Centuries ago, numerous islands in the Indian Ocean served as a haven for merciless pirates. "Gentlemen of Fortune" used their secluded bays for repairing ships and resting, and deep caves in the rocks, secret pits in impassable thickets served as excellent safes for looted wealth.
Levasseur's luck
Whether pirate treasures are stored on these pieces of land or not, it is difficult to say for sure, but each island is shrouded in one or more chilling legends telling about mysterious maps leading to countless treasures, mysterious tunnels guarded by magical signs, decaying corpses of adventurers and more. mysticism.
One of these legends has been driving treasure hunters crazy for many years. We are talking about the treasures of the famous pirate Olivier Levasseur, nicknamed "The Vulture", who for two decades kept sea travelers and merchants at bay for two decades. Historians claim that this filibuster, who at one time seized the Portuguese ship "Vierges du Cap", got untold wealth.
On April 13, 1721, Levasseur and his team, scouring the ocean in search of prey, stumbled upon the Vierges du Cap, pretty battered by a storm. The crew of the seventy-gun ship was unable to resist the corsairs - after the weathered storm, people fell from their feet, and most of the guns were sent overboard to keep the huge ship afloat at least a little. Almost without a fight, seizing the ship and tying up the crew, the pirates rushed into the holds.
Even a superficial estimate of production exceeded all expectations. For Levasseur and his people, the dream of any filibuster came true - the Vierges du Cap turned out to be a real treasure. Such noble persons as the Viceroy of India Count di Ericeira and the Archbishop of the Portuguese possessions of Goa traveled on the ship. Such high-ranking persons, going to Europe, took with them almost all their fortune. Chests of gold, barrels filled with diamonds, priceless church utensils, among them - a golden cross taller than a human being, strewn with pearls. And all this went to a handful of rootless ragamuffins. The size of the loot is evidenced by the fact that in the division, the share of one simple pirate was five thousand golden guineas and forty-two diamonds. Levasseur, according to the testimony of his accomplices,at the expense of his captain's share, he took all the church accessories of the archbishop and hid them somewhere in the Seychelles.
Caught in 1730, Olivier Levasseur, already standing under the gallows with a noose around his neck, according to legend, threw two or three pieces of parchment covered with mysterious signs and various drawings into the crowd, shouting: "Look for my treasures, who can!"
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Antique parchment
One hundred million pounds sterling will turn anyone's head. This is the amount that the most optimistic treasure hunters estimate Levasseur's treasure. Against their numerous background, perhaps the most striking victim of the search fever is still considered the former British officer Reginald Herbert Cruise-Wilkins.
In 1948, Reginald Cruise-Wilkins, without a second thought, arrived on Mahe Island, the main island in the Seychelles archipelago. He expected to rest there for three weeks, to heal old wounds. But fate decreed otherwise. The ship on which the Englishman was supposed to return home was delayed for three whole months.
Whiling away the time in the port taverns, Cruise-Wilkins became close friends with an unknown Norwegian, a former whaler who had been carrying around for decades a mysterious cryptogram, allegedly a copy of one of Levasseur's famous suicide messages, unsuccessfully trying to decipher information hidden in incomprehensible images.
It should be noted here that such copies are not at all an artifact. Every self-respecting treasure hunter has a complete set of pirate maps and ship's logs, carefully redrawn from archival sources. True, skeptics question most of these sources, as well as all kinds of transcripts of pirated records.
Studying Levasseur's parchments, many note that the famous corsair, in order to be able to create such complex cryptograms, had to have remarkable knowledge in the field of ancient history, astronomy and other sciences. But that's not the point. With the permission of the Norwegian Reginald redrawn mysterious signs for himself and … forever plunged into the search for the famous treasure.
Optimist Syndicate
Quickly realizing that he couldn't do it alone, Reginald got along with an enthusiastic French couple. For more than a year, the spouses have been unsuccessfully digging the ground of the island with a shovel, but they could only find a couple of old coffins and the bones of some poor fellow decayed in the sand. Despite such pitiful results, the French did not abandon their search. Imbued with confidence in the retired officer, the couple showed him many letters and other documents of that era, unequivocally leading to the coveted gold. After reviewing these documents, Reginald decided to start the business on a grand scale. With all his money, plus the remaining savings of new acquaintances, he organized a syndicate to search for Levasseur's treasures. Then he hired workers and began a large-scale excavation on the island, where the map indicated.
Soon from under the shovels of the workers appeared a rough stone staircase leading down, which was mentioned in one of the documents. Moreover, on the steps of the stairs, excited treasure hunters saw drawings similar to those on Levasseur's parchment. The workers continued to dig step by step, but then Reginald and the company were in for the first surprise: instead of leading to a cave filled up, according to the map, the ladder rested against a blank rock.
There was no rock on the map. Perhaps she appeared here as a result of an earthquake, and perhaps a cunning pirate blocked the path to his wealth in such a complex way, is unknown. However, despite the obstacle that arose, the members of the syndicate were already so confident in the proximity of the treasures that it was decided to remove the rock from the path in any way. For several weeks the workers hammered, blew up and turned over the fragments of the boulders, the money melted before our eyes, and the longed-for cave did not appear. During one of the explosions, Reginald was nearly blown off his head by a piece of rock, but this incident did not cool his ardor.
Happiness is near
Finally, the treasure hunters were rewarded for their patience - under the exploded stones, a mysterious staircase with drawings was again revealed. Upon learning of the find, many less successful treasure hunters expressed a desire to join the syndicate, contributing the corresponding share. Reginald did not refuse anyone - the money was still needed. Moreover, a few weeks later the work of the seekers was waiting for a new attack - the diggers had already rested on the sandy shore, and the fatal steps continued and continued, sinking under the water, apparently, to the very bottom of the ocean.
At an urgent meeting of the syndicate, a decision was made: there is nowhere to retreat, fantastic wealth looms ahead, which means it is necessary to build a dam and drain a huge piece of the coastal zone. All participants were confident that the cave was somewhere out there, below the water level. In it, according to the documents, there are eight coffin-like chests filled with the gold of the viceroy of India and the diamonds of the archbishop, there is also a golden cross …
At the cost of incredible efforts, the searchers built a dam and even partially pumped out the water, but they did not find any cave at the bottom. Reginald asked for more money, quite a bit, because happiness is so close, but they no longer believed him, and those who believed were completely ruined. The syndicate fell apart without reaching its goal.
Twenty years and ten thousand pounds of his own savings were spent by a former British officer in search of Levasseur's treasures. Another twenty-five thousand pounds received from the members of the syndicate went there. And here are all the finds made in two decades: a sword blade, a flintlock pistol, the remains of a musket, a wine jug, several small figurines, a cannon and one coin from the time of Charles I.
Today, visitors to Mahe Island can admire the remains of half-buried concrete walls - Reginald's dam, the only remaining evidence of the most expensive and most unsuccessful treasure expedition.
Konstantin Fedorov