Legend of Duck Island, Pirates and the British Royal Navy

[Truffles_EOD]

Has anyone any information on The Legend of Duck Island, being British I am very curious about this Olde Legend...

A British Royal Navy ship was reported to have chased an old French Slaving ship (that had been commandeered by Pirates originating from Wales and the Caribean who mounted 40 cannons on her) into the Intercoastal Waterway, Just north of the Sebastian Inlet of Florida, the Legend has it that the Pirates lay in wait in a thick fog bank and managed to ambush the British ship killing the majority of the crew and capturing the remainder along with a reputed massive haul of 7 million Spanish silver pesos and 68 tonnes worth of Iron chests packed with Silver and Gold Bullion that they had captured from a Spanish Ship a few weeks earlier.

Two of the British Seamen managed to escape after 2 years in captivity and they reputedly carried with them a detailed Map showing where they knew the Pirates had buried the treasure on Duck Island.

Has anyone any information about the Legend and in particular the Map made by the British Sailors?

 

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[Truffles_EOD]

I've found some interesting literature on a pressganged seaman from Bristol, the Royal Navy ship may have been the Queen Anne. The seaman James Harvey from Cheeselane, St Phillips, Bristol had been press ganged into the Royal Navy at some point, his wife Anne Harvey had wrote a diary covering over 4 years of James absence, and there are extracts that mention James reaching England on a Trade Schooner from Key Largo and mentions of his 2 years held in captivity possibly by a pirate named "Black Caesar", the extract also mentions James escaped with a Royal Navy Marine, who succumbed to scurvy or possibly diptheria and died in Key Largo where they managed to escape to. There is mention of a Map in the extract that mentions Duck Island and which James handed down to his Son Arthur years later!

I will try and find the Harvey family in Bristols archives, it may take some time, but I have a couple of old army mates who are from Bristol that I will contact tomorrow who may be able to help, the story gets interesting!

 

[Truffles_EOD]

Exciting stuff! one of my mates from the army has been searching through the archives in the library in Bristol and has found one Arthur William Harvey who emigrated to the East Coast of America with his Wife Margaret Harvey, I am hoping to hear more from him as in where in America they went.

 

[Truffles_EOD]

Sadly it looks like our Legend has come to a tragic end, Arthur and his Wife Margarets relatives in Bristol received a telegram in 1839 informing them that both Arthur and Margaret were missing presumed drowned, they were among a handful of paying passengers on the ship The Mary Howland, which was travelling from New York to New Orleans (they probably had an agreement to stop in Key West along the way to drop passengers off in Florida), the ship was carrying cargo but also passengers and unfortunately sunk on October 10th or 11th 1839 on the Delta Shoals. They were undoubtedly headed for Duck Island with their Pirate Treasure Map, which almost definitely will have been lost with them!

 

[Togreenfeet]

I found myself reading your story with much admiration. You see we live close to the treasure Coast in Florida and have heard rumor of this place you call "Duck Island". After reviewiing extensive google imagery, and local folklore, I think we located it, approximately 2 miles north of the Sebastian Inlet. The story is quite plausible because those water are treacherous crossings. I have heard of Pirate battles their, but this is the first time I have read of firsthand knowledge of an actual battle or names of participants in that area.............more to follow.............

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Has anyone any information on The Legend of Duck Island, being British I am very curious about this Olde Legend...

A British Royal Navy ship was reported to have chased an old French Slaving ship (that had been commandeered by Pirates originating from Wales and the Caribean who mounted 40 cannons on her) into the Intercoastal Waterway, Just north of the Sebastian Inlet of Florida, the Legend has it that the Pirates lay in wait in a thick fog bank and managed to ambush the British ship killing the majority of the crew and capturing the remainder along with a reputed massive haul of 7 million Spanish silver pesos and 68 tonnes worth of Iron chests packed with Silver and Gold Bullion that they had captured from a Spanish Ship a few weeks earlier.

Two of the British Seamen managed to escape after 2 years in captivity and they reputedly carried with them a detailed Map showing where they knew the Pirates had buried the treasure on Duck Island.

Has anyone any information about the Legend and in particular the Map made by the British Sailors?

Sounds like Duck, NC & the Outer Banks of North Carolina...

 

[Peyton Manning]

I read somewhere about that, but it was years ago. I'll have to look it up

 

[Togreenfeet]

I took a vaction to Key West last Spring. While walking along the rocks, oceanside one evening, my grandson found what appears to be a map in a bottle. As I read your pot I am inclined to share this, could this be the map? As a parttime professional amature treasure hunter you can imagine our reservations. I believe this could be the Harveys map. Now we have to begin our search for the great Harvey PRIZE!!!!!!!

 

[Truffles_EOD]

Wow!!! how old was the bottle the map was found in and are there any place names on the map? why do you think this could be the Map of Duck Island?

It will be amazing if this truly is the lost Harvey Map, could he have bottled it to safekeep it as the ship went down?!

Very Exciting! please keep us informed...

 

[Togreenfeet]

I dont know the age of the bottle but there were barnacles on it. I believe i can make out the name of St. Sebastian. I am going by folk lore and your story and google imagery.....we will be digging soon

 

[Truffles_EOD]

Be sure to make a photolog of your great day hunting for the Pirate Treasure!!! can't wait to see what you guys find!

 

[Peyton Manning]

are we gonna share the treasure?

 

[Togreenfeet]

ARGGGGGHHHHHHHH but of course we shall share the story of the treasure.......we can only hope the kids and I find something matey

 

[Truffles_EOD]

How big is the Island? I wonder if there is something actually at the "X" like an old Oak Tree, or some kind of Permanent Feature i.e. an Ancient Wall, manmade structure such as roads, buildings etc; or possibly a cave or Boulder Cluster, Depression in the ground or a Knoll, small hill ... should be interesting! I was a High Risk Search Team Commander in Northern Ireland and we used a technique, which I know is now declassified, it basically enabled us to view ground and using certain information allow us to have a high % chance of locating buried weapon Hides ... I will do a Thread on the Technique once I find out if it is definitely now Declassified, which I believe it is. I worked on Fort Campbell, Range 28 back in 2004 and during breaks we used the technique to try and locate buried hoards that the Confederate Forces might have quickly hidden while crossing through that part of Tennessee, although we found some items of interest we unfortunately didn't find any buried Hoardes. The technique relates to not only Northern Ireland but to anyone in any century thinking of hiding treasure with the thought of locating it at a later date.

 

[Togreenfeet]

The island is rather small she is about 600 yards long, by 175 yards wide at the widest point. There are several palm trees. We loaded up yesterday and today to head out and begin our search but were rained out with thunderstorms with lots of lightning, so maybe next weekend we'll return. I am going to concentrate my searching around the palm trees.........there is also a fresh water pond about 50 yards across, it is circular, maybe the treasure is in that?

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Truffles EOD:

If a British Navy vessel was lost, there was a court martial of the captain. See Robert Nesmith's classic Dig for Pirate Treasure (New York: 1958) and his explosion of the legend of the HMS Hussar treasure.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Peyton Manning]

when are you going? watch for the gators

 

[Togreenfeet]

AS a retired search and rescue specialist both in water and on land, I have a great working knowledge of search patterns,(but that is seraching for people not hiding paces for treasure) however, Truffles I am open to your ideas......any words or is your information sensitive? Jeff Gordon, we will keep our eyes open for gators, but I dont think they are there, you see Duck Island is "odd" it is in brackish water where fresh water and salt water mix. Its just north of the Sebastian inlet where salt water enters into the Indian River. Actually Jeremy Wade of River Monsters fame, came here and caught a Goliath Grouper in the river weighing over 800 pounds I think and later farther south in the river he caught a Bull Shark............thanks for the heads up, but I doubt gators brave those salt waters to get to the fresh water pond........hopefully we will be out there this weekend coming up

 

[Truffles_EOD]

I should get a document today on the subject, I will E-Mail it to you, took me a while to find out the Author of the Thesis on it!

 

[Corporate Investigations]

I am not from that area.

Is Duck island the same as Duck Key? The story seems similar to the one below.

Historic records indicate the Curry family from Key West lived on Duck Key in the early 1900's.

In 1903 the island came into the possession of the Curry family. A letter appearing in the Key West Citizen on September 4, 1966, written by Kingman G. Curry states:

"Editor, The Citizen:

Approximately 65 years ago my father, the late Charles J. Curry, was the owner of Duck Key, Florida, at which time my grandmother, Mrs. Charlotte Gould, my uncle Percy Gould, my mother and myself lived there.

It was with great difficulty that he constructed a house at that place owing to the fact that everything shipped there from Key West had to be shipped in a sailing vessel . . . "

Hearing on the Florida Keys radio of a sunken treasure ship being discovered just off Duck Key by skin divers, Mr. Curry wrote further:

"All of this brought to mind . . . my father and uncle, it seemed to me, were forever digging on the land for hidden treasures, which according to a map they held, showed the location of this treasure as buried by a pirate. Too bad skin diving was not well known in those days as we might have discovered the treasure.

Well, such is life!

Spanish Treasure

The treasure which Curry had heard about was that of a Spanish ship possibly named Sueco de Arizon which went aground off Duck Key and Walker Keys in 1733.

Fifty pounds of coins, worth about $30,000, including ten perfect pillar dollars were recovered by skin divers in eight feet of water. One of the salvors wrote,

"Before long we were piling up coins on the bottom . . . One of the first things I spotted was two Pillar Dollars stuck together. This is a rare coin, the first round milled dollar ever made in the New World and they were all lost on the 1733 fleet. They were in mint condition; the date 1732 looked as if minted yesterday . . . By noontime we . . . had picked up the last coin . . . . The smile on everyone's face told it all. There would be enough treasure tales to be yarned ashore for years to come."

I hope this is of some help.

Corp