Another Pensacola story. Grains of salt possibly needed, but who knows?

[Jolly Mon]

Montgomery Advertiser, 8-20-1913

 

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[Crow]

Hello Jolly Mon

Thanks for the story. That strory from 1913 was reported all over the world in various newspapers.However this one was much more detailed.

Crow

 

[huntsman53]

It is quite possible that a Pirate Ship ran aground off Harbor Pointe during a Hurricane or trying to evade a ship from another country in pursuit. Some of the pirates then loaded the chest in a long boat and took it up the Bayou but the boat floundered in the storm or they were about to be overtaken by opposing sailors and the chest was tossed over the side. Who knows, it may be true but it is doubtful that any more such chests would have been dropped in or around this location!


Frank

 

[Jolly Mon]

It is quite possible that a Pirate Ship ran aground off Harbor Pointe during a Hurricane or trying to evade a ship from another country in pursuit. Some of the pirates then loaded the chest in a long boat and took it up the Bayou but the boat floundered in the storm or they were about to be overtaken by opposing sailors and the chest was tossed over the side. Who knows, it may be true but it is doubtful that any more such chests would have been dropped in or around this location!


Frank

I agree and I doubt the story is true, but one never knows. I was thinking a shoal draft vessel of some sort might have used the bayou as a hurricane hole and sunk at its mooring. There are lots of scenarios you can construct. Old charts from the turn of the century show Bayou Chico as quite shoal at its entrance, but carrying 8 foot depths until very near its Northern terminus. Somewhat surprisingly, the bottom composition is shown as hard on the old charts as well. The current chart lists 6 wrecks. They are probably all pleasure or fishing vessels, although the western most wreck is visible on some Google Earth images and looks like it is probably an old barge of some sort. Anyway, it is a small enough area that someone with a boat deployed coil might have fun just doing a drift search and looking for broad targets, as there is sure to be tons of small trash in the area. Crazier things have happened and there just might be a relic or two lying around. Europeans have been poking around that area for a long, long time.