Did pirates bury treasure?

[neo]

I have read and seen documentaries that claim Capt Kidd was the only one who did but I've also read Blackbeard may have. Anyone know if only Capt Kidd buried treasure?

 

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[Gold Maven]

do bears crap in the woods?

 

[BVI Hunter]

Can't answer the question per se, but I did find some stuff in the water and my first gut instinct was to get onto land and bury it...... I did not have my boat, and I wanted to keep it safe until it could be retrieved, maybe pirates thought the same?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

All embellished superstitions and legend . The human mind wants SO hard to believe in buried treasure ... that any such story *must* be true . Lest you be "left out", etc....

 

[BVI Hunter]

Mmmmmm.
Things have been buried for safekeeping for ever - Dead Sea scrolls were hidden in a cave?

 

[el padron]

In times of the most dire type of emergency they did. Generally though, no…. They wore or spent any possessions of value as fast as they could put their hands on them.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Possibly when a crew disbanded the individuals would bury their share. But I doubt an active crew and ship ever buried much. The prizes would be sent home with a prize crew on a captured ship, and the crew would hardly be likely to "pool" their share in a buried site they couldn't get back to on their own.

There was a lot less gold taken than you might imagine. Most commerce was in spices, cloth, flatware, ceramics. Who buries silk or cummin?

 

[Msbeepbeep]

There's a book by Edward Rowe Snow telling how he discovered and dug up pirate treasure. Had to do with the "king of Calf Island". Can't think of the name of the book, I'll look it up later.
But I'd say yes but maybe not as much as people think.

 

[Gold Maven]

There's a book by Edward Rowe Snow telling how he discovered and dug up pirate treasure. Had to do with the "king of Calf Island". Can't think of the name of the book, I'll look it up later.
But I'd say yes but maybe not as much as people think.

sounds interesting, I tried to find it on Amazon, but Snow has over 5 pages of books......

 

[Moresound]

Question to the moderators .....

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Believe me you'll never see me swear - am not that kind of guy.

 

[Moresound]

 

[Boatlode]

A true classic - one of my all-time favorite books . Must read for all treasure hunters.

 

[releventchair]

Burying and recovering for what ever reason or burying and leaving? Squirreling valuables at night an old game on land. What occasions would have pirates make a cache? Possibly when beaching a craft to clean the bottom if a risk of getting caught flat footed existed but they would recover it when leaving. Unless a group for what ever reason did make a cache and not recover it few treasures are going to be recovered. Fable is great but proof is better when looking for a cache. What became of plunder beyond a crews use was sold to known by the pirates citizens some place in one case ,likely more. Other wealth could be traded for more valuable and smaller items with greater portability.That risk of having evidence and fencing it or laundering it or blowing it. Who wants to dig? Lets go to port and party as gentlemen of fortune! was a common theme for many. If someone was wise they would get a percentage to a place they could go to if pressure at sea or ports became to great. Kidds 1699 cache was known and recovered so yes he did bury treasure.. Privateering could end and most piracy did. Some saw it coming and quit. Some continued till stopped.

 

[VERDE]

Hey neo!! Absolutely!! I'm still trying to dig up Jean Lafitte's Treasure buried in my yard down here in Louisiana on the Mississippi River!! GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

There's an excellent book by Richard Zacks: "Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" that goes into some of the history of piracy of that period. There was no "official" definition of a pirate vs. an armed merchant. Kidd started out with a commission to capture unlicensed freebooters. If the King sanctioned a captain and crew with a letter of marque they were then privateers and were expected to turn over prizes to the King and keep a portion. Some of them got successful and then got creative with the "turning over" part. And politics played heavy. England and Spain were forever at odds, England and France, England and . . . about everyone. When a crew set out with a ship financed by investors (Parliament and the Peers were notorious for this) it was a business undertaking. But in two or three years while they were out on the seas the treaties and alliances might shift and the letter of marque becomes worthless. You return home thinking you're rich and end up in a gibbet or hung with everything confiscated.

Kidd spent all of his fortune trying to buy favor while he was in prison after taking the fall for his benefactors (the king and Whig parliament members) and ended up tried by Tory members and was hung and then gibbeted anyway.

And after a couple of years of risk it was preferable to "cash in" the gold or whatever valuables and buy a military commission or governorship from the king for a nice territory or colony that could be extorted for years and years. That's where the real wealth was. One of the most successful pirates ever - Henry Every - pirated for two years and was perhaps the most successful of all times . . . and disappeared. Different accounts have him changing his name and living well in England or Jamaica.

Kidd was commissioned by the king to go after Tew (one of Every's trainees) but Tew had been killed before the commission was given. News traveled slow.

And then there were the "poor pirates" along America's coast. 20 guys get together in a small boat and go to sea looking for a foreign ship and then come back and live well while the money lasted. If they lived through it. That would be the equivalent of the current Somali pirates. Will there be "Somali Treasure" hunters on Oak Island in the year 2315?

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Ok the book was- True tales of Buried Treasure, by Ed Rowe Snow. Pub 1952. It may be out of publication, but that was the book.
Snow found an old book in the place where the pirate used to live, donated it to the Boston Library and the librarian found pin holes punched in some of the pages, it was a message where the pirate had buried his treasure. Librarian told Snow and he searched for it and finally found it.
Guess even pirates have to mark down where they bury treasure so they don't forget! GL. HH!

Boatlode- I've heard of that book but don't think I've read it.

 

[Frankn]

The answer is yes they along with a lot of others buried there savings. The ground was there bank. Hay, where else could they put it. I have found buried caches, but not the big ones that I have looked for. I myself, in my pre teen years buried 13 silver dollars in my mom's garden. Some day, maybe, I will go back and check on it. Yes I have a tendency to procrastinate. Frank...-

 

[Ocean7]

well there is a story on LBI, NJ that back in 1900's (cannot recall exact time period), several men in a long boat came upon the island. They asked about a large cedar tree with markings on island, found that tree (assume Harvey Cedars) and proceeded to dig a deep hole. They removed a large chest, placed in their boat, and headed back out to a larger ship in ocean. They left behind an unearthed cutlass sword which sits in the museum in Beach Haven with the story. I knew a guy now long gone who told me a little story that i found quite interesting. Back in the 30's when he was a kid, his dad purchased a property down there after the crash of 29. he and his brother were playing in the dunes and just digging. They found several coins with crosses on them - Spanish pieces of Eight. I know the exact area where they were found. The question is this: did they come in from a sunken ship off the island or were they part of a buried chest that had been broken up by bulldozers or storms? Who knows. The downside is this: the ocean as taken away many feet of the island and they have built a 30 foot sand dune on half the island to protect from the next hurricane. But makes one wonder.

 

[Boatlode]

Boatlode- I've heard of that book but don't think I've read it.

Its out of print, but I'm sure you can still get a used copy on Amazon.

Think I'm going to dust off my copy and read it again (for the hundredth time LOL. No not really, but I have read it a bunch of times over the years.) Great beach book.

 

[Limitool]

I have read and seen documentaries that claim Capt Kidd was the only one who did but I've also read Blackbeard may have. Anyone know if only Capt Kidd buried treasure?

I really don't know if the then "Capt. Kidd" buried treasure... but I do know his great, great, great, great grandchild named "Kidd Rock" does. I've helped him... it's near a Waffle House!!!!