Hello All
One thing I have learned many years researching treasure legends is to question everything of the story and try to get at the oldest source of the story.
CS I am interested in what archaic words you come up with. Luc may be assistance old French words.
There might been a chance to find some very old travel journals to India that might mention the fiery cross of India and the cathedral in Goa?
Here is more information about Cathedral at Goa.
The "general gazetteer or compendious geographical dictionary By Richard Brookes 1816" states that the fine church buildings in Goa was poorly furnished But his description GOA had already by 1816 at least seem better days.
Goa is a small state on India's west coast. Run by Portugal for about 450 years until annexed by India in 1961, Goa is by far the wealthiest place in India, boasting a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the rest of the country.
Facts about the supposed Fiery Cross of Goa, however, are pretty thin on the ground.
This cross was alleged in some accounts to be seven feet tall, encrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. It was so heavy that three men were needed to carry it. The haul was divided amongst the pirate crew but Levasseur kept the golden cross. He allegedly had a house in the Northwest Seychelles (at Bel Ombre) and there he buried the cross before he was captured by the French a few years later, tried and sentenced to death.
By the Middle Ages, the Church had amassed a great deal of wealth so it is quite plausible that a substantial shipment of gold was sent from Goa to Lisbon.
What is surprising, however, is that there is no mention of any fabulous diamond encrusted solid gold cross in historical inventories of the cathedral or anywhere else. The Fiery Cross of Goa didn't seem to exist before this story which first appeared in 1948.
Gold was, and is, a useful currency. But currency is only useful if it can be traded. Gold is heavy (nearly twice as heavy as lead and nearly 20 times heavier than water) but can be traded relatively easily if the gold bars are a reasonable size. It makes no sense to convert such large tangible assets into something that is too cumbersome to trade with.
How cumbersome? Some accounts say the cross was seven feet high (213.36cm). Seven is a lucky number that adds to the mystique of this cross, but the reality is different.
If we assume the typical ratio of a cross, the horizontal arm for a 2m high cross would be about 1.5m. A reasonable width and thickness would be perhaps 25cm x 25cm giving a total volume of 218,750 cm3. That would weigh 4,226kg (9,317lb).
A four-ton cross carried by just three men?
So we have a story that mentions a cross that there is no historical record of it. You can see for yourself the fine building the cathedral was.Certainly it is not impossible treasure was captured from the Cathedral of Goa?
But not the alleged Fiery cross with imposable claimed dimensions. Perhaps that was an invention of imaginative 20th century writers coloring up the story?
Sadly no rubies for us.
Another question keeps bugging me. There was a claim that a document was found also in 1948 of land ownership in the name of Olivier de Vasseur at Bel Ombre. Why would a pirate use his own name to buy land on a French Island when he was wanted by the French and in Hiding from them?
A few points to consider?
Hardluck
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