Treasure of Gasparilla Island?

According to Florida folklore, Gasparilla Island gets its name from the legendary pirate captain José Gaspar ("Gasparilla", c. 1756 – 1821), who had his base on the island and purportedly hid his fabulous treasure there. Much of the development of this legend is the result of promotion by a local hotel and railroad line. The folklore account does not appear in writing until about 1900, when it was included in an advertising brochure for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad company. This brochure was given to the guests of the Boca Grande Hotel. It mentions that Gaspar's massive treasure, hidden somewhere on the island, had never been found. The version of the Gasparilla story told in the pamphlet influenced all later accounts, but is likely apocryphal.

That being said I doubt if there is are ever was any treasure buried by Gasparilla in the area.

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Seldom, Probably not but I'd like to go down there and poke around for myself. gambol

I think most of the islands off Florida coast have some legend of pirate treasure associated with them. but most gold to be found there is "litteral" gold and was lost by the Sanish due to shipwreck and That coast was washed with Inca gold and Peruvean silver for a century during the spanish conquest. About 1564 the French and the English got interested in spanish gold and sent their "freebooters" to the gulf to raid the spanish ships. These pirates worked for the French and English government and were supposed to send part of the treasure back to the crown which they rarely did and they often became free agents. The Florida Indians got their hands on gold easily as they encountered the spaniards from the treasure ships blown on shore by hurricanes. They came to value it , wore it as ornaments and traded it back to the spaniards for trinkets when the spaniards came ashore. They also buried it with their dead. We have at least one detectorist here who claims to have found gold buried in indian mounds. (not me)

Only thing is it is hot as he!! down here right now. I was out for an hour today and my sweatband was saturated. Tomorrow I'm going out early but I won't get in more than 2 or 3 hours before I retire from the heat. In Florida, two things interrupt detecting more than anything else. Heat and rain.

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How hot does it typically get where you live gambol?  Is it a nice dry heat or that horrid humid stuff?  I could handle dry heat, but it gets humid up here and I get so miserable...

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Nothing helps better that a positive attitude 

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Diver06, you got my attention now. Do you mean Lettuce Lake in north Tampa? That lettuce lake is an oxbow of the Hillsborough River and it was recorded by the spaniards they came up the Hillsborough in 1756 looking for timber for the masts of ships. They named the place where they stopped "The pines of St Teresa" and erected a cross there. The park I was in today where I was MD. has a plack to that effect.

If I can find a picture compression program I'll attach a photo.

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