Harbor Wrecks May Hold Treasure

Buried treasure!

The very phrase stirs emotions of wealth and mystery.

Charlotte Harbor has been a happy hunting ground for treasure hunters since Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto and Menendez D'Aviles came here in the sixteenth century looking for riches.

After them were Indian "wreckers" who salvaged sunken ships, Spanish fishermen who made small fortunes catching mullet, smugglers who supplied guns to the Seminoles, and cattlemen who made large fortunes selling beeves to Cuba.

Even a foundering pirate ship with a cargo of precious metal may have been driven by storm into the harbor and sank from damage. Before your blood-pressure gets out of hand, be assured the lurid tales of a pirate name Gasparilla were myths invented about 1900 by a fishing guide named Juan Gomez to entertain his customers.

On behalf of romantics, however, there was a lot of Spanish gold circulating in the Charlotte Harbor area well into the late 1800s when Cubans bought herds of cows with Spanish doubloons --- the universal coinage. It also should be noted that there were no banks then to safeguard the vast amount of gold coins accumulated around here. There are many accounts of wash-tubs of gold under beds, and saddle bags of doubloons tossed in the corners of stables. Undoubtedly some of this treasure was buried, and lost with premature deaths of the owners.

Local folks --- primed by the tales of old Gomez -- were victims of "gold fever" from earliest times. The "Punta Gorda Herald" in May 1895 noted. "There is a strange looking craft, with queer machinery, in Gasparilla Sound and vicinity of Coral Creek, looking for treasure." It is likely operators of the craft were only looking for phosphate, but Coral Creek at Placida has been a favorite suspect for buried treasure ever since.

An intensive search there was triggered in July 1902 when the "Herald" front-paged an anonymous letter asserting pirates had stashed a horde of treasure at Coral Creek: "For many years people have been searching for $15 million of gold bullion buried in the vicinity of Charlotte Harbor by Gasparilla and Lafitte, noted pirates.

"Survivors of this steal say it is Louisiana Purchase money. Lafitte acted only as spy. Gasparilla did the stealing. I have searched for it seven years and have considerable evidence concerning it, though it is very difficult to locate.

An Unlikely Tale

"Yes, the pirates got that treasure. It was shipped on the steamer Hancock which sailed with it from New Orleans and was never again heard of. Lafitte was in New Orleans and informed Gasparilla who mustered his band and gave chase. They captured the Hancock, murdered every soul on board, secured the treasure, scuttled the ship, and then buried the gold at the mouth of Coral Creek.

"Retribution quickly overtook them. On their way back to New Orleans, the pirates were captured by a United States revenue cutter; and every man of them, except one, was hung at the yard arm. The spared pirate years later told the writer, now age 90, of the treasure in hopes he would go after it and share it. Fear from various causes, and sundry difficulties, prevented him making an effort to recover the treasure. Now he is too old and feeble, and he wants his friend the "Herald" to go and get it."

The story was another of Editor Adrian P. Jordan's famous spoofs dreamed up when news was scarce. Lafitte was an historical figure, a fence for pirates in the early 1800s. The Hancock was a real ship that did sail from New Orleans and was lost at sea without trace. However, Napoleon refused to take American government securities for Louisiana and insisted on gold. Consequently the U.S. arranged for British and Dutch bankers in 1803 to transfer the bulk of bullion directly to France in return for promissory notes. The little precious metal put up by the U.S. was transferred at New York City to the French ambassador.

Anyway, a pirate sailing ship could not have overtaken a steamship. Nonetheless, a smidgeon of fact, mixed with a great deal of fiction, was enough to set treasure hunters tearing up the countryside around Placida. Mrs. Eunice Albritton, life-time resident of Placida, says treasure hunting has gone on intermittently ever since. "When I was a little girl, we came home one day to find men digging for treasure under our house!"

In 1987, treasure hunters brought in a bulldozer to level a huge, archaeological important Indian mound at Placida in search of loot.

A similar gold rush occurred in March, 1915, when the "Herald" reported a supposed treasure find at Capt. Albert F. Dewey's orange grove on the south branch of Alligator Creek:

"An interesting discovery was made since manager A.C. Caldwell has been on the place. Two large trees near the bank of the creek have been found to be pecans --- unusual for this part of the country. An old story links possible pirates with this spot. "It is said that on the day a former caretaker was to move into the old place, he met a buggy bound toward Punta Gorda. When he reached the grove, he found near the house a place newly dug over and bits of iron rust bearing every sign of having been knocked from some long-buried container. It was always believed that men living in Punta Gorda, who claimed to have a divining rod, had visited the place successfully."

The Cayo Costa Treasure

Another favorite place to look for buried treasure is the various outer islands. Nearly every sand spit is supposed to have harbored gold at one time or another. Typical of these stories is that related long ago by Delores "Lolo" Willis who was born at Cayo Costa in l882.

She lived there 22 years before moving to Charlotte Harbor Town.

Her maternal grandfather was Torvio Padilla who came to Cayo Costa from his native Canary Islands about 1824 to operate a "pescadores rancho" (fish ranch).

"Grandpa told me about a mysterious schooner that once anchored off the island," said Mrs. Willis. "They had a giant Negro man standing guard, and they went ashore in lighters (small, cargo boats).

"Grandpa said he and some of the other fishermen investigated because they feared for the women folks. The strangers returned to the schooner with a large, iron chest which was so heavy they had to use a hoist to get it aboard.

"The island men were afraid so stayed clear of the sailors who were naked. Grandfather and his friends noted that the schooner was named Mary Ann. Afterward, Grandpa found a deep hole in the ground where the chest had been buried.

"A year or so later, a big fat man came to the island and asked if Grandpa remembered him. He claimed he was one of the men off the schooner Mary Ann. He declared there was plenty of other treasure on the island and he was going to get it. Nobody ever heard that he found any more treasure."

The only recorded instance of found treasure was reported by the "Herald" on June 4, 1904: "Treasure hunters from St. Petersburg have scored again in their quest for lost booty in the Placida Area. Bert Cole, manager of the Boca Grande toll bridge, said the group recovered approximately 31 coins, most of them gold. The coins appeared to be a mixture --- some German and Peruvian and other nationalities. The marking dates ranged from 1768 to 1800.

"Cole said he was told the coins came from the mainland near Placid and from the bay. Three weeks ago the treasure hunters recovered about 55 coins and a sword from a sunken wreck. Also recovered was a brass lock.

"The hunters gave up this past week when their activity attracted too much public attention. Groups have been exploring the area for about five years on weekends. They have professional apparatus, including an airplane for spotting underwater objects. One of the targets of their search is a wreck containing a brass cannon. They will continue the search guided by old charts and data"

An Anonymous Letter

A month later, the "Herald" revived the story when it received a letter and photograph of coins from treasure hunters. The letter was mailed from St. Petersburg: "It is a known fact that the pirate Gasparilla, and quite a few others --- namely, King John, a Portuguese

from Miami; Old Caesar from Caesar's Creek; John Gomez, brother-in-law of Gasparilla; Hay Hackey from the Caloosahatchee River; Old "Baker, and Black Augustus roamed the area in and around Boca Grande.

"Gasparilla's treasure amounted to around $30 million and is in six different places. Old Caesar $18 million, King John $4 million, and Old Baker $3 million. We have proved without a doubt that these pirates existed. We even have some of the treasure they hid to show for it. The picture I am enclosing shows a treasure box. Some of the treasure spilling out includes pieces of eight and bar silver. Also, the skeleton of the man they left to guard the box. The latest coin is dated 1741. Show this in your paper. This is true information as we are the party involved."

Unfortunately for would-be treasure hunters, the pirates mentioned are legendary. What likely was found was the meager pay chest of an unfortunate Cuban cattle boat.

There is no native gold source in Florida. What the Indians salvaged from ship wrecks was quickly traded to Spaniards for axes, kettles, knives and other useful things. There probably are caches of gold and silver lost in the Harbor area by cattlemen, but they would not have been buried in so conspicuous a landmark as a mound. A gardener or ditch digger may turn up a chest of treasure some day. A scuba diver may discover an old trading ship with its pay load intact. But the finds most likely will be accidental.

Author: Lindsey Williams