Frenchman Olivier Levasseur was one of the most feared pirates of his time. This sea robber robbed merchant ships in the first half of the 18th century. Luck accompanied Levasseur - during his life he devastated the ships of many merchants, and therefore amassed a huge fortune. According to the existing legend, the robber once hid the lion's share of his treasures in a secret place.
Many merchants suffered from the actions of Levasseur, but, like most gentlemen of fortune of that time, he ended his life on the gallows. Before his death, according to legend, the robber allegedly wrote an encrypted note in which he indicated the location of his treasure.
Many treasure seekers have tried to decipher the Levasseur cryptogram over the centuries. However, no one has yet managed to find the treasure of the terrible pirate.
His Majesty's corsair
Olivier Levasseur was born at the end of the 17th century in a wealthy family of French entrepreneurs. As a child, the future robber attended an expensive private school. He later became a naval officer. During the War of the Spanish Succession, Levasseur was instructed by King Louis XIV to become a privateer corsair. This was the name of private individuals in those days who were allowed to rob the enemy's merchant ships using warships.
It is believed that during this activity at sea, Levasseur lost one eye and was subsequently forced to wear a bandage. Some historians believe that it was this robber who later became the prototype for creating the traditional generalized image of the one-eyed pirate.
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Piracy in the Bahamas
After the end of the war, Levasseur continued to plunder at sea without the sanction of Louis, thus becoming an ordinary pirate. It is known that the robber group, of which Olivier was a member, was based at that time in the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence in Nassau.
In early 1716, according to historical documents, Levasseur became captain of the pirate ship Postillion. It is believed that at that time, Olivier worked quite closely with two more famous pirates of that time - Benjamin Hornigold and Samuel Bellamy.
Piracy off the coast of Africa
In 1718, Levasseur suffered a crushing defeat in a skirmish with Captain Francis Hume in the eastern Caribbean. Olivier's ship sank to the bottom along with part of the crew. Levasseur and 60 other pirates managed to escape on a sloop.
Ultimately, the pirates reached the coast of West Africa and decided to continue their pirate activities in the area. Luck was with Levasseur, and eventually he and his crew managed to capture several merchant ships. In 1719, Olivier again became the captain of a pirate ship.
During his activity off the coast of West Africa, Levasseur collaborated with such formidable pirates as Thomas Cocklin, Howell Davis, John Taylor, Edward Ingled. In 1721, together with John Taylor, the robber seized the Portuguese ship "Nossa Senora de Cabo" and became the owner of untold treasures that belonged to the Bishop of Goa and the Viceroy of Portuguese India.
Levasseur landed the most important persons on the island, after taking from them a ransom of $ 2,000. He took the treasures - diamonds, gold coins, silks, rich church utensils - with him.
Execution
Luck accompanied Levasseur off the coast of West Africa, but soon the pirate decided to change the area of activity and relocated to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. It was here that the sea robber was eventually captured and then convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was carried out in Saint-Denis on Reunion Island.
According to legend, standing on a scaffold with a noose around his neck, Levasseur managed to throw a note into the crowd with the words: "Look for my treasures, who can!"
As already mentioned, many people later tried to unravel the pirate's secret code. Some even devoted their entire lives to searching for the treasure of the legendary sea robber. However, the treasures of Levasseur in the following centuries were never given to anyone and are still waiting in the wings in some secret place.
Two notes
The search for the treasure of the formidable pirate of the 18th century is complicated, among other things, by the fact that today there are not one, but two Levasseur's notes, allegedly indicating the location of the treasures. One of these messages in the last century was recognized as a forgery. The encrypted content of the second note became known to the general public in 1934. Then this cryptogram was published in one of the books of the French maritime historian Charles Bourrell de la Ronsiere.
Some researchers later allegedly managed to decipher this message. But at the same time it turned out that the text of the note had nothing to do with either Levasseur or the treasures. Therefore, it is not known whether the second cryptogram is also a fake or whether the cunning pirate on the day of the execution simply decided to play a trick on the crowd.
Useless searches
It is believed that many copies were subsequently made of the note thrown by Levasseur into the crowd. And they went on sea voyages to find the treasures of the robber, dozens of people. According to most treasure hunters, Olivier buried his jewelry and coins somewhere in the Seychelles. After all, it was here that his path as a pirate ended.
At various times, those wishing to find Levasseur's treasures equipped expeditions to Madagascar, Rodriguez, Sainte-Marie, etc. The efforts of none of the treasure hunters were not crowned with success. However, many still continue to believe that the legend of the note thrown into the crowd is true. After all, such actions were quite in the spirit of the pirates of that time. Australian journalist Thomas Atoll, for example, once said: "Olivier Levasseur was a very cunning pirate, and it is impossible to find his treasures by simply picking pebbles on the shore."
Stone map
One of the most active seekers of Levasseur's treasure in the last century was William Loring Esperance Becherel. According to this researcher, his father once informed him about the whereabouts of the 18th century pirate's treasure. On one of the islands, William carried out a real large-scale excavation and discovered a large stone structure underground, actually built by pirates.
Unfortunately, in the underground catacombs, William found only the skeleton of a man. There were no treasures inside the structure. However, Becherel did not despair, deciding that the structures are part of Levasseur's puzzle and represent a kind of stone map. The skeleton he found, according to William, is the remains of a slave who helped to hide the treasure. When the treasures were buried, this man was killed, since Levasseur did not need any extra witnesses.
Wanting to find the treasure, Becherel hired ten people with jackhammers, bought powerful pumps and dynamite, and stocked up on electric motors. William spent about £ 450 a month looking for it. The work of the treasure hunter was followed by several world media outlets. However, Besherel's efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Levasseur's treasure, the total value of which, according to William, is at least £ 20 million, has never been found.
Syndicate
Another famous Levasseur treasure hunter is Reginald Herbert Cruise-Wilkins. For 20 years of searching for pirate money, he spent more than 10 thousand pounds of his own savings and 24 thousand pounds - members of the syndicate he created. He was looking for the treasure of Levasseur Wilkins on the main island of the Seychelles archipelago, in the town of Bel Ombr.
During his tenure, Reginald dug up a stone staircase that once led to a cave. But over the centuries that have passed since Levasseur's execution, the rock seems to have settled. Perhaps the entrance to the treasure cave was blocked in some way by the pirate's people themselves. In any case, Reginaldo ultimately failed to find the dungeons that became the storage place for the chests with gold and diamonds of the famous robber.
Lazko Natalia