An essay on pirate treasure in Madagascar

[BennyV]

More on the manor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipsburg_Manor

Apparently the lord of the manor and Captain Kidd met by a boulder on the shoreline of the Hudson River from time to time.

 

[BennyV]

Kidd rock

https://sleepyhollowcountry.com/captain-kidds-rock/

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

The ongoing analysis of the National Archives at Kew in London by Alexandre Audard has revealed an extraordinary discovery!

The study of a Royal Navy logbook clearly states that on Tuesday, May 28, 1700, the English approached the pirates of Sainte-Marie to offer them amnesty in an attempt to curb piracy in the Indian Ocean.

The Navy describes “a pyrats towne” (a pirate town) with more than 300 pirates, hundreds of cannons, and several fortifications. A captured Moorish ship is anchored there, carrying 60 cannons on board.

The discovery of this completely unprecedented mention of a pirate town likely implies the presence of substantial and numerous structures. The investigation in the archives continues… and will carry on in 2026 with fieldwork in Madagascar!

(From Instagram)


Does anyone know any details about this "pirate town"?

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

Records of pirates burying treasure. (1709)

Certain Pyrates having found the Island of Madagascar to be the most proper if not the only place in the world for their abode, and carrying on their destructive trade with security etc., and being since increased to a formidable body are become a manifest obstruction to trade, and scandal to our nation and religion, being most of them, English, at least 4/5ths. Upon a General Peace, when multitudes of soldiers and seamen will want employment, or by length of time and the pyrates generating with the women of the country, their numbers should be increased, they may form themselves into a settlement of robbers, as prejudicial to trade as any on the coast of Affrica.

It seems morally impossible to reduce them by force, for the pyrates have, by their liberality in bestowing part of their booties on the inhabitants, so gain'd their love and esteem that, should any superior force be sent to reduce them, they might readily march up far into the country and be safe.

Fair means is the only way to reclaim them; and in order to it endeavours of that nature have been used, but so ill managed that several of the pyrates who relied upon promises (and even Proclamations) and thereupon surrender'd themselves, having lost some their lives, all their effects, and been treated in a most inhumane manner, it is not to be expected the rest should come in without more ample security for the safety both of their lives and treasure, but have declared they are still willing to come in, on condition they were rendered secure to their satisfaction.

And though their treasure has been all got by robbery, yet since it can never be restored to the owners, having been taken (mostly, if not wholly) from the subjects of the Great Mogull, etc., and now lies buried or useless in or near Madagascar, it's much better they should be permitted to bring it to England with safety, where it may do good, etc., and the pyrates be reclaimed and become bold and skilful mariners and subjects of H.M. etc. Proposes that a person of considerable quality, well known to them, be sent with a pardon and conditions of surrender; and escort them to England with a squadron of 4 or 5 H.M ships, etc. Printed. 3¾ pp.


(source)

 

[BennyV]

Records of pirates burying treasure. (1709)

Certain Pyrates having found the Island of Madagascar to be the most proper if not the only place in the world for their abode, and carrying on their destructive trade with security etc., and being since increased to a formidable body are become a manifest obstruction to trade, and scandal to our nation and religion, being most of them, English, at least 4/5ths. Upon a General Peace, when multitudes of soldiers and seamen will want employment, or by length of time and the pyrates generating with the women of the country, their numbers should be increased, they may form themselves into a settlement of robbers, as prejudicial to trade as any on the coast of Affrica.

It seems morally impossible to reduce them by force, for the pyrates have, by their liberality in bestowing part of their booties on the inhabitants, so gain'd their love and esteem that, should any superior force be sent to reduce them, they might readily march up far into the country and be safe.

Fair means is the only way to reclaim them; and in order to it endeavours of that nature have been used, but so ill managed that several of the pyrates who relied upon promises (and even Proclamations) and thereupon surrender'd themselves, having lost some their lives, all their effects, and been treated in a most inhumane manner, it is not to be expected the rest should come in without more ample security for the safety both of their lives and treasure, but have declared they are still willing to come in, on condition they were rendered secure to their satisfaction.

And though their treasure has been all got by robbery, yet since it can never be restored to the owners, having been taken (mostly, if not wholly) from the subjects of the Great Mogull, etc., and now lies buried or useless in or near Madagascar, it's much better they should be permitted to bring it to England with safety, where it may do good, etc., and the pyrates be reclaimed and become bold and skilful mariners and subjects of H.M. etc. Proposes that a person of considerable quality, well known to them, be sent with a pardon and conditions of surrender; and escort them to England with a squadron of 4 or 5 H.M ships, etc. Printed. 3¾ pp.


(source)

That’s pretty cool

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

Madagascar is the only place in the world where the lost treasures of the Golden Age of Piracy might still lie hidden.1 These forgotten treasures should be discovered by people using legitimate methods and then made public to the entire world. If this were to happen, it would bring tremendous advances to history and archaeology, while at the same time creating an incredibly valuable tourism resource.

I am currently planning an expedition to Madagascar in strict compliance with local laws, and I am seeking researchers and scholars who are willing to collaborate with me. Please note that even in the event that treasure is discovered, no financial profit can be obtained.

Please contact me via the form if you would like to cooperate in achieving this goal.

Nothing has changed about this comment.

If you are interested, please feel free to send me a PM. (Or you can leave a comment in this thread.)

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

Records of pirates burying treasure. (1709)

Certain Pyrates having found the Island of Madagascar to be the most proper if not the only place in the world for their abode, and carrying on their destructive trade with security etc., and being since increased to a formidable body are become a manifest obstruction to trade, and scandal to our nation and religion, being most of them, English, at least 4/5ths. Upon a General Peace, when multitudes of soldiers and seamen will want employment, or by length of time and the pyrates generating with the women of the country, their numbers should be increased, they may form themselves into a settlement of robbers, as prejudicial to trade as any on the coast of Affrica.

It seems morally impossible to reduce them by force, for the pyrates have, by their liberality in bestowing part of their booties on the inhabitants, so gain'd their love and esteem that, should any superior force be sent to reduce them, they might readily march up far into the country and be safe.

Fair means is the only way to reclaim them; and in order to it endeavours of that nature have been used, but so ill managed that several of the pyrates who relied upon promises (and even Proclamations) and thereupon surrender'd themselves, having lost some their lives, all their effects, and been treated in a most inhumane manner, it is not to be expected the rest should come in without more ample security for the safety both of their lives and treasure, but have declared they are still willing to come in, on condition they were rendered secure to their satisfaction.

And though their treasure has been all got by robbery, yet since it can never be restored to the owners, having been taken (mostly, if not wholly) from the subjects of the Great Mogull, etc., and now lies buried or useless in or near Madagascar, it's much better they should be permitted to bring it to England with safety, where it may do good, etc., and the pyrates be reclaimed and become bold and skilful mariners and subjects of H.M. etc. Proposes that a person of considerable quality, well known to them, be sent with a pardon and conditions of surrender; and escort them to England with a squadron of 4 or 5 H.M ships, etc. Printed. 3¾ pp.


(source)

This proposal was written by Peregrine Osborne. Osborne plagiarized the content from another proposal written by an associate of John Breholt, a notorious fraudster and pirate. Therefore, this proposal is not reliable. For details, please refer to Joel H. Baer, British Piracy in the Golden Age, Volume 3, p. 415, and Tim Travers, Pirates: A History, p. 122.

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

Just to be clear, there have been no changes to the idea I explained in my essay.

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

The following are negative views regarding pirate treasure.

Charles Grey

There is no subject, other than sex, in the whole gamut of fiction more hackneyed than this of the treasures supposed to have been hidden by pirates. Most of it is but pot-boiling fiction, and all based on the unapproachable original of the “Gold Bug,” by Edgar Allan Poe, or “Treasure Island,” another superlative gem of such fiction. Poe bases his story on the treasures supposed to have been buried by Kidd in the West Indies before he came on to New York after his return from his piratical cruise in eastern waters, and others have so exploited this same mythical treasure that scarce a West Indian islet but is the imaginary scene of some such burial of many millions.

“Treasure Island” would seem to us to have originated in Washington Irving’s “Tales of a Traveller,” the particular one being called Wolfcrt Webber, and in Roberts’ “Most Notorious Pirates.” In the former will be found the very prototype of Billy Bones dominating the village inn, and a mysterious sea chest. From Roberts may have been taken Israel Hands, who was gunner to Teach, Tew easily becomes Pew, and Darby Mullins, of Kidd’s crew, Darby MacGraw, of Captain Flint’s crew. Here it must be distinctly under¬ stood that we have no idea of belittling Stevenson’s genius or his very fine story. We only point out the possible source of some of the material he has so skilfully woven into an outstanding example of pirate fiction. Others have drawn on similar sources, but none has yet attained his standard.

As will be seen in the narratives that follow there is abso¬ lutely no foundation for the egregious legend that any pirate ever disposed of the combined booty by burying it on some solitary island. In all our very extensive researches, we have found only four mentions, two of which refer to Teach and two to John Plantain. In the latter case the treasure was only temporarily put away and dug up again shortly after, and for the former we shall quote Johnson and Downing. Johnson writes, “The night before Teach was killed he sat up the whole night drinking with some of his men. One of them asked him where had he buried his money, to which he made answer that only the Devil and himself knew and he who lived longest should have all.”

This is mere bravado, for every ship that Teach took or was supposed to have taken was perfectly well known. All were coasters of small value. The money aboard would be only the trading cash of not more than £500 or so, and as for the cargoes, the proceeds were shared with those who gave him protection. Concerning this same Teach, Downing writes:

“While I was Gunner to the Nabob of Guzeratt, there came there, seeking service, two Dutchmen and a Portuguese. This last was named Antonio de Silvestro, and, having been brought up by Captain Westerby, of Poplar, and sailed in English ships most of his life, he talked very good English. After we had become familiar he told me that he had been with the Pyratts in the West Indies and was in one of the Pyratt sloops from Virginia when Teach was fought and taken. He said that, if ever I should go to York River in Maryland near to a place called Mulberry Island I should go ashore at the place where the ships used to ride and seek for the treasure the Pyratts had buried there in great chests well clamped with iron.

“I have never been able to get there, but having made enquiry am informed that there is such a place as Mulberry Island. If any person who uses that place should think it worth while to dig a little way at the upper end of a small sandy cove he would soon find out if the information is well grounded. Fronting the landing place there are five trees amongst which he said the money is hidden. I cannot warrant the truth of this account though if ever I was to go there I would soon satisfy myself whether or no. But if any one should profit by this account I hope if it pleases God they come to England they will remember the writer of this information.”

As Clement Downing died some ten years later worth only £6 6 s. 8 d. he did not derive any benefit from “this Infor¬ mation.” Probably he never expected to, any more than he really believed in the truth of what was told to him. Had there been anything in it Anthony de Silvestro would have found means to get back there and dig up “Teach’s Treasure.”

Yet year after year expeditions set forth from England to attempt to discover equally mythical millions! Last year one set out to discover treasure buried by the De Soto whom we give an account of in our Appendix and even now another is on the way to the Cocos Island to dig up another worth anything from £3,000,000 to £1.2,000,000. Pious the hope, but improbable the contingency.

Rebecca Simon

The reality is that pirates had no reason to bury their treasure. In fact, the word ‘treasure’ often did not mean gold and jewels at all; rather, it usually referred to other valuable items, ranging from textiles and spices to various wines and spirits. The majority of pirates had short lives at sea and needed to get wealthy quick, so they plundered goods and sold them on land in order to repair and restock their ships, hire new crew, support their families, or buy plenty of food and women’s company. Burying these items would have only led to lost goods and likely death before they could be recovered. So, while it makes for a fun story, the reality of ‘buried treasure’ is as fiction as Treasure Island.

Patrick Pringle

A few words may be said here about pirate treasure.The subject has already been given far more words than it deserves, and if all the money that has been spent on treasure-hunting could be recovered this would be the richest treasure of all. Presumably people believe in pirate treasure because they want to. There is no other reason for the belief. Pirates did not bury their treasure. They shared out their loot as they got it. This hardly needs to be explained. The pirates did not trust one another sufficiently to leave the plunder in a common hoard once they left their ship. Besides, each man wanted to use his share, either to invest in a business or, more generally, to spend.

Very rarely individual pirates, through force of circum-stances, buried their own shares, and not all of them were able to recover the loot. Such hoards would not have been very large. Buried treasure is usually associated with pirate captains, who drew larger shares; but this idea seems to be wrapped up with the false conception of the despotic captain.

Some pirates who were captured tried to buy their acquittal with stories of hidden loot. They were not taken seriously by their contemporaries, and there is no reason why they should be to-day. The only pirate treasure that is almost certainly await-ing a finder is the consignment of six hundred and ninety-nine pigs of silver that Bartholomew Sharp and his crew mistook for tin and turned loose in the San Rosario. It is probably still at the bottom of the Pacific, somewhere off the west coast of South America.

Patrick Pringle Jolly Roger p.125

Benerson Little

These treasure hunters, not to mention magazines and Internet sites that run articles on the richest pirate captains in history, make a critical mistake when they suggest a buried treasure or pirate captain's wealth is equal to the amount of the wealth plundered by the pirates in question.

What they ignore is the reality that pirate captains typically received only two to six shares for each common pirate's single share. In other words, out of one hundred thousand Spanish dollars and a crew of seventy-five, there might be a division of one hundred shares, including disability and so forth. Each pirate received one thousand pieces of eight, and the captain two thousand, or perhaps a few thousand more if he owned the ship. Tidy sums, but nowhere near the amount actually captured. Pirate treasure hunters typically assume the entire treasure was buried, but this would never be the case even if a pirate actually did bury his own treasure. At most, a pirate captain who had set himself up as a petty prince and slaver on Madagascar and buried his personal fortune nearby for security, for example, would have hidden only a percent or two of the entire booty he and his crew had captured.

Even so, the myth is obviously here to stay. James Fenimore Cooper, author not only of The Last of the Mohicans and many other tales, but of a pirate novel as well, The Red Rover, put it best in his 1839 history of the US Navy: "With the blindness usual in matters of this sort, it was believed that he [Captain Kidd] secreted his gold in spots that he had probably never visited, and to this day it is not an unfrequent thing for diggings to be made on the coast, under the influence of dreams that have been occasioned by meditating on the subject, and in the hope of finding some of the long lost riches."45 Novelists of this era-including Cooper himself in The Sea Lions-ignored fact and, as necessary to tell a good tale, devised unlikely reasons and means for pirates burying their treasure, and in doing so helped incite past treasure hunts.

Such treasure hunts continue even today, often based on hoaxes of treasure maps, especially of Captain Kidd's, spread in the early to mid-twentieth century. There is almost no arguing with "treasure fever" once it takes hold-this the author knows from personal experience, having been consulted by seekers of purported buried pirate treasure, including one who indeed believed he had found the site of a famous pirate's treasure." 46

Cooper commented on the lasting effects of the love of gold: "Of all the passions to which poor human nature is the slave, the love of gold is that which endures the longest, and is often literally carried with us to the verge of the grave."47 When this overwhelming greed is attached to treasure fever, it is a double obsession, an ancient, often incurable disease.

One seventeenth-century treasure hunter devoted much of his life to digging up Anegada Island, also known as Drowned Island because it was mostly covered by the sea at spring tides, among the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. He believed a Spanish galleon had wrecked at the island, and that the treasure had been carried ashore and buried. How the treasure hunter rationalized the apparent fact that no one survived to recover the treasure, yet still the story was known, is unclear. The southwestern point of the island was once known as Treasure Point, from a Spanish galleon's "Gold & Silver" believed buried nearby. 48 One easily imagines the film Cutthroat Island.

So pirates did not really bury their treasure after all. Of course, we wish they did, for it is quite a romantic notion, of mystery, adventure, and skullduggery with a fortune waiting at the end. Yet, while pirates did not bury their plunder, nor obviously did they go ashore with picks and shovels to dig up buried treasure, this does not mean they did not look for it. They did. But not on land did they seek it.

Benerson Little The Golden Age of Piracy
The Truth Behind Pirate Myths p.

The summary of their view is that pirates did not often plunder inorganic treasures like gold and gems. Because they divided the loot equally, pirate captains did not amass enormous wealth, and such treasures were spent immediately after distribution. Even if they were not spent, there would be no reason to bury them.

Here is my counterargument: The pirates in Madagascar plundered large quantities of gold and gems. There were no places in Madagascar to spend all this wealth, so the treasure was stored there until it could be used for trade with European ships. Furthermore, the pirates faced numerous dangers and threats in Madagascar. By citing examples from around the world, I have shown that burying one's assets to protect them was a common practice for people in such precarious situations. I agree that pirate captains didn't get their hands on vast fortunes. What I'm picturing is treasure buried by ordinary pirates.

 

[Bocaj]

The following are negative views regarding pirate treasure.

Charles Grey



Rebecca Simon



Patrick Pringle



Benerson Little



The summary of their view is that pirates did not often plunder inorganic treasures like gold and gems. Because they divided the loot equally, pirate captains did not amass enormous wealth, and such treasures were spent immediately after distribution. Even if they were not spent, there would be no reason to bury them.

Here is my counterargument: The pirates in Madagascar plundered large quantities of gold and gems. There were no places in Madagascar to spend all this wealth, so the treasure was stored there until it could be used for trade with European ships. Furthermore, the pirates faced numerous dangers and threats in Madagascar. By citing examples from around the world, I have shown that burying one's assets to protect them was a common practice for people in such precarious situations. While I agree with the point that pirate captains did not acquire massive personal wealth, what I am assuming is treasure buried by ordinary pirates. I agree that pirate captains didn't get their hands on vast fortunes. What I'm picturing is treasure buried by ordinary pirates.

We speak of maybe around 1 kilo of gold and precious stones each pirate would own. This one can easily carry around or hide in some small spot in the house. If you are attacked you have no time to dig something out of the ground. To bury a treasure only makes sense if it is to heavy to be carried easily. The only reason I can see if like in Avery's case a part of the treasure would have set aside as bribe to secure pardons etc. Temporarily hidden and guarded by small group of pirates. I could have happened that some threat made them burying the treasure as they had no time to carry it away.

 

[THE TRUE SEEKER]

The following are negative views regarding pirate treasure.

Charles Grey



Rebecca Simon



Patrick Pringle



Benerson Little



The summary of their view is that pirates did not often plunder inorganic treasures like gold and gems. Because they divided the loot equally, pirate captains did not amass enormous wealth, and such treasures were spent immediately after distribution. Even if they were not spent, there would be no reason to bury them.

Here is my counterargument: The pirates in Madagascar plundered large quantities of gold and gems. There were no places in Madagascar to spend all this wealth, so the treasure was stored there until it could be used for trade with European ships. Furthermore, the pirates faced numerous dangers and threats in Madagascar. By citing examples from around the world, I have shown that burying one's assets to protect them was a common practice for people in such precarious situations. I agree that pirate captains didn't get their hands on vast fortunes. What I'm picturing is treasure buried by ordinary pirates.

​

Tim Travers

Buried Treasure

The question of buried pirate treasure is an exciting one, but unfortunately very few pirates buried any treasure for a number of reasons. First, and most important, very few pirates managed to keep any of their treasure, because it was all spent in gambling, drinking, womanising, and other pleasures, so that there was nothing left to bury. Secondly, many ships that were seized contained items that could not easily be buried, such as bales of cotton, calico, muslin, and silk, provisions, bulky goods, wine, brandy, spices, and of course, slaves. Thirdly, when pirates did capture treasure such as jewelry, gold dust, bars of silver, and so on, it was shared out very carefully among the pirate crew, so that no large amount was left to bury. Fourthly, when pirates returned to their ports or sought protection for their treasure in different safe locations, they had to pay off greedy and corrupt colonial Governors, such as Nicholas Trott of the Bahamas, and with what was left usually tried to turn their treasure into land or property or ships, so again there was nothing left to bury. Fifthly, even if there was some treasure buried, it would be recovered quite quickly by the pirates who buried it. Sixthly, although some pirates such as Henry Avery's men in the Red Sea, collected between £700 and £1,000 pounds each, others often made very little. So of course, there was nothing for them to bury. In one case, there was not enough treasure to go around a group of pirates on St Mary's Island, Madagascar. The loot was supposed to be distributed to 14 pirates by Captains Tew, Rayner, Mason and Coats, but there simply wasn't enough to distribute, so these 14 pirates formed themselves into two groups of seven men each, and fought it out. The result was that 'one of the said Sevens were all killed, and five of the others, so that the two which survived Enjoyed the whole Booty. 61 Finally, the buried treasure that does exist is usually to be found in children's stories (Treasure Island), or in film versions of what pirates were supposed to do with their plunder (Blackbeard the Pirate, 1952).

I've looked into the treasure looted by Madagascar pirates before; they often got a share of several hundred pounds each. (And they also frequently looted gold, silver, and jewelry.)