7/30/22 Report - Important Treasure Reference on Buccaneers. Jupiter, Hillsboro and Pompano Treasures. History in Glass.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Alexander Exquemelin's Bucaniers of America

Listing in Sotheby's Auction.

Bucaniers of America, written by Exquemelin in 1678, is often referred to in both academic and popular works as a primary reference.  This is an early edition if fine binding, but you can find English language reprints almost anywhere for very little.  Below is a partial description of one inexpensive modern reprint being sold on Amazon.

The activities of these bands of plundering sea rovers reached a peak in the second half of the seventeenth century, when this remarkable eyewitness account was first published (1678).
Alexander Exquemelin, thought to be a Frenchman who enlisted with the buccaneers for a time, chronicles the bold feats of these raiders as they ravaged shipping and terrorized Caribbean settlements. Exquemelin provides fascinating details of the French presence in Hispaniola (now comprising the island nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) describes the features of that country and its inhabitants, and comments at length on the origin of the buccaneers, vividly recounting their rules of conduct and way of life. These bold plunderers come across as shrewd strategists, crack shots, fine navigators, wild debauchers, and greedy adventurers who frequently engaged in vicious acts of cruelty. Among the figures in his rogues' gallery, none stands out more than the infamous Henry Morgan, whose exploits culminated in the seizure and burning of Panama City.

A bestseller in its own time, The Buccaneers of America will fascinate any modern reader intrigued by piracy and by the often sordid history of European conflicts in the Caribbean and on the Spanish Main.

You may have noticed that the fine edition offered by Sotheby's has a list price of $16,000.  

Fine books can be valuable treasures.  That includes a select few, like this one that should be a familiar reference for anyone interested in nautical treasures of the past.

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Yesterday I mentioned Frank Hudson's book, Lost Treasures of Florida's East Coast, which was published in 1983.  While not a book of the same quality or importance as the above referenced book, it is known by many modern treasure hunters.  

I was interested in comparing what Hudson said about some Florida treasure locations to what I've found from my experiences and personal knowledge of the same areas.  For example, take Jupiter beach.  As you may know, lifeguard Peter Leo looked down and saw a cannon jsut south of Jupiter Inlet while on his morning swim in 1987.  However, well before that treasure coins were being detected on the beach there.  I don't know when the first coins were found there, but I know one fellow (if I correctly recall his name was Stever) who had found a lot of reales collected from that beach before 1987 and there were undoubtedly others.  I previously told the story of how a jar full of reales was stolen from the trunk of his car while he detected the beach.  Take that as a warning.

Illustration From Frank Hudson's
Lost Treasures of Florida's East Coast (published 1983).

Hudson wrote about five treasures in the Jupiter Inlet area, but in his 1983 publication, he did not mention anything about the wreck offshore or beach as a good coin producing beach.  He did point out (1) buried gold bars, (2) an iron bound chest, (3) buried cannons, (4) another iron bound chest, and (5) another iron bound chest, and (6) a lost army pay chest up the river.   It is certainly understandable that he did not refer to the wreck since its location was not well known prior to Leo's discovery.

Hudson's discussion of the Hillsboro Inlet was similar.  He mostly referred to iron bound chests in that area.  He didn't mention the silver coins on the lighthouse property.  I don't  know if he didn't know about them or didn't mention them because they were on inaccessible government property.  Probably the first.  I know of detectorists who were handcuffed and removed from that property by law enforcement.  At least one of them is now deceased.

Some silver shipwreck coins were also found on nearby Pompano Beach.  They are probably from the same source.  They aren't mentioned by Hudson either, but as far as I know, they are not real common, so that is understandable too.  

You might not find the buried chests or bars, but the areas mentioned by Hudson are still good places to metal detect when the conditions are right.  Interesting shipwreck spikes and other artifacts have been found farther south of the Pompano inlet, but I don't know if there is any relationship.

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Shard of Green Glass Found a Couple Days Ago.

With the DIA and E PINKHAM showing on the shard, I immediately knew it was LYDIA E PINHAM, but the second line of embossing would read VEGETABLE COMPOUND.  I must have found another bottle with that embossing, otherwise I doubt I would have recognized the name, although it is remotely possible that I remembered it from general reading.  I'll have to look through my bottles to see if I have a whole one with the same embossing.

This is an interesting find relevant to medical history, folk cures and gender issues.  Here is a bit of that history.

First marketed in the US 1875, Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was an herbal medicine used by women to relieve menstrual discomfort and menopausal symptoms in women. The herbal compound was invented by Lydia Estes Pinkham in 1873 in her home kitchen in Lynn, Massachusetts. Pinkham created the compound by mixing alcohol with roots and herbs. The compound was patented, packaged, and distributed by the Mrs. Lydia Pinkham Medicine Company in 1876. The Mrs. Lydia Pinkham Medicine Company advertised the compound in many US newspapers and magazines, causing Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound to become a household name and making treatments for female reproductive discomfort mainstream in the US...

Caution; the following paragraph contains language that might be considered inappropriate for the 19th century male reader or those of similar sensibilities.

Pinkham created her vegetable compound using a mixture of roots and herbs that grew wildly in North America. The original recipe, created by Pinkham on her home kitchen stove, contained black cohosh, life root, unicorn root, pleurisy root, and fenugreek seed. The unicorn root allegedly gave energy to the uterus and lessened the likelihood of miscarriage. The pleurisy root allegedly helped cure prolapsed uteri, which occur when uterine tissues drop into the vaginal canal. Black cohosh allegedly treated symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, and to have sedative and anti-inflammatory properties that treated menstrual cramping. Pinkham purchased her ingredients from local suppliers, and after steeping and macerating the plants, combined them in cloth bags and allowed the mixture to percolate. She added alcohol to her compound to preserve the mixture, filtering it through an additional cloth before bottling the compound for sale...

There are a few words there that have never been used in this blog before.

Here is the link for a great article on the topic.

Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound (1873-1906) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (asu.edu)

That is another circa 1900 bottle having a Massachusetts source.

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The long hot summer continues without any significant changes.  Nothing on the NHC map and no great surf or tides.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net