“Whew, I didn’t know they had pirates and buccaneers right up here around home!” exclaimed Fred. “Think of pirates in Long Island Sound!”
“Of course there were,” declared Jack. “If there weren’t, how do you suppose Captain Kidd could have buried his treasure up here?”
“That’s so,” admitted his cousin. “But I always thought he pirated down in the West Indies and just brought his treasure up here to hide it. Do you suppose he really did bury anything up this way, Uncle Henry?”
Mr. Bickford laughed. “No, most of those stories are purely imagination,” he replied. “There isn’t a stretch of coast from Canada to South America that hasn’t got its tale of buried pirate treasure. If they all were true there’d be more valuables hidden by the pirates than all the corsairs ever took.” [[193]]
“Didn’t the buccaneers and pirates really bury treasure, then?” asked Jack. “You said that Davis was supposed to have hidden his loot on the Galápagos Islands.”
“Undoubtedly they did,” his father assured him. “The buccaneer leaders were far more thrifty than their men, and as there were no banking facilities in the haunts of the pirates and no safe hiding places in the towns, I have not the least doubt that they did bury vast quantities of their booty. But, also, I have no doubt but that they eventually dug most of it up again. The majority of the buccaneer and pirate captains retired from the profession and settled down to a life of peace and plenty, as I have said, and there is no reason why they should have left their treasure hidden away. Of course those who were suddenly killed might have had money and valuables secreted at the time of their death, but there were far greater fortunes hidden by the Spaniards than by the pirates. No doubt thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of money, plate and jewels were buried or hidden by the Dons to prevent their falling into the buccaneers’ hands and were never recovered. Very often the owners were killed or made prisoners and the secret of the [[194]]treasure died with them, or they died a natural death without digging up their buried riches.
“Of course a great deal of hidden treasure has been found of which the world never hears. In most countries the government claims a large share of such finds and naturally the finder, having no desire to share his unexpected fortune, keeps mum when he discovers it. There are countless cases of poor negroes and others in the West Indies suddenly becoming well-to-do without apparent reason. From time to time ancient coins appear at money changers and now and then we hear of treasure being found. But as a rule, the sums discovered are not large and are found by accident.
“And with few exceptions there is every reason to believe that the valuables were hidden by their lawful owners or were lost or accidentally buried. For example, there was the man Gayney, who was drowned in Darien and who had three hundred pieces of eight on his person. Any one might find that and think it was buried treasure and never imagine it was the loot carried on a man’s back. At other times, boats loaded with valuables were wrecked or sunk and the treasure lost. Then, years later, it is found in the sand of the shore [[195]]and the finders think of it as buried treasure. Moreover, wherever the pirates foregathered they naturally lost more or less money and if, by chance, some one picks up a few doubloons or pieces of eight in such places it always starts a tale of buried loot. At Anegada, St. John, St. Martin and, in fact, every other buccaneers’ old haunt, pieces of money are picked up from time to time and from these finds the tales of buried treasure have originated. In all the reliable histories and chronicles of the buccaneers and pirates I have never found any statement or hint that would lead one to think that it was customary for the corsairs to bury or hide their loot. All the tales of pirate captains burying treasure at dead of night and shooting the men who dug the holes are pure fiction with no fact on which to base them.
“But there is no question that vast amounts of treasure lie at the bottom of the sea in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Port Royal, Jamaica, slipped bodily into the sea with all its treasure—and there was undoubtedly vast sums in money and jewels in the place—and not a cent has ever been salvaged. Jamestown, in Nevis, was also submerged by an earthquake and all the riches it contained still lie at the bottom of the sea. Countless ships, [[196]]attacked by the buccaneers, sank before the pirates could loot them and went to the bottom with their valuables, and many a buccaneers’ and pirates’ vessel was lost with thousands of dollars worth of treasure. The floor of the Caribbean is dotted with such wrecks. In some cases the men escaped and told of the loss, and the places where the ships went down are known, but in many cases the vessels with all their treasure and crew merely disappeared and no one knows their fate. It was thus with Grammont, a famous French buccaneer, who, in 1686, plundered and burnt Campeche and secured a vast treasure. But he and his ship were never heard from and beyond a doubt the immense fortune in gold, silver and precious stones lies somewhere among the rotted timbers of his ship at the bottom of the Caribbean.”
“Well, it doesn’t sound as if treasure hunting would be very profitable,” remarked Jack.