José Gaspar
José Gaspar, also known by his nickname Gasparilla (supposedly lived c. 1756 – 1821), is a fictional Spanish pirate who terrorized the
While Gaspar is a popular figure in Florida folklore, there is no evidence that he existed.
José Gaspar's legend is celebrated in Tampa, Florida during the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which was first held in 1904.
Legend
The story of José Gaspar's life and career vary in different tellings, especially regarding his origin. Most agree that Gaspar was born in Spain about 1756, served in the Spanish Navy until turning to piracy about 1783, and met his end in southwest Florida during a battle against the United States Navy in late 1821. However, the retellings differ greatly in the details.[6]
Early years
In some versions of the story, Gaspar began life as a poverty-stricken Spanish youth who kidnapped a young girl for ransom. Captured and given a choice between prison and joining the navy, he chose to go to sea, where he served with distinction for several years before leading a mutiny against a tyrannical captain and fleeing to Florida with a stolen ship.[7][3]
Other versions of the story state that Gaspar was a nobleman who achieved a high rank in the
In still other versions, Gaspar was a brilliant Spanish admiral of questionable character who succeeded in stealing the crown jewels. When his theft was discovered, he seized the "prize vessel of the Spanish fleet" with a group of loyal followers and abandoned his wife and children to flee across the Atlantic Ocean.[1][8]
Piratical career
In all versions, the renegade settled along the virtually uninhabited southwest coast of
Different versions of Gaspar's legend relate to various episodes in his piratical career. One of the most famous involves a Spanish princess (or
Similarly,
Gaspar has been associated with various other pirates, both historical and not. Some versions of Gaspar's story claim that he often partnered with the real pirate Pierre Lafitte and that Lafitte barely escaped the battle in which Gaspar was killed.[9] This is unlikely, as there is no record of Lafitte spending time on the southwest Florida coast, and he died in Mexico before Gaspar's supposed demise.[10] Gaspar has also been associated with Henri Caesar and "Old King John", other semi-legendary pirates for whom there is little to no historical evidence.[7][3][11]
Demise
Most versions of the legend agree that José Gaspar met his end in late 1821, soon after Spain transferred control of the Florida Territory to the United States.[12] Gaspar had decided to retire after almost four decades of pirating, and he and his crew gathered on Gasparilla Island to split the enormous treasure cache he'd collected over his long career.
During the distribution process, a lookout spotted what appeared to be a vulnerable British merchant ship sailing nearby. Gaspar could not resist taking one last prize, so he led his crew aboard the Floriblanca to pursue their prey; however, when the pirates fired a warning shot, their intended victim raised an
Plausibility
Historical context
Though his story has been retold in many forms since its first appearance around 1900, there is no evidence that the pirate José Gaspar existed. The period in which he was supposedly active was well after the "
While scattered seaborne attacks by privateers and pirates were a continuing nuisance when Gaspar supposedly arrived at Charlotte Harbor in the 1780s, the navies of Britain, France, Spain, and the newly independent United States were actively patrolling nearby waters, making it improbable that any pirate could successfully harass shipping for decades at the enormous scale claimed by most accounts of Jose Gaspar.[13][3] The original published Gasparilla story and many subsequent tales claim that the pirate had amassed about $30 million in stolen booty by the time of his death in 1821. To put that figure in context, Spain transferred the entire Florida territory to the United States for $5 million that same year.[1][14]
There is little evidence that pirates of any era based their operations in southwest Florida. The vast majority of loot taken by real-life pirates consisted not of Aztec gold or Inca silver plundered from massive
Archival evidence
Several historians and other interested parties have attempted to find records proving Gaspar's existence but have failed. However, the original version of the story claims that he stole the "crown jewels" of Spain and then fled with the "prized vessel" of the Spanish fleet; research in Spanish archives has turned up no mention of Gaspar's presence in the royal court, his career in the Spanish navy, or his spectacular crimes.
Local place names
There is no evidence to support the claim that several local place names in southwest Florida originated with Gaspar, as many appeared on maps drawn long before his supposed arrival in the 1780s. "Gasparilla Island" appears on Spanish and English maps made in the early 1700s, and contemporary documents suggest that the
Physical evidence
Gasparilla Island is a narrow barrier island on the northern side of the mouth of Charlotte Harbor that is about 7 miles (11 km) long and less than 1 mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point.[16] The various versions of the Gaspar legend claim that he constructed a "regal" home base there, with the initially written account claiming that his hideout consisted of over a dozen buildings plus a tall watchtower perched atop an "ancient Indian mound filled with gold and the bleached bones of his victims".[9][17] However, no physical evidence has ever been found to support these claims.
Gasparilla Island became an active shipping point soon after
Over the years, the persistent belief that Gaspar was real has led to unsubstantiated rumors about mysterious maps and caches of gold coins, prompting professional and amateur treasure hunters to search for his lost loot across southwest Florida. But while there has been no documented recovery of any part of his treasure or the remains of his many alleged victims, unauthorized gold seekers have repeatedly disrupted archeological sites, often in violation of Florida law. [5][19] As explained by the Boca Grande Historical Society, Calusa and other Native American sites in the Charlotte Harbor region have suffered "unimaginable damage" at the hands of "looters in search of a non-pirate's non-treasure."[20][21][22]
Sources of the legend
The origin of the Gaspar legend is still being determined. Local folklore about an earlier age featuring the native Calusa people, Spanish explorers, and pirates developed in southwest Florida in the late 1880s as small settlements in the area grew into towns. At the time, the undeveloped Ten Thousand Islands to the south were a refuge for isolated pioneers and real-life outlaws, though these were land-based criminals in hiding, not sea-going buccaneers.[23][24][25]
Local folklore was spread informally, and little written documentation of these stories survives. In the early decades of the 20th century, some pirate tales coalesced into the legend of Jose Gaspar, who was obscure even in the Charlotte Harbor area but who would soon become much better known further north along Florida's Gulf coast.[24]
John Gómez
John Gómez (also known as Juan Gómez and Panther John) was a real person who became entangled with the legend of José Gaspar. In the late 1800s, Gómez lived in a shack with his wife on otherwise uninhabited Panther Key, a small spit of land near
Gómez's uncertain birth was said to be just the beginning of an exceedingly long and adventure-filled life. He claimed to have seen
Between his propensity for telling entertaining stories and his real skills as a boat pilot and
Since then, many elaborate and often conflicting stories have been told regarding Gómez's alleged exploits alongside José Gaspar. Some claim that Gómez was the pirate's cabin boy, others that he was Gaspar's brother-in-law and first mate, and still others that Gómez was Gaspar's first mate. At the same time, his son was a cabin boy. Some even suggest that Gómez was the extraordinarily long-lived José Gaspar himself living under a false name.[3][31] Most versions of the legend also claim that Gómez knew the whereabouts of Gaspar's vast treasure cache, which seems unlikely given that he petitioned the Lee County Commission for a $8 per month stipend due to destitution.[32][27][3][15][26]
Gasparilla Inn Brochure
The first known written account of José Gaspar comes from an early 1900s brochure for the
The cover of the brochure featured a blood-dripping color illustration of Gaspar, and the introduction claimed that the tale of the pirate contained therein was gleaned from stories told by the recently deceased John Gómez, who was described as the longest-lived member of the crew. Several episodes in Gaspar's career first mentioned in the brochure have been repeated and expanded upon in later retellings, including the tale of the "little Spanish princess" and the details of his dramatic demise.
Though the brochure presents its "romantic" history of Gaspar as a well-established truth, it is entirely fictional. Local place names mentioned were established long before the pirate's supposed arrival, and despite lurid tales regarding the uncovering of gold and human remains, no such artifacts or any other physical evidence of Gaspar's "regal" home base, victims, or treasure has ever been found on Gasparilla Island or anywhere else in the Charlotte Harbor area.[3][7][5][19]
In 1949, a retired Pat Lemoyne gave a history lecture at a Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce function in which he cheerfully admitted that his biography of José Gaspar was a "cockeyed lie without a true fact in it" and that he had written the brochure in a dramatic style that "tourists like to hear". He explained that the story had been inspired by John Gómez's tall tales, which Lemoyne had heard second-hand. Lemoyne described Gómez as a "colorful" eccentric who claimed to have been a pirate to sell fake treasure maps to "the gullible" for a "fancy figure".[4]
Piracy in the West Indies and Its Suppression
In 1923, Boston historian Francis B. C. Bradlee received a copy of the Gasparilla Inn brochure from Robert Bradley, then president of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway Company.[33] Assuming that Gasparilla's story was authentic, Bradlee included many details in his book Piracy In The West Indies And Its Suppression without attempting to verify the information.[3] His book repeated claims that a "burying ground" containing the "bleached bones" of Gaspar's many victims had recently been discovered on Gasparilla Island, that a tall "burial mound" built by a "prehistoric race" had been excavated and found to be full of gold and silver artifacts along with "hundreds of human skeletons", and that a dying John Gómez had confessed to witnessing the murder of the "Little Spanish princess" and sketched a map that led searchers to her body.[34] However, none of these claims were true, as no treasure, murder victims, or other physical trace of Gaspar's exploits has ever been found in the area, and John Gómez drowned while fishing alone, making a deathbed confession impossible.[3][19][26]
Despite his obvious lack of fact-checking, Bradlee's book was used as a source for later works such as Philip Gosse's Pirates' Who's Who and Frederick W. Dau's Florida Old and New, the authors of which also took Gaspar's authenticity for granted. Over the next few decades, several more books about pirates or Florida history erroneously included José Gaspar / Gasparilla as a real historical figure, leading to continuing confusion about his historical authenticity and repeated attempts to find his lost treasure.[3][19][7][5]
Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG)
In 1904, officials in Tampa decided to enliven the city's
In 2004, YMKG published a new centennial history of the organization. This document recounts the Gasparilla legend first published in 1936 but adds a coda that concedes that scholarly research conducted in both Spanish and American archives has yet to uncover any evidence of Gaspar's existence. The history concludes with this statement:
Whether Gasparilla, the pirate, actually existed or not is a moot point. The legend exists, and that's what matters. The story of Gasparilla and his pirates has lent a certain flair of mystery and adventure to Florida's West Coast since the late 1800s. And on that legend, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla was founded 100 years ago.[17]
"The Gasparilla Story"
In 1949,
Beater published several additional books about southwest Florida; some marketed as fiction, some as non-fiction, and some as guidebooks for tourists, all including tongue-in-cheek dramatic tales about Gaspar and other pirates. His works and the writings of other local authors with similar themes expanded the story of Gaspar further while also sowing confusion about the integrity of the legend.[3]
"The Hand of Gasparilla"
In the 1930s, construction worker Ernesto Lopez showed his family a mysterious box he claimed to have found while working with a repair crew on the Cass Street Bridge in downtown Tampa. According to family stories, the wooden box contained a pile of Spanish and Portuguese coins, a severed hand wearing a ring engraved with the name "Gaspar", and a "treasure map" indicating that Gaspar's treasure was hidden near the Hillsborough River in Tampa.[37][38]
In 2015, Lopez's great-grandchildren found a box in their late grandfather's attic containing the items Ernesto Lopez found along with his wedding photo. The family brought the box to the attention of a local reporter, whose TV news report on the strange find was picked up by several national and international news outlets.
Legacy
Gasparilla Pirate Festival
In 1904, members of the Tampa business elite staged a surprise pirate "invasion" during the city's previously sedate
Tampa now hosts many community events during its "Gasparilla Season" from approximately January to March. The focal point is still an "invasion" by José Gaspar and his crew, which takes place on the last Saturday in January. Members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, accompanied by a flotilla of hundreds of private boats, sail across
Cultural connections
- Since no one organization controls the names "Gaspar" or "Gasparilla", they are used by many businesses, organizations, and events in the greater Tampa Bay area. Others have names inspired by the mythical pirate, such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League, who began play in 1976.[43] Another sports-related example is the Gasparilla Bowl, a college football bowl game once played in Tropicana Field as the "St. Petersburg Bowl" that changed its name when it moved to Tampa in 2018.[44]
- The legend of Gasparilla has been featured in several television shows and publications. Recent examples include September 2019 episodes of the TV series Expedition Unknown on the Discovery Channel and Code of the Wild on the Travel Channel, both of which followed amateur treasure hunters (unsuccessfully) searching for Gaspar's treasure in the Charlotte Harbor area.[45]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Story of Gasparilla (archived brochure)". Boca Grande Historical Society. Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railroad. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ a b c Danielson, Richard (September 12, 2005). "Gasparilla pirate's life flows from history's spin doctors". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab dAns, André-Marcel (1980). "The Legend of Gasparilla: Myth and History on Florida's West Coast". Tampa Bay History. 2 (2): 5. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ ProQuest 2173997222. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Montgomery, Ben (January 24, 2014). "Chasing Gaspar". The Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ProQuest 2034820974. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Bickel, Karl A. (1942). The Mangrove Coast. Coward McCann, Inc.
- ^ Bradlee, Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1923). Piracy in the West Indies and its suppression. Salem, Mass. : Essex Institute.
- ^ a b c Bradlee, p. 54
- ISBN 0156032597., p. 414
- ^ Bradlee, p. 54-55
- ^ Bradlee, p. 55
- ^ ISBN 081297722X.
- ^ "The U.S. acquires Spanish Florida". History.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c d 1999 Gasparilla Pirate Fest - The Tampa Tribune Archived 2012-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Gasparilla Island Geology, Archaeology, and History". Florida Museum of Natural History. 2 December 2018.
- ^ a b Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (2004). Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla: The First One Hundred Years. Tampa: Hillsboro Publishing.
- ^ "World's Best Tarpon Fishing Spots". Sport Fishing Magazine. 29 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Spata, Christopher (January 17, 2019). "Is Gasparilla's treasure real? We went with these friends to find it". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ "The Legend of Gasparilla (reprint)" (PDF). Boca Grande Historical Society. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
- ^ Kleindienst, Linda (December 27, 1997). "Looters Preying on Florida's Ancient Sites". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
- ^ "Archaeology - Division of Historical Resources - Florida Department of State". dos.myflorida.com.
- ^ McIver, Stuart (May 10, 1998). "Blood on the Water". Orlando Sun Sentinel.
- ^ a b "The legend of Jose Gaspar and the history of Gasparilla". ABC Action News Tampa Bay (WFTS). January 21, 2020.
- ^ "Gladesmen - Everglades National Park". www.nps.gov. National Park Service.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rockwell, C.H. (August 4, 1900). "The Death of John Gomez". Forest and Stream. LV (5). Forest and Stream Publishing Company. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Woodward, Craig (April 9, 2010). "The Legend of the Pirate Gasparilla – the REAL Facts". Coastal Breeze News (Marco Island). Retrieved Aug 1, 2020.
- ^ U.S. Census, Monroe Co., Florida, Supervisor's district 18, enumerator's district 118, page 8, 6 July 1880
- ^ Florida State Census, Monroe county, enumerator's district 7, page 11, 22 June 1885
- ^ U.S. Census, Precinct 7, Lee Co., Florida, 27 June 1900, supervisor's district 2, enumerator district 163, sheet 2
- ^ a b c d Caignet, Carrie (2012). "Demystifying the lives of Panther Key John Gomez: From Pirate to Pilot" (PDF). Florida Maritime.
- ^ Belleville, Bill (11 October 1992). "On the Trail of Gaspar". Orlando Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ Bradlee, p. 52
- ^ Bradley, p. 53, 54
- ^ a b c Hall, Kenneth (19 January 2012). "Seed for Gasparilla was planted in Tribune's old newsroom". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ISBN 0820010197.
- ^ a b Morgan, Philip (April 28, 2015). "Tampa family finds a good pirate story in the attic". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ a b Lambertsen, Kristen (April 28, 2015). "Box found in Tampa attic has coins, a map, a hand and a mystery". WFLA-TV. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ Lewis, Bobby (Apr 29, 2015). "Tampa family finds pirate treasure in grandpa's attic". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ a b Hooper, Ben (April 30, 2015). "Florida family finds 'pirate treasure' in attic". UPI. United Press International. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ "The History of Gasparilla Pirate Fest - Tampa, Florida". Archived from the original on June 7, 2012.
- ^ Gasparillapiratefest.com Archived 2006-05-10 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 3, 2006.
- ^ Awosika, Mary, and Mark Zaloude. "Pirate State (of mind); When bad boys make for good fun: Pirates have shed their villainous image in Florida". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 3 February 2003
- ^ "Bad Boy Mowers Signs on as New Bowl Game Title Sponsor Bowl Game Changes Name to Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl". Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ Spata, Christopher (Sep 9, 2019). "Treasure hunters seeking Gasparilla's gold featured on Discovery and Travel Channel". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- Bradlee, Francis Boardman. Piracy in the West Indies and its Suppression (1923). Essex Institute. Salem, MA. full text at archive.org