Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-03
Buccaneers and Buried Cola

~ My a short time ago old Of the
J fishing port of St. Louis, on the island
of Haiti, sailed his tiny boat across the
choppy channel separating his island from the
island of Tortuga, celebrated for it's reputa-
tion as the birthplace of piracy. There he
anchored at the mouth o. small stream
flowing down from the hills, and there he
seined for small fish for bait. Suddenly his
attention was caught by shine and glitter in
the water He stopped and picked up hand
full of golden cons-golden coins that turned
out to be pieces of eight
This did not happen in book, nor was the
bid man living at distant day, when every
aport sheltered battered old tars with
charts in heir pockets telling where treasure
was buried 1t was in our own day and time,
ut d point not so many hundred miles away,
and it simply goes to show that nance as
Robert Louis Stevenson fmaged it has not
persisted from the earth.
One would heDitate to advise treasure-seek-
ers to set forth for the Spanish Main today on
the mere chance that they would repeat the
fisherman's lck, but delving into ancient
documents of pirate lore doe indicate that
Tortuga and it's neighbor islands may still
conceal the loot Of buccaneers long since dead
and gone.
Look up Tortuga in your histor:. There
you will find an interesting account of the
birth of pray as it was practised in the
Caribbean sea in the seventeenth century.
Then the island of Hispianola, the Haiti of to-
day, was invaded by French, British and
Dutch settlers who encountered i'll will and
active opposition from the Spaniards in con-
troll. Failing at planting, the newcomers
took up the killing and curing Of wild oxen,
cattle and boar They were called "boucan-
Tow fha
who cooked meat by the "boucan" process,
system of smoking the flesh on greer sticks.
Because Tort ga, only seven miles across the
channel, was virgin hunting ground and Oh
fered gre ter security, the "boucaniers" trans
frred the eat o. their operations to the
lesser island.
To To.tuga eventually came Pierre lie Grand
tt ; first pirate of the western worl6 He Was
q Frenchman from Dieppe, with go d 1nten-
lions to begin with, no doubt, b IT finding
meat curing not altogether to his likinG or to
his desire for fortune and adventure. With his
earnings he bought small sailing shiL, gath
cred around him lwenty-eight hardy and des-
perate men, md set sail with the jolly Roger
flying at the asthead.
The example Sc by Pierre lie Grand was to
be followed by adventurer after adventurer IN
the new world, until Tortuga and other is
lands of the Spanish Main become such nest
of evil that the outraged governments of half
a dozen nations, including the United States,
sent frigates and clippers to scour the sea
lanes and invade the secret coves wher pirate
cities had grown up on the shores and pirate
fleets rode at anchor.
Though he has much to answer for in blaz-
ing the path of piracy, Pierre le Grand was
by no means the most bloodthtrsty of the buc-
cancers. A Spanish admiral he sent ashore IN
a small boat instead Of walking him off the
plank or hanging him to yardarm. He was
satisfied, too with stable fortune of booty
Lo1,J
Of eight much plate and other treasure, he
sailed Spanish frigate back to France and
gracefully retired from piratinS
Not so Rock Brasiliano, a gentleman who,
II legend is correct, made lie Grand, Captain
Flint and Blackboard look like schoolboys in
their widest moments. Rock was Dutch
man who won his nickname from long resi-
dence in T rail. 1t was one of his faVorlte
pastimes, we are told by a writer in the New
York Tribune. to swashbuckle up and down
the streets of Tortuga, slashing pa5sersby
with cutlass. When he desired companions
in his drinking bouts, it was his jolly custom
to roll a cask of red wine into the public
square and call upon all hearers to approach
and quaff their fill or suffer a pistol bullet
through the brain. In milder moments he
amused himself by roasting Spaniards alive
on wooden splits.
LIE Grand, Brasiliano, Francois L'Ollinats
and other pirate leaders buried vast quanti-
ties Of treasure on TOrtuga, and smaller IS
lands in the group On one occasion, we are
informed, L'Ollinais and his G. ew, after sack
ing several towns on the South American
coast and putting every inhabtant to the
sword, sailed for Cow Island, south Of Haiti
and there divided more than four millions OF
apieces of eight" together with a rajah's ran.
som in jewels and costly garments The lot
of them then returned to Tortuga, where they
staged wee's debauch of drinking and gam
bling. At the end of the spree most of them
had flung their riches away and the loot re
manned in the hands of few who, for safe
tvs sake cached it in the hills and valleys
of Tortuga as hey set forth for the mex
cruise. There were no banks then; the
boIdest bucraneer of all would have beer
unsafe with money belt around him; bury
ing treasure was the only way to insure it,
safety.
It is no wonder, when we consider tina
piracy in thu West Indies flOurished TO
nigh a century, with the lie Grandes and thu
Flints constantly looting ships, sackinE
towns and making off with their gains t.
lonely islands, that the streams of Tortug;
should give up their hidden gold. Who ca
hoy nj hpd in noidOpnar