Cayo Pelau leads

[Cofresipirate]

Legend has it that Gaspar, the pirate, had his home on Gasparilla Island. Supposedly his men were kept on Sanibel and his prisoners at Captiva, two islands to the south. His gold was supposedly buried on Cayo Pelau. Any leads on Cayo Pelau?

 

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[Amona]

Eso pareces tu, un "Pelau"

jijijijiji

 

[Scribe]

Hello Cofresipirate,


There are some stuff on line. I won't post it all, but here are some of the links:

http://www.josegaspar.net/AboutJose.htm
This site has links to a few other sites. It claims that Gaspar was dividing his treasure and preparing to retire when a British merchant ship came by. Thinking for one last hit before he retired Gaspar left ten men with the treasure and pursued the merchant ship. When he got close enough he found that the ship was actually the USS Enterprise playing merchant. Gaspar's ship was lost and Gaspar took his own life rather then surrender. The ten men left took the treasure to "Spanish Homestead" and his most of it along the "Peace River" area.


"Near Spanish Homestead, $300,000 in gold coins was found years later – this may have been part of Lady Boggess’ hush-money. Regardless, the remainder of the $30 million dollars in gold and jewels still remains undiscovered in the Peace River area."

The only thing I could find on "Lady Boggess" was in relation to the Gaspar legend.

Wikipedia also has some helpful info:
Here's the link with Gaspar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Gaspar
Here's the link with Captiva Island:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captiva_Island
And here's the link for Sanibel Island:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanibel_Island


Here's a link that I found very interesting:
http://www.lib.usf.edu/ldsu/digitalcollections/T06/journal/v02n2_80/v02n2_80_05.pdf

I found little to nothing on Cayou Pelau other then in reference that it's a place where Gaspar may have hidden some treasure

Hope this helps. It all made for an interesting read while I'm stuck at home with a nasty cold.

 

[Salvor6]

Scribe, that link to the USF Library was very interesting. How does that explain the treasure that was found on Cayo Pelau and Cayo Costa by different people?

 

[Scribe]

Hey Scubasalvor,

Looking at the area it would make sense that ships would have been attracted to the area that would have eventually led to the areas settlement.
It wouldn't surprise me that a number of ships, both honest and dishonest, looked at the islands as havens. The islands would have provided harbor, freshwater, food, and lumber and at the same time it would have been more isolated area then the mainland.
With that area the islands would have also received the unintentional visitors in the form of ships damaged by storms, conflicts, or someone trying to just make it to land due to some emergency.
With the amount of sea traffic that took place off of Florida's coastal waters I'm not surprised whenever anybody finds lost treasure or a cache.
But finding a treasure is one thing, proving where, or from who, that treasure came from is a different story.
I can't say for sure there was never a person named Gespar or if that person was a pirate. I can say that there are people that have used (and promoted) the legend of Gespar for their own purposes and certainly we've seen treasure legends that have come from far less that that.

 

[Bobadilla]

Hello Cofresipirate,

Just curious question.....As you may know I am interetsed in everything what is even remotely united with Dominican republic shipwreck history, pirates and sunken treasures..... Your Treasurenet nickname "Cofresipirate" sounds to me like you would have something to do with Dominican hero-pirate, Roberto Cofresi....is it only coincidence or you are in some way particulary interested in this last real pirate of the Caribbean of the 19th century?

Bobadilla (Lobo)

 

[rotorhead313]

The 'legend' of Gaspar is very interesting. The only problem with the Enterprise, and its apparent role, is the fact that, at that time, the Enterprise was 250 miles to the south; off of the west coast of Cuba. The reports from the ship's captain, to the Navy, confirm that their role would not have been possible. I wonder if a young captain, by the name of Brewster Baker, was in fact the individual that is commonly referred to as Jose Gaspar. Early missionaries on Boca Grande (Gasparilla Island), although only there for roughly 5 years, produced 4 men with the surname Gaspar....
I live on Pine Island, and am digging for more about Cayo Pelau. Rumor down here...it's haunted, but items have been found over the years out there, that would definitely suggest the possibility of some truth regarding "Low Town".