The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-02
ON MONEY ISLAND
Teach S Hidden Treasure
Not Yet Found.
Story That Adds Attraction to Home
of Popular Captain Royall
Near Morehead City.

Nearly everybody who has ever been
70 the seashore in North Carolina
knows Capt j. j. Royal. He is the
popular owner of Money Island where
Morehead visitors take their dip In tne
surf The story that has been toid
here is that many years ago-early
in 1870, to be more exact-a little
patch of English people dropped down
on the sand banks near Cape Look
out like a tiny flower on some wild
waste. These were followed py
French Huguenots, fleeing from rellg-
ious persecution.
of their trials and sufferings, his
tory tells us little, but here and there
the thread of their story appears, pa
thetic enough to challenge poetic pic
turing of a Prescott, and their strug-
giles with the Indians give hints no
less romantic than the conquest of the
MonteZumas or the humiliation of the
Peruvian Incas. 'Tis a field rich for
the historian and for the poet and
no doubt some day the story will be
told in epic if not in chronicle.
In the vicinity of Morehead City
may today be found historical material
bearing on the events of those early
days. In the court house at Beaufort
are land patents bearing date III"
and quaint records a little later lii
great number. In the churchyard at
Beaufort are tombstones engraved
with dates as early as 172O-more
than half a century before the reVo-
luton. The town of Beaufort was In
corporated in 1928.
The predecessor of the now disman-
tied Fort Macon was built ON Bogue
Banks in 1756-nearly $50 years ago
and the site of it is still pointed out
to visitors 1t was called Fort Dobbs'
i'm honor of the man who was governor
of the State The garrison consisted
OF 40 men who manned IA guns, eight
I2-polInderS and six 6-pounderS The
cost of the fort was $1,000. Govern
or Dobbs re commended that a fort
he built at Cape Lookout, but for some
reason it was never done.
Another place of interest that is
pointed out to visitors even to this
day is a place called '"Teach's Hole"
1t won its name from the fact that
it was the rendezvous for vessels com
posing the fleets of the pirate, Ed
ward Teach, sometimes called Black
beard" He had a squadron of six ves-
sells and 100 men, his principal ship,
the Queen Anne's Revenge carry
ing forty guns. Vane, Bennett and
Morley were his chief captains. Teach
was killed in a sea fight with fleet
under Lieutenant Maynard. The en-
gagement was a fierce conflict In
which a number of lives were lost
Teach boarded Maynards ships and
the two had a hand to hand fight
Teach was killed and his head severed
from his body, was attached to the
bow-sprit of Maynard vessel
There are those who beieve-and
the belief has been strong and gen.
eral ever since the death of Teach.
and the execution of his followers
that somewhere in the sound around
'tTeach's Hole" he buried immense
quantities of gold and jewels. Certain
it is that he captured vast treasure,
and so far as ever was known he dis
posed of but little of it, except the
merchandise taken. Though many
have sought this treasure in the sands
around Beaufort Harbor. it has not
been found
Perhaps some day someone will
happen upon ''gold-bug" and a, chart
similar to that of which Poe tells US in
his Tales and the treasurer will be
unearthed.