Buried treasure

Last updated
Illustration of pirates burying Captain Kidd's treasure, from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates. Pyle pirates burying2.jpg
Illustration of pirates burying Captain Kidd's treasure, from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates.

Buried treasure is a literary trope commonly associated with depictions of pirates, alongside Vikings, criminals, and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, these people often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return to them later (often with the use of a pirate’s treasure map).

Contents

Pirates burying treasure was a rare occurrence, with the only known instance being William Kidd, who buried some of his wealth on Gardiners Island. The myth of buried pirate treasure was popularized by such 19th-century fiction as Wolfert Webber , The Gold-Bug , and Treasure Island . The idea of treasure maps leading to buried treasure is considered a fictional device.

There are cases of buried treasure from different historical periods, such as the Dacian king Decebalus and Visigoth king Alaric I, who both changed the course of rivers to hide their treasures. Legends of buried pirate treasure have existed for centuries, but authenticated discoveries are rare. For example, extensive excavations on Oak Island, Nova Scotia have not yielded any treasure. The only authenticated treasure chest in the United States is kept at the Pirate Soul Museum in St. Augustine, Florida.

Buried treasure is a cultural concept and not the same as a hoard, which is typically found by archaeologists and metal detectors. The Fenn treasure, reportedly buried by millionaire Forrest Fenn in 2010, was found in 2020 in Wyoming.

Pirates

Pirates burying treasure was rare. The only pirate known to have actually buried treasure was William Kidd, [1] who is believed to have buried at least some of his wealth on Gardiners Island near Long Island before sailing into New York City. Kidd had originally been commissioned as a privateer for England, but his behavior had strayed into outright piracy, and he hoped that his treasure could serve as a bargaining chip in negotiations to avoid punishment. His bid was unsuccessful, however, and Kidd was hanged as a pirate.

In English fiction, there are three well-known stories that helped to popularize the myth of buried pirate treasure: [2] "Wolfert Webber" (1824) by Washington Irving, "The Gold-Bug" (1843) by Edgar Allan Poe and Treasure Island (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson. These stories differ widely in plot and literary treatment but are all based on the William Kidd legend. [3] David Cordingly states that "The effect of Treasure Island on our perception of pirates cannot be overestimated," and says the idea of treasure maps leading to buried treasure "is an entirely fictional device". [1] Stevenson's Treasure Island was directly influenced by Irving's "Wolfert Webber," Stevenson saying in his preface, "It is my debt to Washington Irving that exercises my conscience, and justly so, for I believe plagiarism was rarely carried farther... the whole inner spirit and a good deal of the material detail of my first chapters... were the property of Washington Irving." [3]

In 1911, American author Ralph D. Paine conducted a survey of all known or purported stories of buried treasure and published them in The Book of Buried Treasure. [4] [5] He found a common trait in all the stories: there was always a lone survivor of a piratical crew who somehow preserved a chart showing where the treasure was buried, but unable to return himself, he transfers the map or information to a friend or shipmate, usually on his deathbed. [5] This person would then go search in vain for the treasure, but not before transferring the legend down to another hapless seeker. [5]

Cases

The Roman historian Dio Cassius says that, in the early 2nd century, the Dacian king Decebalus had changed the course of the river Sargetia and buried tons of gold and silver in the riverbed. Later, he ordered the river to be restored, and the slaves involved in the works to be executed. However, one of his nobles revealed the treasure's location to the Romans. The Byzantine historian Jordanes tells a similar story of the burial of the Visigoth king Alaric I and his treasure under the river Busento in 410. The burial places of the Khazar kings (qoruq) and other inner Asian people were also under a rerouted river. [6]

There are a number of reports of supposed buried pirate treasure that surfaced much earlier than these works, indicating that the idea was around for more than a century before those stories were published. For example, extensive excavation has taken place on Oak Island (in Nova Scotia) since 1795 in the belief that one or more pirate captains had hidden large amounts of valuables there. These excavations were said to have been prompted by still older legends of buried pirate treasure in the area. No treasure has yet been reported found.

The Treasure of Lima is a supposed buried treasure on Cocos Island in the Pacific abandoned by pirates. [7] The treasure, estimated to be worth £160 million, was stolen by British Captain William Thompson in 1820 after he was entrusted to transport it from Peru to Mexico. [7]

The only authenticated treasure chest in the United States, once owned by Thomas Tew, is kept at the Pirate Soul Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. [8]

Pirate Olivier Levasseur, also known as "The Buzzard" (La Buse), was rumored to have hidden treasure before his death in 1730. No such treasure has been found.

During the 1666 Great Fire of London, wealthy residents of the city buried luxury goods such as gold and wine in the ground to protect them from the raging flames above. [9] Samuel Pepys, the noted diarist, buried a wheel of cheese in his garden to protect it from the fire.

Buried treasure is not the same as a hoard, of which there have been thousands of examples found by archaeologists and metal detectors. Buried treasure is as much a cultural concept as an objective thing. It is related to pirates and other criminals who leave stolen artifacts behind for later retrieval, typically in remote places like islands, sometimes with maps leading back to the treasure.

The Fenn treasure was reportedly buried by millionaire Forrest Fenn around 2010 and found in 2020, somewhere in Wyoming.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Kidd</span> Scottish privateer (1654–1701)

William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in New York City. By 1690, Kidd had become a highly successful privateer, commissioned to protect English interests in North America and the West Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visigoths</span> Germanic people of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages

The Visigoths were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the command of Alaric I. Their exact origins are believed to have been diverse but they probably included many descendants of the Thervingi who had moved into the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had played a major role in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and Alaric's Visigoths varied, with the two groups making treaties when convenient, and warring with one another when not. Under Alaric, the Visigoths invaded Italy and sacked Rome in August 410.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treasure</span> Concentration of riches

Treasure is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions legally define what constitutes treasure, such as in the British Treasure Act 1996.

<i>Treasure Island</i> 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island is an adventure and historical novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was published in 1883, and tells a story of "buccaneers and buried gold" set in the 1700s. It is considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Flint</span> Fictional pirate in Stevensons Treasure Island

Captain J. Flint is a fictional golden age pirate captain who features in a number of novels, television series, and films. The original character was created by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Flint first appears in the classic adventure yarn Treasure Island, which was first serialised in a children's magazine in 1881, and later published as a novel in 1883.

"Dead Man's Chest" is a fictional sea song, originally from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883). It was expanded in a poem, titled "Derelict" by Young E. Allison, published in the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1891. It has since been used in many later works of art in various forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead Chest Island, British Virgin Islands</span> Island in the British Virgin Islands

Dead Chest Island is an island located half a mile north east of Deadman's Bay on Peter Island, British Virgin Islands. It is uninhabited, has no fresh water or trees and only sparse vegetation. It was formerly used as a firing range by the Royal Virgin Islands Police, but the opening of the nearby hotel on Peter Island coincided with the decision to build a proper firing range on the island of Tortola. The island is now an uninhabited National Park, with several popular scuba diving and snorkeling sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Gaspar</span> Mythical Spanish pirate

José Gaspar, also known by his nickname Gasparilla, is a fictional Spanish pirate who terrorized the Gulf of Mexico from his base in southwest Florida during Florida's second Spanish period. Though details about his early life, motivations, and piratical exploits differ in various tellings, they agree that the 'Last of the Buccaneers" was a remarkably active pirate who amassed a huge fortune by taking many prizes and ransoming many hostages during his long career and that he died by leaping from his ship rather than face capture by the U.S. Navy, leaving behind his still-hidden treasure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Devil and Tom Walker</span> Short story by Washington Irving

"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving that first appeared in his 1824 collection Tales of a Traveller, in "The Money-Diggers" part of volume II. The story is very similar to the German legend of Faust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treasure map</span> Map to find treasure

A treasure map is a map that marks the location of buried treasure, a lost mine, a valuable secret or a hidden locale. More common in fiction than in reality, "pirate treasure maps" are often depicted in works of fiction as hand drawn and containing arcane clues for the characters to follow. Regardless of the term's literary use, anything that meets the broad definition of a "map" that describes the location of a "treasure" could appropriately be called a "treasure map."

<i>A General History of the Pyrates</i> 1724 book published in Britain

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, or simply A General History of the Pyrates, is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pen name for one of London's writer-publishers. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable artistic license in his accounts of pirate conversations. The book also contains the name of Jolly Roger, the pirate flag, and shows the skull and crossbones design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirates in the arts and popular culture</span> Representations of pirates in fiction or literature

In English-speaking popular culture, the modern pirate stereotype owes its attributes mostly to the imagined tradition of the 18th-century Caribbean pirate sailing off the Spanish Main and to such celebrated 20th-century depictions as Captain Hook and his crew in the theatrical and film versions of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the 1950 film adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island, and various adaptations of the Middle Eastern pirate, Sinbad the Sailor. In these and countless other books, films, and legends, pirates are portrayed as "swashbucklers" and "plunderers". They are shown on ships, often wearing eyepatches or peg legs, having a parrot perched on their shoulder, speaking in a West Country accent, and saying phrases like "Arr, matey" and "Avast, me hearty". Pirates have retained their image through pirate-themed tourist attractions, film, toys, books and plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piracy in the British Virgin Islands</span> Piracy in the Caribbean

Piracy in the British Virgin Islands was prevalent during the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy", mainly during the years of 1690-1730. Privateering was also widely practised in the jurisdiction throughout frequent colonial wars, not least by emancipated slaves who, with in preference to back-breaking labour in the fields for pitiful wages, took enormous risks to capture fortunes on the seas with the sanction of the Crown. In 1808, Patrick Colquhoun, a prize agent for the Territory spoke of "the most daring outrages which are frequently committed by people of colour."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decebalus treasure</span> Mythical Dacian treasure

The Decebalus treasure is an account detailed by Cassius Dio about events said to have happened in the Roman world during the 2nd century AD.

Ben Gunn (<i>Treasure Island</i>) Fictional character

Benjamin "Ben" Gunn is a fictional character in the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson.

<i>Pirates of Treasure Island</i> 2006 American film

Pirates of Treasure Island is a 2006 American comedy-drama film produced by The Asylum, loosely adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island.

<i>Treasure Island</i> (1918 film) 1918 film by Sidney Franklin, Chester M. Franklin

Treasure Island is a 1918 American silent adventure film based on the 1883 novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is one of many silent versions of the story and is noteworthy because it is almost entirely acted by child or teenage actors. The film was co-directed by brothers Sidney and Chester Franklin. The film is one of Fox's Sunset Kiddies productions following in the wake of previous Kiddie productions like Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. This is a lost film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fenn treasure</span> Modern treasure in the United States, discovered in 2020

The Fenn Treasure was a cache of gold and jewels that Forrest Fenn, an art dealer and author from Santa Fe, New Mexico, hid in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It was found approximately a decade later in 2020 in Wyoming by an anonymous treasure hunter later revealed to be former journalist and medical student Jack Stuef. In attempting to honor what he perceives to be Fenn's wishes after his death in September 2020, he has refused to reveal the location of the treasure. An auction of items from the treasure chest in December 2022 resulted in $1.3 million in sales.

"Kidd the Pirate" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, based on legends of Captain William Kidd. The story was published in Tales of a Traveller, an 1824 collection of Irving's writings, where it immediately precedes that work's most famous story "The Devil and Tom Walker", which also involves Kidd's treasure.

George's Island is a Canadian drama film. It was shot in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia.

References

  1. 1 2 Cordingly, David (1995). Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates . Random House. ISBN   0-679-42560-8.
  2. ↑ Paine, pp. 27–28
  3. 1 2 Paine, pg. 28
  4. ↑ The Book of Buried Treasure at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions)
  5. 1 2 3 Simon Garfield. On the Map: Why the World Looks the Way It Does (2012). Pgs. 176-180
  6. ↑ DeWeese, Devin A. (1994). Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde:Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition. Hermeneutics, Studies in the History of Religions. Penn State Press. p. 181. ISBN   978-0-271-04445-3 . Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  7. 1 2 Jasper Copping (5 August 2012). "British expedition to Pacific 'treasure island' where pirates buried their plunder". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 August 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  8. ↑ Abravanel, Lesley; Miller, Laura Lea; Miller, Laura (2010-07-30). Frommer's Florida 2011. Wiley. p. 302. ISBN   9780470890219.
  9. ↑ Mercer, Chris (2016-09-05). "Great Fire of London: Wealthy buried wine to save it". Decanter. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.