Evening star., 1932-06-19

exactly where vast trOVeS OF pirates
gold may be found.
The rusty tunnels and salty topsails of their
ships have peeped above every horizon on
every sea. Some of these treasure seekers have
never seen the spot where the treasure OF their
dreams lies buried. Others have sWeated and
scratched dug and delved on Clipperton Island
and in the Galapagos, where Davis and DAM
pier rested and hid their booty. Their picks
and shovels have rung the rocks of Trinidad
in the South Atlantic, where thousands OF dol
lars worth Of plate and jewels taken from the
great galleons of the Lima plate fleet are hid
den Almost everywhere, according to their
tales vast treasure is to be had for the finding.
Tobermory Bay, in the north of the Island
of Null, off the West coast Of Scotland, each
Summer sees regularly renewed dredging and
scraping of the seabed for the lost treasure OF
the armada galleon Florencia. Vigo Bay still
holds the treasure of the Vigo plate feet while
the Indian and Chinese Oceans full OF
legends of lost riches and buried boards.
But 400 miles off the coast of Colombia.
South America, lies Cocos. the most romantic
island in the world-a tiny speck of land,
lonely, uninhabited, set like a green jewel in
the blue vastness of the Southern Pacific. And
there, the tales say, lies of the greatest
treasures of them all. Cocos has known battle,
murCer and shipwreck piracy and plotting. 1t
saw the rise and fall of the Inca civilization.
1t saw the sails of almost the first white mans
ship that ever entered the Pacific. 1t saw the
early buccaneers in their high-pooped, painted
caracks and caravals, and it knew the agony
of blood and murder which those old brigandS
of the sea brought in their train Cocos saw
many of these highwaymen o: the come
and 60 1t shared their darkest secrets it hid
their stolen treasures-and if there is any truth
in the tales that yet are told, it hides them still.
Cocos has seen expedition after expedition
in search of those hidden treasures land
its shores Ship after ship has anchored in
its tiny bays. Boatload after boatload Of picks
and shovels and dynamite, of tents and food
and guns has been landed in its surf. Its hill
sides SCARED with the pits, holes and
trenches dug by successive generations of treas
ure hunters. And here and there you will find
the graves or the bleached bones of men who
have lost in their quest or who have been slain
by rivals in the fascinating search.
1t is a small island about six miles long
and not quite as wide, and it rises from the
sea, a green mountainous steep. crowned by
twin peaks and walled by ramparts of unscal-
able rock And somewhere deep among the
man-high grasses that cover the hillsides like
jungle lie three treasures of gold and silver,
jewels and plate, images and weapons, which
are said to be the richest and best authenti-
Gated pirates treasures in the world. Together
they said to total a fabulous fortune-some
place it as low as s25 900, 900, others as high
as $75,000000.
The first treasure. is that OF Capt. Edward
Davis a partner with Damper in his pri-
watering adventures; he blockaded the Bay Of
ragua, in 1855. The second is that of Benito
Bonito-"Bonito Of the Bloody Sword" pirate
of the early nineteenth century. The third and
richest of all is the famous treasure of Lima
Cathedral, which was buried on Cocos in 1921
or thereabouts by Capt. Thompson, Scotch
merchant skipper, who turned pirate and joined
Bonito on the high Hidden in cave,
this vast store of loot is said to be guarded
by a ghost and sentineled by life-size images
of the Virgin and the Child. And this was
kI4 tNonc hot vyoYaf TO To
MO white man lives on Cocos. The long
Y Pacific surges cream up its beaches and
thunder in clouds of spray against the ram
parts of it's rocky shores. Thousands Of sea
birds wheel and scream above it. Inland the
peak of Mount Iglesias scars, 1890 feet into
the sky and behind it another peak unnamed
and probably never climbed by any white man.
rises 1880 feet The rest of the island is 200
to 600 feet above sea level.
Two tiny bays on the north side of the island,
separated by bold and lofty headand, are
the only places where boat can land. One
of them is Wafer Bay, named after the buc-
cancer, surgeon, author and companion Of
Dampier whose book is one OF the most fas-
cinating in all the literature of piracy The
other is Chatham Bay. Near the headwaters
of a creek flowing into Chatham Bay the Lima
treasure is supposed to lie.
1t was as the result of chance conversation
that decided to search for the treasure of
Cocos Island. In 1924 went trip to
Madeira, and during the cruise the captain of
the liner told me of pirate treasure buried
on the Salvage ISLANDS. I proposed staying for
a month at Madeira. When that time had
nearly passed and the captains story had al
most been forgotten, an incident occurred which
brought it back to me. A small yacht appeared
in the harbor, and during dinner that night
my friend X. Lee Guinness, the famous racing
motorist came into the hotel
He and several friends their way
back to England aboard the yacht, the Adven-
turess, after trip down the West Coast of
Africa as far as Gambia. I suggested that