"Crazy Ben" Dollivar's secret gold cache

Another little tidbit from Mr. Block that gave me an idea.

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

An exerpt of the above link

Once when Capt. John Marotte and his crew mutinied against the pirate chieftain, Campbell killed Marotte as the latter aimed his pistol at Lafitte. As a reward for his action, Lafitte sent Campbell to Baltimore early in 1819 to supervise the building of a new schooner, which Campbell soon named the Hotspur.

The new privateer was a "hermaphrodite" or topsail schooner, described as having "all wings and no feet." It was square-rigged on the foremast, schooner-rigged on the fore and mainmasts, and it flew a number of jibs and topsails.

The Hotspur mounted six guns, described in Charles Cronea's memoirs as a "long Tom aft, two carronades (short cannons with large bores) on each side, and a bow-chaser on the forecastle. The flag we flew was the Carthegenian colors {revolutionary Republic of Cartegena or Colombia}.

During the fall of 1819, Campbell made two short cruises on the Hotspur and took several Spanish prizes. In Jan., 1820, he loaded the Hotspur with a large cargo of fresh water and provisions, preparatory to a long cruise off the coasts of Tampico and Vera Cruz. He also enlisted into his crew of number of deserters from the French Navy, one of whom was 14-year-old Cronea, the cabin boy, and another was Gustave Duval, who became first mate.

During that last ten-months cruise of the Hotspur, the privateer again captured a number of Spanish prizes. Usually Campbell would remove all valuables, coins and bullion, rum, food, tobacco, and fresh water, before scuttling or burning the prizes. According to Mary Campbell's memoirs, her husband always treated his Spanish captives mercifully and released them ashore when the first land was sighted.

The memoirs of Cronea, the cabin boy, tell much more about that last voyage. He noted:

"Sometimes a Spaniard would show fight, and our gunners would put a round shot into her. Then you should have heard the Spanish yell and holler at us. They always surrendered quickly after that. Many people think we used to cut throats and make those we captured walk the plank, but that is a d----- lie! I never seed (sic) a single man murdered while I was with Campbell....."

Campbell learned from a crewman that his first mate Duval and other Frenchmen planned to murder Campbell and other crewmen, and steal the ship and its load of booty. On the date of the mutiny, the conspirators were on watch before they got drunk on rum. Campbell came on deck, where one Frenchman attacked him with a knife. The captain and others soon quelled the mutiny, killed Duval and the conspirators, but only with the loss of four loyal crew members dead or wounded.

In Nov., 1820, the Hotspur sailed up the Mermentau River in Louisiana to load fresh water, and while docked at Grand Chenier, Cronea, the cabin boy, deserted. While returning to the Gulf of Mexico, the Hotspur became hopelessly grounded on a mudflat.

Campbell and his crew waded ashore, carrying as much food and coins as they could, and they finally made their way back to Galveston aboard a passing sailboat. A month later, they returned to the Mermentau River aboard another privateer, but the wreckage of the Hotspur had disappeared, having apparently broken up or sunk in deeper water.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Could Ben perhaps have found the wreckage of the Hotspur and got his coins from it? Some accounts say he sailed off in a whaleboat to retrieve it. He would have known where to look, and he had the time. Just a thought.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11380.msg76790.html#msg76790

Just got to thinking that Galveston isn't that big and a lot of folks have been looking for Lafitte's gold there over the years I am sure. Just speculating if the treasure was underwater he might have swum down and grabbed a coin or two and leave no trace as you would on land. But even if so now the question would be which wreck and where is it?   

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11380.msg76808.html#msg76808

Back in 1964 a fisherman reported seeing them in the Galveston daily news that set off the locals hunting I can remember my dad renting his boat to a lawyer who know right were they were. He offered my dad 35 dollars a day or 5% of the recovery my dad took the 35 bucks a day. In 1974 and 75 there was a group that did a lot of searching in the area I never heard if they found anything. 

		Quote:			Posted by seldom
	I never thought about that Jones. I did at one time think he was getting gold from the wreak on North Deer Island. I got a friend who has researched Lafitte for 20 years who thinks that several of the crew were getting gold off the Tim Toby wreaked on Virginia Point.

My research shows the name of the ship sunk on Virginia Point as the Tim Toby In Carroll Lewis book Treasures of Galveston Texas he reports it as the Tom Toby. In several news articles from the 1890 it is reported as the Tim Toby but in early accounts it is Tom Toby. Any way it sunk in a storm in Oct. 1837 with a reported $10,000 in gold coins on board. This makes it a little late to be Ben's cache.
 
Just got to thinking that Galveston isn't that big and a lot of folks have been looking for Lafitte's gold there over the years I am sure.

You would think that there would be more going on but there isn't. One group is working on the USS Hatteras sunk during the Civil War. In fact last time I did any research at the library archives replacing info I lost during IKE a lot of stuff had do been requested since I looked at it in the 70's and 80's. Just goes to show that very little new research is going on. To many people are relying on the internet and not during hard core research to prove facts sad but true.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11380.msg76973.html#msg76973

		Quote:			Posted by Idaho Jones
	Seldom thats sad and exciting at the same time. The internet is a great tool, but it's just one tool. It works great to gather clues on who and what to look for when one hits the books, and maybe a document here or there that might be passed over accidently. Using it exclusively is like having a tool box with just a crescent wrench in it.   Very well said IJ but I wish I had a dime for every time some one has said to me but it says on the internet. But its great for how we research, we have people from all walks of life from several country's working on projects that with out the net this would not be happening

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11380.msg76992.html#msg76992

Seldom thats exactly what makes this place great, a multitude of people looking at each problem differently can provide some enlightening ideas. I know I can tend towards developing a paradigm on some cases where someone fresh might look past it and see a clue I didn't. Plus info here comes in much more quickly when a big team concentrates on a story!

BA you are spot on. Using the internet to gather all the legends and clues and names is a perfect use. Then subject all that to a serious fact finding mission in the public records. All too often the internet stories are conglomerations of different legends, memories, heresay, and speculation. Proving out each lead with real data is important, otherwise its a leap of faith and your story might get tacked onto the tale of failed treasure seekers... 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11380.msg77004.html#msg77004