Morgans loot from Panama

Nov 8, 2004
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Chagy

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

I do
 

Salvor6

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Morgan's loot from Panama was dropped off on Goat Island before he came into Port Royal.
 

C

Cappy Z.

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

I believe there is no evidence anywhere that pirates buried their treasures. I even saw a show where a renowned archaeologist stated the same. It may well be a myth. All the pirates liked to spend their cash on wine women and baseball like the rest of us.
 

OP
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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

YEAH? he he he No comfort station in the carbean could absorb that much loot. It still exsts and is untouched right where he left it.

Don Jose de La Mancha
 

Salvor6

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Billybud, read Marc Austin's personal page. :thumbsup:
 

sphillips

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

I think they buried loot. Didnt someone dig up some treasure in Roatan years ago?
 

Mackaydon

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Here's one story:
One of the first people to ever find buried treasure on Roatan was an archaeologist named Mitchell Hedges, who did a lot of exploring around the Bay Islands back in the 1920s and 30s. Mitchell Hedges lived on Roatan for seven years and he learned the island very well. He was one of the first people to ever explore the pirate ruins of Old Port Royal. Here can be seen to this day the ruins of a pirate fortress which was used by Henry Morgan along with many other notorious pirates who roamed the shores of the Island.

It is a fact that near these ruins Mitchell Hedges discovered four chests filled to the brim with gold bullion, which were reaped from the Spanish by the pirates of Roatan. As the story goes, Mitchell Hedges' friend, known as Doctor Ball, was walking around one of the nearby keys near old Port Royal with a compass in hand. Suddenly the compass started going mad, with the needle spinning around in all different directions. He signaled for Mitchell Hedges who at the time was out in his boat the Amigo just offshore. He told him about the compass's behaviour and the two of them decided that the only thing that would make the compass behave in such a way was a large amount of metal buried under the surface of the key. The two men wasted no time and started digging like mad; within minutes the two explorers had unearthed two large wooden chests loaded to the brim with golden doubloons.

They kept digging after their discovery in a fever of excitement and much to their surprise discovered two more treasure chests of equal size. They placed the chests back in the ground for later recovery and searched the rest of the island with the compass. They found nothing.

Several hours later after making the discovery word came to Mitchell Hedges from one of his crew of excavators that his discovery had been reported to the police in Coxen Hole by one of the locals, who must have witnessed them digging up the key.

The crew member also informed Mitchell Hedges that according to the rumours the police were going to investigate the dig site tomorrow morning. With these rumours in mind Mitchell Hedges, his daughter Sammy Hedges and Doctor Ball decided that it would be best not take any chances. So wasting no time the three explorers recovered three of the four chests that night and loaded them onto the Amigo and quickly set sail across swelling seas to the town of Belize which was then the capital of British Honduras.

Mitchell Hedges anchored the Amigo 150 miles off the coast of a small key and headed into the mainland on the Amigos extra boat. He returned several hours later with some lumber from which the expedition made three new chests for their treasure and dumped the old crusty ones into the sea. They then headed back inland and booked passage on a steamer that was headed for New York, their treasure safely stored in the cargo hold of the ship with the label Maya artifacts across the sides.

When the three explorers arrived in New York Mitchell Hedges sold off his lost treasure for the sum of $6,000,000 US. He then headed back to England where he bought himself a castle in the English countryside."
Source: "The Lost Treasure of Roatan Island, Honduras
by Daryl Friesen (Spindle Explorations)
http://www.roatanonline.com/moreroatan/roatan_treasure.htm
Daryl periodically appears as a contributor on TNet.
Don..........
 

OP
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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

good morning Mackaydon my friend: Nice story, I liked it, but since You are a certified Captain, just what reaction would gold and a wooden chest actually have upon a compass?

Don Jose de La Mancha
 

Chagy

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Dear Don,

That is in deed a great story and there is more to it....In the early 1960s Howard Jennings found out about Mitchell Hedges good fortune and decided to find out if Hedges had left some treasure behind.
Jennings went to the same island where Hedges found his treasure and Jennings was able to find another chest....He also found more artifacts in Old Port Royal....You can read all about it and see some nice pics in his book “The Treasure Hunter” Jennings stayed in Roatan where he bought a big piece of land and build his home, later on this area was named "Point Jennings" and still to this day you can find it in a Roatan map.......His daughter still lives there....

Here is a pic of me with my good friend Roberto in Old Port Royal....

All the best,

Chagy......
 

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Mackaydon

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Chagy:
About time you surfaced; watch that bottom time!
Those Honduran areas still offer a lot of opportunities once the UNESCO sitation is resolved--and planes are once again allowed to land in Tegoose. What a politcal mess they're having; glad we're not working there today.
PM me about your activities if you wish.
Best,
Don....
 

Chagy

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Don,

My dear friend, you have no idea how much I miss Roatan, the Island life, walking barefoot in the sandy streets of Westend and exploring the Island.That Island has a special charm.....Some day in the near future I'll be back to finish what I started…Hey who knows maybe we can go together!!!!!!! I know you also left some unfinished business in Honduras's.

My friend Roberto changed his cell number and I had lost contact with him for a while...About 2 weeks ago a friend of mine was traveling to Roatan to start a diving shop in the Island...I asked him to please go to the entrance of Westend where the taxi drivers seat and ask for Roberto and to give him my number..I wasn't sure if he would be able to find him but in those small Islands some things never change…Last week I received a call from Roberto….He is doing great!!!! Just by living in that Island he is a fortunate man!!! I still have my 2 box metal detector and exploring gear in his house plus some of the goodies we found in the Island…..

Don,

I have been dry lately, last time I dived was last year on the 4th of July weekend with the ARRG crew…..Great memories!!!!

Right now I'm involved in a few projects as a researcher… one on the 1715 fleet with researcher Laura Strolia, Also complying a list of wrecks and hurricanes for North Caribbean Research, S.A. and also involved in research with Coastal Marine Salvage…

The thrill of the research is great but I really miss the thrill of the hunt and that feeling you get when you are in a salvage operation…..Hoping to be in the water soon with ether of these projects…

All the best,

Chagy…….
 

Chagy

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Re: Morgan's loot from Panama

Sorry I got a bit off topic on my last post…….Sir Henry Morgan had many small islands where he liked to stop, Providence, Belize, Roatan and many other small key’s……After looting Panama on his way back to Jamaica Morgan stopped somewhere (I cant remember from the top of my head where he stopped and I’m not home right now so I don’t have my files here with me) and left stranded most of his crew, so that he didn’t have to share the loot with so many people. The amazing and interesting fact is that those people that were left stranded were able to build a vessel and made it back to Jamaica before Morgan did……With this said I believe in my humble opinion that Morgan stopped in several places, most likely in all the Islands mentioned above…..It would be interesting to contact Jennings daughter to see if she still has one of those coins her father found and see if the date matches Morgan’s raid to Panama…..

All the best,

Chagy……
 

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