: Michael-Robert.
Bronze Member
- Feb 2, 2013
- 1,539
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- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Gidday Bart how did you go with your trip?
Crow
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Gidday Bart how did you go with your trip?
Crow
I have certain suspicions about this letter. I am not criticizing or doubting the finding, but there are certain contradictions in Avery having been a British Spy. Analyze with me: Avery was the first man to be hunted worldwide, He shook up East India relations by causing the Mughals to arrest and execute any Englishmen in their territories. In fact, the relationship between England and the Mughals was very profitable for both, would the King really risk saving the life of a spy and destroying an international trade relationship? (Regardless of whether or not Avery was a spy before or after the robbery)Now shipwreck explorers Dr Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowen claim to have solved what they call the longest cold case in pirate history: the “pirate king” had entered the service of the king of England, William III, as a spy.
Operating within a tangled web of royal espionage, conspiracy and subterfuge, Avery dedicated himself to protecting the English crown from dangers at home and abroad, apparently having exchanged part of his loot for a royal pardon.
The evidence lies in a previously unpublished coded letter written by “Avery the Pirate” from Falmouth in Cornwall. It had lain, forgotten, in a Scottish archive after being misfiled.
You can see the document below.
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Makes you wonder what else has been miss filed in the archives over the years?
It is dated December 1700, four years after his disappearance following the looting of the ship belonging to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, then the world’s richest man.
Kingsley and Cowan discovered that the letter links Avery with one of the first great spy rings, believed to have included Daniel Defoe, the Robinson Crusoe author, and Thomas Tenison, the archbishop of Canterbury. Together, they were protecting Protestant England from the threat of “popery”, a Catholic invasion from France and an enemy seizing the throne.
The letter was found by Cowan’s late wife, Zélide, when the pair were tracking down sunken Dutch East India Company traders.
Kingsley said: “She knew she had stumbled across a once-in-a-lifetime historical treasure.”
Kingsley, a marine archaeologist who is editor-in-chief of Wreckwatch Magazine and co-directing a Bahamas Project to dive for lost pirate ships, spoke of the excitement of the letter’s discovery considering Avery’s importance in pirate history and our “eternal fascination” with such sea dogs.
Tantalisingly, half of the letter cannot be read, as it is in a numeric code, he said: “In 1700, who writes in code? British diplomats and spies.”
“We spent years trying to decipher Avery’s secret,” Cowan said. Various experts, including some who worked for the CIA, have tried in vain.
In one passage, Avery wrote: “I am not the least concerned for Tank 29 f B26 being out of the T9211597.” Its meaning remains secret.
Elsewhere he referred to meeting his contact that evening and working with “noe suspicion upon any Account”.
The letter notes that a reply was to be addressed to the “posthouse” in Falmouth. Kingsley said: “Falmouth in 1700 is where the post office is. That’s where the package ships go from. So if you want to be in a place to influence, intercept and stop threats, that’s where you might be.”
Kingsley and Cowan say that at that time Defoe was in Cornwall, posing as a shipwreck treasure diver named Claude Guilot. Defoe worked in intelligence for William III in 1692 and invented a numeric code for sending letters.
The letter’s recipient was Reverend James Richardson in Orange Street, London. Research reveals that it was the address of the capital’s first public lending library, set up by Tenison with Richardson as librarian. The address is so obscure that it is among several features that reassured Kingsley and Cowan that the letter is authentic: “No scammer would know to address a bogus letter there.”
One of the king’s aides saw Tenison illegally opening letters from Catholics that had been intercepted from the post office, describing him as a master forger – “so dangerous an art that, unless his Majesty commands him, I perceive he is desirous it should be discovered to nobody”.
So is this above document a clue to buried treasure with code. So all of you code breakers have some fun trying to decode.
Perhaps it will answer some questions about the fate of Captain Every and maybe just maybe a clue to a buried treasure?
Crow
Other islands...drove by 4 or 5 times, and Never set foot ashore !! Looked over as we glided by, and dreamt of the adventures I could have !! Did have success around some other area's !!
“1 Chest. **** wood, 2 feet long & 1ft wide. In it were precious stones and bracelets, large rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes and diamonds.
2nd Chest. Almost the same size & made as the first, 120 ingots of gold, 40 thick flat pieces of gold as large as a round tobacco box with various characters on some of them, 25 bars of gold, some of which were 4 or 5 inches long.
3rd Chest has 3000 pieces of 8 besides Bullion not weighed but crammed in with pieces of brocades.”
Gidday BartWell I regret not getting to my spot, but piracy continued for 100 more years after the GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY. The far out islands saw many unwritten history moments that are yet to be discovered. Dispersed pirates settled all across the out islands and practiced privateering, Wrecking, smuggling, and I'm sure piracy when they could get away with it. There family names are still prevalent amongst islanders !! So I missed my shot at where I think Avery rested and went ashore, and ended up way off the path on another island adventure for pirates !!View attachment 2168672View attachment 2168673View attachment 2168674View attachment 2168675View attachment 2168676View attachment 2168677View attachment 2168678
There is a place called:Gidday Bart
A quick question do you know or ever come across a place known locally as bull Key or Bull Cay in the Bahamas?
Crow
Nope...not to my knowledge...I will ask and look !!Gidday Bart
A quick question do you know or ever come across a place known locally as bull Key or Bull Cay in the Bahamas?
Crow
Nope...not to my knowledge...I will ask and look !!
I should add it is a little deviation off topic so my apologies.It could be near north cat cay or cat Island. It might of been an old name not used anymore for certain a cay. It might be on maps around 1820 give or take a few decades. today the cay might have a completely different name?
Crow
Pssst.... scatter trail.Yes...yes...now its plain to see my attraction !! All is true, and the more modern ruins are still an attraction to sailors, and adventurers!! I quickly dissolve into the bush, and have several spots that I prefer here.....everyone must take into account that not all the history here is accountable, and I believe the spanish had an attraction to the island. The English discovered it because the spanish had it marked, and watered here. They more than likely released livestock here....hence the islets named egg 🥚 island !! I have many sat photos going pretty far back, they show many ruins across all three islands, and egg islands show clear rock wall delineation between stock pens and plantations. The natural harbor is very defensible and should be considered. Pirates could have clearly defended this island fortress. The English inherited this island from the spanish, and would have continued to improve on earlier progress. Hence my lopez tobacco pipe find from early 1600s. I do believe the fancy would have anchored up close to deep water (for escape purpose)View attachment 2143266
The big red circle denote the entire Anchorage known as Meeks patch Anchorage. View attachment 2143267
I believe the fancy would have been here, and now you start to feel the vibe for where some crew might have went ashore if they did !! When you look on Google where there are some nice spots to land a long boat, it becomes apparent quite quickly!! Having been on the ground/ocean here its only possible to land on white sand if your not in the inner harbor.....most of the island is very rocky, and will destroy a boat in most conditions except becalmed.
A day in the life on the sea.I cannot comment on the machine in question. The marine environment is terrible corrosive for electronics. computers etc. used various much vaunted equipment over the years many failed to live up to expectations. Everything get encrusted in salt even yourself. its in air and if there is moisture in the air humidity that salty corrosive moisture coats everything.
When spend time at sea ya learn the chores being swabie as everything get encrusted.
Crow
Much of the history involving the war of 1812 is very vague concerning the Bahamas....privateering was very prevalent during these years !! Many fortunes were won and lost during the time period !!I should add it is a little deviation off topic so my apologies.
The following treasure The treasure was said to be worth $7.5 million, including $75,000 in Spanish coin. The bulk of the remainder in bar gold. Mitchell said there also was a cross of pure gold, manufactured for a church in Havana, weighing 17 pounds; a diamond as large as an egg, and two watches made for the Queen of Portugal.
Possibly if this is the correct location of Bull cay?
View attachment 2168987
View attachment 2168988
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There might be fortune dating back to 1815 -1816 underwater buried under sand awaiting discovery.
So regardless of what Henry Avery's treasure still exist in the Bahamas. The Bahamas its not short of treasure going back to days of piracy.
Crow