Barrels of english coins buried in Cross City area

[Salvor6]

Relicdude I thought the indian village was S. of Fowlers Bluff. That area is all filled with houses now. I didn't find anything in CA swamp.

 

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[RELICDUDE07]

Mission san juan de guacara was by charles spring 1600s.The one they speak of in the jackson raid was at the first sharp bend on the river the bend is on both maps i posted.....I would love to take a look around ,but its about 4 hour trip for me ...Maybe oneday

 

[sherpa t]

Another Cool map, look at the differences in the two waterways over time. Well Arbuthnot was picked up by Jackson all the way up at Fort Saint Marks- therefore the distance away supports the letter being written.(and later used in the trial) Ambrister is picked up at the mouth of the Suwanee on a schooner with Arbuthnots clerk ( Cook) so maybe assets did move - made the schooner trip and got nabbed at the end,( sort of follows letters directions ) Cook testified against both of them, and unexpectedly they both die, but again, they are both now back up at Saint Marks, far from the "store" , so if there was a "keg bank " it stills leaves Cook and/ or Arbuthnot's son to go retrieve it.
If it was on the schooner ,? who knows endless possabilities.
If your a writer for CSI, Cook forged the letters and implicated the other two, took the treasure and partied on the beach with hot girls, while I cock my head and look of my sunglasses

 

[sabre15]

All this theory is great but lets stick with the facts that we know, cook and Arbuthnots son went to Pensacola and have no history of staying in the states, probably shipped back to Bahamas or England. This Treasure Lore would never have been known if it were not for treasure, so the question remains to where or what did Arbuthnot and/or Arbister say about hidden kegs of coins. If we cannot document that important part then it is almost futile to be searching for anything. Its like guessing and then searching a beach thinking you may find buried treasure but a Pirate or whomever may have never set foot on that beach!

 

[RELICDUDE07]

I was just trying to help put yall in the right place...Most important part is you gotta look or you find nothing..If your not in a old place where history took place then again you find nothing....

 

[sabre15]

I appreciate your help and understand what your saying but others get sidetracked. I still am not convinced that this story is true yet I am the one that is out in the swamp searching for it. It is kind of like saying John wilks booth was paid 100,000 dollars in couns for shooting lincoln and buried it after he shot him, we know he shot Lincoln and we have documentation of his exploits but there is no proof of the money or that he ever said he had any. Just the same, Arbuthnot/Arbister is very real and we know some of their dealings, but I have no solid evidence that they buried money or offered it in exchange for their lives. I do believe they had some sort of financing either from England/Bahamas or thru trade with Indians.

 

[sherpa t]

You are correct, and you can't pin down a verbal - at the point of dieing statement. The facts tell me at least three people knew the inner working of the trading company's business, of those three ,two still were alive after the death of the third. There are alot of facts about this event recorded, as for the coins ... well people have spent there life looking for stuff based on alot less fact and a bunch more emotion.

 

[sabre15]

Without more facts these old maps are useless, looking at Fowlers bluff working north you run into yellow jacket and then fanning springs, there is so much room in between, the maps do not do the area justice.

 

[RELICDUDE07]

The old maps are all you got .Have you found the trade post?or know where its at?

 

[sabre15]

No clue to where its at, its such a vast area and now I have proof that they also had a trade post/plantation in tampa!

 

[RELICDUDE07]

The great thing about old maps are they show you everything the way it was back in that timeline , when the map was made. Things change so much over time and sometimes even cities change names and are not in the same place anymore, so if your looking for something lost in 1820s the best place to start is with a 1820s map.Other wise you have nothing to go by....I wouldnt trust all those green signs /landmarks,most of the time they are close but put away from the direct area to keep the true site safe..Thats how they do it in my area of pensacola....

 

[sabre15]

the Treasure atlas by Thomas P Terry volume 3

Who knows of this guy, are his books reliable sources?

 

[LadyDigger]

Don't know how much this article will help...also, here is a link that lists stories about Alexander Arbuthnot. After you click on this link >>> http://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=Alexander+Arbuthnot&btnG=Search+Books <<<< then click on each link, it will open into a book.

I hope something here will help.
Good Luck,
Annmarie

 

[sabre15]

Yeah read that book many times, the trial papers do not say anything about them trying to plead for their lives but the opposite, said Arbuthnot was quite strong and relied on England to avenge him.

 

[mindspark]

Saw this article looking for Fowlers bluff. Thought it interesting.

Here is the link to the website... I copied the text below it.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070315-pirate-treasure.html

Clues to Pirate Gold Unearthed in Florida, Treasure Hunters Claim
Willie Drye in Fowler's Bluff, Florida
for National Geographic News
March 15, 2007

Treasure hunters digging on a remote bluff overlooking Florida's Suwannee River claim they have found tantalizing evidence that pirate gold might be at the bottom of a muddy, 13-foot (4-meter) hole.

"We've found mahogany wood samples, flecks of gold, and gold all over the diver's dive suit [after diving in the hole]," said Tommy Todd, a St. Petersburg landscaper who owns the property being excavated.



* Grim Life Cursed Real Pirates of Caribbean (July 11, 2003)
* Sunken "Republic" Treasure May Be Most Valuable (August 21, 2003)
* Interactive Map: Suwannee River

Workers drilling at the site said they also found a sheet of gold wrapped around the drill bit when they withdrew it. Todd was not immediately able to show evidence of these finds.

"We know there's something down there," he said.

Todd and his partners, whom he declined to name, may be closing in on a treasure that—according to local lore—was buried in the area some 200 years ago by Jean LaFitte.

LaFitte roamed the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century as a smuggler and privateer, though he reportedly described himself an entrepreneur and defender of American freedom.

The spot near Fowler's Bluff, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) upriver from where the Suwannee meets the Gulf, was a likely hangout for LaFitte and such notorious colleagues as Jose Gaspar, Billy "Bowlegs" Rogers, and Black Caesar (see map of the Suwannee River).

Todd thinks LaFitte may have left treasure chests on the property.

"We're close to it," Todd said. "There are some interesting things going on. Our goal is to wrap up this year."

Excavations "For Years and Years"

Whatever might be at the bottom of the hole, pulling it out will be tricky.

Beneath the mushy, silt-laden soil lies a "Swiss cheese honeycomb" of limestone, Todd said.

f there is treasure down there, it's slowly settling deeper, Todd said. The earlier drilling may have burst the treasure chest and scattered its contents into the ooze, he added.

The property is several hundred feet from where three or four previous excavations were made. Until 2000 that land was owned by Bill Wise, who operated a small waterfront bar there.

Having heard the lore of LaFitte's gold, Wise and a Baptist minister used a metal detector to make several futile searches for the treasure. Wise sold the property in 2000, in part because he grew tired of treasure seekers knocking on his door.

He told National Geographic News he didn't really expect to find buried loot on his former property.

"It was a good advertisement thing for the bar, but I never put much faith in [finding the treasure]," he said. "I knew all these people had been trying for years and years."

Hidden in Gainesville Mansion?

The stories of previous searches are shrouded in legend and secrecy, but at least one early treasure hunter, a sawmill operator named Emmett Baird, may have struck gold on the land Wise once owned.

In June 1945 The Saturday Evening Post published a story about the lore of the Suwannee's pirate gold.

In 1897, the story said, a dying old man whom Baird had befriended gave him a map that prompted Baird and his business partner to hasten down to the Suwannee.

After three months of excavations at Fowler's Bluff, Baird announced that he was abandoning the dig.

But his behavior led some to believe that he may have pulled something out of the hole. Baird soon began investing in businesses in Gainesville, including a bank and a hardware store that became one of the largest in Florida (see map of Florida).

In 1900 he also bought one of Gainesville's finest mansions. Speculation that Baird had used LaFitte's treasure to make these investments swirled around him for the rest of his life.

So did stories that he'd hidden some of the gold on his Gainesville property.

Today Baird's home is a bed-and-breakfast owned by Cindy and Joe Montaldo. Like Bill Wise at Fowler's Bluff, they've had people knocking on their door asking about LaFitte's treasure.

One such visitor was the home's previous owner, who told the couple that he had searched the house for the legendary gold. He claimed that he and a friend had scanned one of the fireplaces with a metal detector, and the device "went crazy," Cindy Montaldo said.

"He and his friend looked at each other, then they both started destroying the fireplace," she said.

All they found, however, was a large piece of scrap iron that had been used in constructing the fireplace.

Lost Lore

The Montaldos bought the house in 1990 and began extensive renovations that included removing all the old walls. They didn't find any treasure.

Local historian Melanie Barr told the couple that she'd found nothing to substantiate the story that Baird had bought the house with pirate's treasure.

Even Baird's descendants are divided on the treasure tale, with one group saying he found treasure and another saying he didn't.

The world may never know whether Emmett Baird hauled a fortune away from the Suwannee, or whether Jean LaFitte ever left anything there at all.

But Tommy Todd said he hopes to announce the results of his treasure search by this fall.

"It's time for those damn pirates to give it up," Todd said.

 

[sabre15]

Same old story without any proof or signs of getting closer. How hard is it to dig a hole or to parrallel dig next to that hole? Who knows? I just hope the other legends havn't found Arbutnots(if it exist) cache!

 

[CaptJohn]

The best clue so far to any REAL idea of money offered to spare their Lives is in the account of the trial where over nite the officers who presided over the trial suggested that Ambrister be given a reduced sentence.... something like that.... But that nite or early next AM, Jackson refused to grant any reprive. The executions were to be at 8 or 10 am and Jackson broke camp and hit the trail outa there at 6 AM. so u have to read between the lines....After the trail, Why else would some officers suggest to spare one or both of them?

 

[tomclark]

And Armbrister and Arbuthnot just showed up at St. Marks out of the blue one day....

 

[sabre15]

What do you mean showed up one day out of the blue?

 

[CaptJohn]

Actually Arbuthnot was visiting the Commander at St Marks when Andrew Jackson and his troops rode into Camp. Jackson took him prisoner right there. Armbrister, by accident, days or several weeks later came to Old Town Suwney late one nite with two others, and they did not realize that Jacksons troop had taken over the town and Armbrister just stumbled into being captured by the picket line troops..... I think he was returning with Arbuthnots son, fresh from moving their goods to either the other side of the river, or south of there by the Boat. It would make more sense that they sailed south toward Tampa and unloaded their deerskins and power and maybe the coins.... and then returning did not know that Jackson had taken over Suwney. Because they also had a trading post near Tampa. (Suwney, thats the way they spelled it)

I am puzzled why Arbuthnot son, was, by Jackson order " to be sent to Pensacola by first Vessel" and then is never metioned again. Was he letting the Son get to a major seaport and then get passage to freedom somewhere..... If some one can find out more about him and what happened when he got to P'cola, that would be interesting.