From the mid-1600s into the 1700s, piracy in the Caribbean Sea and throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans flourished, partly due to considerable political unrest in Europe. As a result of this tumultuous political backdrop, some disreputable pirates took the opportunity to make a name for themselves. With his keen interest in the history of piracy, experienced deckhand Oliver Mills-Nanyn will be well aware that one of the most infamous of these plunderers was Olivier Levasseur.
The embedded PDF takes a closer look at the Golden Age of Piracy.
Respectable Roots
Olivier Levasseur was born in Calais in 1688. He embarked on a successful career in the navy, before raiding enemy ships as a privateer on behalf of the French government during the War of Spanish Succession. Seeing the fruits of his labours, he chose to abandon the government and turn his hand to plundering for his own ends, amassing vast riches along the way.
Having partnered with other infamous pirates of the age such as Edward England, Henry Jennings and Samuel Bellamy, he struck out on his own and tormented the West African coast. His most famous capture was that of the Portuguese ship Nossa Senhora do Cabo, which yielded a fortune including gold, silver and precious stones.
Retirement and Capture
Having accumulated such riches, Olivier Levasseur tried to negotiate an amnesty with the French government. In response to their demand to surrender the treasure, he allegedly buried it in the Seychelles. He was subsequently captured and hanged in July 1730.
During his execution, he allegedly threw a small piece of cloth or parchment to the spectators and challenged them to find his treasure. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a cryptogram pointing to the Bel Ombre beach on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles.
A Quest to Find the Treasure
Between 1913 and 1923, the beach at Bel Ombre was dug up by the Savy family that came into possession of the cryptogram. It did not yield any results, but a treasure-hunter named Reginald Cruise-Wilkins dedicated his life to locating the treasure site and believed that he had made significant progress in linking the cryptogram to Greek mythology.
To this day, Reginald’s son John continues to search the beach, although he is restricted by limits on where he can dig. It is also difficult to be certain whether the treasure truly exists, as Levasseur was rumoured to be unreliable. However, the legendary status of the haul means that treasure-hunters are unlikely to ever give up on their quest.
