Torbay_ tell\nit, but the golden empire of Spain was shaken from Cadiz to Panama, and\ngouty, dauntless Sir George Rooke helped mightily to hasten the end\nwhich was finally brought about by another admiral, George Dewey by\nname, in that Manila Bay whence the treasure galleons of the East\nIndies _flota_ had crossed the Pacific to add their wealth to the\nglittering cargoes gathered by the Viceroys of Mexico and Peru.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE PIRATES' HOARD OF TRINIDAD\n\nOf all the freebooters' treasure for which search is still made by\nmeans of curious information having to do with charts and other\nplausible records, the most famous are those buried on Cocos Islands in\nthe Pacific and on the rocky islet of Trinidad in the South Atlantic.\nThese places are thousands of miles apart, the former off the coast of\nCosta Rica, the latter several hundred miles from the nearest land of\nBrazil and not to be confused with the better known British colony of\nTrinidad in the Leeward Islands group of the West Indies.\n\nEach of these treasures is of immense value, to be reckoned in millions\nof dollars, and their stories are closely interwoven because the\nplunder came from the same source at about the same time.  Both\nnarratives are colored by piracy, bloodshed and mystery, that of Cocos\nIsland perhaps the more luridly romantic of the two by reason of an\nearlier association with the English buccaneers of Dampier's crew.\nEach island has been dug over and ransacked at frequent intervals\nduring the last century, and it is safe to predict that expeditions\nwill be fitting out for Cocos or Trinidad for many years to come.\n\nThe history of these notable treasures is a knotty skein to\ndisentangle.  Athwart its picturesque pages marches a numerous company\nof bold and imaginative liars, every man of them ready to swear on a\nstack of Bibles that his is the only true, unvarnished version of the\nevents which caused the gold and jewels and plate to be hidden.\nHowever, when all the fable and fancy are winnowed out, the facts\nremaining are enough to make any red-blooded adventurer yearn to\ncharter a rakish schooner and muster a crew of kindred spirits.\n\nDuring the last days of Spanish rule on the west coast of South\nAmerica, the wealthiest city left of that vast domain won by the\nConquistadores and held by the Viceroys, was Lima, the capital of Peru.\nFounded in 1535 by Francisco Pizarro, it was the seat of the government\nof South America for centuries.  The Viceregal court was maintained in\nmagnificent state, and the Archbishop of Lima was the most powerful\nprelate of the continent.  Here the religious orders and the\nInquisition had their centers.  Of the almost incredible amount of gold\nand silver taken from the mines of the country, much remained in Lima\nto pile up fortunes for the grandees and officials, or to be fashioned\ninto massy ornaments for the palaces, residences, churches, and for the\ngreat cathedral which still stands to proclaim the grandeur that was\nSpain's in the olden days.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Lima Cathedral]\n\n======================================================================\n\nWhen Bolivar, the Liberator, succeeded in driving the Spanish out of\nVenezuela, and in 1819 set up the free republic of Colombia, the ruling\nclass of Peru took alarm which increased to panic as soon as it was\nknown that the revolutionary forces were organizing to march south and\nassault Lima itself.  There was a great running to and fro among the\nwealthy Spanish merchants, the holders of fat positions under the\nViceroy, and the gilded idlers who swaggered and ruffled it on riches\nwon by the swords of their two-fisted ancestors.  It was feared that\nthe rebels of Bolivar and San Martin would loot the city, and\nconfiscate the treasure, both public and private, which consisted of\nbullion, plate, jewels, and coined gold.\n\nPrecious property to the value of six million sterling was hurried into\nthe fortress of Lima for safe keeping and after the capture of the city\nby the army of liberation, Lord Dundonald, the English Admiral in\ncommand of the Chilian fleet assisting the revolutionists, offered to\nlet the Spanish governor depart with two-thirds of this treasure if he\nwould surrender the remainder and give up the fortifications without a\nfight.  The Peruvian liberator, San Martin, set these terms aside,\nhowever, and allowed the Spanish garrison to evacuate the place,\ncarrying away the six million sterling.  This immense treasure was soon\nscattered far and wide, by sea and land.  It was only part of the\nriches dispersed by the conquest of San Martin and his patriots.  The\npeople of Lima, hoping to send their fortunes safe home to Spain before\nthe plundering invaders should make a clean sweep, put their valuables\non board all manner of sailing vessels which happened to be in harbor,\nand a fugitive fleet of merchantmen steered out from the hostile coast\nof Peru, the holds piled with gold and silver, the cabins crammed with\nofficials of the state and church and other residents of rank and\nstation.  At the same time there was sent to sea the treasure of the\ngreat cathedral of Lima, all its jeweled chalices, monstrances, and\nvestments, the solid gold candle-sticks and shrines, the vast store of\nprecious furniture and ornaments, which had made this one of the\nrichest religious edifices of the world.\n\nThere had not been so much dazzling booty afloat at one time since the\ngalleon plate fleets were in their heyday during the sixteenth and\nseventeenth centuries.  In 1820 there were no more of those great\nbuccaneers and gentlemen adventurers who had singed the beard of the\nKing of Spain in the wake of Francis Drake.  They had sailed and fought\nand plundered for glory as well as gain, or for revenge as much as for\ndoubloons.  Their successors as sea rovers were pirates of low degree,\nbase wretches of a sordid commercialism who preyed on honest merchant\nskippers of all flags, and had little taste for fighting at close\nquarters.  The older race of sea rogues had been wolves; the pirates of\nthe early nineteenth century were jackals.\n\nMany a one of these gentry got wind of the fabulous treasure that had\nbeen sent afloat from Lima, and there is no doubt that much of it\nfailed to reach Spain.  While in some instances, these fleeing ships\nwere boarded and scuttled by pirate craft, in others the lust of gold\nwas too strong for the seamen to whom the rare cargoes had been\nentrusted, and they rose and took the riches away from their hapless\npassengers.  It has been believed by one treasure seeking expedition\nafter another, even to this day, that Captain Thompson of the British\ntrading brig, _Mary Dear_ received on board in the harbor of Lima as\nmuch as twelve million dollars' worth of gold and silver, and that he\nand his crew, after killing the Spanish owners, sailed north in the\nPacific and buried the booty on Cocos Island.\n\nCaptain Thompson somehow escaped and joined a famous pirate of that\ntime, Benito Bonito, who accumulated a large treasure which he also\nburied on Cocos Island.  The British Admiralty records show that Bonito\nwas overhauled in his turn by the frigate _Espiegle_ and that rather\nthan be hanged in chains, he very handsomely blew out his brains on his\nown deck.\n\nThis same treasure of Lima, or part of it, furnished the foundation of\nthe story belonging to the volcanic islet of Trinidad in the South\nAtlantic.  One version of this is that the pirates who chose this\nhiding-place had been the crew of a fast English schooner in the slave\ntrade.  While at sea they disposed of their captain by the unpleasant\nmethod of pinning him to the mainmast with a boarding pike through his\nvitals.  Then the black flag was hoisted and with a new skipper they\nstood to the southward, finding a great amount of plunder in a\nPortuguese ship which had on board a \"Jew diamond dealer\" among other\nvaluable items.  After taking an East Indiaman, and other tempting\ncraft, they buried the total proceeds on the desolate, uninhabited\nisland of Trinidad, intending to return for it before the end of the\ncruise.\n\nUnfortunately, for the successful pirates, they ran afoul of a heavily\narmed and manned merchant vessel which shot away their rudder, tumbled\ntheir spars about their rascally ears, boarded them with great spirit\nand determination, and clapped the shackles on the twenty gentlemen of\nfortune who had survived the engagement.  These were carried into\nHavana and turned over to the Spanish authorities who gleefully hanged\nnineteen, not twenty, mark you, for one had to make a marvelous escape\nin order to hand down the secret of the treasure to posterity.  This\nsurvivor died in bed in England at a very great age, so the story runs,\nand of course he had a chart to set the next generation to digging.\n\nThe earlier statements of this narrative may be cast aside as\nworthless.  The real, true pirate of Trinidad was not in the slave\nschooner which captured the \"Jew diamond dealer\" of the Portuguese\nship.  An odd confusion of facts caused the mistake.  While Benito\nBonito was harrying the Spanish shipping of the Pacific and burying his\ntreasure on Cocos Island, there was on the Atlantic a bloodthirsty\npirate by the name of Benito de Soto.  He was a Spaniard who sailed out\nof Buenos Aires in the year 1827, bound to Africa to smuggle a cargo of\nslaves.  The crew was composed of French, Spanish, and Portuguese\ndesperadoes, and led by the mate and De Soto they marooned the captain\nand ran away with the ship on a pirate voyage.  They plundered and\nburned and slaughtered without mercy, their most nefarious exploit\nbeing the capture of the British merchant ship _Morning Star_, bound\nfrom Ceylon to England in 1828, and carrying as passengers several army\nofficers and their wives and twenty-five invalided soldiers.  After the\nmost fiendish conduct, De Soto and his crew, drove the survivors into\nthe hold of the _Morning Star_, and fastened the hatches, leaving the\nvessel to founder, for they had taken care to bore numerous auger holes\nin her bottom.  By a miracle of good fortune, the prisoners forced the\nhatches and were taken off next day by a passing vessel.\n\nBenito de Soto met his end as the result of being wrecked in his own\nship off the Spanish coast.  He was caught in Gibraltar and hanged by\nthe English Governor.  An army officer who saw him turned off related\nthat he was a very proper figure of a pirate, \"there was no driveling\nfears upon him,--he walked firmly at the tail of the fatal cart, gazing\nsometimes at his coffin, sometimes at the crucifix which he held in his\nhand.  This he frequently pressed to his lips, repeated the prayers\nspoken in his ear by the attendant clergyman, and seemed regardless of\neverything but the world to come.  The gallows was erected beside the\nwater, and fronting neutral ground.  He mounted the cart as firmly as\nhe had walked behind it, and held up his face to Heaven and the beating\nrain, calm, resigned, but unshaken; and finding the halter too high for\nhis neck, he boldly stepped upon his coffin, and placed his head in the\nnoose.  Then watching the first turn of the wheels, he murmured,\n'farewell, all,' and leaned forward to facilitate his fall ... The\nblack boy was acquitted at Cadiz, but the men who had fled to the\nCaracas, as well as those arrested after the wreck, were convicted,\nexecuted, their limbs severed and hung on iron hooks, as a warning to\nall other pirates.\"\n\nThis Benito, who died so much better than he had lived, was not hanged\nat Havana, it will be perceived, and the version of the Trinidad\ntreasure story already outlined is apparently a hodgepodge of the\ncareers of Benito de Soto, and of Benito of Cocos Island, with a flavor\nof fact in so far as it refers to the twenty pirates who were carried\nto Cuba to be strung up, or garroted.  The Spanish archives of that\nisland record that this gang was executed and that they had been found\nguilty of plundering ships sailing from Lima shortly after the city had\nbeen entered by the revolutionists.  Their association with the island\nof Trinidad is explained herewith as it was told to E. F. Knight, an\nEnglishman, who organized and commanded an expedition which sailed in\nsearch of the treasure in 1889.\n\nThere was at that time near Newcastle, England, a retired sea captain\nwho had been in command of an East Indiaman engaged in the opium trade\nin the years 1848 to 1850.  \"The China seas were then infested by\npirates,\" said Mr. Knight's informant, \"so that his vessel carried a\nfew guns and a larger crew than is usual in these days.  He had four\nquarter-masters, one of whom was a foreigner.  The captain was not sure\nof his nationality but thought he was a Finn.  On board the vessel the\nman went under the name of 'The Pirate' because of a deep scar across\nhis cheek which gave him a somewhat sinister appearance.  He was a\nreserved man, better educated than the ordinary sailor, and possessing\na good knowledge of navigation.\n\n\"The captain took a liking to him, and showed him kindness on various\noccasions.  This man was attacked by dysentery on the voyage from China\nto Bombay, and by the time the vessel reached port he was so ill, in\nspite of the captain's nursing, that he had to be taken to the\nhospital.  He gradually sank, and when he found that he was dying he\ntold the captain, who frequently visited him, that he felt very\ngrateful for the kind treatment given him, and that he would prove his\ngratitude by revealing a secret which might make his captain one of the\nrichest men in England.  He then asked the skipper to go to his chest\nand take out from it a parcel.  This contained a piece of old tarpaulin\nwith a plan of an island of Trinidad upon it.\n\n\"The dying soldier told him that at the spot indicated, that is at the\nbase of the mountain known as Sugar Loaf, there was an immense treasure\nburied, consisting principally of gold and silver plate and ornaments,\nthe plunder of Peruvian churches which certain pirates had concealed\nthere in the year 1821.  Much of this plate, he said, came from the\ncathedral of Lima, having been carried away from there during the war\nof independence, when the Spaniards were escaping the country and that\namong other riches were several massive gold candle-sticks.\n\n\"He further stated that he was the only survivor of the pirates, as all\nthe others had been captured by the Spaniards and executed in Cuba some\nyears before, and consequently it was probable that no one but himself\nknew the secret.  He then gave the captain instructions as to the exact\nposition of the treasure in the bay under the Sugar Loaf, and enjoined\nhim to go there and search for it, as it was almost certain that it had\nnot been removed.\"\n\nMr. Knight, who was a young barrister of London, investigated this\nstory with much diligence, and discovered that the captain aforesaid\nhad sent his son to Trinidad in 1880 to try to identify the marks shown\non the old pirate's tarpaulin chart.  He landed from a sailing ship,\ndid no digging for lack of equipment, but reported that the place\ntallied exactly with the description, although a great landslide of\nreddish earth had covered the place where the treasure was hid.  This\nevidence was so convincing that in 1885 an expedition was organized\namong several adventurous gentlemen of South Shields who chartered a\nbark of six hundred tons, the _Aurea_, and fitted her at a large outlay\nwith surf boats, picks, shovels, timber, blasting powder, and other\nstores.  This party found the island almost inaccessible because of the\nwild, rock-bound coast, the huge breakers which beat about it from all\nsides, and the lack of harbors and safe anchorage.  After immense\ndifficulty, eight men were landed, with a slender store of provisions\nand a few of the tools.  The dismal aspect of the island, the armies of\nhuge land crabs which tried to devour them, the burning heat, and the\nhard labor without enough food or water, soon disheartened this band of\ntreasure seekers, and they dug no more than a small trench before\ncourage and strength forsook them.  Signaling to their ships, they were\ntaken off, worn out and ill, and thus ended the efforts of the\nexpedition.\n\nIn the same year, an American skipper chartered a French sailing vessel\nin Rio Janeiro, and sailed for Trinidad with four Portuguese sailors to\ndo his digging for him.  They were ashore several days, but found no\ntreasure, and vanished from the story after this brief fling with the\ndice of fortune.  Now, Knight was of different stuff from these other\nexplorers.  He was a first-class amateur seaman who had sailed his\nyacht _Falcon_ to South America in 1880, and was both experienced and\ncapable afloat and ashore.  While bound from Montevideo to Bahia he had\ntouched at Trinidad, curious to see this remote islet so seldom\nvisited.  This was before he heard the buried treasure story.\nTherefore when he became acquainted, several years later, with the\nchart and information left by the old pirate, he was able to verify the\ndetails of his own knowledge, and he roundly affirmed:\n\n\"In the first place, his carefully prepared plan of the island, the\nminute directions he gave as to the best landing, and his description\nof the features of the bay on whose shores the treasure was concealed,\nprove beyond doubt to myself and others who know Trinidad, that he, or\nif not himself some informant of his, had landed on this so rarely\nvisited islet; and not only landed but passed some time on it, and\ncarefully surveyed the approaches to the bay, so as to be able to point\nout the dangers and show the safest passage through the reefs.  This\ninformation could not have been obtained from any pilot-book.  The\nlanding recommended by previous visitors is at the other side of the\nisland.  This bay is described by them as inaccessible, and the\nindications on the Admiralty chart are completely erroneous.\n\n\"And beyond this, the quartermaster must have been acquainted with what\nwas taking place in two other distant portions of the world during the\nyear of his professed landing on the desert island.  He knew of the\nescape of pirates with the cathedral plate of Lima.  He was also aware\nthat, shortly afterwards, there were hanged in Cuba the crew of a\nvessel that had committed acts of piracy on the Peruvian coast.\n\n\"It is scarcely credible that an ordinary seaman,--even allowing that\nhe was superior in education to the average of his fellows,--could have\npieced these facts together so ingeniously into this plausible story.\"\n\nThis argument has merit and it was persuasive enough to cause Knight to\nbuy the staunch cutter _Alerte_, muster a company of gentlemen\nvolunteers, ship a crew, and up anchor from Southampton for Trinidad.\n\nThere was never a better found treasure expedition than this in the\n_Alerte_.  The nine partners, each of whom put up one hundred pounds\ntoward the expenses, were chosen from one hundred and fifty eager\napplicants.  Articles of agreement provided that one-twentieth of the\ntreasure recovered was to be received by each adventurer and he in turn\nbound himself to work hard and obey orders.  In the equipment was a\ndrilling apparatus for boring through earth and rock, an hydraulic jack\nfor lifting huge bowlders, portable forge and anvil, iron\nwheel-barrows, crow-bars, shovels and picks galore, a water distilling\nplant, a rapid fire gun, and a full complement of repeating rifles and\nrevolvers.\n\nA few days before the _Alerte_ was ready to sail from Southampton an\nelderly naval officer boarded the cutter and was kind enough to inform\nMr. Knight of another buried treasure which he might look for on his\nroute to Trinidad.  The story had been hidden for many years among the\ndocuments of the Admiralty, and as a matter of government record, it\nis, of course, perfectly authentic.  In 1813, the Secretary of the\nAdmiralty instructed Sir Richard Bickerton, commanding at Portsmouth,\nto send in the first King's ship touching at Madeira a seaman who had\ngiven information concerning a hidden treasure, in order that the truth\nof his story might be tested.\n\nThe Admiralty order was entrusted to Captain Hercules Robinson of the\n_Prometheus_ and in his report he states that \"after being introduced\nto the foreign seaman referred to in the above letter, and reading the\nnotes which had been taken of his information, he charged him to tell\nno person what he knew or what was his business, that he was to mess\nwith the captain's coxswain, and that no duty would be required of him.\nTo this the man replied that that was all he desired, that he was\nwilling to give his time, and would ask no remuneration for his\nintelligence.\"\n\nWhile the _Prometheus_ was anchored at Funchal, Madeira, Captain\nRobinson closely questioned the mysterious seaman whose name was\nChristian Cruse.  He declared that he had been in a hospital ill of\nyellow fever, several years before, and with him was a shipmate, a\nSpaniard, who died of the same malady.  Before his death he told Cruse\nthat in 1804 he had been in a Spanish ship, from South America to\nCadiz, with two millions of silver in chests.  When nearing the coast\nof Spain, they were signaled by a neutral vessel that England had\ndeclared war and that Cadiz was blockaded.  Rather than risk capture by\nthe British fleet, and unwilling to run all the way back to South\nAmerica, the captain resolved to try to gain the nearest of the West\nIndies and save his treasure.\n\nPassing to the southward of Madeira, a cluster of small, uninhabited\nislands, called the Salvages, was sighted.  Thereupon the crew decided\nthat it was foolishness to continue the voyage.  The captain was\naccordingly stabbed to death with a dirk, and the ship steered to an\nanchorage.  The chests of Spanish dollars were landed in a small bay, a\ndeep trench dug in the sand above highwater mark, and the treasure\nsnugly buried, the body of the captain deposited in a box on top of it.\nThe mutineers then sought the Spanish Main where they intended to burn\ntheir ship, buy a small vessel under British colors, and return to\ncarry off the two million dollars.\n\nNear Tobago they suffered shipwreck because of poor navigation and only\ntwo were saved.  One died ashore, and the other was the Spanish seaman\nwho made the dying declaration to Christian Cruse in the hospital at\nVera Cruz.\n\nCaptain Hercules Robinson was a seasoned officer of His Majesty's navy,\nused to taking sailors' yarns with a grain of salt, but that he was\nconvinced of the good faith of Christian Cruse and of the truth of the\nnarrative is shown by his interesting comments, as he wrote them down a\ncentury ago:\n\n\"May Cruse not have had some interested object in fabricating this\nstory?  Why did he not tell it before?  Is not the cold-blooded murder\ninconceivable barbarity, and the burying the body over the treasure too\ndramatic and buccaneer-like?  Or might not the Spaniard have lied from\nlove of lying and mystifying his simple shipmate, or might he not have\nbeen raving?\n\n\"As to the first difficulty, I have the strongest conviction of the\nhonesty of Christian Cruse, and I think I could hardly be grossly\ndeceived as to his character, and his disclaiming any reward unless the\ndiscovery was made, went to confirm my belief that he was an honest\nman.  And then as to his withholding the information for four or five\nyears, be it remembered that the war with Denmark might have truly shut\nhim out from any intercourse with England.  Next as to the wantonness\nand indifference with which the murder was perpetrated, I am afraid\nthere is no great improbability in this.  I have witnessed a disregard\nof human life in matters of promotion in our service, etc., which makes\nthe conduct of these Spaniards under vehement temptation, and when they\ncould do as they pleased, sufficiently intelligible.\n\n\"But certainly the coffin over the treasure looked somewhat theatrical\nand gave it the air of Sadler's Wells, or a novel, rather than matter\nof fact.  I enquired, therefore, from Christian Cruse why the body of\nthe captain was thus buried, and he replied that he understood the\nobject was, that in case any person should find the marks of their\nproceedings and dig to discover what they had been about, they might\ncome to the body and go no further.\"\n\nAfter further reflection, Captain Robinson convinced himself that the\nSpanish seaman had been clear-headed when he made his confession to\nCruse, and that it would have been beyond him deliberately to invent\nthe statement as fiction.  The _Prometheus_ was headed for the\nSalvages, and arriving off the largest of these islands, a bay was\nfound and a level white patch of beach above high water mark situated\nas had been described to Christian Cruse.  Fifty sailors were sent\nashore to dig with shovels and boarding pikes, making the sand fly in\nthe hope of winning the reward of a hundred dollars offered to the man\nwho found the murdered captain's coffin.\n\nThe search lasted only one day because the anchorage was unsafe and\nCaptain Robinson was under orders to return to Madeira.  Arriving\nthere, other orders recalled his ship to England for emergency duty and\nthe treasure hunt was abandoned.  So far as known, no other attempt had\nbeen made to find the chests of dollars until Mr. Knight decided to act\non the information and explore the Salvages in passing.\n\nOf this little group of islands it was decided by the company of the\n_Alerte_ that the one called the Great Piton most closely answered the\ndescription given Christian Cruse by the Spanish pirate.  A bay was\nfound with a strip of white sand above high-water mark, and Mr. Knight\nand his shipmates pitched a camp nearby and had the most sanguine\nexpectations of bringing to light the rude coffin of the murdered\ncaptain.\n\nA series of trenches was opened up after a systematic plan, and some\ncrumbling bones discovered, but the ship's surgeon refused to swear\nthat they had belonged to a human being.  The trouble was that the\nsurface of the place had been considerably changed by the action of\nwaves and weather, which made the Admiralty charts of a century before\nvery misleading.  The destination of the _Alerte_ was Trinidad, after\nall, and the visit to the Salvages was only an incident, so the search\nwas abandoned after four days.  In all probability, the treasure of the\nSalvages is still in its hiding-place, and any adventurous young\ngentlemen seeking a field of operations will do well to consult for\nthemselves the documentary evidence of Captain Hercules Robinson and\nChristian Cruse, as filed among the records of the British Admiralty\nOffice.\n\nTrinidad is a much more difficult island to explore than any of the\nSalvages group.  In fact, this forbidding mass of volcanic rock is a\nlittle bit of inferno.  It is sometimes impossible to make a landing\nthrough the surf for weeks at a time, and when a boat makes the attempt\nin the most favorable circumstances, the venture is a hazard of life\nand death.  As a vivid summary of the aspect of this lonely treasure\nisland, I quote from Mr. Knight, because he is the only man who has\never described Trinidad at first hand:\n\n\"As we neared it, the features of this extraordinary place could\ngradually be distinguished.  The north side, that which faced us, is\nthe most barren and desolate portion of the island, and appears to be\nutterly inaccessible.  Here the mountains rise sheer from the boiling\nsurf,--fantastically shaped of volcanic rock; cloven by frightful\nravines; lowering in perpendicular precipices; in places overhanging\nthreateningly, and, where the mountains have been shaken to pieces by\nthe fires and earthquakes of volcanic action, huge landslips slope\nsteeply in the yawning ravines,--landslips of black and red volcanic\ndebris, and loose rocks large as houses, ready on the slightest\ndisturbance to roll down, crashing, into the abysses below.  On the\nsummit of the island there floats almost constantly, even on the\nclearest day, a wreath of dense vapor, never still, but rolling and\ntwisting into strange shapes as the wind eddies among the crags.  And\nabove this cloud-wreath rise mighty pinnacles of coal-black rock, like\nthe spires of some gigantic Gothic cathedral piercing the blue southern\nsky.  It would be impossible to convey in words a just idea of the\nmystery of Trinidad.  The very coloring seemed unearthly, in places\ndismal black, and in others the fire-consumed crags are of strange\nmetallic hues, vermilion red and copper yellow.  When one lands on its\nshores, this uncanny impression is enhanced.  It bears all the\nappearances of being an accursed spot, whereupon no creatures can live,\nsave the hideous land-crabs and foul and cruel sea birds.\"\n\nAn ideal place, this, for pirates to bury treasure, you will agree, and\ngood for nothing else under Heaven.  The South Atlantic Directory, the\nshipmaster's guide, states that \"the surf is often incredibly great,\nand has been seen to break over a bluff which is two hundred feet\nhigh.\"  Trinidad was first visited by Halley, the astronomer, after\nwhom the famous comet was named, who called there in 1700 when he was a\ncaptain in the Royal Navy.  Captain Amos Delano, the Yankee pioneer in\nthe Far Eastern trade, made a call in 1803, prompted by curiosity, but\nas a rule mariners have given the island a wide berth, now and then\ntouching there when in need of water or fresh meat in the shape of\nturtles.\n\nAt one time the Portuguese attempted to found a settlement on Trinidad,\nprobably before the forests had been killed by some kind of volcanic\nupheaval.  The ruins of their stone huts are still to be seen as humble\nmemorials of a great race of explorers and colonists in the golden age\nof that nation.\n\nWith tremendous exertion, the party from the _Alerte_ was landed with\nits tools and stores, and headquarters established close to the ravine\nwhich was believed to be the hiding-place of the treasure as indicated\nby the chart and information of the Finn quartermaster with the scar\nacross his cheek.  It was found that there had been no actual\nlandslide, but the ravine was choked with large bowlders which at\nvarious times had fallen from the cliffs above.  These were packed\ntogether by the red earth silting and washing during the rainy season\nwhen the ravines were flooded.\n\nAlong the whole of the windward coast were found innumerable fragments\nof wreckage, spars, timbers, barrels.  From the position of the island,\nin the belt of the southeast trade winds, many derelict vessels must\nhave been driven ashore.  Some of this immense accumulation of stuff\nmay have lain there for centuries, or ever since vessels first doubled\nthe Cape of Good Hope.  Here and there were the gaunt rows of ribs to\nshow where a ship had been stranded bodily, and doubtless much valuable\nproperty in silver and gold, in bars, ingots, and doubloons, lies\nburied in the shattered hulks of these old Dutch East Indiamen, and\ngalleons from Peru.\n\nAs particular landmarks near the ravine, the pirate had mentioned three\ncairns which he and his comrades had heaped up.  Sure enough, the\nprevious treasure seekers of the _Aurea_ expedition from England had\nfound the three cairns, but foolishly demolished them on the chance\nthat gold might be buried underneath.  Mr. Knight could find traces of\nonly one of them, and he discovered also a water-jar, a broken\nwheel-barrow and other tools to show where the others had been digging.\nThe crew of the _Alerte_ were confident that they were at the right\nplace, and they set to work with the most admirable zeal and fortitude,\nenduring hardships cheerfully, and during the three months of their\nlabors on Trinidad, removing earth and rock literally by the thousands\nof tons, until the ravine was scooped out to a depth of from eight to\ntwenty feet.\n\nTheir vessel had to anchor far off shore, and once forsook them for a\nfourteen hundred mile voyage to Bahia to get provisions.  These London\nlawyers and other gentlemen unused to toil with the hands became as\ntough and rough and disreputable to see as the pirates who had been\nthere aforetime.  In costume of shirt, trousers, and belt, they became\nragged and stained from head to foot with the soil, and presented a\nuniform, dirty, brownish, yellow appearance like so many Brazilian\nconvicts.  Their surf boat was wrecked or upset at almost every attempt\nto land or to go off to the _Alerte_, and when they were not fishing\none another out of the surf, they were diving to recover their\nsubmerged and scattered stores.  Their leader, Mr. Knight, paid them a\ntribute of which they must have been proud:\n\n\"They had toiled hard and had kept up their spirits all the while and\nwhat is really wonderful under circumstances so calculated to try the\ntemper and wear out the patience, they had got on exceedingly well with\neach other, and there had been no quarreling or ill feeling of any\nsort.\"\n\nAt length the melancholy verdict was agreed upon in council.  All the\nbright dreams of carrying home a fortune for every adventurer were\nreluctantly dismissed.  The men were worn to the bone, and it was\nbecoming more and more difficult to maintain communication with the\n_Alerte_.  The prodigious excavation was abandoned, and Mr. Knight\nindulged himself in a soliloquy as he surveyed the \"great trenches, the\npiled-up mounds of earth, the uprooted rocks, with broken wheelbarrows\nand blocks, worn-out tools, and other relics of our three months strewn\nover the ground; and it was sad to think that all the energy of these\nmen had been spent in vain.  They well deserved to succeed, and all the\nmore so because they bore their disappointment with so much pluck and\ncheerfulness.\"\n\nBut, in truth, the expedition had not been in vain.  The toilers had\nbeen paid in richer stuff than gold.  They had lived the true romance,\nnor could a man of spirit and imagination wish for anything more to his\ntaste than to be encamped on a desert island, with the surf shouting in\nhis ears, the sea birds crying, all hands up with daybreak to dig for\nburied treasure whose bearings were found on a tarpaulin chart that had\nbelonged to a pirate with a deep scar across his cheek.  How it would\nhave delighted the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson to be one of this\ncompany of the _Alerte_ at Trinidad!  The gallant little vessel, only\nsixty-four feet long she was, filled away for the West Indies, homeward\nbound, while the men aboard amused themselves by wondering how many\nnations might have laid claim to the treasure, had it been\nfound;--England which hoisted its flag on Trinidad in 1770; Portugal\nbecause Portuguese from Brazil made a settlement there in 1750; Brazil,\nbecause the island lay off her coast; Spain, to whom the treasure had\nbelonged, and Peru from whose cathedral it was taken, and lastly the\nRoman Church.\n\nIn conclusion, Mr. Knight, to whose fascinating narrative, \"The Cruise\nof the _Alerte_,\" I am indebted for the foregoing information, sums it\nup like a true soldier of fortune:\n\n\"Well, indeed, it was for us that we had not found the pirates' gold;\nfor we seemed happy enough as we were, and if possessed of this hoard,\nour lives would of a certainty have become a burden to us.  We should\nbe too precious to be comfortable.  We should degenerate into\nmiserable, fearsome hypochondriacs, careful of our means of transit,\ndreadfully anxious about what we ate or drank, miserably cautious about\neverything.  'Better far, no doubt,' exclaimed these cheerful\nphilosophers, 'to remain the careless, happy paupers that we are.'\n\n\"'Do you still believe in the existence of the treasure?' is a question\nthat has been often put to me since my return.  Knowing all I do, I\nhave very little doubt that the story of the Finn quartermaster is\nsubstantially true,--that the treasures of Lima were hidden on\nTrinidad; but whether they have been taken away, or whether they are\nstill there and we failed to find them because we were not in\npossession of one link of the directions, I am unable to say.\"\n\nIn later years, E. F. Knight became a war correspondent, and lost an\narm in the Boer campaign.  I met him at Key West during the Spanish war\nin which he represented _The London Times_ and found him to be a solid,\nwell-ballasted man who knew what he was about and not at all one to\nhave gone treasure seeking without excellent reasons.  That he was\nadventurous in his unassuming way he proved by landing on the Cuban\ncoast near Havana in order to interview the Spanish Captain-General.  A\nnewspaper dispatch boat ran close in shore, the skipper risking being\nblown out of water by the batteries of Morro Castle, and Knight was\ntransferred to a tiny flat-bottomed skiff of the tonnage of a bath-tub.\nEquipped with a note-book, revolver, water bottle, and a small package\nof sandwiches, he said good-by in his very placid manner, and was seen\nto be standing on his head in the surf a few minutes later.  He\nscrambled ashore, probably recalling to mind a similar style of landing\non the coast of Trinidad, and vanished in the jungle.  That he ran\ngrave danger of being potted for an _Americano_ by the first Spanish\npatrol he encountered appeared to give him no concern whatever.  It was\neasy to perceive that he must have been the right kind of man to lead a\ntreasure-hunting expedition.\n\nSince the _Alerte_ sailed on her dashing quest in 1889, the pirates'\ngold of Trinidad has figured in an adventure even more fantastic.  Many\nreaders will doubtless remember the career of the late Baron James\nHarden-Hickey who attempted to establish a kingdom of his own on the\nislet of Trinidad.  He belonged in another age than this and he was\nlaughed at rather more than he deserved.  Duelist, editor,\n_boulevardier_, fond of the tinsel and trappings of life, he married\nthe daughter of John H. Flagler of the Standard Oil Company and with\nfunds from this excessively commercial source created a throne, a\ncourt, and a kingdom.  He had seen the island of Trinidad from a\nBritish merchant ship in which he went round the Horn in 1888, and the\nfact that this was a derelict bit of real estate, to which no nation\nthought it worth while to lay formal claim, appealed to his active\nimagination.\n\nA would-be king has difficulty in finding a stray kingdom nowadays, and\nHarden-Hickey bothered his head not in the least over the problem of\npopulating this god-forsaken jumble of volcanic rock and ashes.  Ere\nlong he blossomed forth most gorgeously in Paris and New York as King\nJames I of the Principality of Trinidad.  There was a royal cabinet, a\nMinister of Foreign Affairs, a Chancellerie, and uniforms, court\ncostumes, and regalia designed by the king himself.  Most dazzling of\nall the equipment was the Order of the Insignia of the Cross of\nTrinidad, a patent and decoration of nobility to be bestowed on those\ndeemed worthy of the signal honor.\n\nThe newspapers bombarded King James I with gibes and jeers, but he took\nhimself with immense, even tragic seriousness, and issued a prospectus\nof the settlement of his kingdom, inviting an aristocracy of intellect\nand good breeding to comprise the ruling class, while the hard work was\nto be done by hired menials.  He mustered on paper some kind of a list\nof resources of Trinidad, although he was hard put to name anything\nvery tangible, and laid special stress on the buried treasure.  It was\nto be dug up by the subjects and, if found, to be divided among the\npatriots who had bought the securities issued by the royal treasury.\nSurely a pirates' treasure was never before gravely offered among the\nassets of a kingdom, but King James had no sense of humor, and the lost\ntreasure was as real to him as any other of his marvelous dreams.\n\nSome work was actually done at Trinidad, building material landed, a\nvessel chartered to run from Brazil, and a few misguided colonists\nrecruited, when in 1895 the British Government ruthlessly knocked the\nPrincipality of Trinidad into a cocked hat and toppled over the throne\nof King James I.  The island was wanted as a cable landing or relay\nstation, and a naval officer raised the red ensign to proclaim\nannexation by reason of Halley's discovery in 1700.  At this Brazil set\nup a protest on the ground that her Portuguese had been the original\nsettlers.  While the diplomats of these two powers were politely\nlocking horns over the question of ownership, that unfortunate monarch,\nKing James I of the Principality of Trinidad, Baron Harden-Hickey of\nthe Holy Roman Empire, perceived that his realm had been pulled out\nfrom under him, so to speak.  Whichever nation won the dispute it meant\nno comfort for him.  Trinidad was no longer a derelict island and he\nwas a king without a kingdom.\n\nHe surrendered not one jot or tittle of his rights, and to his Minister\nof Foreign Affairs he solemnly bequeathed the succession and the claim\nto proprietorship.  And among these rights and privileges was the royal\ninterest in the buried treasure.  Harden-Hickey, when he could no\nlonger live a king, died as he thought befitting a gentleman, by his\nown hand.  It seems a pity that he could not have been left alone to\nplay at being king, and to find the pirates' gold.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE LURE OF COCOS ISLAND\n\nIt will be recalled that Lord Bellomont, in writing to his government\nof the seizure of Kidd and his treasure, made mention of \"a Pirate\ncommitted who goes by the name of Captain Davis, that came passenger\nwith Kidd from Madagascar.  I suppose him to be that Captain Davis that\nDampier and Wafer speak of in their printed relations of Voyages, for\nan extraordinary stout[1] man; but let him be as stout as he will, here\nhe is a prisoner, and shall be forthcoming upon the order I receive\nfrom England concerning him.\"\n\nIf Bellomont was right in this surmise, then he had swept into his\ndrag-net one of the most famous and successful buccaneers of the\nseventeenth century, a man who must have regarded the alleged misdeeds\nof Kidd as much ado about nothing.  Very likely it was this same\nCaptain Edward Davis who may have been at the East Indies on some\nlawful business of his own, but he had no cause for anxiety at being\ncaptured by Bellomont as a suspicious character.  He had honorably\nretired in 1688 from his trade of looting Spanish galleons and treasure\ntowns, in which year the king's pardon was offered all buccaneers who\nwould quit that way of life and claim the benefit of the proclamation.\n\nIt is known that he was afterwards in England, where he dwelt in\nquietness and security.  William Dampier mentions him always with\npeculiar respect.  \"Though a buccaneer, he was a man of much sterling\nworth, being an excellent commander, courageous, never rash, and endued\nin a superior degree with prudence, moderation, and steadiness,\nqualities in which the buccaneers generally have been most deficient.\nHis character is not stained with acts of cruelty; on the contrary,\nwherever he commanded, he restrained the ferocity of his companions.\nIt is no small testimony to his abilities that the whole of the\nbuccaneers in the South Sea during his time, in every enterprise\nwherein he bore part, voluntarily placed themselves under his guidance,\nand paid him obedience as their leader; and no symptom occurs of their\nhaving at any time wavered in this respect or shown inclination to set\nup a rival authority.[2]\n\nDuring the Kidd proceedings, the Crown officers made out no case\nagainst Edward Davis, and he appears at the trial only as a witness in\nKidd's behalf.  He testified in corroboration of the fact that Kidd had\nbrought home the two French passes taken out of his captures, and his\nexperienced mind was quick to recognize the importance of the documents\nas a sound defense against the charges of piracy.\n\nCuriously enough, the name of Captain Edward Davis has since been\nlinked with a buried treasure story, that of Cocos Island in the\nPacific.  Certain it is that he and his comrades took great spoils\nalong the Spanish coasts of South America and the Isthmus, and that he\nused Cocos Island as a convenient base for careening ship and\nrecuperating the health of his hard-fighting, careless crew.  Wafer has\ngiven the following description of this popular resort for treasure\nseekers of modern times:\n\n\"The middle of Cocos Island is a steep hill, surrounded with a plain\ndeclining to the sea.  This plain is thick set with cocoanut trees; but\nwhat contributes greatly to the pleasure of the place is that a great\nmany springs of clear and sweet water, rising to the top of the hill,\nare there gathered as in a deep large basin or pond, and the water\nhaving no channel, it overflows the verge of its basin in several\nplaces, and runs trickling down in pleasant streams.  In some places of\nits overflowing, the rocky side of the hill being more perpendicular\nand hanging over the plain beneath, the water pours down in a cataract,\nso as to leave a dry space under the spout, and form a kind of arch of\nwater.  The freshness which the falling water gives the air in this hot\nclimate makes this a delightful place.\n\n\"We did not spare the cocoa-nuts.  One day, some of our men being\nminded to make themselves merry went ashore and cut down a great many\ncocoa-nut trees, from which they gathered the fruit, and drew about\ntwenty gallons of the milk.  They then sat down and drank healths to\nthe King and Queen, and drank an excessive quantity; yet it did not end\nin drunkenness; but this liquor so chilled and benumbed their nerves\nthat they could neither go nor stand.  Nor could they return on board\nwithout the help of those who had not been partakers of the frolic, nor\ndid they recover under four or five days' time.\"[3]\n\nCaptain Edward Davis had found this delectable islet during a\nsingularly adventurous voyage.  The English buccaneers and the French\n_filibustiers_ who had long cruised in the West Indies, were driven\nfrom their haunts by the vigorous activity of the European governments,\nand in 1683 an expedition was organized to go pirating against the\nSpaniards in the Pacific, or the \"South Sea.\"  Dampier was of this\nnumber, also Captain John Cook, Captain Edward Davis, and Lionel Wafer\nwho wrote the journal of the voyage.  The scheme was hatched on the\ncoast of Hispaniola, and after taking two prizes, French vessels, to\nVirginia to be sold, the company seventy strong, and most of them old\nhands at this game, stood out from the Chesapeake in an eighteen-gun\nship called the _Revenge_.\n\nOff the coast of Guinea they found a large Danish ship which better\nsuited their purpose, wherefore she was carried by boarding.  They\nchristened her the _Batchelor's Delight_, and abandoned their old\nvessel which was burned, \"that she might tell no tales.\"  In February\nof 1684, they rounded Cape Horn and made for the island of Juan\nFernandez, which several of the company had previously visited with\nWatling.  Then sailing northward, the ship visited the Galapagos\nIslands to catch turtle, and bore away for Cocos which was missed\nbecause of adverse winds and faulty navigation.  On this stretch of the\nvoyage, the _Batchelor's Delight_ passed what was known as the Isle of\nPlate, or Drake's Island, in latitude 2 min. 42 sec. S., which has an\nalluring lost treasure story of its own.  Says Esquemeling:\n\n\"This island received its name from Sir Francis Drake and his famous\nactions, for here it is reported by tradition that he made the dividend\nor sharing of that quantity of plate which he took in the Armada of\nthis sea, distributing it to each man of his company by whole bowls\nfull.  The Spaniards affirm to this day that he took at that time\ntwelve score tons of plate, and sixteen bowls of coined money a man,\nhis number being then forty-five men in all.  Insomuch that they were\nforced to heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry\nit all.  Hence was this island called by the Spaniards themselves the\nIsle of Plate, from this great dividend, and by us Drake's Isle.\"[4]\n\nThe mainland of South America, or New Spain, was sighted near Cape\nBlanco, where Captain John Cook died, and Edward Davis, then\nquartermaster, was elected commander.  He cruised for some time along\nthe coast, learning among other interesting news that at Point Saint\nElena, \"many years before a rich Spanish ship was driven ashore for\nwant of wind to work her, that immediately after she struck she heeled\noff to seaward and sank in seven or eight fathoms of water, and that no\none ever attempted to fish for her because there falls in here a great\nhigh sea.\"[5]\n\nIn the bay of Guayaquil, on the coast of Peru, Davis and Swan, who had\njoined him in a small ship called the _Cygnet_, captured four vessels,\nthree of which had cargoes of negroes.  Most of them were let go, to\nthe great disappointment of Dampier who was filled with a mighty scheme\nof treasure finding which he outlined in these words:\n\n\"Never was put into the hands of men a greater opportunity to enrich\nthemselves.  We had 1000 negroes, all lusty young men and women, and we\nhad 200 tons of flour stored up at the Galapagos Islands.  With these\nnegroes we might have gone and settled at Santa Maria on the Isthmus of\nDarien, and have employed them in getting gold out of the mines there.\nAll the Indians living in that neighborhood were mortal enemies to the\nSpaniards, were flushed by successes against them, and for several\nyears had been fast friends of the privateers.  Add to which, we should\nhave had the North Sea open to us, and in a short time should have\nreceived assistance from all parts of the West Indies.  Many thousands\nof buccaneers from Jamaica and the French islands would have flocked to\nus; and we should have been an overmatch for all the force the\nSpaniards could have brought out of Peru against us.\"\n\nSoon after this, the little squadron blockaded the Bay of Panama for\nseveral weeks, plundering whatever shipping came their way.  There they\nwere joined by two hundred Frenchmen and eighty Englishmen, old\nbuccaneers who had crossed the Isthmus of Darien to have a fling in the\nSouth Seas.  Presently another party of two hundred and sixty-four sea\nrovers under French command were added to the fleet, besides a strong\nforce of Englishmen led by one Townley.  Davis was made\ncommander-in-chief of this formidable combination of ten ships and nine\nhundred and sixty men, of which the flagship was the _Batchelor's\nDelight_.  They laid in wait for the annual treasure fleet sent by the\nViceroy of Peru to Panama and found it, but were beaten off because\nDavis' confederates lacked his eagerness for fighting at close quarters.\n\nTurning his attention to the mainland, Davis sacked and burned the city\nof Leon on the lake of Nicaragua.  There one of the free-booters killed\n\"was a stout, grey-headed old man of the name of Swan, aged about\neighty-four years, who had served under Cromwell, and had ever since\nmade privateering or buccaneering his occupation.  This veteran would\nnot be dissuaded from going on the enterprise against Leon; but his\nstrength failed in the march, and after being left on the road he was\nfound by the Spaniards, who endeavored to make him their prisoner; but\nhe refused to surrender, and fired his musket amongst them, having in\nreserve a pistol still charged; on which he was shot dead.\"[6]\n\nAfter this, the force scattered in small bands to plunder on their own\naccount, Davis keeping together the best of the men whom he took to\nCocos Island where a considerable stay was made.  Thence he ravaged the\ncoast of Peru, capturing many vessels and taking many towns.  With\nbooty amounting to five thousand pieces of eight for every man, Davis\nsailed to Juan Fernandez to refit, intending to proceed from there to\nthe West Indies, but before the ships and men were ready for the long\nvoyage around Cape Horn, many of the buccaneers had lost all their gold\nat dice, and they could not endure to quit the South Sea empty handed.\nTheir luckier comrades sailed for the West Indies with Captain Knight,\nwhile they chose to remain and try their fortune afresh with Captain\nDavis, in the _Batchelor's Delight_.  They soon fell in with a large\nparty of French and English buccaneers who had formerly cruised with\nthem, and were now engaged in trying to take the rich city of\nGuayaquil.  They were making sorry business of it, however, and in sore\nneed of such a capable leader as Davis.  He finished the task with\nneatness and dispatch and shared in the gorgeous plunder of gold and\nsilver and jewels, reckoned by one of the Frenchmen in his account of\nthe episode at fifteen hundred thousand livres.\n\nDavis was now satisfied to leave the Pacific, but whether he went first\nto Cocos Island to bury any treasure, history saith not, although\ntradition roundly affirms that he did.  That he and many of his fellow\nbuccaneers frequently resorted to the Galapagos group, as well as\ntarrying at Cocos, is a matter of record.  Of the former islands,\nCaptain Colnet who touched there in 1793, wrote:[7]\n\n\"This isle appears to have been a favorite resort of the buccaneers as\nwe found seats made by them of stone and earth, and a considerable\nnumber of broken jars scattered about, and some whole, in which the\nPeruvian wine and liquors of the country are preserved.  We also found\ndaggers, nails and other implements.  The watering-place of the\nbuccaneers was at this time entirely dried up, and there was only found\na small rivulet between two hills, running into the sea, the\nnorthernmost of which hills forms the south point of Fresh Water Bay.\nThere is plenty of wood, but that near the shore is not large enough\nfor other use than firewood.\"\n\nThe buccaneers of other voyages than these may have landed at Cocos\nIsland to leave their treasure.  Heaven knows they found plenty of it\nin those waters.  There was Captain Bartholomew Sharp, for example,\nwith whom Dampier had sailed several years before.  He took a Guayaquil\nship called the _San Pedro_ off Panama, and aboard her found nearly\nforty thousand pieces of eight, besides silver, silver bars and ingots\nof gold, and a little later captured the tall galleon _Rosario_, the\nrichest prize ever boarded by the buccaneers.  She had many chests of\npieces of eight, and a quantity of wine and brandy.  Down in her hold,\nbar upon bar, \"were 700 pigs of plate,\" rough silver from the mines,\nnot yet made ready for the Lima mint.  The pirates thought this crude\nsilver was tin, and so left it where it lay, in the hold of the\n_Rosario_, \"which we turned away loose into the sea,\"[8] with the\nprecious stuff aboard her.  One pig of the seven hundred was taken\naboard the _Trinity_ of Captain Sharp \"to make bullets of.\"  About\ntwo-thirds of it was \"melted and squandered,\" but a fragment remained\nwhen the ship touched at Antigua, homeward bound, and was given to a\n\"Bristol man\" in exchange for a drink of rum.  He sold it in England\nfor seventy-five pounds sterling.\n\n\"Thus,\" says Basil Ringrose, \"we parted with the richest booty we got\non the whole voyage.\"  Captain Bartholomew Sharp may have been thinking\nof something else than the cargo of silver, for aboard the _Rosario_\nwas a woman, \"the beautifullest Creature that his Eyes had ever\nbeheld,\" while Ringrose calls her \"the most beautiful woman that I ever\nsaw in the South Seas.\"\n\nOf these wild crews that flung away their lives and their treasure to\nenrich romance and tradition, it has been said:\n\n\"They were of that old breed of rover whose port lay always a little\nfarther on; a little beyond the sky-line.  Their concern was not to\npreserve life, but rather to squander it away; to fling it, like so\nmuch oil, into the fire, for the pleasure of going up in a blaze.  If\nthey lived riotously, let it be urged in their favor that at least they\nlived.  They lived their vision.  They were ready to die for what they\nbelieved to be worth doing.  We think them terrible.  Life itself is\nterrible.  But life was not terrible to them, for they were comrades;\nand comrades and brothers-in-arms are stronger than life.  Those who\nlive at home at ease may condemn them.  The old buccaneers were happier\nthan they.  The buccaneers had comrades and the strength to lead their\nown lives.\"[9]\n\nThis stout old breed had long since vanished when Cocos Island once\nmore became the theater of buried treasure legend.  The versions of\nthis latter story agree in the essential particular that it was Captain\nThompson of the merchant brig _Mary Dear_ who stole the twelve million\ndollars' worth of plate, jewels, and gold coin which had been entrusted\nto him by the Spanish residents of Lima in 1820, and buried them on\nCocos Island.  Then, after he had joined the crew of the pirate, Benito\nBonito, and somehow managed to escape alive when that enterprising\ngentleman came to grief, he tried to return to Cocos Island to recover\nthe fabulous treasure.\n\nThe account of his later wanderings and adventures, as handed down in\nits most trustworthy form, has been the inspiration of several modern\ntreasure-seeking expeditions.  It is related that a native of\nNewfoundland, Keating by name, while sailing from England in 1844, met\na man of middle age, \"handsome in appearance and having about him\nsomething of an air of mystery which had an attraction of its own.\"\nThis was, of course, none other than Captain Thompson of the _Mary\nDear_.  He became friendly with Keating and when they landed at\nNewfoundland, the latter asked him to accept the hospitality of his\nhome.  The stranger, who appeared anxious to avoid public notice,\nremained for some time with Keating, and wishing to make some return\nfor his kindness, at length confided that he was one of the two\nsurvivors of Benito Bonito's crew, and possessed a secret which would\nmake them immensely rich.  If Keating could persuade one of the\nmerchants of Newfoundland to fit out a vessel, they would sail to the\nPacific and fetch home enough treasure to buy the whole island.\n\nKeating believed the strange tale and passed it on to a ship-owner who\nagreed to furnish a vessel provided one Captain Bogue should go in\ncommand of the expedition.  While preparations were under way, Thompson\nwas inconsiderate enough to die, but it goes without saying that he\nleft a map carefully marked with crosses and bearings.  Keating and\nBogue set sail with this precious document, and after a long and\ntedious voyage into the Pacific, they cast anchor off Cocos Island.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Treasure-seekers digging on Cocos Island.]\n\nChristian Cruse, the hermit treasure-seeker of Cocos Island.\n\n======================================================================\n\nThere the brace of adventurers were rowed ashore, leaving the vessel in\ncharge of the mate.  Captain Thompson's directions were found to be\naccurate, and a cave was discovered and in it a dazzling store of\ntreasure to make an honest sailor-man rub his eyes and stagger in his\ntracks.  Keating and Bogue decided that the secret must be withheld\nfrom the crew at all hazards, but their excitement betrayed them and\nall hands clamored that they must be given shares of the booty.\nKeating protested that a division should not be made until they had\nreturned to their home port and the owner of the ship had been given\nthe greater part which belonged to him by rights.\n\nA mutiny flared up, and the mate and the men went ashore, leaving\nKeating and Bogue marooned on board, but the search was bootless for\nlack of directions.  They returned to the ship in a very savage temper\nindeed and swore to kill the two leaders unless they should tell them\nhow to find the cave.  Promising to show the way on the morrow, Keating\nand Bogue slipped ashore in a whale-boat that night, planning to take\nall the treasure they could carry and hoping to find opportunity to\nsecrete it on shipboard.\n\nThis program was spoiled by a tragedy.  While trying to get back to the\nship through the heavy surf that roared on the beach, the boat was\nupset.  Bogue, heavily ballasted with treasure, went to the bottom like\na plummet and was seen no more.  Keating clung to the water-logged boat\nwhich was caught in a current and carried to sea.  Two days later he\nwas picked up, exhausted almost unto death, by a Spanish schooner which\nput him ashore on the coast of Costa Rica.  Thence he made his way\noverland to the Atlantic, and worked his passage home to Newfoundland\nin a trading vessel.  His ship returned with never a doubloon among the\nmutinous crew.\n\nThis experience seemed to have snuffed out the ardor of Keating for\ntreasure-seeking, and it was as much as twenty years later that he\nconfided the tale to a townsman named Nicholas Fitzgerald.  They talked\nabout fitting out another ship, but Keating up and died in the midst of\nthe scheming.  He had married a very young wife, and she set great\nstore by the chart and directions preserved as a heritage from Captain\nThompson.  In 1894 she struck a partnership with a Captain Hackett and\nthey organized an expedition which sailed for Cocos Island in a small\nbrig called the _Aurora_.  This adventure amounted to nothing.  There\nwas dissension on board, the voyage was longer than expected,\nprovisions fell short, and the _Aurora_ jogged homeward without\nsighting the treasure island.\n\nMeanwhile other explorers had been busy.  A German, Von Bremer, spent\nseveral thousand dollars in excavating and tunneling, but found no\nreward.  The tales of treasure also fired the brain of a remarkable\nperson named Gissler, who took up his solitary residence on Cocos\nIsland more than twenty years ago where he has since reigned with the\ntitle and authority of governor of the same, by virtue of a commission\nduly signed, sealed, and delivered by the republic of Costa Rica.  As a\npersistent and industrious treasure-hunter, this tropical hermit is\nunique.\n\nHe was visited in 1896 by Captain Shrapnel of H.M.S. _Haughty_ who had\nheard the stories of Thompson and Benito Bonito along the coastwise\nports.  By way of giving his blue-jackets something to do, he landed a\nparty three hundred strong on Cocos Island whose landscape they vainly\nblasted and otherwise disarranged for several days, but without\nsuccess.  The Admiralty lacked imagination and reprimanded Captain\nShrapnel for his enterprising break in the dull routine of duty.  It\nwas decreed that no more naval vessels were to touch at Cocos Island on\nany pretext whatever.\n\nThis by no means discouraged Captain Shrapnel who waited until it was\npermissible for him to apply for leave of absence.  In England he found\ngentlemen adventurers sufficient to finance an expedition which sailed\nin the _Lytton_ in 1903.  Of this party was Hervey de Montmorency,\nwhose account of the venture includes the following information:\n\n\"On the ninth of August, at four o'clock in the morning, every\ntreasure-seeker was on deck straining his eyes to penetrate the mist\nand darkness; then as the sun rose, the gray mass on the horizon turned\nto green, and Cocos Island, with its lofty wooded peak, its abrupt,\ncliff-like shores, its innumerable cascades of sparkling water, was\ndisplayed to eager and admiring eyes.\n\n\"The anchor was dropped in the little bay, and at the splash, flocks of\nbirds rose screaming and circling overhead.  The sandy beach on which\nthe seekers landed is strewn with boulders, on each of which is carved\nthe name and business of some vessel which has called at Cocos.  Some\nof the dates carry one back to Nelson's time; and all sorts of ships\nseem to have visited the lonely little island, while many a boulder\ntestified to blighted hopes and fruitless errands after treasure.\n\n\"Captain Shrapnel's party set to work with the highest expectation.  No\nprevious expedition had been so well furnished with clues.  Once on the\nright track, it seemed impossible that they should fail.  They searched\nfor ten days, encouraged now by the finding of the broken arm of a\nbattered cross brought from some Peruvian church, again by a glimpse\ninto what promised falsely to be a treasure cave; but all blasting,\ndigging, and damming of streams proved useless.  Captain Shrapnel at\nlast called a council of war, and declared his opinion that the search\nwas hopeless; landslips, previous excavations, and the torrential rains\nof this tropical region had so entirely altered the face of the island\nthat clues and directions were of little avail, nor did their agreement\nwith the owners of the _Lytton_ permit of a longer stay on Cocos.\n\n\"We did not leave the island, however, without paying a visit to its\ngovernor, Gissler, whose little settlement is on Wafer Bay.  Rounding\nthe headland from Chatham Bay, we came into the quiet little nook where\nhe has made his home, and he at once waded out in the surf to greet the\nvisitors,--a tall, bronzed man, with a long, gray heard reaching below\nhis waist, and deep-set eyes which gazed with obvious suspicion.\nGissler had learned to distrust the coming of strangers, who have paid\nsmall regard to his rights, pillaging his crops, killing his livestock,\nand even making free with his home.\n\n\"Reassured by Captain Shrapnel's party that he had nothing to fear from\nthem, he invited them to his house and clearing, and told them of his\nlong and lonely hunt for the pirate's treasure.  When he first went to\nlive on Cocos, he found many traces of the freebooters.  There were\ntraces of their old camps, with thirty-two stone steps leading to a\ncave, old fire-places, rusty pots and arms, and empty bottles to mark\nthe scene of their carousing.  He had found only one gold coin, a\ndoubloon of the time of Charles III of Spain, bearing the date of 1788.\"\n\nIn 1901, a company was formed in Vancouver, with a capital of $10,000,\nto fit out an expedition for Cocos Island.  Gissler got wind of this\nproject and formally addressed the government of Costa Rica in these\nwritten words:\n\n\"Allow me to inform you that no company with any such intent would have\nthe right to land on Cocos Island, as I hold a concession from the\nauthorities of Costa Rica in regard to the said treasure, in which\nconcession the Costa Rica government has an interest.  Certainly\nanything that might be undertaken by such a company from Vancouver\nwould amount to naught without my consent.\"\n\nThis protest was paid due heed, but two years later, an Englishman,\nClaude Robert Guiness, persuaded the officials of Costa Rica to listen\nkindly to his plea, and he was granted the right to explore the island\nfor two years.  Gissler stood by his guns, drew up a list of\ngrievances, and sailed for the mainland in a small boat to assert his\nrights to his kingdom.  At that time, a wealthy British naval officer,\nLord Fitzwilliam, was bound out to Cocos Island in his own steam yacht\nwith a costly equipment of machinery and a heavy crew to find the\ntreasure.  He found poor Gissler in a Costa Rican port, became\ninterested in his wrongs, and promptly supported his claims.  An\nEnglish nobleman with surplus wealth is a person to wield influence in\nthe councils of a Central American republic and Gissler was pacified\nand given a renewal of his documentary rights as governor and\npopulation of Cocos Island.\n\nLord Fitzwilliam took him on board the yacht and in this dignified\nfashion Gissler returned to this kingdom.  He earned his passage by\ntelling his own version of the treasure, as he had culled and revised\nit from various sources, and his bill of particulars was something to\ngloat over, including as it did such dazzling bits of narrative as this:\n\n\"Besides the treasure buried by Captain Thompson, there was vast wealth\nleft on Cocos by Benito Bonito himself.  He captured a treasure galleon\noff the coast of Peru and took two other vessels laden with riches sent\nout from Mexico at the outbreak of the revolution against the\nSpaniards.  On Cocos he buried three hundred thousand pounds' weight of\nsilver and silver dollars, in a sandstone cave in the side of the\nmountain.  Then he laid kegs of powder on top of the cave and blew away\nthe face of the cliff.  In another excavation he placed gold bricks,\n733 of them, four by three inches in size, and two inches thick, and\n273 gold-hilted swords, inlaid with jewels.  On a bit of land in the\nlittle river, he buried several iron kettles filled with gold coin.\"\n\nLord Fitzwilliam and his yacht arrived at Cocos in December of 1904,\nand the party of laborers fell to with prodigious zest.  While they\nwere making the dirt fly, another English expedition, commanded by\nArnold Gray, hove in sight, and proceeded to begin excavating at\ninconveniently close range.  In fact, both parties were cocksure that\nthe lost cave was located in one spot beneath a great mass of debris\nthat had tumbled down from the overhanging height.  The inevitable\nresult was that a pretty quarrel arose.  Neither force would yield its\nground.  Inasmuch as both were using dynamite rather lavishly, treasure\nhunting became as dangerous as war.  When the rival expeditions were\nnot dodging the rocks that were sent hurtling by the blasting, they\nwere using bad language, the one accusing the other of effacing its\nlandmarks and playing hob with its clues.\n\nThe climax was a pitched battle in which heads were broken and\nconsiderable blood spilt.  It is almost needless to observe that no\ntreasure was found.  Lord Fitzwilliam sailed home in his yacht and\nfound that the news of his escapade had aroused the displeasure of the\nnaval authorities, after which he lost all zest for finding buried\ntreasure.\n\nSince then, hardly a year has passed but an expedition or two for Cocos\nIsland has been in the wind.  In 1906, a company organized in Seattle\nissued an elaborate printed prospectus, offering shares in a venture to\nsail in a retired pilot schooner, and recounting all the old tales of\nCaptain Thompson, Benito Bonito, and Keating.  At about the same time,\na wealthy woman of Boston, after a summer visit to Newfoundland, was\nseized with enthusiasm for a romantic speculation and talked of finding\na ship and crew.  San Francisco has beheld more than one schooner slide\nout through the Golden Gate in quest of Cocos Island.\n\nTo enumerate these ventures and describe them in detail would make a\ntiresome catalogue of the names of vessels and adventurous men with the\ntreasure bee in their bonnets.  Charts and genuine information are no\nlonger necessary to one of these expeditions.  Cocos Island is under\nsuch a spell as has set a multitude to digging for the treasure of\nCaptain Kidd.  The gold is there, this is taken for granted, and no\nquestions are asked.  The island was long a haunt of buccaneers and\npirates, this much is certain, and who ever heard of a true pirate of\nromance who knew his business that did not employ his spare time in\n\"a-burying of his treasure?\"\n\n\n\n[1] Strong, or robust.\n\n[2] _History of the Buccaneers of America_, by Captain James Burney\n(1816).\n\n[3] _Voyage and Description_, etc., by Lionel Wafer, London (1699).\n\n[4] \"The Buccaneers of America,\" by John Esquemeling (Published, 1684).\n\n[5] Dampier.  To search for this wreck with a view to recover the\ntreasure in her was one of the objects of an expedition from England to\nthe South Sea a few years later than the voyage of Davis.\n\n[6] \"History of the Buccaneers of America,\" by Captain James Burney\n(1816).\n\n[7] Colnet's \"Voyage to the Pacific.\"\n\n[8] Esquemeling.\n\n[9] \"On the Spanish Main,\" by John Masefield.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE MYSTERY OF THE LUTINE FRIGATE\n\nHarbored in the stately edifice of the Royal Exchange, down in the\nheart of London City, is that ancient and powerful corporation known to\nseafaring men the world over as Lloyd's.  Its chief business is the\nunderwriting of maritime insurance risks and its word is law wherever\nfly the house-flags of merchant shipping.  More than two hundred years\nago, one Edward Lloyd kept a coffeehouse in Tower Street, a\nthoroughfare between Wapping and the Thames side of the city, and\nbecause of its convenient situation the place became a popular resort\nfor sea captains, underwriters, and insurance brokers who discussed\nsuch important matters as arrivals in port, wrecks, missing ships, and\nrumors of war.\n\nIn time Lloyd's coffeehouse was recognized as a sort of unofficial\nheadquarters for this special variety of insurance speculation, and the\ngentlemen most active there drifted into a loosely formed organization\nfor the purpose of making the business less hazardous.  In 1773, this\nassociation of underwriters moved into the Royal Exchange, taking the\nname of Lloyd's, and later appointed a governing body or committee to\ncontrol the more adventurous spirits who were fond of gambling on the\nchances of war, on the length of Napoleon's life, and who would\nundertake to insure a man against the risk of twins in his family.\nFrom this beginning grew the vastly influential and highly organized\nLloyd's of the present day which is something more than a corporation.\nIt is also an aggregation of individual underwriters and brokers\ncarrying on business, each for his own personal profit and on the\nstrength of his good name and resources.  As a corporation, Lloyd's has\nno financial liability in the event of the failure of any of its\nmembers or subscribers.\n\nAll that Lloyd's does, in its corporate capacity, is to permit the\nadmission only of men of stability and sound repute by means of\nstringent tests, and to exact a money guarantee or deposit from its\nmembers in the sum of L5000 or L6000, together with entrance fees of\nL400, and annual fees of twenty guineas.  These payments form what may\nbe called a reserve fund, and the individual underwriter writes his own\npolicies.  If the risk is heavier than he wishes to assume he divides\nit among his fellows.\n\nThere are few more interesting places in London than Lloyd's, encrusted\nas it is with the barnacles of conservative tradition, and hedged about\nwith all the exclusiveness of a club.  The entrance is guarded by a\nburly porter gorgeously arrayed in the scarlet robes and gold-banded\nhat of a by-gone century.  Having run the gauntlet of this dragon, one\nis likely to seek the underwriter's room where hundreds of members and\ntheir clerks are quartered at rows of little desks or \"boxes,\" every\nman of them with his hat clapped on his head as decreed by ancient\ncustom.\n\nThere is always a crowd of them around the \"Arrival Book\" and the \"Loss\nBook\" in which are posted the movements of vessels in every port of the\nworld, and the wrecks that number three thousand every year.  The\nfamous \"Captains' Room\" where the mariners used to gather and swap\nbriny yarns is now used for the prosaic purposes of luncheon and for\nthe auction sales of ships.\n\nIn the two large and handsome rooms used by the secretary and by the\ncommittee of Lloyd's are many interesting relics of the earlier history\nof this body.  Here is the oldest policy known to the annals of\nmaritime insurance, a faded document issued on January 20, 1680, for\nL1200 on a ship, the _Golden Fleece_, and her cargo, on a voyage from\nLisbon to Venice, at L4 per cent. premium.  Hanging on these walls are\nalso a policy written on the life of Napoleon, and an autograph letter\nfrom the Duke of Wellington as Warden of the Cinque Ports.\n\nThe most conspicuous furnishings of the Committee Room are a huge\ntable, highly polished, of dark wood, a magnificently carved arm chair,\nand a ship's bell.  The table bears a silver plate inscribed as follows:\n\n\nH.B.M. Ship _La Lutine_.\n\n32 Gun Frigate\n\nCommanded by Captain Lancelot Skynner, R.N.\n\nSailed from Yarmouth Roads\n\nOn the morning of the 9th October, 1799 with a large\n\namount of specie on board,\n\nAnd was wrecked off the Island of Vlieland the same night,\n\nWhen all on board were lost except one man.\n\n\nThe rudder of which this table was made and the rudder chain and the\nbell which the table supports, were recovered from the wreck of the\nill-fated vessel, in the year 1859, together with a part of the specie,\nwhich is now in custody of The Committee for managing the affairs of\nLloyd's.\"\n\n\nThe chair has a similar inscription, and these pieces of furniture\nserve to remind the visitor that Lloyd's has a lost treasure story of\nits own.  The flavor of piracy is lacking, true enough, but the tragedy\nof the _Lutine_ frigate possessed mystery and romance nevertheless, and\nis worthy of a place in such a book as this.  As the owner of a\ntreasure lost more than a century ago, the corporation of Lloyd's still\nconsiders the frigate a possible asset, and as recently as May 31,\n1910, Captain E. F. Inglefield, the Secretary of Lloyd's wrote the\nauthor as follows:\n\n\"Various attempts have been made, with the sanction of Lloyd's, to\nrecover further treasure, but it was not until 1886, when steam suction\ndredgers were first employed, that any results worthy of notice were\nobtained.  A number of coins and other relics to the value of about\nL700 were obtained.\n\n\"In 1886, also, two guns were recovered from the wreck, one of which,\nafter being suitably mounted on a naval gun carriage, was presented by\nLloyd's to the Corporation of London and has been placed in the Museum\nat the Guildhall.  The other was graciously accepted by Her Late\nMajesty Queen Victoria, and was forwarded to Windsor Castle.\n\n\"In 1891, a few coins of small value were recovered.  Since that date,\noperations have been continued at various times by salvors under\nagreement with Lloyd's, but nothing of intrinsic value has since been\nobtained.  In 1896, a cannon which was afterwards presented to H. M.\nQueen Wilhelmina of Holland by the Committee of Lloyds, was found\ntogether with some small pieces of the wreck, etc.\n\n\"In 1898, some timber weighing about two hundred weight was recovered\nfrom the wreck, and was presented to the Liverpool Underwriters'\nAssociation, whose Chairman, Mr. S. Cross, had a chair made from the\nwood, which he presented to that Association.\n\n\"A company which was formed for the purpose of continuing operations\nhas made efforts at various times, but the site is extremely exposed\nand owing to bad weather, it has often been found impossible to\ncontinue dredging operations for more than a few days each year.  I\ntrust the above information may be of service to you, but I may add\nthat I understand that it is this year intended to operate with some\nnew apparatus.\"\n\nSome light was thrown on this latest enterprise by the publication of\nthe following in a recent issue of _Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper_ of London:\n\n\n\"SEA TREASURE GETTER.\n\nNOVEL MACHINE TO BE USED FOR RAISING SUNKEN WEALTH.\n\n\"An extraordinary machine was towed to the mouth of the River Colne,\noff Brightlingsea, and anchored on Thursday.  It is to be used in a\nfinal attempt to recover L500,000 treasure of gold, in coins and bars,\nwhich is said to have gone down in H. M. S. _Lutine_ in 1797 near the\nisland of Terschelling, off the coast of Holland.\n\n\"A portion of the treasure has been recovered, but the ordinary\ndredging plant is now useless, as the vessel has sunk into the sand.\nThe new device is a great steel tube nearly 100 ft. in length, and wide\nenough to allow a man to walk erect down its centre.  At one end is a\nmetal chamber provided with windows and doors, and at the other a\nmedley of giant hooks and other tackle.\n\n\"The apparatus has just been completed, after years of work, by\nMessers. Forrest and Co., shipbuilders, in their Wyvenhoe yard.  One\nend of the tube, it is explained, will be clamped to the side of a\nsteamship or barge.  The other end, by means of water-ballast tanks,\nwill be sunk until it touches the bottom.  Then, by means of compressed\nair, all the water will be forced from the tube and also from the\nchamber at the bottom of it, which will be flush upon the bed of the\nsea.\n\n\"Divers will walk down a stairway in the centre of the tube until they\nreach the submerged chamber.  Here they will don their diving costumes,\nand, opening a series of water-tight doors, will step out into the\nwater.  Engineers will be stationed in the chamber, and, following the\ninstructions of the divers, who will communicate with them by means of\nportable telephones, they will operate the mechanism of two powerful\nsuction pumps, or dredges, which are fitted to the sides of the tube.\n\n\"These dredges, it is hoped, will suck away the sand around the sides\nof the heavy chamber until it gradually sinks by its own weight right\ndown on to the deck of the wrecked ship.  Then the divers, making their\nway from the chamber to the deck of the ship, and thence to the hold,\nwill be able to transfer the treasure from the ship to the chamber by\neasy stages.\"\n\n\nHow Lloyd's happens to own a treasure frigate of the English navy, lost\nmore than a century ago, is explained in the following narrative, many\nof the facts of which were found in \"The History of Lloyd's and of\nMarine Insurance in Great Britain,\" by Frederick Martin, a work now out\nof print.[1]\n\nOn October 19,1799, the _Gentleman's Magazine_ of London contained this\nnews:\n\n\"Intelligence was this day received at the Admiralty from Admiral\nMitchell, communicating the total loss of _La Lutine_, of 32 guns,\nCaptain Skynner, on the outward bank of the Fly Island Passage, on the\nnight of the 9th inst., in a heavy gale at N.N.W.  _La Lutine_, had on\nthe same morning, sailed from Yarmouth Roads with several passengers,\nand an immense quantity of treasure for the Texel; but a strong\nlee-tide rendered every effort of Captain Skynner to avoid the\nthreatened danger unavailable, and it was alike impossible during the\nnight to receive any assistance, either from the _Arrow_, Captain\nPortlock, which was in company, or from the shore, from whence several\nshowts were in readiness to go to her.  When the dawn broke, _La\nLutine_ was in vain looked for; she had gone to pieces, and all on\nboard unfortunately perished, except two men who were picked up, and\none of whom has since died from the fatigue he has encountered.  The\nsurvivor is Mr. Shabrack, a notary public.  In the annals of our naval\nhistory there has scarcely ever happened a loss attended with so much\ncalamity, both of a public as well as a private nature.\"\n\nIn almost all the accounts of the wreck of the _Lutine_ it is stated as\na fact that the frigate was bound to the Texel, and that the bullion\nand treasure she carried, and which was lost in her, was designed for\nthe payment of the British forces in the Netherlands.  Both statements\nare without foundation, as proved by a careful search in the archives\nof the Admiralty.  These official records show that the _Lutine_ was\nunder orders to sail, not to the Texel, but to the river Elbe, her\ndestination being Hamburg, and that the treasure on board was not the\nproperty of the British government, but of a number of London merchants\nconnected with Lloyd's, and that the business of sending the coin and\nbullion was purely commercial.\n\nThe records wholly fail to explain how it happened that, sailing for\nthe mouth of the Elbe, the _Lutine_ commanded by an able and\nexperienced officer, and in all respects well manned and found, came to\nbe driven, within eighteen hours after leaving Yarmouth Roads, upon the\ndangerous shoals of the Zuyder Zee, far out of her course, even when\nevery allowance is made for the strength of a northwesterly gale.\n\nAnother mystery of the voyage of this thirty-two gun frigate of the\nroyal navy is her employment as a mere packet, carrying cash and\nbullion for the benefit of private individuals.  The officer\nresponsible for sending the _Lutine_ on this unusual errand was Admiral\nLord Duncan who \"received a pressing invitation from some merchants to\nconvey a quantity of bullion.\"  It was his first intention to dispatch\na cutter, but the treasure given in his care was swelled by larger\namounts until its total value was L1,175,000 or more than five and a\nhalf million dollars.  The admiral thereupon discarded the cutter and\nselected instead the swift and staunch _Lutine_ frigate, one of the\nbest vessels of his fleet.  On October 9, he wrote to the Admiralty\nfrom on board his flagship, the _Kent_, in Yarmouth Roads:\n\n\"The merchants interested in making remittances to the continent for\nthe support of their credit, having made application to me for a King's\nship to carry over a considerable sum of money, on account of there\nbeing no Packet for that purpose, I have complied with their request,\nand ordered the _Lutine_ to Cuxhaven with the same, together with the\nmails lying there for want of conveyance; directing Captain Skynner to\nproceed to Stromness immediately after doing so, to take under his\nprotection the Hudson's Bay's ships and see them in safety to the\nNore.\"  When this letter was written, the _Lutine_ had already sailed,\nand before Lord Duncan's communication reached the Lords of the\nAdmiralty, the splendid treasure laden frigate had laid her bones on\nthe sand banks of Holland.\n\nAdmiral Duncan appears to have escaped all censure for this disaster\nwhich followed his action taken without consultation and without\nwaiting for the approval of his superiors.  The merchants of London\nwere powerful enough to command the services of the navy, and English\ncredit was needed on the continent to buttress English arms and\nstatesmanship.  With her millions of treasure and hundreds of lives,\nthe _Lutine_ drove straight toward as fatal a coast to shipping as can\nbe found anywhere in the world.\n\nIt is a coast which is neither sea nor land, strewn with wrecks, and\nwith somber memories even more tragic.  Where is now the entrance of\nthe Zuyder Zee was unbroken terra firma until the thirteenth century\nwhen a terrible hurricane piled the North Sea through the isthmus\nseparating it from the large lake called Vlies by the natives.  A wide\nchannel was cut by this inroad, and in 1287 the North Sea scoured for\nitself a second inlet at the cost of a hundred thousand human lives.\nEver since then, the channels have been multiplying and shifting until\nwhat was once the coast line has become a maze of islands and\nsand-banks, the Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, and hundreds of\nlesser ones which confuse even the mariners born and bred among them.\n\nWith a wind which should have enabled him to give this perilous shore a\nwide berth and to keep to his course up the North Sea, Captain Skynner\nplunged into a death-trap from which there was no escape.  The sole\nsurvivor could give no coherent account, and he died while on the way\nto England before his shattered nerves had mended.  There was no more\nfrigate, and as for the hundreds of drowned sailors, they had been\nobliterated as a day's work in the business of a great navy, so the\nAdmiralty left the mourning to their kinfolk and bestirred itself about\nthat five and a half million dollars' worth of treasure which the sea\ncould not harm.  Vice-Admiral Mitchell was informed by letter that\n\"their lordships feel great concern at this very unfortunate accident\"\nand he was directed to take such measures as might be practicable for\nrecovering the stores of the _Lutine_, as well as the property on\nboard, \"being for the benefit of the persons to whom it belongs.\"\n\nThe underwriters of Lloyd's with an eye to salvage, were even more\nprompt than the Admiralty in sending agents to the scene of the wreck.\nThe greater part of the immense amount of coin and bullion had been\nfully insured, a transaction which indicates the stability and ample\nresources of this association as far away in time as 1799.  The loss\nwas paid in full and with such promptitude that only two weeks after\nthe disaster, the Committee for managing the concerns of Lloyd's\naddressed a letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty in which was\nrequested \"the favor of Mr. Nepean to lay before the Lords\nCommissioners of the Admiralty the information that a sum of money,\nequal to that unfortunately lost in the _Lutine_, is going off this\nnight for Hambro, and they trust their Lordships will direct such steps\nas they think expedient for its protection to be taken.\"\n\nThe request was granted somewhat grudgingly.  Apparently the Admiralty\nregretted the employment of one of its frigates as a merchantman.\nAdmiral Lord Duncan was directed to send a convoy this time, but was\ntold also \"to let them know that their lordships have done so in this\nparticular case; but that they must not expect the packets can again be\nconvoyed.\"  With this letter ends all reference to the _Lutine_ and her\ntreasure in the correspondence preserved in the Record Office of the\nAdmiralty.\n\nHaving paid their losses, like the good sportsmen that they were, the\nunderwriters of Lloyd's thereby clinched their right to the ownership\nof the treasure, provided they could find it.  The situation was\ncomplicated because England was at that time at war with the\nNetherlands whose government claimed the wreck as a prize, although\ninconsistently refusing to let it be adjudicated by a prize court.  On\nthis account, Lloyd's could make no attempt to fish for the treasure,\nwhich delay was very much to the benefit of the sturdy Dutch fishermen\nof the islands at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee.  The sands and the surf\nheld a golden harvest.  The wreck of the _Lutine_ was partly exposed at\nlow ebb tide, and a channel ran close to the side of the ship.\n\nThe clumsy fishing boats or \"showts\" swarmed to the place and never was\nthere such easy wealth for honest Dutchmen.  Their government soon put\na watch on them and took two-thirds of the findings, giving the\nfishermen the remainder.  They toiled in good weather for a year and a\nhalf, and recovered treasure to the amount of eighty-three thousand\npounds sterling.  The official inventory reads like the hoard of a\nbuccaneer, including as it does such romantic items as:\n\n  58 bars of gold, weight 646 lbs. 23 ounces.\n  35 bars of silver, weight, 1,758 lbs. 8 ounces.\n  41,697 Spanish silver pistoles.\n  179 Spanish gold pistoles.\n  81 Double Louis d'or.\n  138 Single Louis d'or.\n  4 English guineas.\n\n\nAt the end of the year 1801 the fishermen quit their task, thinking\nthey had found all the treasure.  For a dozen years the Dutch forgot\nthe melancholy fragments of the _Lutine_, while the sailors of the\ndesolate islands guarding the Zuyder Zee began to weave superstitious\nlegends around the \"gold wreck.\"  In the midst of the crowded events of\nthe great war against Napoleon, England found no time to remember the\n_Lutine_, and her memory was kept alive only by the kinfolk of the\ndrowned officers and sailors.\n\nAfter Napoleon had been finally disposed of, the treasure was recalled\nto public notice by an ingenious gentleman of the Netherlands, Pierre\nEschauzier, a sort of lord of the manor under the government, holding\nthe post of \"Opper Strand vonder,\" or \"Upper Strand finder,\" who lived\nat Terschelling and took a lively interest in the wreck.  After a great\ndeal of investigation and cogitation, he arrived at the conclusion that\nthe greater part of the treasure dispatched from England in the\n_Lutine_ was still hidden among her timbers.  His argument was based on\nthe fact that the bars of silver and gold already recovered were\nstamped with certain numbers and letters indicating series or\nsequences, and that thus far these were very incomplete.\n\nFor instance, among the gold bars previously found, were thirteen\nmarked with the letters _NB_, in three separate lots; the first\nnumbered from 58 to 64; the second from 86 to 90; and the third from 87\nto 89.  Other gold bars with different letters and a variety of numbers\nwent to prove that there were a hundred numbers to each letter, which\nwould yield a total of six hundred gold bars, of which only thirty-one\nhad been recovered in the years 1800 and 1801.\n\nThe government of the Netherlands was duly impressed by the\ncalculations of Mr. Eschauzier who had proved himself such an astute\n\"Upper Strand finder,\" and he was granted a sum by royal decree from\nthe public exchequer to equip a salvage expedition.  Alas, the pretty\ntheory was thwarted by the implacable sands which had buried the wreck.\nFor seven years this indefatigable treasure seeker dredged and dug, and\nfound no more than a few gold coin.  Then he decided to try a diving\nbell, King Willem I having bestowed upon him a more favorable privilege\nby the terms of which the salvage company was to have one-half of the\ntreasure recovered.\n\nThe diving bell was no luckier than the dredges had been.  In fact, by\nthis time the unstable sands had so concealed the wreck that it could\nnot be found.  After vainly groping for several months, the luckless\n\"Upper Strand finder\" confessed himself beaten, and there was nothing\nto show for an expenditure of five thousand pounds sterling.  These\noperations had made some noise in London, however, and the underwriters\nof Lloyd's remembered that they had an interest in the wreck of the\n_Lutine_ frigate.  If there was still treasure to be sought for, it\nbelonged to them, and the government of the Netherlands had no claim\nupon it, either in law or equity.\n\nThe fact that royal decrees had been granting to Dutchmen that which\ndid not belong to them at all, aroused indignation at Lloyd's, whose\nmanaging committee was moved to address the English government in the\nmatter.  After a good deal of diplomatic palaver with The Hague, that\ngovernment made over its half share of the treasure reserved under the\ntreaty with \"the Upper Strand finder\" to the \"British claimants.\"  In\nMay 6, 1823, Mr. F. Conyngham, Secretary of the English Foreign Office,\ncommunicated this pleasing news to Mr. William Bell, chairman of the\ncommittee of Lloyd's in the following letter:\n\n\n\"_Sir_:\n\n\"With reference to the several applications which have been made to His\nMajesty's Government to interfere with that of the Netherlands on\nbehalf of the underwriters, and others, claiming to be allowed to\nrecover certain property still supposed to remain on board of the\n_Lutine_ Frigate, lost off the coast of Holland in 1799, I am directed\nby Mr. Secretary Canning to acquaint you, for the information of the\nparties concerned, that after much negotiation His Netherlands' Majesty\nhas expressed his willingness to cede to the British claimants the\nwhole of that moiety of the said property which by His Netherlands'\nMajesty's decree of the 14th. September, 1821, was reserved for the use\nof his said Majesty.  The other moiety was, by the same decree, granted\nin the nature of salvage to a private company of his own subjects, who\nundertook to recover the cargo at their own expense.  It has been\nstipulated that the British claimants shall be at liberty to concert\nwith the said company as to the best mode of effecting that recovery.\nConsidering the difficulties which the negotiation has experienced from\ndisputed points of law, and making due allowance for the engagements\nformed with the Dutch company, who have been recognized as salvors by\nthe Dutch law, and would have a right to have all services rewarded in\nthe Courts of Holland for the property which may be saved by their\nexertions, Mr. Canning apprehends that it may be advisable for the\nclaimants in this country to agree to the offer now made.  The season\nfor operation is now before them, and no hope could be reasonably\nentertained that a renewal of the negotiation would bring the matter to\na more reasonable close.\"\n\n\nIt will be observed that diplomacy had obtained for Lloyd's only a\nhalf-interest in its own wreck.  The other fifty per cent. still\nbelonged to Mr. Eschauzier's company, as King Willem was particular to\nmake clear in his decree, dated from Het Loo, which went on to say: \"By\nour Minister of Foreign Affairs, we have offered to the King of Great\nBritain to cede to his Majesty all that which by our decree of the 14th\nof September, 1821, was reserved to the Netherlands in the bottom in\nquestion and the cargo therein, doing so solely as a proof of our\nfriendly feeling towards the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in nowise\nfrom a conviction of the right of England to any portion of the said\ncargo....\n\n\"We have been pleased and thought fit:\n\n\"1.  To cede to His Majesty of Great Britain all that which by our\ndecree of the 4th September, 1821, was reserved in favor of the kingdom\nrelative to the cargo of the frigate _Lutine_.\n\n\"2.  To instruct our minister of inland affairs and the maritime\ndepartment--Water Staat--to give notice of this our decree, as well as\nof the cession made on the part of His Majesty of Great Britain to the\nSociety of Lloyd's, to our chancellor of state, governor of North\nHolland, and to the other authorities concerned, as well as to the\nparticipators in the undertaking of 1821 in the Netherlands, and to\ninform them likewise that an English agent will ere long wait upon\nthem, in order to make all such arrangements with them as may be deemed\nadvisable for the furtherance of their mutual interests.  And our\nMinisters for Inland Affairs and the Maritime Department are charged\nwith the carrying out of this decree.\"\n\nThe members of Lloyd's were hardly better off with the gift of one-half\na wreck than they had been with no wreck at all.  Before undertaking\nany salvage operations they must come to some kind of an understanding\nwith the \"Upper Strand Finder\" and his partners, with respect to\nexpenses and profits.  The Dutch, with proverbial caution, were\nreluctant to scrape acquaintance with the English owners, convinced\nthat in some matter or other, this new ownership in the treasure had\nbeen unfairly extorted from their government at the Hague.  It was not\nuntil 1830, that friendly relations were established, and in the\nmeantime Mr. Eschauzier had died, leaving his share in the treasure\namong his legacies.\n\nThen negotiations were interrupted by the political events which caused\nthe separation of Belgium from Holland.  The people of the Netherlands\nheartily hated England for her leading part in this partition, and not\neven the allurement of fishing gold out of the sea could persuade the\nDutch adventurers to have anything to do with Lloyd's or anything that\nsmacked of the perfidious English.  For a quarter of a century, the\nwreck of the _Lutine_ was undisturbed.  Then, in 1846, two enterprising\nEnglish divers in need of work, Hill and Downs by name, conceived an\naudacious scheme to enrich themselves.  They drew up a petition to the\nKing of the Netherlands, asking that they be permitted to pick up as\nmuch gold as they could lay hands on among the timbers of the _Lutine_.\nSurprising as was this request, it was not refused.  According to\ncustom, the petition was carefully examined at The Hague, and the\ndiscovery was gravely announced that there was no legal obstacle in the\nway of the divers, or anyone else, who cared to seek for the _Lutine's_\ntreasure.\n\nOne of the articles of a new code of maritime law, passed by the States\nGeneral of the Netherlands in 1838, provided that the salvage of\nvessels wrecked \"on the outer banks of the coast,\" was thrown open to\nall persons, under stipulated conditions, and that the wreck of the\n_Lutine_ came within this act.  The government formally notified Hill\nand Downs that while the right of salvage could not be granted to any\nparticular person, the ground was free on condition that \"one-half of\nall that might be found must be given up to Lloyd's.\"\n\nThe divers may have found some other employment by this time, for they\nappeared not at the wreck, but the publication of the proceedings awoke\nthe old Dutch company formed by the \"Upper Strand Finder\" and they\nopened negotiations with the committee of Lloyd's.  No one concerned\nseemed to be in a hurry to find the several million dollars remaining\nin the _Lutine_ and nine more years dragged past before a working\nagreement was signed between the two parties.  The Dutch company\nundertook to carry on the work of salvage, paying over one-half the\ngross proceeds to Lloyd's.\n\nIt was in 1857 that the Dutch went to work, and after a month of\nexploration the Secretary of Lloyd's received this pleasing information\nfrom his agent at the Texel:\n\n\"I feel most happy to inform you that the new efforts to save the value\nout of the _Lutine_ have not been without success.  Yesterday there was\nrecovered by means of divers and pincers, 13 silver coins, being\nSpanish piastres, 1 gold Louis d'or, 5 brass hoops and casks, and a\nquantity of cannon and shot.\n\n\"Considering the value of the saved objects, it may not be of much\nsignification; but the salvage itself is of very great importance, as\nit proves two facts, namely, first, that the wreck of the _Lutine_ has\nreally been found, and secondly, that there is specie still in the\nwreck.  As soon as anything more is picked up, I will inform you\nimmediately thereof.  Be assured, I have taken the necessary steps to\nsecure the interests of Lloyd's committee, as owners of the treasure,\nwhich we hope may entirely be saved.\"\n\nA little later, the wreck was found to be very little scattered and its\nprecise location was determined.  The news of the discovered \"gold\nwreck\" spread among the fishermen of the Zuyder Zee and the German\nOcean and they winged it to the scene until \"there were sixty-eight\nlarge and well manned boats in the immediate neighborhood looking for\nplunder.\"  At this threatening mobilization, the Dutch government\nthought it wise to send a gunboat with a party of soldiers on board.\n\nIn the summer of 1858, the divers brought to the surface the bell of\nthe frigate, which now rests in the committee room of Lloyd's with the\nother relics.  The _Lutine_ had been one of the crack ships of the\nFrench navy and was captured by Admiral Duncan, he who sent her to her\ndoom.  The bell bears on its bronze side the royal crown and arms of\nBourbon, and on the rim the name of \"Saint Jean\" under whose protection\nthe ship and her crew had been placed when she was launched as a\nfighting frigate of His Majesty, Louis XVI of France.\n\nThe treasure seeking was continued for several years, whenever the\ntreacherous sea permitted, until, at length, a great gale out of the\nnorthwest closed the channel near the wreck and covered her deeper\nunder the sands.  The work was finally abandoned by these salvors in\n1861.  They had forwarded to England for the benefit of Lloyd's a total\namount of L22,162, to show that the undertaking had been worth while.\nIn the Act of Incorporation of Lloyd's granted by Parliament in 1871,\nthe treasure recovered, as well as that still left in the wreck, was\ncarefully referred to, and it was stated that \"the Society may from\ntime to time do, or join in doing all such lawful things as they think\nexpedient, with a view to further salving from the wreck of the\n_Lutine_.\"\n\nIt seems rather extraordinary that the exact amount of the treasure\nlost in the frigate should be a matter of conjecture, and that the\nrecords of Lloyd's throw no light on this point.  The explanation is\nthat only part of the precious cargo was insured by the underwriters\nthen doing business in the Royal Exchange building, and that a large\namount of gold coin and bullion was hastily forwarded to the _Lutine_\nby divers bankers and merchants shortly before sailing.  The records of\nthese consignments were, of course, scattered and have long since been\nlost.\n\nThe total amount lost has been quite accurately calculated by employing\nthe system of accounting devised by the \"Upper Strand Finder.\"  His\ntheory was verified by later undertakings at the wreck, and the\nsequences of letters and numbers stamped upon the gold and silver bars\nwere found to run in regular order, so that it has been latterly\nassumed that, in all, one thousand of these were in the ship's hold.\nThe figures accepted by the Dutch partners in the enterprise, and\nendorsed by Mr. John Mavor Hill, the agent of Lloyd's at Amsterdam,\nwere as follows:\n\n  Salvage in the years 1800 and 1801 .............. L   55,770\n     \"    \"   \"    \"   1857 and 1858 ..............     39,203\n     \"    \"   \"    \"   1859 to  1861 ..............      4,920\n                                                    ----------\n         Total salvage ............................ L   99,893\n\n  Total treasure estimated to have been lost ...... L1,175,000\n                                                    ----------\n  Treasure remaining in the wreck ................. L1,076,107\n\n\nIt is plausible to assume, therefore, that more than five million\ndollars in gold and silver are still buried in the sands of the island\nbeach at the entrance of the Zuyder Zee, and that at any time strong\ngales and shifting currents may once more uncover the bones of the\nill-fated _Lutine_ frigate.  The members of Lloyd's are daily reminded,\nby the presence of the massive oaken table and chair and the silent\nship's bell in the Committee Room, of the princely fortune that is\ntheirs, if they can find it.  The story is a romance of maritime\ninsurance, and the end has not yet been written, for with modern\nequipment and ingenuity those gold and silver bars, Spanish pistoles,\nand Louis d'or may some day be carried up the staircase of Lloyd's to\nenrich a corporation of the twentieth century.\n\n\n\n[1] \"The particulars concerning the _Lutine_ which you have obtained\nfrom Martin's 'History of Lloyd's,' can, I think, be considered as\naccurate, as I believe Mr. Martin had full means of access to any\ndocuments which were available at Lloyd's or elsewhere in connection\nwith this matter.\"  (Note from Captain Inglefield, Secretary of\nLloyd's, to the author.)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE TOILERS OF THE THETIS\n\nThe _Lutine_ was not the only treasure-laden frigate lost by the\nBritish navy.  The circumstances of the wreck of the _Thetis_ in 1830\nare notable, not so much for the gold and silver that went down in her,\nas for the heroic courage and bulldog persistence of the men who toiled\nto recover the treasure.  Their battle against odds was an epic in the\nannals of salvage.  They were treasure-seekers whose deeds, forgotten\nby this generation, and grudgingly rewarded by their own, were highly\nworthy of the best traditions of their flag and their race.\n\nOn the morning of December 4th of the year mentioned, the forty-six gun\nfrigate _Thetis_, with a complement of three hundred men, sailed from\nRio Janeiro, homeward bound.  As a favor to various merchants of the\nSouth American coast who were fearful of the pirates that still lurked\nin the West Indies, her captain had taken on board for consignment to\nLondon, a total amount of $810,000 in gold and silver bars.  During the\nevening of the second night at sea, the ship was running at ten and a\nhalf knots, with studding-sails set, and plenty of offing, by the\nreckoning of the deck officers.  The lookout stationed on the cat-head\nhad no more than bellowed \"Breakers under the bow!\" when his comrade\nechoed it with, \"Rocks above the mast-head.\"\n\nAn instant later, the soaring bowsprit of the frigate splintered with a\ntremendous crash against the sheer cliffs of Cape Frio.  The charging\nvessel fetched up all standing.  Her hull had not touched bottom and\nthere was nothing to check her enormous momentum.  In a twinkling,\nliterally in the space of a few seconds, her three masts were ripped\nout and fell on deck with all their hamper, killing and wounding many\nof the crew.  Instead of that most beautiful sight in all the world, a\nship under full sail and running free, there was a helpless hulk\npounding out her life against the perpendicular wall of rock.  The\ncatastrophe befell so suddenly that when Captain Burgess rushed from\nhis cabin at the warning shout, the masts tumbled just as he reached\nthe quarterdeck.\n\n\"No description can realize the awful state of the ill-fated ship and\nall on board at this appalling moment; the night was rainy and so dark\nthat it was impossible to ascertain their position, beyond the fact of\ntheir being repeatedly driven with tremendous force against cliffs of a\nstupendous height above them, and consequently inaccessible, and not\noffering the slightest chance of escape; the upper deck of the ship,\nthe only part in which exertion could be useful, was completely choked\nup with masts, sails, and rigging, which presented obstacles that\nrendered unavailing every attempt at active exertion; while the ears of\nall, who were of course using their utmost endeavors for the general\nsafety, were pierced by the cries of the dying and wounded for the\nassistance which the imperious calls of duty forbade them to give.\nNothing but inevitable destruction presented itself to all on board;\nand their perfectly helpless state rendered all deliberation useless;\nand indeed there was no choice of measures, no point on which to offer\nan opinion, and they could only await such means as Providence might\npresent.\"[1]\n\nAs by a miracle, the bowsprit and yard-arms had so checked the speed of\nthe frigate, acting as a sort of buffer, that her hull was not smashed\nlike an eggshell but was found to be fairly tight.  All of the boats\nhad been smashed by the falling spars, and the wretched company could\nonly hang fast and pray that the wreck might float until daylight.  But\nthe hammering seas soon caused her to leak through yawning seams, and\ndespairing of keeping her from sinking, a few of the crew managed to\nreach a shelving projection of rock about twenty feet above the deck.\nIt was a forlorn hope, so perilous to attempt that many of those who\nscrambled for a foothold fell between the ship and the cliff and were\ndrowned or crushed to death.\n\nPresently the hulk swung away from the face of the cliff and was driven\na distance of a third of a mile along the coast and into a tiny cove or\nnotch in the bold headlands of Cape Frio.  Here she remained, now\nsinking very fast.  The party who had succeeded in making a landing on\nthe ledge clawed their way to the rescue, following the drifting ship,\nand with the hardihood and agility of British tars of the old breed,\nthey made their way down the declivity like so many cats and succeeded\nin making fast to a rope thrown by their comrades on board.  By this\nmeans, several men had been hauled to safety when the dying frigate\nlurched wildly and parted the hawser.\n\nIt was discovered that she now rested on the bottom.  Part of the port\nbulwark, the hammock-nettings, the taffrail, and the stumps of the\nmasts remained above water, and to these the crew clung while the surf\nroared over their heads and threatened to tear them away.  The\nsituation was now hopeless, indeed, but all left alive on board were\nsaved by the daring and strength of one man, Boatswain Geach.  He\nfought his way through the breakers to the stump of the bowsprit,\nlashed himself there, and succeeded in passing a line to his comrades\non shore.  A strong rope was then hauled up and one by one the men on\nboard were slung to safety upon the cliffs.  Almost all the survivors\nwere dreadfully bruised and lacerated.\n\nWhen the news reached Rio Janeiro, the British sloop-of-war _Lightning_\nwas in that port, and her commander, Captain Thomas Dickinson, was the\nsort of man who likes nothing better than to lead a forlorn hope and\ngrapple with difficulties.  Said he:\n\n\"The consternation occasioned by the dreadful catastrophe was not\nconfined to naval persons, but was universally felt at Rio,\nparticularly among mercantile people, since from the tenor of the\nletter, and the description given by the officer who brought it, the\nship and everything she contained were considered as totally lost.  The\nevent became a matter of general conversation; but while everyone\ndeplored it, I did not hear of any who seemed disposed to venture on an\nattempt to recover the property, all appearing to consider the case as\nperfectly hopeless....  Here was an undertaking which, if successful,\nwould assuredly lead to professional reputation and fortune, but which\neveryone whom I addressed on the subject thought must fail.  Still, the\nscarcity of the opportunities of obtaining distinction and credit, by\nan extraordinary act of duty, which present themselves to officers in\nthese piping times of peace, offered a consideration which prevailed,\nand I determined on making the attempt, if I could get orders from the\nCommander-in-Chief to that effect.\"\n\nThe admiral of the station proceeded to Cape Frio with a squadron of\nfive vessels, and after a careful study of the situation of the wreck\nconcluded that it would be futile to try to recover any of the sunken\ntreasure.  In the face of this verdict, Captain Dickinson felt\nreluctant to press his own views, but the bee in his bonnet would not\nbe denied.  \"Actuated, however, by the same feelings which had at first\nprompted me to hazard the attempt, and having a natural repugnance to\nreceding after having, during my inquiries, disclosed my views very\nfreely, I was resolved to persevere.  During the absence of the\nCommander-in-Chief, I constantly employed myself in inquiring for any\npersons likely to assist me, searching for implements, and obtaining\nall the information within my reach, and devised several instruments of\nminor importance which appeared likely to be useful.  On his return\nfrom Cape Frio, I showed these to him, of the whole of which he\napproved.\"\n\nCaptain Dickinson could find no diving bell in Rio, so this versatile\nofficer proceeded to make one, and an extraordinary contrivance it was\nfor men to risk their lives in at the bottom of the sea.  From H.M.S.\n_Warspite_, one of the squadron in harbor, he obtained two iron water\ntanks.  These were turned over to an English mechanic named Moore,\nformerly employed by the Brazilian government, who was assisted by the\ncarpenter of the _Lightning_.  Between them they fashioned the water\ntanks into something that looked like a diving bell.  These capable\nartisans then built an air pump, and now they were shy of hose through\nwhich to force air to the submerged toilers.\n\n\"Being unable to find a workman in Rio Janeiro who would undertake to\nmake an air-tight hose,\" explains Captain Dickinson, \"there appeared\nfor a time to be a stop to my preparations; but recollecting that there\nwas a Truscott's pump on board the _Lightning_, I attempted to render\nthe hoses belonging to it fit for the purpose, and to my great delight\nsucceeded, by first beating them hard with a broad-faced hammer to\nrender the texture as close as possible, then giving them a good coat\nof Stockholm tar, afterwards parceling them well with new canvas\nsaturated with the same material, and finally serving them with\nthree-yarn spun-yarns, made of new yarns and well twisted.\n\n\"Having thus surmounted without assistance the two most formidable\ndifficulties that had yet presented themselves, I entertained a hope\nthat my own resources would prove equally available on future\noccasions; and hence my confidence in ultimate success increased, in\nthe event of the stores and treasure still remaining where the ship was\nlost.  My officers and crew likewise now began to feel a great interest\nin all that was doing; and their conduct and expressions afforded me a\nhappy presage that their future exertions would fulfill my most\nsanguine expectations....  I could not but feel that the same\nencouragement was not afforded by some from whom I had most reason to\nexpect both it and assistance; for although I had now been for six\nweeks engaged in work, drudging on in the double capacity of carpenter\nand blacksmith, I had not a single voluntary offer by them of any\narticle that might be useful to me.  Nor was the kindness of my friends\nvery encouraging; for they almost universally endeavored to dissuade me\nfrom venturing on an enterprise which everyone considered hopeless; to\nall of which remonstrances my only reply was, that my mind was made up,\nand that I should not withdraw from it.\"\n\nThe _Lightning_ sailed to begin operations at Cape Frio on the 24th of\nJanuary, 1831, with a Brazilian launch in tow, \"and _La Seine_, French\nfrigate, in company, going to visit the place as a matter of\ncuriosity.\"  At the scene of the wreck were found the sloop of war\n_Algerine_, a schooner as tender, and a complement from the _Warspite_,\nwhich were engaged in saving such stores and spars as had drifted\nashore.  The theater of Captain Dickinson's ambition as a\ntreasure-seeker was hostile and forbidding, a coast on which it seemed\nimpossible to tarry except in the most favorable weather.  As he\ndescribes it, \"the island of Cape Frio is about three miles long and\none in breadth, is the southeastern extremity of Brazil, and separated\nfrom the mainland by a narrow strait or gut about four hundred feet\nbroad, having very deep water in it, and through which, the land on\neach side being very high, the wind constantly rushes in heavy gusts,\nand a rapid current runs.  This island is entirely mountainous, and\nnearly covered with an almost impenetrable forest, and the whole coast\non the sea side of it is formed by precipitous cliffs, washed by very\ndeep water close to the shore; and on the harbor side, with the\nexception of a sandy bay, is very steep and rugged.\"\n\nThe little notch in the seaward cliffs, into which the frigate had been\ndriven, was named Thetis Cove by Captain Dickinson who explored it\nvainly for traces of the wrecked hull.  Either she had been washed out\ninto deep water, or had entirely broken up.  Two months had passed\nsince the disaster, and the only way of trying to find the remains of\nthe vessel was by means of sounding with a hand-lead until the diving\nbell could be rigged.  The depth of water ranged from thirty-six to\nseventy feet at the base of the cliffs.\n\nThis cove was an extraordinarily difficult place to work in, there\nbeing no beach and the ramparts of rock towering straight from the\nwater to heights of from one hundred to two hundred feet.  Said Captain\nDickinson:\n\n\"On viewing this terrific place, with the knowledge that at the time of\nthe shipwreck the wind was from the southward, I was struck with\nastonishment, and it appeared quite a mystery that so great a number of\nlives could have been saved; and indeed it will never cease to be so,\nfor that part at which the crew landed is so difficult of access, that\n(even in fine weather), after being placed by a boat on the rock at the\nbase, it required considerable strength and agility, with the\nassistance of a man-rope, to climb the precipitous face of the cliff;\nand I am certain that in the hour of extreme peril, when excess of\nexertion was called forth, there must have been a most extraordinary\ndisplay of it by a few for the benefit of the whole.\"\n\nNow, this make-shift diving bell of his had to be suspended from\nsomething in order to be raised and lowered, but neither his own ship,\nthe Lightning, nor any of the other vessels of the salvage fleet could\nbe anchored in the cove to serve the purpose because of the grave\ndanger of being caught on a lee shore.  At first Captain Dickinson\nplanned to stretch a cable between the cliffs on either side of the\ncove but this was found to be impracticable.  Thereupon he proceeded to\nfashion a huge derrick from which the diving bell should hang like a\nsinker at the end of a fishing-rod.  There was no timber on the cape\nthat was fit to be worked up by the ship carpenters, but these\nworthies, Mr. Batt of the _Warspite_ and Mr. Daniel Jones of the\n_Lightning_, were not to be daunted by such a trifling matter as this.\nIf a derrick was needed, they were the men to make it out of nothing.\n\nWhat they did was to assemble the broken masts and spars that had\ndrifted ashore from the wreck of the _Thetis_ and patch them together\ninto one immense derrick arm which with its gear weighed as much as\nforty tons.  It was a masterpiece of ingenuity and seamanship of the\nold-fashioned school, such as can no longer be found in navies.  This\nbreed of handy man at sea belonged with the vanished age of masts and\ncanvas and \"wooden walls.\"\n\n\"Our encampment and the adjacent parts of the island now presented a\nbustling, and, I flattered myself, a rather interesting scene,\" wrote\nthe commander.  \"There were parties of carpenters building the derrick,\nmaking, carrying to the selected situations, and placing the securities\nfor supporting and working it.  Riggers were preparing the gear for it,\nsawyers cutting wood for various purposes, rope-makers making lashing\nand seizing stuff from the pieces of cable crept[2] up from the bottom,\nand two sets of blacksmiths at their forges; those of the _Warspite_\nmaking hoops, bolts, and nails, from various articles which had been\ncrept up; and those of the _Lightning_ reducing the large diving bell\nand constructing a smaller one; five gangs of excavators leveling\nplatforms on the heights above the cove, cutting roads to lead to them,\nand fixing bolts in numerous parts of the faces of the cliffs; some\nwere employed in felling trees and cutting grass for the huts while\nothers were building and thatching them; water carriers were passing to\nand from the pool with breakers of water; and the officers were\nattending to the different parties assigned to them for their immediate\nguidance.\"\n\nWhen ready to be placed in position, this derrick, built of odds and\nends, was an enormous spar one hundred and fifty-eight feet long.  To\nsupport it over the water, elaborate devices had to be rigged from the\ncliff overhead, and the whole story of this achievement, as related by\nCaptain Dickinson, reads like such a masterful, almost titanic battle\nagainst odds that it seems worth while quoting at some length:\n\n\"We had by this time taken off thirteen feet of the peak of the\nnortheast cliff, and thereby made a platform of eighty feet by sixty.\nOn this was placed the _Lightning's_ capstan and four crabs[3] formed\nof the heels of the _Thetis's_ topmasts, the _Lightning's_ bower and\nstream anchors, and the store anchor, to which was shackled the chain\nsplicing-tails and several lengths of the _Thetis's_ chain stream cable\nwhich we had recovered, extending several fathoms over the cliff to\nattach the standing parts of the topping-lifts and guy-topping-lifts\nto, and preserve them from chafing against the rocks.  There were also\neight large bollards[4] placed in proper positions for other\nsecurities.  Four other platforms, each large enough for working a\ncrab, were made at appropriate parts for using the guys and guy-topping\nlifts.  The roads and paths had been cut, extending from our encampment\nto those platforms, and from the one to the other of them together\namounted to the length of nearly a mile and a half.  The zig-zag path\ndown the cliff was finished, and at those parts of the main cliff which\nwere inaccessible in this manner, rope-ladders were substituted, and\nthus a communication was formed with the cove at the point where the\nderrick was to be stepped.\n\n\"All this being done, the large hawsers were rove through the blocks,\ntheir purchases lashed to them, and partially overhauled over the\ncliffs.  The getting the before-mentioned heavy articles up was most\ndistressingly laborious, for they were obliged to be carried a greater\npart of the distance where the surface was covered with a deep loose\nsand, and to this cause may be mainly attributed a complaint of the\nheart which subsequently attacked several of the people.\n\n\"The derrick, which was now composed of twenty-two pieces united by a\ngreat number of dowels and bolts, thirty-four hoops, and numerous\nwooldings[5] of four-inch ropes, was finished on the evening of the\n7th, and the clothing fitted on, and I now had arrived at a point which\nrequired much foresight and pre-arrangement, namely, the preparation\nfor erecting it; and it was necessary to weigh with coolness and\ncircumspection the mode by which this was to be done.\n\n\"A party of about sixty of our best hands were employed in getting the\n_Lightning's_ chain and hempen stream cables and large hawsers passed\nover and around the faces of the cliffs, and the purchases were\nsufficiently overhauled to admit of their reaching the derrick, and the\nfalls brought to the capstan and crabs, ready for heaving it up.  All\nwho are well acquainted with the character and manners of sailors know\nthat it is no easy matter to rid them of their habitual heedlessness.\nI endeavored to impress them with the need of caution, and the almost\nuniversal answer I got was 'Never fear, sir,' which from the fearless\nand careless manner in which it was expressed, was by no means\ncalculated to remove my apprehensions for their safety.\n\n\"The task we had now in hand was one of much danger.  The parties\nworking over the cliffs were some of them slung in bights of rope, some\nsupported by man-ropes, some assisting each other by joining hands, and\nothers holding by the uncertain tenure of a tuft of grass or a twig,\nwhile loose fragments of rock, being disturbed by the gear and by the\nmen who were working on the upper part, were precipitated amidst those\nbelow, while the sharp crags lacerated the hands and feet and rendered\ndodging these dangers extremely difficult.  However, by great attention\non the part of the officers, and by promptitude in giving aid when\nrequired, this very arduous part of our work was performed, which I\nsincerely believe could not have been accomplished by any men in the\nworld but British seamen; the only accidents being some cuts in the\nhands and feet, and bruises from falling stones.\n\n\"All the gear being prepared, in the evening I arranged the\ndistribution of my officers with their particular parties at the\ncapstan, crabs, purchases, etc.  The smallness of the number of hands\nsent from the _Warspite_ rendered it necessary that I should have every\nworking man from the _Lightning_; and on this occasion she was left\nwith only a few convalescents to take care of her, and even the young\ngentlemen[6] were obliged to give their aid at the capstan.  On the\nmorning of the 9th, the derrick was launched without casualty, and\nwhile the boats were towing it to the cove, all gear was got ready to\nbe attached to it the moment it arrived at the proper position,\naccording to the plan I had given.\n\n\"It had to be towed for a distance of about a mile, subject to the\ninfluence of a strong current running westward through the gut, at once\nexposing us to the two-fold danger of being driven to sea or against\nthe rocks.  In apprehension of accident from one or the other of these\ncauses, I had taken the precaution of placing bolts at several points\nof the rocks, so that in case of necessity a warp might be made fast.\nHowever, the derrick reached the cove without disaster, and as\neverything depended on promptitude of action, I had all the gear fitted\nto go with toggles, which so much facilitated the rigging that in one\nhour and a half after its arrival, everything was in place and the\n_Lightning's_ chain stream cable being made fast to the heel of the\nderrick, ready for heaving up, I left the further management in the\ncove to Mr. Chatfield, and placed myself upon the main cliff.\n\n\"I then gave the order to heave round, and everyone was on the alert;\nbut we had scarcely brought any considerable strain on the gear when a\nreport came to me that the heel of the derrick was displaced and driven\ninto a chasm at the foot of the cliff, an accident which for this time\nput an end to further efforts.  I had no alternative but to cast\neverything off in a hurry, and if possible return to the harbor with\nthe derrick; but this had become exceedingly doubtful, for the wind was\nmuch increased since morning, and the current more rapid.  We\nrepeatedly succeeded in towing the derrick into the gut, and were as\noften driven back; till at length we were compelled to make it fast to\nthe rock outside until a small anchor and some grapnels were laid out,\nby which means it was finally warped into the harbor, and by half-past\neleven at night moored near the _Adelaide_.  Undismayed by this\nfailure, by seven o'clock of the following morning, we were again in\nthe cove with the derrick.\n\n\"The vast weight, the great height of the purchases, the number of\nthem, and the great distances they were apart, made united effort\nimpossible, but at the close of the day I had the satisfaction of\nseeing this huge spar in the place assigned for it, and the head of it\nhove ten feet above the water.  On the 11th, we were again at our\npurchases, and the head of the derrick was raised to the angle I had\nintended, being about fifty feet above the surface of the sea.\n\n\"During the operation of erecting the derrick, it showed great\npliability, the result of being composed of so many pieces, which\nobliged us to get numerous additional guys on; and having thus secured\nit, we returned to our encampment, all hands greatly fatigued by three\ndays of the most harassing exertion, from half-past four in the morning\nuntil late at night.  On looking down from the precipice on this\nenormous machine, with all its necessary rigging, it became a matter of\nastonishment to myself, and I believe to everyone else who saw it, that\nwith the small means we had, we could have succeeded in such a\nsituation.  It has been my lot to witness many circumstances in which\nthere was cause for great solicitude, but never one wherein such\ngeneral anxiety was manifested as on this occasion.  If any one thing\nhad given way, it must have been fatal to the whole--a general crash\nwould have been inevitable.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Captain Dickinson had found time to devise a small diving\nbell, made from another water tank, which could be operated from spars\nand tackle set up on board a launch.  This was employed for exploring\nthe bottom of the cove in order to find where the treasure was.  The\nbell held two men, and there were plenty of volunteers to risk their\nlives in the first descent in this little iron pot.  The trip was\ndisastrous, and the commander described it as follows:\n\n\"The water happened to be particularly clear, which gave me an\nindistinct sight of the bell at the depth of eight fathoms, and I had\nbeen watching it with breathless anxiety for a long time, when suddenly\na small line of air bubbles rose from about the middle of the hose.  I\ninstantly gave the word to the men in the launch to make ready to haul\naway, but the two men in the bell made no signal to be pulled up.  The\nagitation of the sea became greater every minute, and there was a rise\nand fall of eight or ten feet of surf against the cliffs.  The danger\nwas increasing, and I was about to order the bell to be raised when an\nimmense column of air came bursting up from it.  It had been driven\nviolently against the rocks, thrown on its side, and filled with water.\n\n\"The next moment I saw the two men emerge from the bell and swim to the\nsurface.  Heans had been entangled in the signal line, but he managed\nto release himself, and Dewar bobbed up a few seconds later.  They were\ntoo exhausted to say much, but Heans called to his partner, 'Never\nmind, mate, we haven't done with the damn thing yet.'\"\n\nThese plucky seamen went down again and discovered considerable\nwreckage of the lost frigate.  A Brazilian colonel, with a gang of\nnative Indian divers now appeared on the scene with a great deal of\nbrag about their ability to find the treasure without any apparatus.\nThey proved to be pestering nuisances who accomplished nothing and were\nsent about their business after several futile attempts under water.\nThey furnished one jest, however, which helped to lighten the toil.\nThe bell was being lowered when one of these natives, or _caboclos_,\nslid over the side of the boat and disappeared in the green depths.  In\na few seconds, the signal came from the bell to hoist up.  Fearing\ntrouble, the helpers hoisted lustily, and as the bell approached the\nsurface, something of a brownish hue was seen hanging to its bottom\nwhich was presently discovered to be the _caboclo_ who had tried to\nenter the bell.  The men mistook him for an evil spirit or some kind of\na sea monster and kicked him back into the water outside, and he could\nonly hang on by the foot-rail, with his head inside the bell.\n\nThe first encouraging tidings was signaled from the small diving bell\non March 27th, when a bit of board floated up from the submerged men\nwith these words written upon it: \"Be careful in lowering the bell to a\nfoot, for we are now over some dollars.\"  Soon they came up, from seven\nfathoms down, with their caps full of silver dollars and some gold.\nCaptain Dickinson decided to push the search night and day, and the\nboats were therefore equipped with torches.  It was a spirited and\nromantic scene as he describes it.\n\n\"Thetis Cove would have supplied a fine subject for an artist.  The red\nglare cast from the torches on every projection of the stupendous\ncliffs rendered the deep shadows of their fissures and indentations\nmore conspicuous.  The rushing of roaring sea into the deep chasms\nproduced a succession of reports like those of cannon; and the\nassembled boats, flashing in and out of the gloom were kept in constant\nmotion by the long swell.  The experiment succeeded to admiration, and\nwe continued taking up treasure until two o'clock of the morning of the\nfirst of April, when we were glad to retire; having obtained in the\nwhole by this attempt, 6326 dollars, 36 pounds, 10 ounces of Plata\npina, 5 pounds, 4 ounces of old silver, 243 pounds, 8 ounces of silver\nin bars, and 4 pounds, 8 ounces of gold.  After a little rest we were\nagain at our employment by half-past five, and proceeded very\nprosperously for some hours, and then had to desist because of a\ndangerous shift of wind.\"\n\nAs soon as the larger bell and the giant derrick could be put in\nservice, the happy task of fishing up treasure was carried on at a\ngreat pace.  Unlike many other such expeditions, nothing was done at\nhaphazard.  The toilers under water \"were first to go to the outermost\ndollar, or other article of gold they could discover, and to place a\npig of ballast, with a bright tally board fast to it, against and on\nthe inner side of the nearest fixed rock they could find.  From this\nthey were then to proceed to take up all that lay immediately on the\nsurface of the bottom, but not to remove anything else until all that\nwas visible was obtained.  This being done, they were to return to the\nplace first searched and passing over the same ground, remove the small\nrocks and other articles, one by one, and progressively take up what\nmight be recovered by such removal, but not on any account to dig\nwithout express orders from me.\"\n\nLife in the camp on Cape Frio had no holiday flavor, and while there\nwas continual danger afloat, there were troubles and hardships on\nshore.  \"In addition to our sufferings from the wind and rain\npenetrating our flimsy huts, we were attacked by myriads of tormentors\nin the shape of ants, mosquitoes, fleas, and worst of all, jiggers.\nMany of the people frequently had their eyes entirely closed from the\nstings of the mosquitoes.  At night swarms of fleas assailed us in our\nbeds, while by day it afforded a kind of amusement to pull up the leg\nof one's trousers and see them take flight like a flock of sparrows\nfrom a corn-stack, while there might be a hundred congregated inside\nthe stocking.  Those little insidious devils, the jiggers, penetrated\nthe skin in almost all parts of the body, forming a round ball and\ncausing sores which, being irritated by the sand, became most painful\nand troublesome ulcers, and produced lameness to half of our number at\na time.\n\n\"Snakes were so numerous that the thatching and almost every nook of\nour huts was infested with them.  They were often found in the peoples'\nhammocks and clothes, and several were caught on board the ship.  On\none occasion, my clerk's assistant was writing in his hut when a\nrustling in the overhanging growth caused him to look up and discover a\nhuge snake, its head extending several feet inside the hole that served\nas a window.  He alarmed the camp, and muskets, cutlasses, sticks, and\nevery other weapon were caught up.  The snake escaped, but I received\nnumerous reports of his extraordinary dimensions.  My steward insisted\nthat it was as big around as his thigh, the sentry said it was as big\nas the _Lightning's_ bower cable, and as to length the statements\nvaried between twenty and thirty feet.  At another time, Mr. Button,\nthe boatswain, went into the store, in which there was no window, to\nget a piece of rope.  Going in from the glare of the sun, the place\nappeared dark to him, and he laid hold of what he thought was a length\nof rope, pulled lustily at it, and was not undeceived until it was\ndragged out into the light.  Then he was horror-struck to find he had\nhold of a large snake.\"\n\nIn May, Captain Dickinson was able to send to England in H.M.S. _Eden_,\ntreasure to the handsome amount of $130,000 in bullion and specie, and\nhad every promise of recovering most of the remainder of the precious\ncargo.  Then a terrific storm swept the cove, totally demolished the\nderrick, carried the large diving bell to the bottom, and made hash of\nthe whole equipment devised with such immense toil and pains.  Was he\ndiscouraged?  Not a bit of it.  He straightway set his men at work to\nconstruct new apparatus with which he fetched up more gold and silver,\nto the value of half a million dollars before he forsook the task.\nFirst let him tell you in his own words of that tragic storm and its\nresults.\n\n\"At one o'clock of the morning of May 19th, it blew a perfect gale, the\ncove was in a far more disturbed state than I had ever seen it before,\nthe seas rolled up the cliff to an astonishing height, and by daylight\nthe cove was in a state of awful commotion.  The spray was driven so\nwildly that while standing on the main platform, at an elevation of 155\nfeet, I was completely wet and could scarcely resist it.  The waves\nstruck the derrick with steadily increasing force, and I watched it\nwith all the distressing feelings that a father would evince toward a\nfavorite child when in a situation of great danger.  By six o'clock the\nwind threw the waves obliquely against the southeast cliff, and caused\nthem to sweep along its whole length until opposed by the opposite\ncliff from which as each wave recoiled it was met by the following one,\nand thus accumulated, they rose in one vast heap under the derrick\nstage, beat it from under the bell, and washed away the air-pump,\nair-hoses, and semaphore.  The stage was suspended at a height of\nthirty-eight feet above the surface of the sea in ordinary weather,\nfrom which circumstances an idea may be formed of the furious agitation\nof the cove.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Thetis Cove in calm weather, showing salvage operations.]\n\nThetis Cove during the storm which wrecked the salvage equipment.\n(From lithographs made in 1836.)\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"Nine o'clock arrived, and I had been watching for fourteen hours.  The\nconstant concussions had caused the gear of the derrick to stretch, and\nevery blow from the sea caused it to swing and buckle to an alarming\ndegree.  Nothing more could possibly be done to save it, and I saw\nplainly that unless the gale soon ceased its destruction was\ninevitable.  I therefore left an officer on watch, and quitted the\ncliff to go to my hut and arrange my parties for the work to be put in\nhand after the catastrophe.  Presently he came down to meet me, and\nreported that a stupendous roller had struck the derrick on its side,\nand broke it off twenty feet from the heel.  Thus in one crash was\ndestroyed the child of my hopes, and in a very short time the derrick\nwas dashed into six pieces, forming, with the complicated gear, one\nconfused mass of wreckage.\"\n\nBefore the storm had subsided, the indefatigable seamen, blacksmiths,\nand carpenters were solving the problem afresh, just as if there had\nnot been a clean sweep of their weary months of effort.  This time it\nwas a new scheme for a suspension cable that had occurred to Captain\nDickinson.  While this work was in progress he made another diving bell\nfrom a water-tank, and succeeded in finding his air pump at the bottom\nof the cove.  Two men were drowned in the surf at this stage of\noperations, the only fatalities suffered by the heroic company.  The\ndiving bell was successfully slung from the suspended cable after a\nvast deal of ingenious and daring engineering, and by means of it much\ntreasure was recovered, although the contrivance yawed fearfully under\nwater and more than once capsized and spilled its crew who fought their\ngasping way to the surface.\n\nAfter fourteen months of incessant toil, the men and officers worn to\nthe bone and ravaged by fever and dysentery, they had found almost six\nhundred thousand dollars in bullion and specie, or three-fourths of the\ntotal amount lost in the _Thetis_.  It had been magnificently\nsuccessful salvage, achieved in the face of odds that would have\ndisheartened a less resourceful and courageous commander than Captain\nThomas Dickinson.  He appears to have been the man in a thousand for\nthe undertaking.  Then occurred an inexplicable sort of a\ndisappointment, an act of such gross injustice to him that it can be\nexplained only on the theory of favoritism at naval headquarters.\nCaptain Dickinson had a grievance and he describes the beginning of his\ntroubles in this fashion:\n\n\"On the 7th and 8th of March, some more treasure was found in a part\nfrom which we had removed several guns, and here I had determined to\nhave a thorough examination by digging, feeling assured that here would\nbe found all the remaining treasure that could be obtained.  Our labors\nwere drawing to a close, but while I was enjoying the pleasing\nanticipation of a speedy and successful termination of the enterprise,\non the 6th I was surprised by the arrival of His Majesty's sloop\n_Algerine_, with orders from the Commander-in-Chief to me to resign the\ncharge to Commander the Honorable J. F. F. de Roos of that sloop.  It\nappears that the Admiralty had been led to think that no more property\ncould be rescued, and therefore ordered my removal.  I could not but\nfeel this a most mortifying circumstance.  I had been the only person\nwho had come forward to attempt the recovery of the large property\nwhich was considered to be irretrievably lost; I had devised the whole\nof the methods by which a very large portion of it was recovered; I had\nendured peril, sickness, toil, and privation during more than a year;\nand the work was now reduced to a mere plaything compared with what it\nhad been, and yet I was not allowed to put the finishing hand to it.\nNotwithstanding this, the deep interest I felt in the undertaking\nremained unabated, and I was determined that nothing should be wanting\non my part to ensure a successful termination of it.\"\n\nQuite courteously, Captain Dickinson explained in detail to Commander\nthe Honorable J. F. F. de Roos the plant and the operations, and even\nleft for him to fish up a large quantity of treasure already located\nand which could be scooped up from the diving bell without difficulty.\n\"With a feeling which I thought would be appreciated by a brother\nofficer, I did not attempt to bring up this treasure, but left it for\nthe benefit of our successors, observing at the time that the world\nshould not say that I had left them nothing to do but the labor of\nremoving rocks and rubbish.\"\n\nThe amount subsequently recovered by the _Algerine_ was $161,500, so\nthat by Captain Dickinson's efforts, and the use of his plans and\nequipment, all but one-sixteenth of the lost treasure was restored to\nits owners, and of this he himself had raised by far the greater part.\nWhen he returned to England and learned that salvage was to be awarded\nto the officers and men who had been engaged in the work, he naturally\nregarded himself as the principal salvor.  The Admiralty, in its\ninscrutable wisdom, chose to think otherwise, and the underwriters of\nLloyd's, taking their cue from this exalted quarter, regarded poor\nCaptain Dickinson with the cold and fishy eye of disfavor.  The case\nwas argued in the Court of Admiralty, and the agents of Admiral Baker,\nhe who had been in command of the squadron at Rio, set up the claim\nthat he was the principal salvor, although the fact was plain that he\nhad nothing whatever to do with recovering the treasure from the\n_Thetis_, and not even visited Cape Frio during the year of active\noperations.\n\nThe judge could not stomach such a high-handed claim as this, and his\ndecision set aside the admiral in favor of Captain Dickinson and the\ncrew of the _Lightning_.  The salvage award, however, amounting to\nL17,000, was decreed as due also to the company of the _Algerine_,\nnumbering almost four hundred men, which left small pickings for\nCaptain Dickinson and his heroes.  This was so obviously unfair that he\nappealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which\nincreased the award by the sum of L12,000, in which Commander the\nHonorable J. F. F. de Roos and his belated treasure seekers were not\nentitled to share.  The influential committee of Lloyd's thought that\nCaptain Dickinson should not have been so bumptious in defending his\nrights, and because he disagreed with their opinions, they ignored him\nin a set of resolutions which speak for themselves:\n\n\"1st.  A vote of thanks to Admiral Sir Thomas Baker, for his zeal and\nexertions.\n\n\"2nd.  The same to Captain de Roos, of the _Algerine_, and a grant of\nL2,000 to himself, his officers, and crew, being the amount they would\nhave received had they been parties to the appeal.\n\n\"3rd.  To mark the sense of the meeting of Captain de Roos's conduct,\nthey further voted to this officer a piece of plate to the value of one\nhundred guineas.\"\n\nIn other words, an unimportant naval captain deserved this censure\nbecause he had not been content to take what was graciously flung at\nhim by Lloyd's and the Admiralty, but had stood up for his rights as\nlong as he had a shot in the locker.  There is something almost comic\nin the figure cut by Commander the Honorable J. F. F  de Roos, who\nreaped the reward of another man's labors and received the formal\nthanks of Lloyd's as the chief treasure finder of the _Thetis_ frigate.\nCaptain Thomas Dickinson was a dogged and aggressive sort of person,\nnot in the least afraid of giving offense in high places, and had he\nnot been of this stamp of man he would never have fought that winning\nfight against obstacles amid the hostile cliffs and waters of desolate\nCape Frio.  He shows his mettle in a fine outburst of protest, the\nprovocation for which was a sentence in a letter published in a London\nnewspaper while his case was under discussion: \"Had Captain Dickinson\nrelied on the liberality of Lloyd's Coffee House, _he would not have\nbeen a poorer man_.\"\n\nThis was like a spark in a magazine, and the captain of the _Lightning_\nflings back in retort:\n\n\"Here, then we arrive at the development of the real feelings of the\nUnderwriters; here is exposed the head and front of my offending.  Rely\non the liberality of Lloyd's Coffee House!!  So that because I would\nnot abandon my duty to my officers and crew, or separate my interests\nfrom theirs, and place myself and them at the mercy of the\nUnderwriters, therefore the enterprise and the services of fourteen\nmonths, besides the rescue of nearly six hundred thousand dollars, are\nto be considered as utterly unworthy of mention.  Can it be necessary,\nin order to entitle a British officer to honorable mention in Lloyd's\nCoffee House that he should abandon a right, and succumbing to the feet\nof its mighty Committee, accept a donation, doled out with all the\nostentation of a gratuitous liberality, in place of that reward which\nlegally took precedence even of the ownership of the property rescued!!\"\n\n\n\n[1] The matter quoted in this chapter is from the privately printed\naccount by Captain Dickinson (London, 1836), entitled, \"A Narrative of\nthe Operations for the Recovery of the Public Stores and Treasure sunk\nin H.M.S. _Thetis_, at Cape Frio on the coast of Brazil, on the Fifth\nDecember, 1830, to which is prefixed a Concise Account of the Loss of\nthat Ship.\"\n\n[2] Dredged.\n\n[3] Portable machines used as capstans.\n\n[4] Strong pieces of timber placed vertically in the ground for\nfastening ropes to.\n\n[5] Wrappings.  Captain Kidd uses this old word in his own narrative.\nSee page 109.  [Transcriber's note: the words \"woolding\" or \"wooldings\"\nappear nowhere else in this text.]\n\n[6] Midshipmen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE QUEST OF EL DORADO\n\nIn our time the golden word _Eldorado_ has come to mean the goal of\nunattained desires, the magic country of dreams that forever lies just\nbeyond the horizon.  Its literal significance has been lost in the\nmists of the centuries since when one deluded band of adventurers after\nanother was exploring unknown regions of the New World in quest of the\ntreasure city hidden somewhere in the remote interior of South America.\nThousands of lives and millions of money were vainly squandered in\nthese pilgrimages, but they left behind them one of the most singularly\nromantic chapters in the whole history of conquest and discovery.\n\nThe legend of El Dorado was at first inspired by the tales of a\nwonderful and veritable _dorado_, or gilded man, king of a tribe of\nIndians dwelling, at the time of the Spanish conquest, upon the lofty\ntableland of Bogota, in what is now the republic of Colombia.  Later\ninvestigations have accepted it as true that such a personage existed\nand that the ceremonies concerning which reports were current early in\nthe sixteenth century took place at the sacred lake of Guatavia.  There\nlived on this plateau, in what is still known as the province of\nCundinamarca, small village communities of the Muysca Indians, somewhat\ncivilized and surrounded on all sides by debased and savage tribes.\nThey worshiped the sun and moon, performed human sacrifices, and adored\nstriking natural objects, as was the custom in Peru.\n\nThe numerous lakes of the region were holy places, each regarded as the\nhome of a particular divinity to which gold and emeralds were offered\nby throwing them into the water.  Elsewhere than at Guatavita jewels\nand objects wrought of gold have been discovered in the process of\ndraining these little lakes.  Guatavita, however, is most famous of all\nbecause here originated the story of \"_el hombre dorado_.\"  This sheet\nof water is a few miles north of the capital city of Santa Fe de\nBogota, more than nine thousand feet above sea level, in the heart of\nthe Cordilleras.  Near the lake is still the village called Guatavita.\n\nIn 1490 the inhabitants were an independent tribe with a ruling chief.\nThey had among them a legend that the wife of one of the earlier chiefs\nhad thrown herself into the lake in order to escape punishment and that\nher spirit survived as the goddess of the place.  To worship her came\nthe people of other communities of the region, bringing their gold and\nprecious stones to cast into the water, and Guatavita was famed for its\nreligious pilgrimages.  Whenever a new chief, or king, of Guatavita was\nchosen, an imposing ceremonial was observed by way of coronation.  All\nthe men marched to the lake in procession, at the head a great party\nwailing, the bodies nude and painted with ocher as a sign of deep\nmourning.  Behind them were groups richly decorated with gold and\nemeralds, their heads adorned with feathers, cloaks of jaguar skins\nhanging from their shoulders.  Many uttered joyful cries or blew on\ntrumpets and conch-shells.  Then came the priests in long black robes\ndecorated with white crosses.  At the rear of the procession were the\nnobles escorting the newly-elected chief who rode upon a barrow hung\nwith disks of gold.\n\nHis naked body was anointed with resinous gums and covered with gold\ndust so that he shone like a living statue of gold.  This was the\ngilded man, El Dorado, whose fame traveled to the coast of the\nCaribbean.  At the shore of the lake, he and his escort stepped upon a\nbalsa, or raft made of rushes, and moved slowly out to the middle.\nThere the gilded one plunged into the deep water and washed off his\nprecious covering, while with shouts and music the assembled throng\nthrew their offerings of gold and jewels into the lake.  Then the\nworshipers returned to the village for dancing and feasting.[1]  In the\nlast decade of the fifteenth century, or while Columbus was making his\nvoyages, the tribe of Guatavita was conquered by a stronger community\nof the Muysca race, and the new rulers, being of a thriftier mind, made\nan end of the extravagant ceremony of el dorado.  It is therefore\nassumed that the gilded man had ceased to be, full thirty years before\nthe Spaniards first heard of him at the coast.\n\nHumboldt became interested in the legend during his South America\ntravels and reported:\n\n\"I have examined from a geographical point of view the expeditions on\nthe Orinoco, and in a western and southern direction in the eastern\nside of the Andes, before the tradition of El Dorado was spread among\nthe conquerors.  This tradition had its origin in the kingdom of Quito\nwhere Luiz Daza, in 1535, met with an Indian of New Granada who had\nbeen sent by his prince, the Zipa of Bogota, or the Caique of Tunja, to\ndemand assistance from Atahuahalpa, the last Inca of Peru.  This\nambassador boasted, as was usual, of the wealth of his country; but\nwhat particularly fixed the attention of the Spaniards who were\nassembled with Daza was the history of a lord who, his body covered\nwith gold dust, went into a lake amid the mountains.\n\n\"As no historical remembrance attaches itself to any other mountain\nlake in this vicinity, I suppose the reference to be made to the sacred\nlake of Guatavita, in the plains of the Bogota, into which the gilded\nlord was made to enter.  On the banks of this lake I saw the remains of\na staircase, hewn in the rock, and used for the ceremonies of ablution.\nThe Indians told me that powder of gold and golden vessels were thrown\ninto this lake as a sacrifice to the _Adoratorio_ de Guatavita.\nVestiges are still found of a breach made by the Spaniards in order to\ndrain the lake....  The ambassador of Bogota, whom Daza met in the\nkingdom of Quito, had spoken of a country situated towards the east.\"\n\nThe latter reference means that the legend had spread from coast to\ncoast.  On the Pacific, the _conquistadores_ of Pizarro were for a time\ntoo busily engaged in looting the enormous treasures of the last Inca\nof Peru to pay much heed to the lure of golden legends beckoning them\nfurther inland.  The first attempt to go in search of the gilded man\nand his kingdom was made, not by a Spaniard, but by a German, Ambrosius\nDalfinger, who was in command of a colony of his countrymen settled on\nthe shore of the Gulf of Venezuela, a large tract of that region having\nbeen leased by Spain to a German company.  He pushed inland to the\nwestward as far as the Rio Magdalena, treated the natives with horrible\nbarbarity, and was driven back after losing most of his men.\n\nA few years later, and the legend was magnified into a wondrous\ndescription of a golden city.  In 1538, there marched from the Atlantic\ncoast, Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada, surnamed _El Conquistador_, to find\nthe El Dorado.  At the head of six hundred and twenty-five\nfoot-soldiers and eighty-five mailed horsemen, he made his perilous way\nup the Rio Magdalena, through fever-cursed swamps and tribes of hostile\nnatives, enduring hardships almost incredible until at length he came\nto the lofty plateau of Bogota, and the former home of the real gilded\nman.  More than five hundred of his men had died on the journey of\nhunger, illness, and exposure.  He found rich cities and great stores\nof gold and jewels, but failed to discover the El Dorado of his dreams.\n\nMany stories were afloat of other treasures to be wrested from the\nMuysca chiefs, but Quesada, having no more than a handful of fighting\nmen, feared to go campaigning until he had made his position secure.\nHe therefore established a base and laid the foundations of the present\ncity of Bogota.  One of his scouting parties brought back tidings of a\ntribe of very war-like women in the south who had much gold, and in\nthis way was the myth of the Amazons linked with the El Dorado as early\nas 1538.\n\nNow occurred as dramatic a coincidence as could be imagined.  To\nQuesada there appeared a Spanish force commanded by Sebastian de\nBelalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, who had come all the way from the\nPacific coast, after hearing from an Indian of New Granada the story of\nthe gilded man.  No sooner had this expedition arrived than it was\nreported to Quesada that white men with horses were coming from the\neast.  This third company of pilgrims in quest of El Dorado proved to\nbe Nicholas Federmann and his hard-bitted Germans from the colony in\nVenezuela who had followed the trail made by Dalfinger and then plunged\ninto the wilderness beyond his furthest outpost.\n\nThus these three daring expeditions, Quesada from the north, Belalcazar\nfrom the south, and Federmann from the east, met face to face on the\nhitherto unknown plateau of Cundinamarca.  None had been aware of the\nothers' march in search of this goal, and each had believed himself to\nbe the discoverer of this country.  They were ready to fly at one\nanother's throats, for there could be no amity when gold was the prize\nat stake.  Curiously enough the three forces were evenly matched in\nfighting strength, each with about one hundred and sixty men.  One\nmight think that the two Spanish parties would have united to drive the\nGermans from the home of El Dorado, but greed stifled all natural ties\nand emotions.\n\nA conflict was averted by the tact and sagacity of Quesada and the\npriests of the expeditions who acted as a committee of arbitration.  It\nwas finally agreed among the leaders that the several claims should be\nsubmitted to the Spanish Court, and Quesada, Belalcazar, and Federmann\nset out for Spain to appear in person, leaving their forces in\npossession of the disputed territory.  The command of the Spanish\ntroops was turned over to Hernan Perez de Quesada, the cruel and greedy\nbrother of the leader, who fortified himself at Bogota and proceeded to\nrob the Muysca people of the last ounce of gold that could be extorted\nby means of torture and all manner of unspeakable wickedness.  In 1540\nhe tried to drain the lake of Guatavita, tempted by the stories of the\nvast treasures of gold and jewels that, for centuries, had been thrown\ninto the water by the worshipers, but he recovered valuables only to\nthe amount of four thousand ducats.  It was the remains of his drainage\ntunnel which Humboldt found and made note of.\n\nWith the conquest of this region was obtained the last great store of\ngold discovered by the plundering Spaniards in South America.  These\nexplorers finished when [Transcriber's note: what?] Pizarro had begun\nin Peru.  To convey the treasure from Bogota to the coast of the\nCarribean a road was built through the mountains, much of it cut as a\nnarrow shelf in solid rock, winding and dipping in a dizzy route to\nconnect with the upper reaches of navigation on the Rio Magdalena.\nThis was the famous _El Camino Real_, or \"King's Highway\" which is\nstill used as one of the roads by which the capital of Colombia, Santa\nFe de Bogota is reached by the traveler of the twentieth century.  It\nwas to intercept one of these treasure trains that Amyas Leigh and his\ndoughty comrades of \"Westward Ho!\" lay in wait, and the fiction of\nKingsley will better serve to portray the time and place than the facts\nas the old historians strung them together.\n\n\"Bidding farewell once and forever to the green ocean of the eastern\nplains, they have crossed the Cordillera; they have taken a longing\nglance at the city of Santa Fe, lying in the midst of rich gardens on\nits lofty mountain plateau, and have seen, as was to be expected, that\nit was far too large for any attempt of theirs.  But they have not\naltogether thrown away their time.  Their Indian lad has discovered\nthat a gold-train is going down from Santa Fe toward the Magdalena; and\nthey are waiting for it beside the miserable rut that serves for a\nroad, encamped in a forest of oaks which would make them almost fancy\nthemselves back in Europe were it not for the tree-ferns which form the\nundergrowth; and were it not for the deep gorges opening at their very\nfeet; in which while their brows are swept by the cool breezes of a\ntemperate zone, they can see far below, dim through their everlasting\nvapor bath of rank, hot steam, the mighty forms and gorgeous colors of\nthe tropic forest.\n\n\"... At last, up from beneath there was a sharp crack and a loud cry.\nThe crack was neither the snapping of a branch, nor the tapping of a\nwoodpecker; the cry was neither the scream of a parrot, nor the howl of\na monkey.\n\n\"'That was a whip's crack,' said Yeo, 'and a woman's wail.  They are\nclose here, lads!'\n\n\"'A woman's?  Do they drive women in their gangs?' asked Amyas.  'Why\nnot, the brutes?  There they are, sir.  Did you see their basnets\nglitter?'\n\n\"'Men!' said Amyas in a low voice.  'I trust you all not to shoot till\nI do.  Then give them one arrow, out swords, and at them!  Pass the\nword along.'\n\n\"Up they came, slowly, and all hearts beat loud at their coming.\nFirst, about twenty soldiers, only one half of whom were on foot; the\nother half being borne, incredible as it may seem, each in a chair on\nthe back of a single Indian, while those who marched had consigned\ntheir heaviest armor and their arquebuses into the hands of attendant\nslaves, who were each pricked on at will by the pikes of the soldiers\nbehind them....  Last of this troop came some inferior officer also in\nhis chair, who as he went slowly up the hill, with his face turned\ntoward the gang which followed, drew every other second the cigar from\nhis lips to inspirit them with those pious ejaculations ... which\nearned for the pious Spaniards of the sixteenth century the\nuncharitable imputation of being the most abominable swearers in Europe.\n\n\"... A line of Indians, Negroes, and Zamboes, naked, emaciated, scarred\nwith whips and fetters, and chained together by their left wrists,\ntoiled upwards, panting and perspiring under the burden of a basket\nheld up by a strap which passed across their foreheads.  Yeo's sneer\nwas but too just; there were not only old men and youths among them,\nbut women; slender young girls, mothers with children running at their\nknee; and at the sight, a low murmur of indignation rose from the\nambushed Englishmen, worthy of the free and righteous hearts of those\ndays, when Raleigh could appeal to man and God, on the ground of a\ncommon humanity, in behalf of the outraged heathens of the New World.\n\n\"But the first forty, so Amyas counted, bore on their backs a burden\nwhich made all, perhaps, but him and Yeo, forget even the wretches who\nbore it.  Each basket contained a square package of carefully corded\nhide; the look whereof friend Amyas knew full well.\n\n\"'What's in they, Captain?'\n\n\"'Gold!'  And at that magic word all eyes were strained greedily\nforward, and such a rustle followed that Amyas, in the very face of\ndetection, had to whisper:\n\n\"'Be men, be men, or you will spoil all yet.'\"\n\n\nThe muskets and long-bows of the stout Englishmen avenged the wrongs of\nthis pitiable caravan, although there was no help for a vast multitude\nof Indians who were put to death with devilish torments by their\nconquerors.  But the legend of the El Dorado still survived and it\nspread like an avenging spirit.  \"Transplanted by the over-excited\nimagination of the white man, the vision appeared like a mirage\nenticing, deceiving and leading men to destruction, on the banks of the\nOrinoco, and the Amazon, in Omagua and Parime.\"  The conquest of Bogota\nmade them believe that the gilded man and his golden kingdom were\nsomewhere just beyond.  The licentiate, Juan de Castellanos, wrote a\npoem which was published in 1589, telling of the legend as it had\nexisted in Quito in the days of the _Conquistadores_.\n\n  \"When with that folk came Annasco,\n  Benalcazar learned from a stranger\n  Then living in the city of Quito,\n  But who called Bogota his home,\n  Of a land there rich in golden treasure,\n  Rich in emeralds glistening the rock.\n  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .\n  A chief was there, who stripped of vesture,\n  Covered with golden dust from crown to toe,\n  Sailed with offerings to the gods upon a lake\n  Borne by the waves upon a fragile raft,\n  The dark flood to brighten with golden light.\"[2]\n\n\nAnother and more imaginative version of the story was told to Oviedo[3]\nby divers Spaniards whom he met in San Domingo.  They had heard from\nIndians in Quito that the great lord, El Dorado, always went about\ncovered with powdered gold, because he thought this kind of garment\nmore beautiful and distinguished than any decorations of beaten gold.\nThe lesser chiefs were in the habit of adorning themselves likewise,\nbut were not so lavish as the king who put on his gold dust every\nmorning and washed it off at night.  He first anointed himself with a\nfragrant liquid gum, to which the gold dust adhered so evenly that he\nresembled a brilliant piece of artfully hammered gold metal.\n\nFor more than half a century, the mad quest continued, and always there\ncame tragedy and disaster.  The German colony of Venezuela was wiped\nout because of these futile expeditions into the interior.  Gonzalo\nPizarro, brother of the great Francisco, set out to find the city of\nlegend, and returned after two years, in such dreadful plight that the\nsurvivors of the party looked more like wild animals than men, \"so that\none could no longer recognize them.\"  Pedro de Urzua started from\nBogota to find a \"golden city of the sun,\" and his expedition founded\nthe town of Pampluna.  In 1560 the same leader was appointed \"governor\nof Omagua and El Dorado,\" and he set out to find his domain by way of\nthe Amazon.  Urzua was murdered by Lope de Aguirre who treacherously\nconspired against him, and Aguirre descended the great river and\nfinally reached Venezuela after one of the maddest piratical cruises\never recorded.  Guimilla, in a \"History of the Oronoke,\" says:\n\n\"I find it (El Dorado) related with such an exact description of the\ncountry, as the missionaries of my province and myself have recognized,\nthat I cannot doubt it.  I have seen in the jurisdiction of Varinas, in\nthe mountains of Pedrarca, in 1721, the brass halberd which Urzua took\nwith him in his expedition.  I have been acquainted with Don Joseph\nCabarte who directed for thirty years the missions of Agrico and the\nOronoke, the countries traversed by Urzua, and he appeared to be fully\npersuaded that that was the route to El Dorado.\"\n\nMeanwhile the myth had assumed new forms.  On the southwestern\ntributaries of the Amazon were the fabled districts of Enim and Paytiti\nsaid to have been founded by Incas who had fled from Peru and to have\nsurpassed ancient Cuzco in splendor.  North of the Amazon the supposed\ncity of El Dorado moved eastward until in Raleigh's time it was\nsituated in Guiana beside Lake Parima.  This lake remained on English\nmaps until the explorations of Schomburgh in the nineteenth century\nproved that it was nothing more than a pond in a vast swamp.  The\nemerald mountain of Espirito Santo and the Martyrios gold mine, long\nsought for in Western Brazil recalled the El Dorado myth; while far to\nthe southward in the plains of the Argentine the city of Caesar, with\nsilver walls and houses was another alluring and persistent phantom.\nIt was said to have been founded by shipwrecked Spanish sailors, and\neven late in the eighteenth century expeditions were sent in search for\nit.\n\nIt was not until 1582 that the Spanish ceased to pursue the fatal\nphantom city of El Dorado and Southey's History of the Brazils is\nauthority for the statement that these \"expeditions cost Spain more\nthan all the treasures she had received from her South American\npossessions.\"  There is more meaning than appears on the surface in the\nSpanish proverb, \"Happiness is only to be found in El Dorado which no\none yet has been able to reach.\"\n\nAlas, that Sir Walter Raleigh should have been lured to seek in Guiana\nthe fabled El Dorado which had now become the splendid city of Manoa\nbuilt on the shores of a vast inland lake of salt water.  It was in\nthis guise that he heard the transplanted and exaggerated story of the\ngilded man.  His own narrative, as included in Hakluyt's Voyages, is\nentitled:[4]\n\n\"The discovery of the large, rich and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with\na relation of the great and golden city of Manoa (which the Spaniards\ncall El Dorado) and the provinces of Emeria, Aromaia, Amapaia, and\nother countries, with their rivers adjoining.  Performed in the year\n1595 by Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, Captain of Her Majesty's Guard,\nLord Warden of the Stanneries, and Her Highness' Lieutenant General of\nthe County of Cornwall.\"\n\nIt was while touching at the island of Trinidad, outward bound, that\nRaleigh had the misfortune to learn the story of a picturesque liar by\nthe name of Juan Martinez, a derelict Spanish seaman, who had sailed\nwith the explorer Diego de Ordas in 1531.  \"The relation of this\nMartinez (who was the first that discovered Manoa) his success and end\nare to be seen in the Chancery of Saint Juan de Puerto Rico,\" writes\nRaleigh, \"whereof Berreo had a copy, which appeared to be the greatest\nencouragement as well to Berreo as to others that formerly attempted\nthe discovery and conquest.  Orellana, after he failed of the discovery\nof Guiana by the said river of the Amazon, passed into Spain, and there\nobtained a patent of the king for the invasion and conquest, but died\nby sea about the Islands, and his fleet severed by tempest, the action\nfor that time proceeded not.  Diego Ordas followed the enterprise, and\ndeparted Spain with six hundred soldiers and thirty horse, who arriving\non the coast of Guiana, was slain in mutiny, with the most part of such\nas favored him, as also of the rebellious part, insomuch as his ships\nperished, and few or none returned, neither was it certainly known what\nbecame of the said Ordas until Berreo found the anchor of his ship in\nthe river of Orinoco; but it was supposed, and so it is written by\nLopez that he perished on the seas, and of other writers diversely\nconceived and reported.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Sir Walter Raleigh.]\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"And hereof it came that Martinez entered so far within the land and\narrived at that city of Inca, the Emperor; for it chanced that while\nOrdas with his army rested at the port of Morequito (who was either the\nfirst or second that attempted Guiana) by some negligence the whole\nstore of powder provided for the service was set on fire; and Martinez\nhaving the chief charge[5] was condemned by the General Ordas to be\nexecuted forthwith.  Martinez, being much favored by the soldiers, had\nall the means possible procured for his life; but it could not be\nobtained in other sort than this; That he should be set into a canoe\nalone without any victuals, only with his arms, and so turned loose\ninto the great river.\n\n\"But it pleased God that the canoe was carried down the stream and that\ncertain of the Guianians met it the same evening; and having not at any\ntime seen any Christian, nor any man of that color, they carried\nMartinez into the land to be wondered at, and so from town to town,\nuntil he came to the great city of Manoa, the seat and residence of\nInca, the Emperor.  The emperor after he had beheld him, knew him to be\na Christian (for it was not long before that his brethren Guascar[6]\nand Atabalipa[6] were vanished [Transcriber's note: vanquished?] by the\nSpaniards in Peru) and caused him to be lodged in his palace and well\nentertained.  He lived seven months in Manoa, but was not suffered to\nwander into the country anywhere.  He was also brought thither all the\nway blindfold, led by the Indians, until he came to the entrance of\nManoa itself, and was fourteen or fifteen days in the passage.  He\navowed at his death that he entered the city at noon, and then they\nuncovered his face, and that he traveled all that day till night\nthrough the city and the next day from sun rising to sun setting ere he\ncame to the palace of Inca.\n\n\"After that Martinez had lived seven months in Manoa, and began to\nunderstand the language of the country, Inca asked him whether he\ndesired to return into his own country, or would willingly abide with\nhim.  But Martinez not desirous to stay, obtained the favor of Inca to\ndepart; with whom he sent divers Guianians to conduct him to the river\nof Orinoco, all laden with as much gold as they could carry, which he\ngave to Martinez at his departure.  But when he was arrived near the\nriver's side, the borderers which are called Orenoqueponi robbed him\nand his Guianians of all the treasure (the borderers being at that time\nat war, which Inca had not conquered) save only of two great bottles of\ngourds, which were filled with beads of gold curiously wrought, which\nthose Orenoqueponi thought had been no other thing than his drink or\nmeat, or grain for food, with which Martinez had liberty to pass.\n\n\"And so in canoes he fell down from the river of Orinoco to Trinidad\nand from thence to Margarita, and also to Saint Juan de Puerto Eico,\nwhere remaining a long time for passage into Spain, he died.  In the\ntime of his extreme sickness, and when he was without hope of life,\nreceiving the Sacrament at the hands of his confessor, he delivered\nthese things, with the relation of his travels, and also called for his\ncalabazas or gourds of the gold beads which he gave to the church and\nfriars to be prayed for.\n\n\"This Martinez was he that christened the city of Manoa by the name of\nEl Dorado, and as Berreo informed me, upon this occasion; Those\nGuianians, and also the borderers, and all others in that tract which I\nhave seen, are marvelous great drunkards; in which vice, I think no\nnation can compare with them; and at the times of their solemn feasts\nwhen the emperor carouseth with his captains, tributaries, and\ngovernors the manner is thus:\n\n\"All those that pledge him are first stripped naked, and their bodies\nanointed all over with a kind of white balsam (by them called _curca_)\nof which there is great plenty, and yet very dear amongst them, and it\nis of all other the most precious, whereof we have had good experience.\nWhen they are anointed all over, certain servants of the emperor,\nhaving prepared gold made into fine powder, blow it through hollow\ncanes upon their naked bodies, until they be all shining from the foot\nto the head: and in this sort they sit drinking by twenties, and\nhundreds, and continue in drunkenness sometimes six or seven days\ntogether.\n\n\"The same is also confirmed by a letter written into Spain, which was\nintercepted, which Mr. Robert Dudley told me he had seen.  Upon this\nsight, and for the abundance of gold which he saw in the city, the\nimages of gold in their temples, the plates, armors, and shields of\ngold which they used in the wars, he called it El Dorado.\"\n\n\nAfter mentioning in detail the several ill-fated expeditions of the\nSpanish to find the El Dorado, Raleigh reviews the mass of evidence in\nfavor of the existence of the hidden and magnificent city, and as\ngravely relates the current reports of other wonders as prodigious as\nthis.  He it was who carried back to Europe the story of the Amazons,\n\"being very desirous to understand the truth of those warlike women,\nbecause of some it is believed, of others not.  And although I digress\nfrom my purpose, yet I will set down that which hath been delivered me\nfor truth of those women, and I spake with a caique or lord of the\npeople, that told me he had been in the river and beyond it....  They\nare said to be very cruel and bloodthirsty, especially to such as offer\nto invade their territories.  These Amazons have likewise great stores\nof these plates of gold which they recover chiefly by exchange for a\nkind of green stones.\"  That the natures of these stern ladies had a\nsofter side is prettily indicated by Raleigh in the statement that in\nthe month of April \"all kings of the border assemble, and queens of the\nAmazons; and after the queens have chosen, the rest cast lots for their\nValentines.  This one month they feast, dance, and drink of their wines\nin abundance; and the moon being done, they all depart to their own\nprovinces.\"\n\nAmong the perils that beset the road to El Dorado was a terrible nation\nof men with no heads upon their shoulders.  Raleigh did not happen to\nencounter them during his voyage up the Orinoco, but nevertheless he\ntook pains to set down in his narrative, \"which though it may be\nthought a mere fable, yet for mine part I am resolved it is true,\nbecause every child in the provinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirm the\nsame.  They are called Ewaipanoma; they are reported to have their eyes\nin their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts and\nthat a long train of hair groweth backward between their shoulders.[7]\nThe son of Topiawari, which I brought with me into England told me that\nthey are the most mighty men of all the land, and use bows, arrows, and\nclubs thrice as big as any of Guiana, or of the Orinoco, and that one\nof the Iwarawakeri took a prisoner of them the year before our arrival\nthere, and brought him into the borders of Aromaia, his father's\ncountry.  And farther when I seemed to doubt of it, he told me that it\nwas no wonder among them, but that they were as great a nation, and as\ncommon as any other in all the provinces, and had of late years slain\nmany hundreds of his father's people: but it was not my chance to hear\nof them until I was come away, and if I had but spoken but one word of\nit while I was there, I might have brought one of them with me to put\nthe matter out of doubt.  Such a nation was written of by Mandeville[8]\nwhose reports were holden for fables many years, and yet since the East\nIndies were discovered, we find his relations true of all things as\nheretofore were held incredible.  Whether it be true or no, the matter\nis not great, neither can there be any profit in the imagination.  For\nmy own part, I saw them not, but I am resolved that so many people did\nnot all combine or forethink to make the report.\n\n\"When I came to Cumana in the West Indies, afterwards by chance I spake\nwith a Spaniard dwelling not far from thence, a man of great travel,\nand after he knew that I had been in Guiana, and so far directly west\nas Caroli, the first question he asked me was, whether I had seen any\nof the Ewaipanoma, which are those without heads: who being esteemed a\nmost honest man of his word, and in all things else, told me he had\nseen many of them.\"\n\nThat Sir Walter Raleigh, the finest flower of manhood that blossomed in\nhis age, should have believed these and other wonders does not belittle\nhis fame.  He lived and fought and sailed in a world that had not been\nexplored and mapped and charted and photographed and written about\nuntil all the romance and mystery were driven out of it.  The globe had\nnot shrunk to a globule around which excursionists whiz in forty days\non a coupon ticket.  Men truly great, endowed with the courage and\nresourcefulness of epic heroes, and the simple faith of little\nchildren, were voyaging into unknown seas to find strange lands, ready\nto die, and right cheerfully, for God and their King.  Sir Walter\nRaleigh was bound up, heart and soul, in winning Guiana as a great\nempire for England, and when his enemies at home scouted his reports\nand accused him of trying to deceive the nation with his tales of El\nDorado, he replied with convincing sincerity and pathos:\n\n\"A strange fancy it had been in me, to have persuaded my own son whom I\nhave lost, and to have persuaded my wife to have adventured the eight\nthousand pounds which his Majesty gave them for Shelborne, and when\nthat was spent, to persuade my wife to sell her house at Mitcham in\nhope of enriching them by the mines of Guiana, if I myself had not seen\nthem with my own eyes!  For being old and weakly, thirteen years in\nprison, and not used to the air, to travel and to watching, it being\nten to one that I should ever have returned,--and of which, by reason\nof my violent sickness, and the long continuance thereof, no man had\nany hope, what madness would have made me undertake the journey, but\nthe assurance of this mine.\"[9]\n\nHe was referring here to his fourth and last voyage in quest of El\nDorado.  Elizabeth was dead, and James I bore Raleigh no good will.\nAfter the long imprisonment, for thirteen years under suspended\nsentence of death, he was permitted to leave the Tower and embark with\na fleet of thirteen ships in 1617, it being particularly enjoined that\nhe should engage in no hostilities with his dearest enemy, Spain.  It\nis generally believed that King James hoped and expected that such a\nclash of interests as was almost inevitable in the attempt to plant the\nEnglish flag in Guiana would give him a pretext to send Raleigh to the\nheadman's block.  It was on this voyage that Raleigh lost his eldest\nson, besides several of his ships, and utterly failed in the\nhigh-hearted purpose of setting up a kingdom whose capital city should\nbe that splendid lost city of Manoa.  He was unable to avoid battles\nwith the insolent Spanish, it was in one of these that his son was\nkilled, and when he returned to England, the price was exacted and\npaid.  Sir Walter Raleigh was executed in the palace yard, Westminster,\nand thus perished one who brought great glory to England by land and\nsea.\n\nConcerning El Dorado, Raleigh had given credence to no more than was\nbelieved in his time by the Spanish of every port from San Marta on the\nCaribbean to Quito on the Pacific.  The old chronicles are full of it.\nOne instance, chosen almost at random from many of the same kind is\nquoted by De Pons in his History of Caraccas.[10]\n\n\"When the wild Indian appeared before the Spanish governor of Guiana,\nDon Manuel Centurion of Angostura, he was assailed with questions which\nhe answered with as much perspicuity and precision as could be expected\nfrom one whose most intelligible language consisted in signs.  He,\nhowever, succeeded in making them understand that there was on the\nborder of Lake Parima a city whose inhabitants were civilized and\nregularly disciplined to war.  He boasted a great deal of the beauty of\nits buildings, the neatness of its streets, the regularity of its\nsquares, and the riches of its people.  According to him, the roofs of\nits principal houses were either of gold or silver.  The high-priest,\ninstead of pontifical robes, rubbed his whole body with the fat of the\nturtle; then they blew upon it some gold dust, so as to cover his whole\nbody with it.  In this attire, he performed the religious ceremonies.\nThe Indian sketched on a table with a bit of charcoal the city of which\nhe had given a description.\n\n\"His ingenuity seduced the governor.  He asked him to serve as a guide\nto some Spaniards he wished to send on this discovery, to which the\nIndian consented.  Sixty Spaniards offered themselves for the\nundertaking, and among others Don Antonio Santos.  They set off and\ntraveled nearly five hundred leagues to the south, through the most\nfrightful roads.  Hunger, the swamps, the woods, the precipices, the\nheat, the rains, destroyed almost all.  When those who survived thought\nthemselves four or five days' journey from the capital city and hoped\nto reach the end of all their troubles, and the object of their\ndesires, the Indian disappeared in the night.\n\n\"This event dismayed the Spaniards.  They knew not where they were.  By\ndegrees they all perished but Santos to whom it occurred to disguise\nhimself as an Indian.  He threw off his clothes, covered his whole body\nwith red paint, and introduced himself among them by his knowledge of\nmany of their languages.  He was a long time among them, until at\nlength he fell within the power of the Portugese established on the\nbanks of the Rio Negro.  They embarked him on the river Amazon and\nafter a very long detention, sent him back to his country.\"\n\nIn this very brief survey of the growth and results of the El Dorado\nlegend, there is no room even to mention many of the most dramatic and\ndisastrous expeditions which it inspired through the sixteenth century.\nIt was, in truth, the greatest lost treasure story that the world has\never known.  The age of those splendid adventurers has vanished,\nexploration has proved that the golden city hidden in Guiana was a\nmyth, but now and again investigation has harked back to the source of\nthe tradition of the gilded man, at the mountain lake of Guatavita on\nthe lofty tableland of Bogota.  Hernan de Quesada, first to try to\ndrain the lake, was followed a few years later by Antonio de Sepulveda\nwho recovered treasure from the bottom to the amount of more than one\nhundred thousand dollars, besides a magnificent emerald which was sold\nat Madrid.\n\nProfessor Liborio Zerda, of the University of Colombia at Bogota, has\npublished his results of an exhaustive study of the legend and the\nevidence to show that the ceremonies of the gilded man were once\nperformed at Guatavita.  He describes a group of figures beaten out of\nraw gold which was recovered from the lake and is now in the museum of\nthat city.  It represents the chief and attendants upon a _balsa_, or\nraft, and is considered to be a striking confirmation of the tradition.\n\n\"Undoubtedly this piece represents the religious ceremony which Zamora\nhas described,\" writes Professor Zerda, \"with the caique of Guatavita\nsurrounded by Indian priests, on the raft which was taken on the day of\nthe ceremony to the middle of the lake.  It may be, as some persons\nbelieve, that Siecha lagune, and not the present Guatavita, was the\nplace of the _dorado_ ceremony, and consequently the ancient Guatavita.\nBut everything seems to indicate that there was really once a _dorado_\nat Bogota.\"\n\nZamora, who wrote in the seventeenth century, recorded that the Indians\nbelieved the spirit of the lake had built a magnificent palace beneath\nthe water where she dwelt and demanded offerings of gold and jewels,\nwhich belief spread over all the nation of the Muysca and also among\nstrangers \"who all, stricken by this wonderful occurrence, came to\noffer their gifts by many different routes, of which even to-day some\nsigns remain.  In the center of the lake they threw their offerings\nwith ridiculous and vain ceremonies.\"\n\nIn 1823, Captain Charles Stuart Cochran of the English navy was\ntraveling in Colombia and he became keenly interested in the lake of\nGuatavita and the chances of recovering the lost treasure by means of a\ndrainage project.  He delved into the old Spanish records, assembled\nthe traditions that were still alive among the Indians and was\nconvinced that a fabulous accumulation of gold awaited the enterprise\nof modern engineers.  One of the ancient accounts, so he discovered,\nrelated that to escape the cruel persecution of the Spanish conquerors\nthe wealthy natives threw their gold into the lake, and that the last\ncaique cast therein the burdens of fifty men laden with gold dust and\nnuggets.\n\nCaptain Cochran did not succeed in finding the funds needed to\nundertake the tempting task, but his information was preserved, and\nmade some stir in England and France.  It was reserved for twentieth\ncentury treasure seekers to attack the sacred lake of Guatavita, and to\ncapitalize the venture as a joint stock company with headquarters in\nLondon and a glittering prospectus offering investors an opportunity of\nobtaining shares in a prospective hoard of gold and jewels worth\nsomething like a billion dollars.  A concession was obtained from the\ngovernment of Colombia, and work begun in 1903.\n\nAs an engineering problem, draining the lake seemed practicable and\ncomparatively inexpensive.  It is a deep, transparent pool, hardly more\nthan a thousand feet wide, almost circular, and set like a jewel in a\ncup-like depression near the top of a cone-shaped peak, several hundred\nfeet above the nearby plateau.  The tunnel therefore had only to pierce\nthe hill-side to enter the lake and let the water flow out to the plain\nbelow.  It was estimated that the shaft had to be driven a distance of\neleven hundred feet.\n\nA small village of huts was built to shelter the engineers and\nlaborers, and rock drilling machinery set up not far from the still\nvisible remains of one of the shafts dug by the Spanish treasure\nseekers of the fifteenth century.  No serious obstacles were\nencountered until the tunnel had tapped the bottom of the lake and the\nwater began to run off through carefully regulated sluices.  Then, as\nthe surface lowered, and the submerged mud was exposed to the air, it\nsolidified in a cement-like substance which was almost impossible to\npenetrate.  The treasure must have sunk many feet deep in this mud\nduring four or five centuries, and the workmen found it so baffling\nthat operations were suspended.  The promoters of the enterprise found\nthis unexpected obstacle so much more than they had bargained for that\nthey had to abandon it for lack of resources.  In their turn they had\nbeen thwarted by the spirit of the gilded man, and the treasure of El\nDorado is still beyond the grasp of its eager pursuers.\n\n\n\n[1] The performance of these ceremonies is vouched for by Lucas\nFernandez Piedrahita, Bishop of Panama; Pedro Simon, and other early\nSpanish historians, translated and quoted by A. F. Bandelier in his\nwork, \"The Gilded Man (El Dorado).\"  This version agrees with that\ndescribed in the volume written by the modern historian, Dr. Liborio\nZerda, professor of the University of Colombia, _El Dorado, Estudio\nHistorico, Ethnografico, Y Arqueologico_.\n\n[2] Translated by A. F. Bandelier.\n\n[3] Oviedo, or Oviedo y Valdez, royal histriographer, who witnessed the\nfirst return of Columbus to Spain in 1493.  He was later a treasury\nofficer at Darien, governor of Cartagena, and _alcaide_ of the fort at\nSanto Domingo.  He wrote the first general account of the discoveries\nin America, and it has remained a standard authority.  His principal\nwork is _Historia natural y general de las Indias_ in fifty books.\n\n[4] For the convenience of the reader the spelling has been modernized\nin this and the following extracts from Hakluyt.\n\n[5] Martinez was the gunner or officer \"who had charge of the\nmunitions.\"\n\n[6] Commonly spelled Huascar and Atalualpa.\n\n[7] \"Her father loved me, oft invited me,\n    Still questioned me the story of my life\n    From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,\n    That I have pass'd.\n    I ran it through, even from my boyish days\n    To the very moment that he bade me tell it:\n    Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,\n    Of moving incidents by flood and field,\n    Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach\n    Of being taken by the insolent foe,\n    And sold to slavery,'of my redemption thence,\n    And portance in my travel's history:\n    Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,\n    Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose head touch heaven,\n    It was my hint to speak,--such was the process;\n    And of the Cannibals that each other eat,\n    The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads\n    Do grow beneath their shoulders.  This to hear\n    Would Desdemona seriously incline.\"\n        --Shakespeare.  (_The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice_.)\n\n[8] The date of the first English edition of Sir John Mandeville's book\nof travels was 1499.  According to his own account he discovered this\nand other wonders in the kingdom of Ethiopia.  The book was widely\nread, very popular in several languages, and was one of the earliest\nprinted books, being published in Germany about 1475.  Recent\ninvestigations have shown that almost the whole of the matter was\ncribbed from other authors, and that as a genuine explorer, Sir John\nMandeville was the Dr. Frederick Cook of his age.\n\n[9] Cayley's _Life of Raleigh_.\n\n[10] Translation of J. A. Van Heuvel in his \"_El Dorado_.  Being a\nNarrative of the Circumstances which gave rise to reports in the\nSixteenth Century of the Existence of a Rich and Splendid City in South\nAmerica.\"  (1844.)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE WIZARDRY OF THE DIVINING ROD\n\nWashington Irving was so thoroughly versed in the lore of buried\ntreasure that the necromancy of the divining rod, as a potent aid to\nthis kind of industry, had received his studious attention.  For many\ncenturies, the magic wand of hazel, or various other woods, has been\nused, and implicitly believed in, as a guide to the whereabouts of\nsecrets hidden underground, whether of running water, veins of metal,\nor buried treasure.  There is nothing far-fetched, or contrary to the\nfact, in the lively picture of Dr. Knipperhausen, that experienced\nmagician, who helped Wolfert Webber seek the treasure concealed by\npirates on the Manhattan Island of the Knickerbocker Dutch of the\n\"Tales of a Traveler.\"\n\n\"He had passed some years of his youth among the Harz mountains of\nGermany, and had derived much valuable instruction from the miners,\ntouching the mode of seeking treasure buried in the earth.  He had\nprosecuted his studies also under a traveling sage who united the\nmysteries of medicine with magic and legerdemain.  His mind therefore\nhad become stored with all kinds of mystic lore; he had dabbled a\nlittle in astrology, alchemy, divination; knew how to detect stolen\nmoney, and to tell where springs of water lay hidden; in a word, by the\ndark nature of his knowledge he had acquired the name of the\nHigh-German-Doctor, which is pretty nearly equivalent to that of\nnecromancer.\n\n\"The doctor had often heard rumors of treasure being buried in various\nparts of the island, and had long been anxious to get on the traces of\nit.  No sooner were Wolfert's waking and sleeping vagaries confided to\nhim, than he beheld in them confirmed symptoms of a case of money\ndigging, and lost no time in probing it to the bottom.  Wolfert had\nlong been sorely oppressed in mind by the golden secret, and as a\nfamily physician is a kind of father confessor, he was glad of any\nopportunity of unburdening himself.  So far from curing, the doctor\ncaught the malady from his patient.  The circumstances unfolded to him\nawakened all his cupidity; he had not a doubt of money being buried\nsomewhere in the neighborhood of the mysterious crosses and offered to\njoin Wolfert in the search.\n\n\"He informed him that much secrecy and caution must be observed in\nenterprises of this kind; that money is only to be digged for at night;\nwith certain forms and ceremonies, and burning of drugs; the repeating\nof mystic words, and above all, that the seekers must first be provided\nwith a divining rod, which had the wonderful property of pointing to\nthe very spot on the surface of the earth under which treasure lay\nhidden.  As the doctor had given much of his mind to these matters, he\ncharged himself with all the necessary preparations, and, as the\nquarter of the moon was propitious, he undertook to have the divining\nrod ready by a certain night.\n\n\"Wolfert's heart leaped with joy at having met with so learned and able\na coadjutor.  Everything went on secretly, but swimmingly.  The doctor\nhad many consultations with his patient, and the good woman of the\nhousehold lauded the comforting effect of his visits.  In the meantime\nthe wonderful divining rod, that great key to nature's secrets, was\nduly prepared.\n\n\"The following note was found appended to this passage in the\nhandwriting of Mr. Knickerbocker.  'There has been much written against\nthe divining rod by those light minds who are ever ready to scoff at\nthe mysteries of nature; but I fully join with Dr. Knipperhausen in\ngiving it my faith.  I shall not insist upon its efficacy in\ndiscovering the concealment of stolen goods, the boundary stones of\nfields, the traces of robbers and murderers, or even the existence of\nsubterranean springs and streams of water; albeit, I think these\nproperties not to be readily discredited; but of its potency in\ndiscovering veins of precious metal, and hidden sums of money and\njewels, I have not the least doubt.  Some said that the rod turned only\nin the hands of persons who had been born in particular months of the\nyear; hence astrologers had recourse to planetary influences when they\nwould procure a talisman.  Others declared that the properties of the\nrod were either an effect of chance or the fraud of the holder, or the\nwork of the devil....\"\n\n\nThe worthy and learned Mr. Knickerbocker might have gone on to quote\nauthorities by the dozen.  This weighty argument of his is not\ndelivered with a wink to the reader.  He is engaged in no solemn\nfoolery.  If one desires to find pirates' gold, it is really essential\nto believe in the divining rod and devoutly obey its magic messages.\nThis is proven to the hilt by that very scholarly Abbe Le Lorrain de\nVallemont of France whose exhaustive volume was published in 1693 with\nthe title of _La Physique Occulte_, or \"Treatise on the Divining Rod\nand its Uses for the Discovery of Springs of Water, Metallic Veins,\nHidden Treasure, Thieves, and Escaped Murderers.\"  In his preface he\npolitely sneers at those scholars who consider the study of the\ndivining rod as an idle pursuit and shows proper vexation toward the\nignorance and prejudice which are hostile to such researches.\n\nThe author then indicates that the action of the divining rod is to be\nexplained by the theory of Corpuscular Philosophy,[1] and by way of\nconcrete argument, refers to the most famous case in the ancient annals\nof this art.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Methods of manipulating the diving rod to find buried\ntreasure.  (_From La Physique Occulte, first edition, 1596_.)]\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"It seems to me that my work would have been incomplete, had I not\n_seen_ Jacques Aymar, and that the objection might have been raised\nthat I had only argued about statements not generally accepted.  This\nnow famous man came to Paris on January 21st, 1693.  I saw him two or\nthree hours a day for nearly a month, and my readers may rest assured\nthat during that time I examined him very closely.  It is a positive\nfact that the divining rod turned in his hands in the direction of\nsprings of water, precious metals, thieves, and escaped murderers.  He\ndoes not know why.  If he knew the physical cause, and had sufficient\nintellect to reason about it, I am convinced that, whenever he\nundertook an experiment he would succeed.  But a peasant who can\nneither read nor write will know still less about _atmosphere, volume,\nmotion of corpuscles distributed in the air, etc_.  He is still more\nignorant as to how these _corpuscles_ can be disturbed and cease to\nproduce the motion and dip of the rod.  Neither is he capable of\nrecognizing how essential to success it is for him to know whether he\nis in a fit condition to be susceptible to the action of the\n_corpuscles_ which are thrown off from the objects toward which the rod\ninclines.\"\n\n\"I do not deny that there are cheats who profess belief in the rod, and\nput it to too many uses, just as quacks, with a good remedy for a\nspecial ailment, hold themselves up to contempt by wishing to palm it\noff as a cure-all.  To this I add that people will be found who,\nendowed with greater and more delicate sensibility, will possess still\nmore abundantly than he (Jacques Aymar) the faculty of discovering\nsprings of water, metallic veins, and hidden treasure, as well as\nthieves and escaped murderers.  We have already received tidings from\nLyons of a youth of eighteen, who surpasses by a long way Jacques\nAymar.  And anyone can see in Paris to-day, at the residence of Mons.\nGeoffrey, late sheriff of that city, a young man who discovers gold\nburied underground by experiencing violent tremors the moment that he\nwalks over it.\"\n\nM. de Vallemont has no sympathy for those credulous students of natural\nphilosophy who have brought the science into disrepute.  They will\nscoff at the divining rod and yet swallow the grossest frauds without\nso much as blinking.  He proceeds to give an illustration, and it will\nbear translating because surely it unfolds a unique yarn of buried\ntreasure and has all the charm of novelty.\n\n\"Upon this subject there is nothing more entertaining than that which\ntook place at the end of the last century, with regard to a boy who\njourneyed through several towns exhibiting a golden tooth which he\ndeclared had grown in the usual way.\n\n\"In the year 1595, towards Easter, a rumor spread that there was in the\nvillage of Weildorst in Silesia, Bohemia, a child seven years of age\nwho had lost all his teeth, and that in the place of the last molar a\ngold tooth had appeared.  No story ever created such a stir.  Scholars\ntook it up.  In a short time, doctors and philosophers came forward to\ngain knowledge and to pass judgment, as though it were a case worthy of\ntheir consideration.  The first to distinguish himself was _Jacobus\nHorstius_, Professor of Medicine in the University of Helmstad.  This\ndoctor, in a paper which he caused to be printed, demonstrated that\nthis golden tooth was partly a work of nature and partly miraculous;\nand he declared that in whatever light one viewed it, it was manifestly\na consolation sent from above to the Christians of Bohemia, on whom the\nTurks were then inflicting the worst barbarities.\n\n\"_Martinus Rulandus_ published simultaneously with Horstius the story\nof the golden tooth.  It is true that two years later _Johannes\nIngolsteterus_ refuted the story of Rulandus, but the latter in the\nsame year, 1597, not in the least discouraged, defended his work\nagainst the attacks of Ingolsteterus.\n\n\"_Andreas Libavius_ then entered the lists, and published a book in\nwhich he recounted what had been said for and against the golden tooth.\nThis gave rise to great disputes concerning a matter which ultimately\nproved to be a somewhat clumsy deception.  The child was taken to\nBreslau, where everybody hastened to see so wonderful a novelty.  They\nbrought him before a number of doctors, assembled in great perplexity\nto examine the famous golden tooth.  Amongst them was _Christophorus\nRhumbaumius_, a professor of medicine, who was most anxious to see\nbefore believing.\n\n\"First of all, a goldsmith, wishing to satisfy himself that the tooth\nwas of gold, applied to it his touch-stone, and the line left on the\nstone appeared, to the naked eye, to be in real gold, but on the\napplication of aqua fortis to this line, every trace disappeared, and a\npart of the swindle was exposed.  Christophorus Khumbaumius, an\nintelligent and skillful man, on examining the tooth more closely,\nperceived in it a little hole, and, inserting a probe, found that it\nwas simply a sheet of copper probably washed with gold.  He could with\nease have removed the copper covering had not the trickster, who was\ntaking the child from town to town, opposed it, complaining bitterly of\nthe injury that was being done him by thus depriving him of the chance\nof taking money from the curious and the credulous.\n\n\"The swindler and child disappeared, and no one knows to this day\nexactly what became of them.  But because learned men have been duped\nnow and then, that is no reason for perpetual doubt.... and although\nthe story of the golden tooth be false, we should be wrong capriciously\nto reject that of the hazel rod which has become so famous.\"\n\nHaving extinguished the skeptics, as one snuffs a candle, by means of\nthis admirable tale of the golden tooth, the learned author asserts\nthat \"it must denote great ignorance of France, and even of books,\nnever to have heard of the divining rod.  For I can say with certainty\nthat I have met quite by chance, both in Paris and the provinces, more\nthan fifty persons who have used this simple instrument in order to\nfind water, precious metals and hidden treasure, and in whose hands it\nhas actually turned.  'It is more reasonable,' says Father Malebranche,\n'to believe one man who says, _I have seen_, than a million others who\ntalk at random.'\n\n\"It is somewhat difficult to determine exactly the period at which the\ndivining rod first came into use.  I have discovered no reference to it\nby writers previous to the middle of the Fifteenth century.  It is\nfrequently referred to in the Testament de Basile Valentin, a\nBenedictine monk who flourished about 1490,[2] and I observe that he\nspeaks of it in a way which might lead one to suppose that the use of\nthis rod was known before that period.\n\n\"Might we venture to advance the theory that the Divine Rod was known\nand used nearly two thousand years ago?[3]  Are we to count for naught\nCicero's illusion to divination by means of the rod, at the end of the\nfirst book of his 'De Officiis,' 'If all that we need for our\nnourishment and clothing comes to us, as people say, by means of some\ndivine rod, then each of us should relinquish public affairs and devote\nall his time to the study.'\n\n\"Varro, according to Vetranius Maurus, left a satire called 'Virgula\nDivina,' which was often quoted by Nonius Marcellus in his book\nentitled _de Proprietate sermonum_.  But what serves to convince me\nthat Cicero had in his mind the hazel twig, and that it was known at\nthat period, is the passage he quotes from Ennius, in the first half of\nhis 'De Divinatione,' in which the poet, scoffing at those who for a\ndrachma profess to teach the art of discovering hidden treasure, says\nto them, 'I will give it you with pleasure, but it will be paid out of\nthe treasure found according to your method.'\"\n\n\nAnd so this seventeenth century Frenchman, his manner as wise as a\ntree-full of owls, drones along from one musty authority to another in\ndefense of the mystic powers of the divining rod.  He marshals them in\nbatteries of heavy artillery--names of scholars and alleged scientists\nwho made a great noise in their far-off times when the world was\nyounger and more given to wonderment.  The discussions that raged among\nthose Dry-as-dusts have interest to-day because the doctrine of the\ndivining rod is still vigorously alive and its rites are practiced in\nevery civilized country.  Call it what you will, a curiously surviving\nsuperstition or a natural mystery, the \"dowser\" with his forked twig of\nhazel or willow still commands a large following of believers and his\nservices are sought, in hundreds of instances every year, to discover\nsprings of water and hidden treasure.  Learned societies have not done\nwith debating the case, and the literature of the phenomenon is in\nprocess of making.  No one, however, has contributed more formidable\nammunition than M. de Vallemont, who could discharge such broadsides as\nthis:\n\n\"Father Roberti, who writes in the strongest terms against the divining\nrod, nevertheless admits, in the heat of the conflict, that the\nindications on which the most scholarly of men set to work to discover\nmineral soil are all more or less unreliable, and result in endless\nmistakes.\n\n\"'What!' says this Jesuit father, 'is it possible that people are\nwilling to attribute greater knowledge and judgment to a rough and\nlifeless piece of wood than to hundreds of enlightened men?  They\nsurvey fields, mountains and valleys, devoting scrupulous attention to\neverything that comes under their notice; not a trace of metal do they\ndiscover; and if they happen to suspect that there might be such a\nthing at a certain spot, they confess that their surmise may be quite\nunfounded, and that every day they learn to their sorrow, after\ninfinite labor and suspense, that their signs are altogether deceptive.\n\n\"'Such a one as Goclenius,[4] however, armed with his fork, will wander\nover the same ground, and led by that instrument, clearer-sighted than\nthe wisest of men, will infallibly come to a standstill over treasures\nhidden in the earth.  Excavations will be made at the spot indicated\nand the treasures will be laid bare.  _My dear reader, do you wish me\nto speak candidly?  It is the Devil who is guiding Goclenius_.'\"\n\nIn this emphatic statement of the devout French priest of two centuries\nago is to be traced the still lingering superstition of an infernal\npartnership in buried treasure.  It is to be found in scores of\ncoastwise legends of pirates' gold (no Kidd story is properly decorated\nwithout its guardian demon or menacing ghost), and the divining rod,\nhanded down from an age of witchcraft, necromancy, and black magic,\ndeserves a place in the kit of every well-equipped treasure seeker.\nSober, hard-headed Scotchmen from Glasgow employ a Yorkshire \"dowser\"\nto search for the treasure lost in the _Florencia_ galleon in Tobermory\nBay, and he shows them, and they are convinced, that he can tell\nwhether it be gold, or silver, or copper, which exerts its occult\ninfluence over his divining rod.[5]  This happens in the year 1906,\nmind you, but our ardent investigator, M. de Vallemont, was writing two\nhundred years before:\n\n\"But, with the divining rod, it is possible to distinguish what metal\nis contained in the mine towards which the rod inclines.  For if a gold\ncoin be placed in each hand, the rod will only turn in the direction of\ngold, because it becomes impregnated with the _corpuscles_ or minute\nparticles of gold.  If silver be treated in the same way, the rod will\nonly dip towards silver.  This, at any rate, is what we are told by\nthose who pride themselves on their successful use of the rod.\"\n\nJohn Stears, the expert diviner, who was recently employed at Tobermory\nBay, is more frequently retained to search for water than for lost\ntreasure.  This is his vocation and he takes it seriously enough, as\nhis own words indicate:[6]\n\n\"The power is not in the rod, but in the user, the rod acting as an\nindicator, and rising when over a stream.  By moving the arms as I\nproceed, I can keep on the edge of an underground stream, for the apex\ndescends when the rod is not over the stream.  I have several times\nfollowed a line of water down to the shore, being rowed out in the bay,\nand found the water boiling up mixed with land weeds.  At such a spot\nthere is no movement of the rod except over the course of the stream.\nIt is almost impossible to describe the sensation caused whilst using\nthe rod; it is sometimes like a current of electricity going through\nthe arms and legs.  On raising one foot from the ground the rod\ndescends.  The effect produced when walking is that the rod has the\nappearance of a fishing rod when the fish is hooked,--the rod seems\nalive.  Move it clear of the line of water and down it goes.\n\n\"Very few people have the gift of finding water or minerals, and not\nmany rods will do, but those that have thorns on them are all right.\nIn the tropics I used acacia, and in southern Europe the holly or\norange.  The use of the rod is exhausting.  If I have been at it a few\nhours, the power gradually gets less.  A rest and some sandwiches\nproduce fresh power, and I can start again.\n\n\"I think the friction of the water against the rock underground must\ncause some electric current, for if the person using the rod stands on\na piece of glass, india-rubber, or other insulating material, all power\nleaves him.\n\n\"In Cashmere, the rod is used before a well is sunk, and when the\nFrench army went to Tonkin, they used the rod for finding drinking\nwater at their camps, as they feared the wells were poisoned.\"\n\nIf the divining rod is able to fathom the secrets of underground water\nchannels, it must be as potent in the case of buried treasure.  Several\nyears ago, the claims of the modern \"dowsers\" were investigated by no\nless an authority than Professor W. F. Barrett, holding the chair of\nExperimental Physics in the Royal College of Science for Ireland.  The\nresults were presented to the Society of Psychical Research and\npublished in two volumes of its proceedings.  He said in his\nintroductory pages:\n\n\"At first sight, few subjects appear to be so unworthy of serious\nnotice and so utterly beneath scientific investigation as that of the\ndivining rod.  To most men of science, the reported achievements of the\ndiviner are on a par with the rogueries of Sir Walter Scott's\n'Dousterswivel.'  That anyone with the smallest scientific training\nshould think it worth his while to devote a considerable amount of time\nand labor to an enquiry into the alleged evidence on behalf of the\n'rod' will appear to my scientific friends about as sensible as if he\nspent his time investigating fortune-telling or any other relic of\nsuperstitious folly.  Nor was my own prejudice against the subject any\nless than that of others.  For I confess that it was with great\nreluctance, and even repugnance, that some six years ago, yielding to\nthe earnest request of the Council of the Society for Psychical\nResearch, I began an investigation of the matter, hoping, however, in\nmy ignorance, that a few weeks work would enable me to relegate it 'to\na limbo, large and broad, since called the Paradise of Fools.'\"  In the\nsumming-up of his exhaustive investigations, Professor Barrett\ncommitted himself to these conclusions:\n\n\"1.  That the twisting of the forked twig, or so-called divining rod,\nis due to involuntary muscular action on the part of the dowser.\n\n\"2.  That this is the result of an ideo-motor action; any idea or\nsuggestion, whether conscious, or sub-conscious, that is associated in\nthe dowser's mind with the twisting of the twig, will cause it to turn\napparently spontaneously in his hands.\n\n\"3.  Hence the divining rod has been used in the search for all sorts\nof things, from criminals to water, its action being precisely similar\nto the '_pendule explorateur_,' i.e., a small suspended ball or ring\ndepending by a thread from the hand.\n\n\"4.  Dismissing, therefore, the mere twisting of the forked rod, the\nquestion at issue is, how is the suggestion derived by the dowser that\nstarts this involuntary muscular action?  Here the answer is a very\ncomplex and difficult one.\n\n\"5.  Careful and critical examination shows that certain dowsers (not\nall in whose hands the twig turns) have a genuine facility or faculty\nfor finding underground water beyond that possessed by ordinary\nwell-sinkers.\n\n\"Part of this success is due (1st) to shrewd observation and the\nconscious and unconscious detection of the surface signs of underground\nwater.  (2nd) A residue, say ten per cent or fifteen per cent of their\nsuccesses cannot be so explained, nor can these be accounted for by\nchance nor lucky hits, the proportion being larger than the doctrine of\nprobabilities would account for.\n\n\"This residue no known scientific explanation can account for.\nPersonally, I believe the explanation will be found in some faculty\nakin to clairvoyance; but as the science of to-day does not recognize\nsuch a faculty, I prefer to leave the explanation to future inquirers,\nand to throw on the skeptic the task of disproving my assertions, and\ngiving his own explanations.\"\n\nThis unexplained residue, \"akin to clairvoyance,\" as admitted by a\nscientist of to-day who wears a top-hat and rides in taxi-cabs, clothes\nthe divining rod in the same alluring mystery which so puzzled those\nchildlike and credulous observers of remote and misty centuries.  The\nAbbe de Vallemont, writing in 1697, found the problem hardly more\ndifficult to explain than does this Professor of Experimental Physics\nin the Royal College of Science.  The wise men of the seventeenth\ncentury strove hard to comprehend the \"unexplained residue,\" each after\nhis own fashion.\n\nMichael Mayerus, in his book entitled _Verum Inventum, hoc est, Munera\nGermanae_, claimed that the world was indebted to Germany for the\ninvention of gunpowder, and stated that the first wood-charcoal used in\nits manufacture, mixed with sulphur and saltpeter, was made from the\nhazel tree.  This lead him to refer to the sympathy existing between\nhazel wood and metals, and to add that for this reason the divining rod\nwas made of this particular wood, which was peculiarly adapted to the\ndiscovery of hidden gold and silver.\n\nPhilip Melanchthon, 1497-1560, famously learned in Natural Philosophy\nand Theology, discoursed on Sympathy, of which he recognized six\ndegrees in Nature, and in the second of these he named that sympathy or\naffinity which is found to exist between plants and minerals.  He used\nas an illustration the forked hazel twig employed by those who search\nafter gold, silver, and other precious metals.  He attributed the\nmovement of the rod to the metallic juices which nourish the hazel tree\nin the soil, and he was therefore convinced that its peculiar\nmanifestations were wholly sympathetic and according to natural law.\n\nNeuheusius spoke of the divining rod as a marvel from the bounteous\nhands of Nature, and exhorted men to use it in the search for mineral\nwealth and concealed treasure.  Enchanted with this\ninsignificant-looking instrument, he exclaimed: \"What shall I say now\nconcerning the Divine Rod, which is but a simple hazel twig, and yet\npossesses the power of divination in the discovery of metals, be that\npower derived from mutual sympathy, from some secret astral influence,\nor from some still more powerful source.  Let us take courage and use\nthis salutary rod, so that, after having withdrawn the metals from the\nabode of the dead, we may seek in the metals themselves some such\nfaculty for divination as we find in the hazel.\"\n\nRudolph Glauber, who made many experiments with the rod, had this to\nsay of it: \"Metallic veins can also be discovered by means of the hazel\nrod.  It is used for that purpose, and I speak after long experience.\nMelt the metals under a certain constellation, and make a ball of them\npierced through the middle; thrust into the hole thus formed a young\nsprig of hazel, of the same year, with no branches.  Carry this rod\nstraight in front of you over the places where metals are believed to\nbe, and when the rod dips and the ball inclines towards the soil, you\nmay rest assured that metal lies beneath.  _And as this method is based\non natural law, it should undoubtedly be used in preference to any\nother_.\"\n\nEgidius Gustman, supposedly a Rosicrucian friar, and author of a work\nentitled _La Revelation de la Divine Majeste_, devoted a chapter to the\nstudy of the question \"whether hazel rods may be used without sin in\nthe search for metals.\"  He reached the conclusion that there could be\nnothing unchristian in their employment for the discovery of gold and\nsilver, provided neither words, ceremonies, nor enchantments be called\ninto requisition, and that it be done \"in the fear and under the eyes\nof God.\"\n\nM. de Vallemont quotes as his final authority the Abbe Gallet, Grand\nPenitentiary of the Church of Carpentras.  He considers that the Abbe's\nhigh position in the church, and his deep knowledge of physics and\nmathematics, should lend great weight to his opinion concerning the\ndivining rod.  He therefore requests a mutual friend to put to the Abbe\nthis question, \"Is not the inclination of the rod due to sleight of\nhand or something in which the Devil may play a part?\"  The Abbe\nreturns a long reply in Latin, which de Vallemont is pleased to\ntranslate and print in his book.  It opens thus:\n\n\"Monsieur l'Abbe Gallet declares in his own hand that the rod turns in\nthe direction of water and of metals; that he has used it several times\nwith admirable success in order to find water-courses and hidden\ntreasure, and that he is far from agreeing with those who maintain that\nthere is in it any trickery or diabolical influence.\"\n\nWilliam Cookworthy, who flourished in England about 1750, was a famous\nexponent of the divining rod, and he laid down a most elaborate\nschedule of directions for its use in finding hidden treasure or veins\nof gold or silver.  In conclusion, he sagely observed:[7]\n\n\"I would remark that 'tis plain a person may be very easily deceived in\nmaking experiments with this instrument, there being, in metallic\ncountries, vast quantities of attracting stones scattered through the\nearth.  The attractions of springs continually occurring; and even\nabout town, bits of iron, pins, etc. may easily be the means of\ndeceiving the unwary.  For as quantity makes no alteration in the\nstrength, but only in the wideness of the attraction, a pin under one\nfoot would stop the attraction of any quantity of every other sort, but\ngold, which might be under the other....  Whoever, therefore, will make\nexperiments need be very cautious in exploring the ground, and be sure\nnot to be too anxious, for which reason I would advise him, in case of\ndebates, not to be too warm and lay wagers on the success, but,\nunruffled, leave the unbelievers to their infidelity, and permit time\nand Providence to convince people of the reality of the thing.\"\n\nIf one would know how to fashion the divining rod to give most surely\nthe magic results, he has only to consult \"The Shepherd's Calendar and\nCountryman's Companion\" in which it is affirmed:\n\n\"Cut a hazel wand forked at the upper end like a Y.  Peel off the rind\nand dry it in a moderate heat; then steep it in the juice of wake-robin\nor night-shade, and cut the single lower end sharp, and where you\nsuppose any rich mine or treasure is near, place a piece of the same\nmetal you conceive is hid in the earth to the tip of one of the forks\nby a hair or very fine silk or thread, and do the like to the other\nend.  Pitch the sharp single end lightly to the ground at the going\ndown of the sun, the moon being at the increase, and in the morning at\nsunrise, by a natural sympathy, you will find the metal inclining, as\nit were, pointing to the place where the other is hid.\"\n\nAccording to the author of the modern book, \"The Divining Rod and its\nUses,\"[8] \"it is curious to note that about one hundred years ago there\nwas considerable excitement in the north of England owing to the\nremarkable powers possessed by a lady of quality in the district, this\nbeing no other than Judith Noel, afterwards Lady Milbank, the mother of\nLady Byron.  Miss Noel discovered her marvelous faculty when a mere\ngirl, yet so afraid was she of being ridiculed that she would not\npublicly declare it, thinking she might be called a witch, or that she\nwould not get a husband.  Lady Milbank afterwards overcame her\nprejudice and used the rod on many occasions with considerable success.\"\n\nAbout 1880, a certain Madame Caillavah of Paris was at the height of\nher fame as a high-priestess of the divining rod, and her pretensions\nwith respect to finding buried treasure quite set France by the ears.\nShe was besought to discover, among other hoards, the twelve golden\neffigies taken from the Saint Chapelle during the Revolution and hidden\nunderground for safe-keeping; the treasure of King Stanislaus, buried\noutside the gates of Nancy; and the vast accumulations of the Petits\nPeres, or Begging Friars.  The French Government took Madame seriously\nand permitted her to operate by means of an agreement which should\ninsure a proper division of the spoils.  There could be no better\nauthority for the singular exploits of Madame Caillavah than the\ncolumns of _The London Times_ which stated in the issue of October 6th,\n1882:\n\n\"A certain Madame Caillavah, who in spite of a long experience does not\nyet bring the credentials of success, is said to be exploring the\npavement of St. Denis[9] in search of buried treasures.  The French\nGovernment likes partnerships, conventions, and co-dominions, and it\ninsists on what almost amounts to the lion's share of the spoil.\nNevertheless, a good many people have been found to invest largely in\nthe enterprise, which will cost something if it comes to actual\ndigging.  The investigation itself is not in the nature of an\nexcavation, nor is it with the spade or the pickax, unless, indeed, it\nshould turn out that it is a veritable gold mine under St. Denis, when\nthe royal monuments may be thankful if even dynamite be not freely\nresorted to.\n\n\"The divining rod is to lead the way....  At the beginning of this\ncentury France was one vast field of buried treasure.  The silver coin\nwas so bulky that L200 of our money would be a hundredweight to carry,\nand L1,000 would be a cartload.  So it was buried in the hope of a\nspeedy return.  The fugitive owners perished or died in exile.  Their\nsuccessors on the spot came upon one hoard after another, and said\nnothing about it.  That they did find the money and put it in\ncirculation, there could be no doubt, for it was impossible to take a\nhandful of silver forty years ago without one or two pieces showing a\ngreen rust in place of a white luster.  This was the result of long\ninterment, and calculations were made as to the likely total of the\nexhumation.\n\n\"But one then heard nothing of the divining rod, not at least in\ncities, in cathedrals, among the sepulchers of kings, and in the\ndepartment of State.  Our first wish is that the experiment may be\nquite successful.  It would be so very surprising; quite a new\nsensation, much wanted in these days.  But there would be something\nmore than a passing sensation.  Even a moderate success would discover\nto us a means of support and a mode of existence far easier and\npleasanter than any yet known.  We should only have to walk about, very\nslowly with the orthodox rod, properly held and handled, keeping our\nattention duly fixed on the desirableness of a little more money, and\nwe should find it springing up, as it were, from the ground before\nus....\n\n\"The French Minister of Fine Arts need not be deterred,--nay, it is\nplain he is not deterred,--by the scruples that interrupted the\ninvestigations of the great Linne and stopped him on the very threshold\nof verification.  On one of his travels his secretary brought him a\ndivining wand, with an account of its powers.  Linne hid a purse\ncontaining one hundred ducats under a _ranunculus_[10] in the garden.\nHe then took a number of witnesses who experimented with the wand all\nover the ground, but without success.  Indeed, they trod the ground so\ncompletely that Linne could not find where he had buried the purse.\n\n\"They then brought in the 'man with the wand' and he immediately\npointed out the right direction, and then the very spot where the money\nlay.  Linne's remark was that another experiment would convert him to\nthe wand.  But he resolved not to be converted, and therefore did not\nrepeat the experiment.  Possibly feeling that it was neither science\nnor religion, he would have nothing to do with any other conceivable\nalternative.\"\n\nIn _The London Times_ of November 3rd, 1882, there was published under\nthe head of \"Foreign Intelligence,\" the following dispatch which may be\nregarded as a tragic sequel of the foregoing paragraphs:\n\n\"The titular Archbishop of Lepanto, who is the head of the Chapter of\nSt. Denis, has addressed a remonstrance to the Government against the\nrenewed divining rod experiments on which Madame Caillavah is insisting\nunder her compact with the State for a division of the spoils.  He\ndwells on the absurdity of the theory that on the Revolutionary seizure\nof 1793 the Benedictines could have concealed a portion of their\ntreasures, of which printed lists existed and the most valuable of\nwhich were notoriously confiscated.\n\n\"As to the notion of an earlier secretion of treasures, the memory of\nwhich had perished, he urges that St. Denis having belonged to the\nBenedictines from its very erection, no motive for secretion existed\nand had there been any, the tradition or record of it would have been\npreserved, while at least four successive reconstructions would\ncertainly have brought any such treasure to light.  The mob of 1793,\nmoreover, actually ransacked the vaults, after the removal of the\nbodies, for the very purpose of discovering such secret hoards.  St.\nDenis, in short, is the very last place in the world for\ntreasure-trove, and as for the central crypt, which the sorceress\nclaims to break into, it was rifled in 1793 when it contained\nfifty-three bodies which left no vacant space.\n\n\"The Archbishop need scarcely have troubled himself with this\ndemonstration.  Public ridicule has made an end of the project, and\neven if Madame Caillavah carried out her threat of a lawsuit, no\ntribunal would hold her entitled to carry on excavations _ad libitum_,\nwith a risk, perhaps, of herself and her workmen being buried under the\nruins of the finest of French cathedrals.  In debating the Fine Arts\nDepartment estimates, M. Delattre, Deputy for St. Denis, animadverted\non the divining rod experiments in the cathedral.  M. Tirard replied\nthat the Government had had no share in this ridiculous business.  The\ntreaty with the sorceress was concluded in January, 1881, by an\nofficial who had since been superannuated, but was not acted upon till\nshe could deposit two hundred francs guarantee, and as soon as he\nhimself heard of the experiments he put a peremptory stop to them.\n\n\"It is important here to observe that it afterwards transpired that the\nobject of Madame Caillavah's lawsuit was not so much to obtain damages\nfor any breach of contract as to vindicate her private and public\ncharacter and her professional reputation as a so-called 'diviner' from\nthe odium, scorn, and defamation which the repudiation of the treaty so\nuniversally entailed.  The sad result of all this was that the\nunfortunate and sensitive lady was not able to withstand the opprobrium\nthat was heaped upon her, nor 'the ridicule that made an end of her\nproject.'  This maligned and misunderstood lady (who, as expressly\nstated, 'had no doubt brought a good pedigree with her') after a few\nmonths of sorrow, and conscious of her rectitude, at length succumbed\nand, as reported, ultimately died of a 'broken heart.'\"\n\n\n\n[1] \"_Corpuscular philosophy_, that which attempts to account for the\nphenomena of nature, by the motion, figure, rest, position, etc., of\nthe minute particles of matter.\"--_Webster's Dictionary_.\n\n[2] Andrew Lang writes in a chapter on the divining rod in _Custom and\nMyth_:\n\n\"The great authority for the modern history of the divining rod is a\nwork published by M. Chevreul in Paris in 1854.  M. Chevreul, probably\nwith truth, regarded the wand as much on a par with the turning tables\nwhich, in 1854, attracted a good deal of attention....  M. Chevreul\ncould find no earlier book on the twig than the _Testament du Frere_,\nBasile Valentin, a holy man who flourished (the twig) about 1413, but\nwhose treatise is possibly apocryphal.  According to Basile Valentin,\nthe twig was regarded with awe by ignorant laboring men, which is still\ntrue.\"\n\n[3] \"And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and\nchestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white\nappear which was in the rods.\n\n\"And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the\ngutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that\nthey should conceive when they came to drink.\"  (Genesis xxx, 37-38.)\n\n\"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with\nthee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the\nriver, take in thy hand, and go.\n\n\"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and\nthou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that\nthe people may drink.  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of\nIsrael.\"  (Exodus xvii, 5-6.)\n\n[4] Goclenius was a diviner who also professed to make \"magnetic cures.\"\n\n[5] See chapter 9, p. 218.\n\n[6] Quoted from the volume, _Water Divining_ (London, 1902).\n\n[7] The Gentleman's Magazine (London, 1752).\n\n[8] By Young and Robertson (London, 1894).\n\n[9] For centuries the home of the Benedictine Order.\n\n[10] In plain English, flowers of the buttercup family.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nSUNDRY PIRATES AND THEIR BOOTY\n\n  \"Seven years were gone and over, Wild Roger came again,\n  He spoke of forays and of frays upon the Spanish Main,\n  And he had stores of gold galore, and silks and satins fine,\n  And flasks and casks of Malvoisie, and precious Gascon wine;\n  Rich booties had he brought, he said, across the Western wave.\n  But Roger was the same man still,--he scorned his brother's prayers--\n  He called his crew, away he flew, and on those foreign shores,\n  Got killed in some outlandish place,--they called it the Eyesores.\"\n          (_Ingoldsby Legends._)\n\n\nThe popular delusion that pirates found nothing better to do with their\nplunder than to bury it, like so many thrifty depositors in savings\nbanks, clashes with what is known of the habits and temperaments of\nmany of the most industrious rovers under the black flag.  By way of a\nconcluding survey of the matter, let us briefly examine the careers of\ndivers pirates of sorts and try to ascertain what they did with their\ngold and whether it be plausible to assume that they had any of it left\nto bury.  Of course, romance and legend are up in arms at the\npresumption that any well-regulated and orthodox pirate omitted the\nbusiness with the pick and shovel and the chart with the significant\ncrosses and compass bearings, but the prosaic facts of history are due\nto have their innings.\n\nFor example, there was Jean Lafitte who amassed great riches in the\npursuit of his profession and whose memory has inspired innumerable\ntreasure-seeking expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico and along the coast\nof Central America.  After ravaging the commerce of the East India\nCompany in the waters of the Far East, he set up his headquarters on an\nisland among the bayous and cypress swamps of that desolate region\nbelow New Orleans that is known as Barrataria.  A deep-water pass ran\nto the open sea, only two leagues distant, and on the shores of the\nsheltered harbor of Grand Terre, Lafitte organized the activities of a\nlarge number of pirates and smugglers and formed a flourishing colony;\na corporation, in its way, for disposing of the merchandise filched\nfrom honest shipping.  These marauders posed as privateers, and some of\nthem had French and other commissions for sailing against the Spanish,\nbut there was a great deal of laxity in such trifles as living up to\nthe letter of the law.\n\nAt Grand Terre, Lafitte and his people sold the cargoes of their prizes\nby public auction, and from all parts of lower Louisiana\nbargain-hunters flocked to Barrataria to deal in this tempting traffic.\nThe goods thus purchased were smuggled into New Orleans and other\nnearby ports, and Lafitte's piratical enterprises became so notorious\nthat the government of the United States sent an expedition against him\nin 1814, commanded by Commodore Patterson.  At Grand Terre he found a\nsettlement so great in force and numbers as to constitute a small\nkingdom ruled by Lafitte.  The commodore described the encounter in a\nletter to the Secretary of War, and said in part:\n\n\"At half-past eight o'clock A.M. on the 16th of June, made the Island\nof Barrataria, and discovered a number of vessels in the harbor some of\nwhich showed the colors of Carthagena.  At two o'clock, perceived the\npirates forming their vessels, ten in number, including prizes, into a\nline of battle near the entrance of the harbor, and making every\npreparation to offer battle.  At ten o'clock, wind light and variable,\nformed the order of battle with six gun boats and the _Sea Horse_\ntender, mounting one six pounder and fifteen men, and a launch mounting\none twelve pound carronade; the schooner _Carolina_ drawing too much\nwater to cross the bar.\n\n\"At half-past ten o'clock, perceived several smokes along the coasts as\nsignals, and at the same time a white flag hoisted on board a schooner\nat the fort, an American flag at the mainmast head, and a Carthagenian\nflag (under which the pirates cruise) at her topping-lift.  I replied\nwith a white flag at my main.  At eleven o'clock discovered that the\npirates had fired two of their best schooners; hauled down my white\nflag and made the signal for battle; hoisting a large flag bearing the\nwords _Pardon for Deserters_, having heard there was a number on shore\nfrom our army and navy.  At a quarter past eleven o'clock, two\ngun-boats grounded, and were passed, agreeably to my previous orders,\nby the other four which entered the harbor, manned by my barge and the\nboats belonging to the grounded vessels, and proceeded in.  To my great\ndisappointment, I perceived that the pirates had abandoned their\nvessels and were flying in all directions.  I immediately sent the\nlaunch and two barges with small boats in pursuit of them.\n\n\"At meridian, took possession of all their vessels in the harbor,\nconsisting of six schooners and one felucca, cruisers and prizes of the\npirates, one brig, a prize, and two armed schooners under the\nCarthagenian flag, both in the line of battle with the armed vessels of\nthe pirates, and apparently with an intention to aid them in any\nresistance they might make against me, as their crews were at quarters,\ntompions out of their guns, and matches lighted.  Colonel Ross (with\nseventy-five infantry) at the same time landed and took possession of\ntheir establishment on shore, consisting of about forty houses of\ndifferent sizes, badly constructed and thatched with palmetto leaves.\n\n\"When I perceived the enemy forming their vessels into a line of\nbattle, I felt confident from their number, and very advantageous\nposition, and their number of men, that they would have fought me.\nTheir not doing so I regret, for had they, I should have been able more\neffectually to destroy or make prisoners of them and their leaders.\nThe enemy had mounted on their vessels twenty pieces of cannon of\ndifferent caliber, and as I have since learned, had from eight hundred\nto one thousand men of all nations and colors.\"\n\nNotwithstanding this unfriendly visit, Lafitte was a patriot after his\nown fashion and during the War of 1812 his sympathies were with the\nAmerican forces.  In September, 1814, Captain Lockyer, of a British\nnaval vessel, anchored in the pass at Barrataria, and delivered to\nLafitte a packet of documents comprising a proclamation addressed to\nthe inhabitants of Louisiana by Colonel Edward Nichalls, commander of\nthe English forces on the coast of Florida, a letter from him to\nLafitte, and another from the Honorable W. H. Percy, captain of the\nsloop-of-war _Hermes_.  The upshot of all this was a proposal that\nLafitte enter the British naval service in command of a frigate, and if\nhe would take his men with him he should have thirty thousand dollars,\npayable at Pensacola.\n\nLafitte refused the tempting bait, and two days later sent the\nfollowing letter to Governor Claiborne of the state of Louisiana:\n\n\nBARRATARIA, Sept. 4th. 1814.\n\n\"_Sir:_\n\n\"In the firm persuasion that the choice made of you to fill the office\nof first magistrate of this state, was dictated by the esteem of your\nfellow citizens, and was conferred on merit, I confidently address you\non an affair on which may depend the safety of this country.  I offer\nto restore to this state several citizens who perhaps in your eyes have\nlost that sacred title.  I offer you them, however, such as you could\nwish to find them, ready to exert their utmost efforts in defense of\nthe country.  This point of Louisiana which I occupy is of great\nimportance in the present crisis.  I tender my services to defend it;\nand the only reward I ask is that a stop be put to the proscription\nagainst me and my adherents, by an act of oblivion, for all that has\nbeen done hitherto.  I am the stray sheep wishing to return to the\nfold.  If you are thoroughly acquainted with the nature of my offenses,\nI shall appear to you much less guilty, and still worthy to discharge\nthe duties of a good citizen.  I have never sailed under any flag but\nthat of the republic of Carthagena, and my vessels are perfectly\nregular in that respect.  If I could have brought my lawful prizes into\nthe ports of this state, I should not have employed the illicit means\nthat have caused me to be proscribed.  I decline saying more on the\nsubject, until I have the honor of your Excellency's answer, which I am\npersuaded can be dictated only by wisdom.  Should your answer not be\nfavorable to my desires, I declare to you that I will instantly leave\nthe country, to avoid the imputation of having cooperated towards an\ninvasion of this point, which cannot fail to take place, and to rest\nsecure in the acquittal of my conscience.\n\n\"I have the honor to be\n    \"Your Excellency's, etc.\n        \"J. LAFITTE.\"\n\n\nThis highly commendable document so favorably impressed Governor\nClaiborne that he offered Lafitte safe conduct to come to New Orleans\nand meet General Andrew Jackson.  After a conference of this trio, the\nfollowing order was issued:\n\n\"The Governor of Louisiana, being informed that many individuals\nimplicated in the offenses heretofore committed against the United\nStates at Barrataria, express a willingness at the present crisis to\nenroll themselves and march against the enemy:\n\n\"He does hereby invite them to join the standard of the United States\nand is authorized to say, should their conduct in the field meet the\napprobation of the Major General, that that officer will unite with the\nGovernor in a request to the President of the United States, to extend\nto each and every individual so marching and acting, a free and full\npardon.\"\n\nAt the battle of New Orleans, on January 8th, 1815, Lafitte and his\nlieutenant, Dominique, commanded a large force of what Jackson called\nthe \"Corsairs of Barrataria,\" and defended their breastworks and served\ntheir batteries with such desperate gallantry that they nobly earned\nthe promised pardons.  These were granted by President James Madison on\nFebruary 6th, and he took occasion to say:\n\n\"But it has since been represented that the offenders have manifested a\nsincere repentance; that they have abandoned the prosecution of the\nworst cause for the support of the best, and particularly, that they\nhave exhibited in the defense of New Orleans, unequivocal traits of\ncourage and fidelity.  Offenders, who have refused to become the\nassociates of the enemy in the war, upon the most seductive terms of\ninvitation; and who have aided to repel his hostile invasion of the\nterritory of the United States, can no longer be considered as objects\nof punishment, but as objects of a generous forgiveness.\"\n\nThe foregoing evidence is ample to prove that Lafitte had no occasion\nto bury any of his treasure, but like Kidd along the New England coast,\nlegend has been busy with his name and is blind to the facts of record.\nHe later made a settlement on the island of Galveston and his history\nbecomes obscured.  One version is that the love of the old trade was in\nhis blood, and he fitted out a large privateer to have a farewell fling\nwith fortune.  A British sloop-of-war overhauled him in the Gulf of\nMexico, hailed him as a pirate, and opened fire.  The engagement was\nterrifically hot, and Jean Lafitte was killed at the head of his men\nwhile resisting a boarding party.\n\nTake next the case of that noted pirate Captain Avery \"whose adventures\nwere the subject of general conversation in Europe.\"  He captured one\nof the Great Mogul's ships laden with treasure; it was reported that he\nhad wedded a daughter of that magnificent ruler and was about to found\na new monarchy; that he gave commissions in his own name to the\ncaptains of his ships and the commanders of his forces and was\nacknowledged by them as their prince.  With sixteen stout fellows of\nhis own kidney, he ran off with a ship in which he had sailed from\nEngland as mate, and steered for Madagascar in the year 1715.  \"The\nPirates' Own Book\" tells the story of Captain Avery, his treasure, and\nthe melancholy fate of both, and the author is, as a rule, such a\nwell-informed historian of these matters, that he should be allowed to\nset it forth in his own words, which are framed in a style admirably\nbefitting the theme.\n\n\"Near the river Indus the man at the mast-head espied a sail upon which\nthey gave chase; as they came nearer to her they discovered that she\nwas a tall vessel, and might turn out to be an East Indiaman.  She,\nhowever, proved a better prize; for when they fired at her, she hoisted\nMogul colors, and seemed to stand upon her defense.  Avery only\ncannonaded at a distance, when some of the men began to suspect he was\nnot the hero they had supposed.  His sloops, however, attacked, the one\non the bow, and another upon the quarter of the ship, and so boarded\nher.  She then struck her colors.  She was one of the Great Mogul's own\nships, and there were in her several of the greatest persons in his\ncourt, among whom, it was said, was one of his daughters going upon a\npilgrimage to Mecca; and they were carrying with them rich offerings to\npresent at the shrine of Mahomet.  It is a well-known fact that the\npeople of the East travel with great magnificence, so that these had\nalong with them all their slaves and attendants, with a large quantity\nof vessels of gold and silver, and immense sums of money to defray\ntheir expenses by land.  The spoil, therefore, which they received from\nthat ship was almost incalculable.\n\n\"Our adventurers made the best of their way back to Madagascar,\nintending to make that place the deposit of all their treasure, to\nbuild a small fort, and to keep always a few men there for its\nprotection.  Avery, however, disconcerted this plan, and rendered it\naltogether unnecessary.  While steering their course, he sent a boat to\neach of the sloops, requesting that the chiefs would come on board his\nship to hold a conference.  He suggested to them the necessity of\nsecuring the property which they had acquired, and observed that the\nmain difficulty was to get it safe on shore; adding that if either of\nthe sloops should be attacked alone, they would not be able to make any\ngreat resistance.  That, for his part, his ship was so strong, so well\nmanned, and such a swift-sailing vessel, that he did not think it\npossible for any other ship to take or overcome her.  Accordingly, he\nproposed that all their treasure should be sealed up in three\nchests,--that each of the captains should have a key, and that they\nshould not be opened until all were present;--that the chests should be\nthen put on board his ship and afterwards lodged in some safe place on\nland.\n\n\"This proposal seemed so reasonable, and so much for the common good\nthat it was agreed to without hesitation, and all the treasure was\ndeposited in three chests and carried to Avery's ship.  The weather\nbeing favorable, they remained all three in company during that and the\nnext day; meanwhile Avery, tampering with his men, suggested that they\nhad now on board what was sufficient to make them all happy; 'and\nwhat,' continued he, 'should hinder us from going to some country where\nwe are not known, and living on shore all the rest of our days in\nplenty!'  They soon understood his hint, and all readily consented to\ndeceive the men of the sloops, and fly with all the booty.  This they\neffected during the darkness of the following night.  The reader may\neasily conjecture what were the feelings and indignation of the other\ntwo crews in the morning when they discovered that Avery had made off\nwith all their property.\n\n\"Avery and his men hastened towards America, and being strangers in\nthat country, agreed to divide the booty, to change their names, and\neach separately to take up his residence and live in affluence and\nhonor....  Avery had been careful to conceal the greater part of the\njewels and other valuable articles, so that his own riches were\nimmense.  Arriving at Boston, he was almost resolved to settle there,\nbut as the greater part of his wealth consisted of diamonds, he was\napprehensive that he could not dispose of them at that place, without\nbeing taken up as a pirate.  Upon reflection, therefore, he resolved to\nsail for Ireland, and in a short time arrived in the northern part of\nthat kingdom, and his men dispersed into several places.  Some of them\nobtained the pardon of King William and settled in that country.\n\n\"The wealth of Avery, however, now proved of small service and\noccasioned him great uneasiness.  He could not offer his diamonds for\nsale in that country without being suspected.  Considering, therefore,\nwhat was best to be done, he thought there might be some person in\nBristol he could venture to trust.  Upon this he resolved, and going to\nDevonshire, sent to one of his friends to meet him at a town called\nBideford.  When he had unbosomed himself to him and other pretended\nfriends, they agreed that the safest plan was to put his effects in the\nhands of some wealthy merchants, and no inquiry would be made how they\ncame by them.\n\n\"One of these friends told him he was acquainted with some who were\nvery fit for the purpose, and if he would allow them a handsome\ncommission, they would do the business faithfully.  Avery liked the\nproposal, particularly as he could think of no other way of managing\nthis matter, since he could not appear to act for himself.\nAccordingly, the merchants paid Avery a visit at Bideford, where after\nstrong protestations of honor and integrity, he delivered them his\neffects, consisting of diamonds and some vessels of gold.  After giving\nhim a little money for his present subsistence, they departed.\n\n\"He changed his name and lived quietly at Bideford, so that no notice\nwas taken of him.  In a short time his money was all spent, and he\nheard nothing from his merchants though he wrote to them repeatedly.\nAt last they sent him a small supply, but it was not sufficient to pay\nhis debts.  In short, the remittances they sent him were so trifling\nthat he could with difficulty exist.  He therefore determined to go\nprivately to Bristol, and have an interview with the merchants\nhimself,--where instead of money, he met with a mortifying repulse.\nFor when he desired them to come to an account with him, they silenced\nhim by threatening to disclose his character; the merchants thus\nproving themselves as good pirates on land as he was at sea.\n\n\"Whether he was frightened by these menaces, or had seen some other\nperson who recognized him, is not known.  However, he went immediately\nto Ireland, and from thence solicited his merchants very strongly for a\nsupply, but to no purpose; so that he was reduced to beggary.  In this\nextremity he was determined to return and cast himself upon the mercy\nof these honest Bristol merchants, let the consequence be what it\nwould.  He went on board a trading vessel, and worked his passage over\nto Plymouth, from whence he traveled on foot to Bideford.  He had been\nthere but a few days when he fell sick and died; not being worth so\nmuch as would buy a coffin.\"\n\nThat very atrocious pirate, Charles Gibbs, squandered most of his\ntreasure, but it may be some consolation to know that $20,000 of it, in\nsilver coin, was buried on the beach of Long Island, a few miles from\nSouthampton, as attested by the records of the United States Court of\nthe Southern District of New York.  Captain Gibbs was a thoroughly bad\negg, from first to last, and quite modern, it is interesting to note,\nfor he was hanged as recently as 1831.  He was born in Rhode Island,\nraised on a farm, and ran away to sea in the navy.  It is to his credit\nthat he is said to have served on board the _Chesapeake_ in her famous\nbattle with the _Shannon_, but after his release from Dartmoor as a\nBritish prisoner of war, he fell from grace and opened a grogery in Ann\nStreet, called the Tin Pot, \"a place full of abandoned women and\ndissolute fellows.\"  He drank up all the profits, so went to sea again\nand found a berth in a South American privateer.  Leading a mutiny, he\ngained the ship and made a pirate of her, frequenting Havana, and\nplundering merchant vessels along the Cuban coast.  He slaughtered\ntheir crews in cold blood and earned an infamous reputation for\ncruelty.  In his confession written while he was under sentence of\ndeath in New York, he stated \"that some time in the course of the year\n1819, he left Havana and came to the United States, bringing with him\nabout $30,000 in gold.  He passed several weeks in the city of New\nYork, and then went to Boston, whence he took passage for Liverpool in\nthe ship _Emerald_.  Before he sailed, however, he had squandered a\nlarge amount of his money by dissipation and gambling.  He remained in\nLiverpool a few months, and then returned to Boston.  His residence in\nLiverpool at that time is satisfactorily ascertained from another\nsource beside his own confession.  A female now in New York was well\nacquainted with him there, where, she says, he lived like a gentleman,\napparently with abundant means of support.  In speaking of his\nacquaintance with this female, he says, 'I fell in with a woman who I\nthought was all virtue, but she deceived me, and I am sorry to say that\na heart that never felt abashed at scenes of carnage and blood, was\nmade a child of for a time by her, and I gave way to dissipation to\ndrown the torment.  How often when the fumes of liquor have subsided\nhave I thought of my good and affectionate parents, and of their\nGodlike advice!  My friends advised me to behave myself like a man, and\npromised me their assistance, but the demon still haunted me, and I\nspurned their advice.'\"[1]\n\nAfter the adventure with the deceitful female, Gibbs was not as\nsuccessful as formerly in his profession of piracy, and appears to have\nlost his grip.  For several years he knocked about the Seven Seas, in\none sort of shady escapade or another, but he flung away whatever gold\nhe harvested and was driven to commit the sordid crime which brought\nhim to the gallows.  In November of 1830, he shipped as a seaman in the\nbrig _Vineyard_, Captain William Thornby, from New Orleans to\nPhiladelphia with a cargo of cotton and molasses, and $54,000 in\nspecie.  Learning of the money on board, Gibbs cooked up a conspiracy\nto kill the captain and the mate and persuaded Thomas Wansley, the\nsteward, to help him put them out of the way.  According to the\ntestimony, others of the crew were implicated, but the court convicted\nonly these two.  The sworn statement of Seaman Robert Dawes is as\nred-handed a treasure story as could be imagined:\n\n\"When about five days out, I was told that there was money on board.\nCharles Gibbs, E. Church, and the steward then determined to take\npossession of the brig.  They asked James Talbot, another member of the\ncrew, to join them.  He said no, as he did not believe there was money\nin the vessel.  They concluded to kill the captain and mate, and if\nTalbot and John Brownrigg would not join them, to kill them also.  The\nnext night they talked of doing it, and got their clubs ready.  I dared\nnot say a word, as they declared they would kill me if I did.  As they\ndid not agree about killing Talbot and Brownrigg, their two shipmates,\nit was put off.  They next concluded to kill the captain and mate on\nthe night of November 22nd but did not get ready; but on the night of\nthe 23rd, between twelve and one o 'clock, when I was at the helm, the\nsteward came up with a light and a knife in his hand.  He dropped the\nlight and seizing the pump-break, struck the captain with it over the\nhead or back of the neck.  The captain was sent forward by the blow and\nhalloed, 'Oh' and 'Murder' once.\n\n\"He was then seized by Gibbs and the cook, one by the head and the\nother by the heels and thrown overboard.  Atwell and Church stood at\nthe companion way, to strike down the mate when he should come up.  As\nhe came up and enquired what was the matter, they struck him over the\nhead,--he ran back into the cabin, and Charles Gibbs followed him down;\nbut as it was dark, he could not find him.  Gibbs then came on deck for\nthe light with which he returned below.  I left the helm to see what\nwas going on in the cabin.  Gibbs found the mate and seized him, while\nAtwell and Church came down and struck him with a pump break and club.\n\n\"The mate was then dragged upon deck.  They called for me to help them\nand as I came up, the mate seized my hand and gave me a death grip.\nThree of them hove him overboard, but which three I do not know.  The\nmate was not dead when cast overboard, but called after us twice while\nin the water.  I was so frightened that I hardly knew what to do.  They\nthen asked me to call Talbot, who was in the forecastle saying his\nprayers.  He came up and said it would be his turn next, but they gave\nhim some grog and told him not to be afraid, as they would not hurt\nhim.  If he was true to them, he should fare as well as they did.  One\nof those who had been engaged in the bloody deed got drunk and another\nbecame crazy.\n\n\"After killing the captain and mate they set about overhauling the\nvessel, and got up one keg of Mexican dollars.  Then they divided the\ncaptain's clothes and money,--about forty dollars and a gold watch.\nTalbot, Brownrigg and I, who were all innocent men, were obliged to do\nas we were commanded.  I was sent to the helm and ordered to steer for\nLong Island.  On the day following, they divided several kegs of the\nspecie, amounting to five thousand dollars each, and made bags and\nsewed the money up.  After this division, they divided the rest of the\nmoney without counting it.\n\n\"On Sunday, when about fifteen miles S.S.E. of Southampton Light, they\ngot the boats out and put half the money in each, and then they\nscuttled the vessel and set fire to it in the cabin, and took to the\nboats.  Gibbs, after the murder, took charge of the vessel as captain.\nFrom the papers on board, we learned that the money belonged to Stephen\nGirard.[2]\n\n\"With the boats we made the land about daylight.  I was in the\nlong-boat with three others.  The rest with Atwell were in the\njolly-boat.  On coming to the bar the boats stuck, and we threw\noverboard a great deal of money, in all about five thousand dollars.\nThe jolly-boat foundered.  We saw it fill and heard them cry out, and\nsaw them clinging to the masts.  We went ashore on Barron Island, and\nburied the money in the sand, but very lightly.  Soon after, we met\nwith a gunner, whom we requested to conduct us where we could get some\nrefreshments.  They were by him conducted to Johnson's (the only man\nliving on the island) where we stayed all night.  I went to bed about\nten o'clock.  Jack Brownrigg sat up with Johnson, and in the morning\ntold me that he had told Johnson all about the murders.  Johnson went\nin the morning with the steward for the clothes, which were left on the\ntop of the place where they buried the money, but I don't believe they\ntook away the money.\"\n\nHere was genuine buried treasure, but the circumstances were such as to\nmake the once terrible Captain Charles Gibbs cut a wretched figure.  To\nthe ignominious crime of killing the captain and the mate of a little\ntrading brig had descended this freebooter of renown who had numbered\nhis prizes by the score and boasted of slaying their crews wholesale.\nAs for the specie looted from the brig _Vineyard_, half the amount was\nlost in the surf when the jolly-boat foundered, and the remainder\nburied where doubtless that hospitable resident, Johnson, was able to\nfind most of it.  Silver dollars were too heavy to be carried away in\nbulk by stranded pirates, fleeing the law, and these rascals got no\ngood of their plunder.\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Gibbs and Wansley burying the treasure.]\n\nThe Portugese captain cutting away the bag of moidores.\n\n(_From The Pirates' Own Book._)\n\n======================================================================\n\nGlance at the sin-stained roster of famous pirates, Edward Low, Captain\nEngland, Captain Thomas White, Benito De Soto, Captain Roberts, Captain\nJohn Rackham, Captain Thomas Tew, and most of the bloody crew, and it\nwill be found that either they wasted their treasure in debaucheries,\nor were hanged, shot, or drowned with empty pockets.  Of them all,\nBlackbeard[3] fills the eye most struttingly as the proper pirate to\nhave buried treasure.  He was immensely theatrical, fond of playing the\npart right up to the hilt, and we may rest assured that unless his\nsudden taking-off prevented, he was at pains to bury at least one\nsea-chest full of treasure in order to live up to the best traditions\nof his calling.  He was prosperous, and unlike most of his lesser\nbrethren, suffered no low tides of fortune.  By rights, he should be a\nfar more famous character than Captain William Kidd whose commonplace\ncareer was so signally devoid of purple patches.  Blackbeard was a\npirate \"right out of a book,\" as the saying is.  How this Captain\nEdward Teach swaggered through the streets of Charleston and terrorized\nthe Carolinas and Bermuda is an old story, as is also the thrilling\nnarrative of his capture, after a desperate battle, by brave Lieutenant\nMaynard, who hung the pirate's head from his bowsprit and sailed home\nin triumph.  There are touches here and there, however, in the\nauthentic biography of Blackbeard which seem to belong in a discussion\nof buried treasure, for he was so very much the kind of flamboyant\nrogue that legend paints as infernally busy with pick and shovel on\ndark and lonely beaches.\n\nBlackbeard is the hero of such extremely diverting tales as these,\nwhich sundry writers have not scrupled to appropriate, either for\npurposes of fiction or unblushingly to fit them to poor Captain Kidd as\nchronicles of fact:\n\n\"In the commonwealth of pirates, he who goes the greatest length of\nwickedness is looked upon with a kind of envy amongst them, as a person\nof a most extraordinary gallantry.  He is therefore entitled to be\ndistinguished by some post, and if such a one has but courage, he must\ncertainly be a great man.  The hero of whom we are writing was\nthoroughly accomplished in this way, and some of his frolics of\nwickedness were as extravagant as if he aimed at making his men believe\nhe was a devil incarnate.  Being one day, at sea, and a little flushed\nwith drink; 'Come,' said he, 'let us make a hell of our own, and try\nhow long we can bear it.'  Accordingly he, with two or three others,\nwent down into the hold, and closing up all the hatches, filled several\npots full of brimstone, and other combustible matter.  They then set it\non fire, and so continued till they were almost suffocated, when some\nof the men cried out for air.  At length he opened the hatches, not a\nlittle pleased that he had held out the longest.\n\n\"One night, Blackbeard, drinking in his cabin with Israel Hands,[4] and\nthe pilot, and another man, without any pretense took a small pair of\npistols, and cocked them under the table.  Which being perceived by the\nman, he went on deck, leaving the captain, Hands, and the pilot\ntogether.  When his pistols were prepared, he extinguished the candle,\ncrossed his arms and fired at the company, under the table.  The one\npistol did no execution, but the other wounded Hands in the knee.\nInterrogated concerning the meaning of this, he answered with an\nimprecation, 'That if he did not now and then kill one of them, they\nwould forget who he was.'\"\n\n\"In Blackbeard's journal, which was taken, there were several memoranda\nof the following nature, all written with his own hand.--'Such a day,\nrum all out;--our company somewhat sober;--a damned confusion amongst\nus! rogues a-plotting;--great talk of separation;--so I looked sharp\nfor a prize; such a day took one with a great deal of liquor on board;\nso kept the company hot, damned hot, then all things went well again.'\"\n\n\"Blackbeard derived his name from his long black beard, which, like a\nfrightful meteor, covered his whole face, and terrified all America\nmore than any comet that has ever appeared.  He was accustomed to twist\nit with ribbon in small quantities, and turn them about his ears.  In\ntime of action he wore a sling over his shoulder with three braces of\npistols.  He stuck lighted matches under his hat, which appearing on\nboth sides of his face and eyes, naturally fierce and wild, made him\nsuch a figure that the human imagination cannot form a conception of a\nfury more terrible and alarming.\"[5]\n\nIn the best account of his melodramatic exit from the life which he had\nadorned with so much distinction, there is a reference to buried\ntreasure that must be set down as a classic of its kind.\n\n\"Upon the 17th of November, 1717, Lieutenant Maynard left James's River\nin quest of Blackbeard, and on the evening of the 21st came in sight of\nthe pirate.  This expedition was fitted out with all possible secrecy,\nno boat being permitted to pass that might convey any intelligence,\nwhile care was taken to discover where the pirates were lurking....\nThe hardened and infatuated pirate, having been often deceived by false\nintelligence, was the less attentive, nor was he convinced of his\ndanger until he saw the sloops sent to apprehend him.  Though he had\nthen only twenty men on board, he prepared to give battle.  Lieutenant\nMaynard arrived with his sloops in the evening and anchored, as he\ncould not venture, under cloud of night, to go into the place where\nBlackbeard lay.\n\n\"The latter spent the night in drinking with the master of a trading\nvessel, with the same indifference as if no danger had been near.  Nay,\nsuch was the desperate wickedness of this villain, that, it is\nreported, during the carousals of that night, one of his men asked him,\n'In case anything should happen to him during the engagement with the\ntwo sloops which were waiting to attack him in the morning, whether his\nwife knew where he had buried his money!'  To this he impiously\nreplied, 'That nobody but himself and the devil knew where it was, and\nthe longest liver should take all.'\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: Interview between Lafitte, General Andrew Jackson, and\nGovernor Claiborne.]\n\nThe death of Black Beard.\n\n(_From The Pirates' Own Book._)\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"In the morning Maynard weighed, and sent his boat to take soundings,\nwhich, coming near the pirate, received her fire.  Maynard then hoisted\nroyal colors, and directly toward Blackbeard with every sail and oar.\nIn a little while the pirate ran aground, and so did the king's\nvessels.  Maynard lightened his vessel of the ballast and water and\nmade towards Blackbeard.  Upon this, the pirate hailed in his own rude\nstyle.  'Damn you for villains, who are you, and from whence come you?'\nThe lieutenant answered, 'You may see from our colors we are no\npirates.'  Blackbeard bade him send his boat on board, that he might\nsee who he was.  But Maynard replied, 'I cannot spare my boat, but I\nwill come on board of you as soon as I can with my sloop.'  Upon this\nBlackbeard took a glass of liquor and drank to him, saying, 'I'll give\nno quarter nor take any from you.'  Maynard replied, 'He expected no\nquarter from him, nor should he take any.'\"[6]\n\nIt is to be presumed that the devil fell heir to Blackbeard's treasure,\ninasmuch as Lieutenant Maynard and his men fairly cut the pirate and\nhis crew to pieces.  Turn we now from such marauders as this to that\ngreater generation of buccaneers, so called, who harried the Spanish\ntreasure fleets and towns in the West Indies and on the coasts of the\nIsthmus and South and Central America.  During the period when Port\nRoyal, Jamaica, was the headquarters and recruiting station for these\npicturesque cut-throats, and Sir Henry Morgan was their bright,\nparticular star, there is the testimony of an eye-witness and\nparticipant to show that the blood-stained gold seldom tarried long\nenough with its owners to permit of burying it, and that they bothered\ntheir wicked heads very little about safeguarding the future.\n\nCaptain Bartholomew Roberts, that \"tall, black man, nearly forty years\nold, whose favorite toast was 'Damnation to him who ever lives to wear\na halter,'\" was snuffed out in an action with a King's ship, and the\nmanner of his life and melodramatic quality of his death suggest that\nhe be mentioned herein as worthy of a place beside Blackbeard himself.\nRoberts has been overlooked by buried treasure legend, and this is odd,\nfor he was a figure to inspire such tales.  His flamboyant career\nopened in 1719 and was successful until the British man-of-war\n_Swallow_ overhauled him on the African coast.  His biographer, Captain\nCharles Johnson, writing while the episode was less than a decade old\nand when the facts were readily obtainable, left us this fine picture\nof the fight:\n\n\"Roberts himself made a gallant figure at the time of the engagement,\nbeing dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red\nfeather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross\nhanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pair of pistols hanging at\nthe end of a silk sling flung over his shoulder (according to the\nfashion of the pirates).  He is said to have given his orders with\nboldness and spirit; coming, according to what he had purposed, close\nto the man of war, received her fire, and then hoisted his black\nflag[7] and returned it; shooting away from her with all the sail he\ncould pack....  But keeping his tacks down, either by the wind's\nshifting or ill steerage, or both, he was taken aback with his sails,\nand the _Swallow_ came a second time very nigh to him.  He had now\nperhaps finished the fight very desperately if Death, who took a swift\npassage in a grapeshot, had not interposed and struck him directly on\nthe throat.\n\n\"He settled himself on the tackles of a gun, which one Stephenson from\nthe helm, observing, ran to his assistance, and not perceiving him\nwounded, swore at him and bid him stand up like a man.  But when he\nfound his mistake, and that Captain Roberts was certainly dead, he\ngushed into tears and wished the next shot might be his lot.  They\npresently threw him overboard, with his arms and ornaments on,\naccording to the repeated requests he had made in his life.\"\n\nThere was no treasure for the stout-hearted scoundrels who were\ncaptured by the _Swallow_.  They had diced with fortune and lost, and\nExecution Dock was waiting for them, but they are worth a passing\nacquaintance and it gives one a certain satisfaction to learn that\n\"they were impudently merry, saying when they viewed their nakedness,\n'That they had not one half penny left to give old Charon to ferry them\nover the Styx,' and at their thin commons they would observe that they\nfell away so fast that they should not have weight enough to hang them.\nSutton used to be very profane, and he happening to be in the same\nirons with another prisoner who was more serious than ordinary and read\nand prayed often, as became his condition, this man Sutton used to\nswear and ask him, 'What he proposed by so much noise and devotion?'\n'Heaven, I hope,' says the other.  'Heaven, you fool,' says Sutton,\n'Did you ever hear of any pirate going thither?  Give me Hell.  It is a\nmerrier place.  I'll give Roberts a salute of thirteen guns at\nentrance.'\"\n\nAfter Morgan had sacked the rich city of Porto Bello, John Esquemeling\nwrote of the expedition:[8]\n\n\"With these (ships) he arrived in a few days at the Island of Cuba,\nwhere he sought out a place wherein with all quiet and repose he might\nmake the dividend of the spoil they had got.  They found in ready money\ntwo hundred and fifty thousand pieces of eight, besides all other\nmerchandises, as cloth, linen, silks, and other goods.  With this rich\nbooty they sailed again thence to their common place of rendezvous,\nJamaica.  Being arrived, they passed here some time in all sorts of\nvices and debauchery, according to their common manner of doing,\nspending with huge prodigality what others had gained with no small\nlabor and toil.\"\n\n\"... Such of these Pirates are found who will spend two or three\nthousand pieces of eight in one night, not leaving themselves,\nperadventure, a good shirt to wear on their backs in the morning.  My\nown master would buy, on like occasions, a whole pipe of wine, and\nplacing it in the street, would force everyone that passed by to drink\nwith him; threatening also to pistol them in case they would not do it.\nAt other times, he would do the same with barrels of ale or beer.  And,\nvery often, with both his hands, he would throw these liquors about the\nstreets and wet the clothes of such as walked by, without regarding\nwhether he spoiled their apparel or not, were they men or women.\n\n\"Among themselves, and to each other, these Pirates are extremely\nliberal and free.  If any one of them has lost his goods, which often\nhappens in their manner of life, they freely give him, and make him\npartaker of what they have.  In taverns and ale-houses they always have\ngreat credit; but in such houses at Jamaica they ought not to run very\ndeep in debt, seeing the inhabitants of that island easily sell one\nanother for debt.  Thus it happened to my patron, or master, to be sold\nfor a debt of a tavern wherein he had spent the greater part of his\nmoney.  This man had, within the space of three months before, three\nthousand pieces of eight in ready cash, all which he wasted in that\nshort space of time, and became as poor as I have told you.\"\n\nThe same free-handed and lurid manner of life prevailed on the little\nisland of Tortuga, off the coast of Hayti, where the French and English\nbuccaneers had a lawless kingdom of their own.  In his account of the\ncareer of the infamous L'Ollonais, Esquemeling goes on to say:\n\n\"Departing therefore thence, they took their course towards the island\nHispaniola, and arrived thither in eight days, casting anchor in a port\ncalled Isla de la Vaca, or Cow Island.  This isle is inhabited by\nFrench buccaneers[9] who most commonly sell the flesh they hunt to\nPirates and others who now and then put in there with intent of\nvictualing or trading with them.  Here they unladed the whole cargo of\nriches which they had robbed; the usual storehouse of the Pirates being\ncommonly under the shelter of the buccaneers.  Here also they made a\ndividend amongst them of all of their prizes and gains, according to\nthat order and degree which belonged to everyone.  Having cast up the\naccount and made exact calculation of all they had purchased, they\nfound in ready money two hundred and three-score thousand pieces of\neight.  Whereupon, this being divided, everyone received to his share\nin money, and also in pieces of silk, linen and other commodities, the\nvalue of above hundred pieces of eight.  Those who had been wounded in\nthis expedition received their part before all the rest; I mean such\nrecompenses as I spoke of the first Book, for the loss of their limbs\nwhich many sustained.[10]\n\n\"Afterwards they weighed all the plate that was uncoined, reckoning\nafter the rate of ten pieces of eight for every pound.  The jewels were\nprized with much variety, either at too high or too low rates; being\nthus occasioned by their own ignorance.  This being done, everyone was\nput to his oath again, that he had not concealed anything nor\nsubtracted from the common stock.  Hence they proceeded to the dividend\nof what shares belonged to such as were dead amongst them, either in\nbattle or otherwise.  These shares were given to their friends to be\nkept entire for them, and to be delivered in due time to their nearest\nrelatives, or whomsoever should appear to be their lawful heirs.\n\n\"The whole dividend being entirely finished, they set sail thence for\nthe Isle of Tortuga.  Here they arrived one month after, to the great\njoy of most that were upon the island.  For as to the common Pirates,\nin three weeks they had scarce any money left them; having spent it all\nin things of little value, or at play either at cards or dice.  Here\nalso arrived, not long before them, two French ships laden with wine\nand brandy and other things of this kind; whereby these liquors, at the\narrival of the Pirates, were sold indifferent cheap.  But this lasted\nnot long; for soon after they were enhanced extremely, a gallon of\nbrandy being sold for four pieces of eight.  The Governor of the island\nbought of the Pirates the whole cargo of the ship laden with cacao,\ngiving them for that rich commodity scarce the twentieth part of what\nit was worth.  Thus they made shift to lose and spend the riches they\nhad got in much less time than they were purchased by robbing.  The\ntaverns, according to the custom of Pirates, got the greatest part\nthereof; insomuch that soon after they were constrained to seek more by\nthe same unlawful means they had obtained the preceding.\"\n\nMorgan himself buried none of his vast treasure, although legend\npersists in saying so, nor did he waste it in riotous living.  From the\nlooting of Panama alone he took booty to the value of two million\ndollars as his share, and he had no need to hide it.  He was thought so\nwell of in England that Charles II knighted him, and he was appointed\nCommissary of the Admiralty.  For some time he lived in England,\npublished his _Voyage to Panama_ in 1683, and spent his remaining years\nin Jamaica as an opulent and influential person in high favor with the\nruling powers, and a terror to the luckless, beggared comrades who had\nhelped him win his fortune.  As governor of the island he hanged as\nmany as he could lay hands on, a kind of ingratitude not at all\ninconsistent with the traits of character he had displayed as a pirate.\nHe did not hesitate to rob his own men, according to Esquemeling from\nwhose narrative of the great expedition against Panama the following\nparagraphs are taken as indicative of the methods of this great\nfreebooter of the Spanish Main:\n\n\"Not long after Captain Morgan arrived at Jamaica, he found many of his\nchief officers and soldiers reduced to their former state of indigence\nthrough their immoderate vices and debauchery.  Hence they ceased not\nto importune him for new invasions and exploits, thereby to get\nsomething to expend anew in wine, as they had already wasted what was\nsecured so little before.  Captain Morgan being willing to follow\nfortune while she called him, hereupon stopped the mouths of many of\nthe inhabitants of Jamaica, who were creditors to his men for large\nsums of money, with the hopes and promises he gave them of greater\nachievements than ever, by a new expedition he was going about.  This\nbeing done, he needed not give himself much concern to levy men for\nthis or any other enterprise, his name being now so famous through all\nthose islands that that alone would readily bring him in more men than\nhe could readily employ.  He undertook therefore to equip a new fleet\nof ships; for which purpose he assigned the south side of the Isle of\nTortuga as a place of rendezvous.  With this resolution he wrote divers\nletters to all the ancient and expert Pirates there inhabiting, as also\nto the Governor of the said Isle, and to the planters and hunters of\nHispaniola, giving them to understand his intentions, and desiring\ntheir appearance at the said place, in case they intended to go with\nhim.  All these people had no sooner understood his designs than they\nflocked to the place assigned in huge numbers, with ships, canoes, and\nboats, being desirous to obey his commands....  Thus all were present\nat the place assigned, and in readiness, against the 24th day of\nOctober, 1670.\"\n\nSpecial articles of agreement for the division of the treasure of\nPanama were drawn up by Morgan before his fleet sailed.  \"Herein it was\nstipulated that he should have the hundredth part of all that was\ngotten to himself alone: That every captain should draw the shares of\neight men, for the expenses of his ship, besides his own: That the\nsurgeon, besides his ordinary pay, should have two hundred pieces of\neight, for his chest of medicine: And every carpenter, above his common\nsalary, should draw one hundred pieces of eight.  Lastly, unto him that\nin any battle should signalize himself, either by entering the first\nany castle, or taking down the Spanish colors and setting up the\nEnglish, they constituted fifty pieces of eight for a reward.  In the\nhead of these articles it was stipulated that all these extraordinary\nsalaries, recompenses and rewards should be paid out of the first spoil\nor purchase they should take, according as every one should then occur\nto be either rewarded or paid.\"\n\nThe expedition was a gorgeous success, for \"on the 24th of February, of\nthe year 1671, Captain Morgan departed from the city of Panama, or\nrather from the place where the said city of Panama had stood; of the\nspoils whereof he carried with him one hundred and seventy-five beasts\nof carriage, laden with silver, gold and other precious things, besides\nsix hundred prisoners, more or less, between men, women, children and\nslaves....  About the middle of the way to the castle of Chagre,\nCaptain Morgan commanded his men to be placed in due order, according\nto their custom, and caused every one to be sworn that they had\nreserved nor concealed nothing privately to themselves, even not so\nmuch as the value of sixpence.  This being done, Captain Morgan, having\nhad some experience that those lewd fellows would not much stickle to\nswear falsely in points of interest, he commanded every one to be\nsearched very strictly both in their clothes and satchels and\neverywhere it might be presumed they had reserved anything.  Yea, to\nthe intent this order might not be ill taken by his companions, he\npermitted himself to be searched, even to the very soles of his shoes.\nTo this office, by common consent, there was assigned one out of every\ncompany to be the searcher of all the rest.  The French Pirates that\nwent on this expedition with Captain Morgan were not well satisfied\nwith this new custom of searching.\n\n\"From Chagre, Captain Morgan sent presently after his arrival a great\nboat to Porto Bello, wherein were all the prisoners he had taken at the\nIsle of St. Catharine, demanding by them a considerable ransom for the\ncastle of Chagre, where he then was, threatening otherwise to ruin and\ndemolish it even to the ground.  To this message those of Porto Bello\nmade answer: That they would not give one farthing towards the ransom\nof the said castle, and that the English might do with it as they\npleased.  The answer being come, the dividend was made of all the spoil\nthey had purchased in that voyage.  Thus every company and every\nparticular person therein included, received their portion of what was\ngot; or rather, what part thereof Captain Morgan was pleased to give\nthem.  For so it was, that the rest of his companions, even of his own\nnation, complained of his proceedings in this particular, and feared\nnot to tell him openly to his face that he had reserved the best jewels\nto himself.  For they judged it impossible that no greater share should\nbelong to them than two hundred pieces of eight per capita, of so many\nvaluable booties and robberies as they had obtained.  Which small sum\nthey thought too little reward for so much labor and such huge and\nmanifest dangers as they had so often exposed their lives to.  But\nCaptain Morgan was deaf to all these and many other complaints of this\nkind, having designed in his mind to cheat them of as much as he could.\n\n\"At last, Captain Morgan finding himself obnoxious to many obloquies\nand detractions among his people, began to fear the consequences\nthereof, and hereupon thinking it unsafe to remain any longer time at\nChagre, he commanded the ordnance of the said castle to be carried on\nboard his ship.  Afterwards he caused the greatest part of the walls to\nbe demolished, and the edifices to be burnt, and as many other things\nspoiled and ruined as could conveniently be done in a short while.\nThese orders being performed, he went secretly on board his own ship,\nwithout giving any notice of his departure to his Companions, nor\ncalling any council, as he used to do.  Thus he set sail and put out to\nsea, not bidding anybody adieu, being only followed by three or four\nvessels of the whole fleet.\n\n\"These were such (as the French Pirates believed) as went shares with\nCaptain Morgan, towards the best and greatest part of the spoil which\nhad been concealed from them in the dividend.  The Frenchmen could very\nwillingly have revenged this affront upon Captain Morgan and those that\nfollowed him, had they found themselves with sufficient means to\nencounter him at sea.  But they were destitute of most things necessary\nthereto.  Yea, they had much ado to find sufficient victuals and\nprovisions for their voyage to Panama, he having left them totally\nunprovided of all things.\"\n\nEsquemeling's commentary on this base conduct of the leader is\nsurprisingly pious: \"Captain Morgan left us all in such a miserable\ncondition as might serve for a lively representation of what reward\nattends wickedness at the latter end of life.  Whence we ought to have\nlearned how to regulate and amend our actions for the future.\"\n\nSir Francis Drake, \"sea king of the sixteenth century,\" the greatest\nadmiral of the time, belongs not with the catalogue of pirates and\nbuccaneers, yet he left a true tale of buried treasure among his\nexploits and it is highly probable that some of that rich plunder is\nhidden to-day in the steaming jungle of the road he took to Panama.\nThere were only forty-eight Englishmen in the band which he led on the\nfamous raid to ambush the Spanish treasure train bound to\nNombre-de-Dios, a century before Morgan's raiders crossed the Isthmus.\nThis first attempt resulted in failure, but after sundry adventures,\nDrake returned and hid his little force close by that famous treasure\nport of Nombre-de-Dios, where they waited to hear the bells of the\npack-mule caravan moving along the trail from Panama.  It was at dawn\nwhen this distant, tinkling music was first heard, and the Cimaroons,\nor Indian guides, were jubilant.  \"Now they assured us we should have\nmore Gold and Silver than all of us could bear away.\"  Soon the\nEnglishmen had glimpses of three royal treasure trains plodding along\nthe leafy road, one of fifty mules, the others of seventy each, and\nevery one of them laden with three hundred pounds weight of silver\nbullion, or thirty tons in all.  The guard of forty-five Spanish\nsoldiers loafed carelessly in front and rear, their guns slung on their\nbacks.\n\nDrake and his bold seamen poured down from a hill, put the guard to\nflight, and captured the caravan with the loss of only two men.  There\nwas more plunder than they could carry back to their ships in a hasty\nretreat, and \"being weary, they were content with a few bars and quoits\nof gold.\"  The silver was buried in the expectation of returning for it\nlater, \"partly in the burrows which the great land-crabs have made in\nthe earth, and partly under old trees which are fallen thereabouts, and\npartly in the sand and gravel of a river not very deep of water.\"\n\nThen began a forced march, every man burdened with all the treasure he\ncould carry, and behind them the noise of \"both horse and foot coming,\nas it seemed, to the mules.\"  Presently a wounded French captain became\nso exhausted that he had to drop out, refusing to delay the march and\ntelling the company that he would remain behind in the woods with two\nof his men, \"in hope that some rest would recover his better strength.\"\nEre long another Frenchman was missed, and investigation discovered\nthat he had \"drunk much wine,\" and doubtless desired to sleep it off.\n\nReaching Rio Francisco, Drake was dismayed to find his pinnaces gone,\nand his party stranded.  The vessels were recovered after delay and\nperilous adventure, whereupon Drake hastened to prepare another\nexpedition \"to get intelligence in what case the country stood, and if\nmight be, recover Monsieur Tetu, the French captain, and leastwise\nbring away the buried silver.\"  The party was just about to start\ninland when on the beach appeared one of the two men who had stayed\nbehind with the French captain.  At sight of Drake he \"fell down on his\nknees, blessing God for the time that ever our Captain was born, who\nnow beyond all his hope, was become his deliverer.\"\n\nHe related that soon after they had been left behind in the forest, the\nSpaniards had captured Captain Tetu and the other man.  He himself had\nescaped by throwing down his treasure and taking to his heels.\nConcerning the buried silver, he had lamentable tidings to impart.  The\nSpanish had got wind of it, and he \"thought there had been near two\nthousand Spaniards and Negroes there to dig and search for it.\"\nHowever, the expedition pushed forward, and the news was confirmed.\n\"The earth every way a mile distant had been digged and turned up in\nevery place of any likelihood to have anything hidden in it.\"  It was\nlearned that the general location of the silver had been divulged to\nthe Spaniards by that rascally Frenchman who had got drunk and deserted\nduring the march to the coast.  He had been caught while asleep, and\nthe soldiers from Nombre-de-Dios tortured him until he told all that he\nknew about the treasure.\n\nThe Englishmen poked around and quickly found \"thirteen bars of silver\nand some few quoits of gold,\" with which they posted back to Rio\nFrancisco, not daring to linger in the neighborhood of an overwhelming\nforce of the enemy.  It was their belief that the Spanish recovered by\nno means all of those precious tons of silver bullion, and Drake made\nsail very reluctantly.  It may well be that a handsome hoard still\nawaits the search of some modern argonauts, or that the steam shovels\nof the workmen of the Panama canal may sometime swing aloft a burden of\n\"bars of silver and quoits of gold\" in their mighty buckets.  Certain\nit is that Sir Francis Drake is to be numbered among that romantic\ncompany of sea rovers of other days who buried vast treasure upon the\nSpanish Main.\n\n\n\n[1] _The Pirates' Own Book_.\n\n[2] The famous merchant and philanthropist of Philadelphia.\n\n[3] \"I happen to know the fact that Blackbeard, whose family name was\ngiven as Teach, was in reality named Drumond, a native of Bristol.  I\nhave learned this fact from one of his family and name, of respectable\nstanding in Virginia, near Hampton.\"  (Watson's Annals of Philadelphia.)\n\nIn the contemporary court records of the Carolina colony, the name of\nBlackbeard is given as Thatch.\n\n[4] Israel Hands was tried and condemned with Blackboard's crew, but\nwas pardoned by royal proclamation, and, according to Captain Johnson,\n\"was alive some time ago in London, begging his bread.\"  This would\nindicate that he had buried no treasure of his own, and had not\nfathomed Blackbeard's secret.  Stevenson borrowed the name of Israel\nHands for one of his crew of pirates in \"Treasure Island.\"\n\n[5] _The Pirates' Own Book_.\n\n[6] This is from _The Pirates' Own Book_.  Captain Johnson's version is\nunexpurgated and to be preferred, for he declares that Blackbeard cried\nout, \"Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarter, or take any from\nyou.\"\n\n[7] As showing the fanciful tastes in sinister flags, Captain Johnson\nrecords that Captain Roberts flew \"a black silk flag at the mizzen\npeak, and a jack and pendant at the same.  The flag had a death's head\non it, with an hour glass in one hand, and cross bones in the other, a\ndart by one, and underneath a heart dropping three drops of blood.\"\n\n[8] _The Buccaneers of America_.  A True Account of the Most Remarkable\nAssaults Committed of Late Years Upon the Coasts of the West Indies by\nthe Buccaneers of Jamaica and Tortuga (Both English and French).\nWherein are contained more especially the Unparalleled Exploits of Sir\nHenry Morgan, our English Jamaican hero who sacked Porto Bello, burnt\nPanama, etc.  (Published in 1684.)\n\n[9]The buccaneers derived their name from the process of drying beef\nover a wood fire, or _boucane_ in French.  They were at first hunters\nof wild cattle in the island of Hispaniola or Hayti who disposed of\ntheir product to smugglers, traders, and pirates, but they were a\ndistinct class from the _filibustiers_ or sea rovers.  As cattle became\nscarce and the Spanish more hostile and cruel foes, the buccaneers,\nFrench and English, forsook their trade and took to the sea, to harry\nthe common foe.\n\n[10] The schedule thus referred to stipulated that for the crew, except\nthe officers specified, it was a case of \"no prey, no pay.\"  For the\nloss of a right arm, the consolation money was six hundred pieces of\neight, or six slaves; for the loss of a left arm, five hundred pieces\nof eight, or five slaves; for the left leg, four hundred pieces of\neight, or four slaves; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one\nslave; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the eye.  \"All\nwhich sums of money, as I have said before, are taken out of the\ncapital sum or common stock of what is got by their piracy.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nPRACTICAL HINTS FOR TREASURE SEEKERS\n\nFaith, imagination, and a vigorous physique comprise the essential\nequipment of a treasure seeker.  Capital is desirable, but not\nabsolutely necessary, for it would be hard indeed to find a\nneighborhood in which some legend or other of buried gold is not\ncurrent.  If one is unable to finance an expedition aboard a swift,\nblack-hulled schooner, it is always possible to dig for the treasure of\npoor Captain Kidd and it is really a matter of small importance that he\nleft no treasure in his wake.  The zest of the game is in seeking.  A\npick and a shovel are to be obtained in the wood-shed or can be\npurchased at the nearest hardware store for a modest outlay.  A\npirate's chart is to be highly esteemed, but if the genuine article\ncannot be found, there are elderly seafaring men in every port who will\nfurnish one just as good and perjure themselves as to the information\nthereof with all the cheerfulness in the world.\n\nIt has occurred to the author that a concise directory of the\nbest-known lost and buried treasure might be of some service to persons\nof an adventurous turn of mind, and the following tabloid guide for\nready reference may perhaps prove helpful, particularly to parents of\nsmall boys who have designs on pirate hoards, as well as to boys who\nhave never grown up.\n\n_Cocos Island_.  In the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Costa Rica.\nTwelve million dollars in plate, coin, bar gold, and jewels buried by\nbuccaneers and by seamen who pirated the treasure of Lima.\n\n_Trinidad_.  In the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil.  The vast\nbooty of sea-rovers who plundered the richest cities of South America.\nA very delectable and well-authenticated treasure, indeed, with all the\nproper charts and appurtenances.  Specially recommendeded.\n\n_The Salvages_.  A group of small islands to the southward of Madeira.\nTwo million dollars of silver in chests, buried by the crew of a\nSpanish ship in 1804.  They killed their captain and laid him on top of\nthe treasure, wherefore proper precautions must be taken to appease his\nghost before beginning to dig.\n\n_Cape St. Vincent_.  West coast of Madagascar.  The wreck of a\nDutch-built ship of great age is jammed fast between the rocks.  Gold\nand silver money has been washed from her and cast up on the beach, and\na large fortune still remains among her timbers.  Expeditions are\nadvised to fit out at Mozambique.\n\n_Venanguebe Bay_, thirty-five miles south south-west of Ngoncy Island\non the east coast of Madagascar.  A sunken treasure is supposed to be\nnot far from the wreck of the French frigate _Gloire_ lost in 1761.\nExpeditions will do well to keep a weather eye lifted along all this\ncoast for the treasures of the pirates who infested these waters in the\ndays of Captain Kidd.\n\n_Gough Island_, sometimes called Diego Alvarez.  Latitude 40 deg. 19' S.\nLongitude 9 deg. 44' W.  It is well known that on this unfrequented bit\nof sea-washed real estate, a very wicked pirate or pirates deposited\nill-gotten gains.  The place to dig is close to a conspicuous spire or\npinnacle of stone on the western end of the island, the name of which\nnatural landmark is set down on the charts as Church Rock.\n\n_Juan Fernandez_.  South Pacific.  Famed as the abode of Robinson\nCrusoe who was too busy writing the story of his life to find the\nbuccaneer's wealth concealed in a cave, also the wreck of a Spanish\ngalleon reputed to have been laden with bullion from the mines of Peru.\n\n_Auckland Islands_.  Remote and far to the southward and hardly to be\nrecommended to the amateur treasure seeker who had better serve his\napprenticeship nearer home.  Frequently visited by expeditions from\nMelbourne and Sydney.  In 1866, the sailing ship _General Grant_, bound\nfrom Australia to London, was lost here.  In her cargo were fifty\nthousand ounces of gold.  In a most extraordinary manner the vessel was\ndriven by the seas into a great cavern in the cliff from which only a\nhandful of her people managed to escape.  They lived for eighteen\nmonths on this desert island before being taken off.  The hulk of the\n_General Grant_ is still within the cave, but the undertow and the\ngreat combers have thus far baffled the divers.\n\n_Luzon_.  One of the Philippine Islands.  Near Calumpit, in the swamps\nof the Rio Grande, the Chinese Mandarin, Chan Lee Suey, buried his\nincalculable wealth soon after the British captured Manila in 1762.\nHis jewels were dazzling, and a string of pearls, bought from the\nSultan of Sulu, was said to be the finest in the Orient.\n\n_Nightingale Island_.  Near Tristan da Cunha.  South Atlantic.  One\nchest of pirate's silver was found here and brought to the United\nStates, but much more is said to remain hidden.\n\n_Tobermory Bay_.  Island of Mull.  Western Scotland.  Wreck of the\ngalleon _Florencia_ of the Spanish Armada.  Said to have contained\nthirty millions of treasure.  Permission to investigate must be\nobtained from His Grace, the Duke of Argyll.\n\n_Vigo Bay_.  Coast of Spain.  Spanish plate fleet sunk by the English\nand Dutch.  A trifling matter of a hundred million dollars or more are\nwaiting for the right man to come along and fish them up.  Treasure\nseekers had better first consult the Spanish Government at Madrid in\norder to avoid misunderstandings with the local officials.\n\n_East River_.  Manhattan Island, New York.  Wreck of the British\nfrigate _Hussar_ which carried to the bottom, in 1780, more than two\nand a half million dollars in gold consigned to the paymasters of the\narmy and naval forces that were fighting the American forces of George\nWashington.  She was sailing for Newport and struck a rock nearly\nopposite the upper end of Randall's Island, sinking one hundred yards\nfrom shore.\n\n_Oak Island_.  Nova Scotia.  Near Chester.  Unmistakable remains of a\ndeep shaft sunk by pirates and an underground connection with the bay.\nA company is now digging, and will probably sell shares at a reasonable\nprice.  Buying shares in a treasure company is less fatiguing than\nhandling the pick and shovel oneself.\n\n_Isthmus of Panama_.  Directions somewhat vague.  Sir Francis Drake\nleft part of the loot of old Panama concealed along his line of\nretreat, but none of his crew was considerate enough to transmit to\nposterity a chart marked with the proper crosses and bearings.\n\n_Dollar Cove_.  Mount's Bay, Cornwall.  Wreck of treasure ship _Saint\nAndrew_, belonging to the king of Portugal.  Driven out of her course\nfrom Flanders to a home port in 1526.  An ancient document written by\none Thomas Porson, an Englishman on board states that \"by the Grace and\nMercy of God, the greater part of the crew got safely to land,\" and\nthat, assisted by some of the inhabitants, they also saved part of the\ncargo including blocks of silver bullion, silver vessels and plate,\nprecious stones, brooches and chains of gold, cloth of Arras, tapestry,\nsatins, velvets, and four sets of armor for the king of Portugal.\nAccording to Porson, no sooner had these treasures been carried to the\ntop of the cliffs than three local squires with sixty armed retainers\nattacked the shipwrecked men and carried off the booty.\n\nModern treasure seekers disbelieve this document and prefer the\nstatement of one of the squires concerned, St. Aubyn by name, that they\nrode to the place to give what help they could, but the cargo of\ntreasure could not be saved.\n\n_Cape Vidal_.  Coast of Zululand.  Wreck of mysterious sailing vessel\n_Dorothea_ said to have had a huge fortune in gold bricks cemented\nunder his floor, stolen gold from the mines of the Rand.  In 1900, May\n21st, an item in the Government Estimates of the Legislative Assembly\nin the Natal Parliament was discussed under the heading, \"Expenditure\nin connection with buried gold at Cape Vidal, search for discovery,\nL173 19s. 3d.\"  \"Mr. Evans asked if a syndicate had been formed and\nwhat expectations the Government had to give.  (Hear, hear.)  The Prime\nMinister said there were several syndicates formed to raise the\ntreasure.  The government had reason to believe that they knew where\nthe treasure was hidden, and started an expedition on their own\naccount.  But unfortunately they had not been able to find the\ntreasure.  Mr. Evans: The Government was in for a bad spec.\n(Laughter.)  The item passed.\"\n\nSpace is given to the foregoing because it stamps with official\nauthority the story of the treasure of Cape Vidal.  When a government\ngoes treasure hunting there must be something in it.\n\n_Lake Guatavita_.  Near Bogota.  Republic of Colombia.  The treasure of\nEl Dorado, the Gilded Man.  To find this gold involves driving a tunnel\nthrough the side of a mountain and draining the lake.  This is such a\nformidable undertaking that it will not appeal to the average treasure\nseeker unless, perchance, he might pick up a second hand tunnel\nsomewhere at a bargain price.  Even then, transportation from the sea\ncoast to Bogota is so difficult and costly that it would hardly be\npracticable to saw the tunnel into sections and have it carried over\nthe mountains on mule-back.\n\n\n\n\nTHE END","title":"The Book of Buried Treasure: Being a True History of the Gold, Jewels, and Plate of Pirates, Galleons, etc., which are sought for to this day","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":125232}