Olivier Levasseur
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Olivier Levasseur (1688, 1689, or 1690 – 7 July 1730), was a French
Biography
Born at
After a year of successful looting, the Hornigold party split, Levasseur partnering briefly with
The pirates then sailed further north preying on ships again. Levasseur later reappeared in the Caribbean in June of that year in a smaller vessel that he had managed to steal on his way back from Brazil, but was almost captured by HMS Scarborough under the command of Captain Hume, and fled with much of his valuables to the Caribbean area in a smaller sloop.[2] He later joined his former associates. After William Moody was ejected from command by his disgruntled crew in late 1718, they elected Levasseur as captain in Moody's place.[3] In 1719, he operated together with Howell Davis and Thomas Cocklyn (who had also served under Moody) for a time. In 1720, they attacked the slaver port of Ouidah, Kingdom of Whydah (on the coast of what is now Benin), reducing the local fortress to ruins. Later that year, he was shipwrecked in the Mozambique Channel and stranded on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros. His bad eye had become completely blind by now, so he started wearing an eyepatch.
From 1720 onwards, Levasseur launched his raids from a base on the island of
They then perpetrated one of piracy's greatest exploits: the capture of the Portuguese great galleon Nossa Senhora do Cabo (Our Lady of the Cape) or Virgem Do Cabo (The Virgin of the Cape), which was loaded full of treasures belonging to the
The booty consisted of bars of gold and silver, dozens of boxes full of golden
When the loot was divided, each pirate received at least $50,000 worth of golden Guineas, as well as 42 diamonds each. Seagar died when they sailed to Madagascar to divide their take;[4] Levasseur and Taylor split the remaining gold, silver, and other objects, with Levasseur taking the golden cross.
In 1724, Levasseur sent a negotiator to the governor on the island of Bourbon (present-day Réunion) to discuss an
The treasure
According to legend, when Levasseur stood on the scaffold to be hanged, he wore a necklace containing a cryptogram of 17 lines, which he threw this into the crowd while exclaiming, "Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!"[6] The necklace has been lost, but treasure hunters have since tried to decode the cryptogram, hoping its solution will lead to a treasure.
In 1947, Englishman Reginald Cruise-Wilkins studied the documents, but the cryptogram was more difficult to solve than first believed. Cruise-Wilkins' early writing indicates that the code may be based on
Until his death at Réunion, Cruise-Wilkins sought and dug in the island of Mahé. In a cave, except for old guns, coins, and pirate
Transcription of the cryptogram
[ 1] - aprè jmez une paire de pijon tiresket [ 2] - 2 doeurs sqeseaj tête cheral funekort [ 3] - filttinshientecu prenez une cullière [ 4] - de mielle ef ovtre fous en faites une ongat [ 5] - mettez sur ke patai de la pertotitousn [ 6] - vpulezolvs prenez 2 let cassé sur le che [ 7] - min il faut qoe ut toit a noitie couue [ 8] - povr en pecger une femme dhrengt vous n ave [ 9] - eua vous serer la dobaucfea et pour ve [10] - ngraai et por epingle oueiuileturlor [11] - eiljn our la ire piter un chien tupqun [12] - lenen de la mer de bien tecjeet sur ru [13] - nvovl en quilnise iudf kuue femm rq [14] - i veut se faire dun hmetsedete s/u dre [15] - dans duui ooun dormir un homm r [16] - esscfvmm / pl faut n rendre udlq [17] - u un diffur qecieefurtetlesl
Veracity of the cryptogram
The cipher was first mentioned in the 1934 book Le Flibustier mysterieux: Histoire d’un trésor caché by Charles de La Roncière.[8] No mention of Levasseur's supposed cryptogram, his necklace, or his gallows speech occurs in period sources. Modern historians of piracy regard the legend as a 20th century fiction.[9]
Popular culture
- Basil Rathbone plays Levasseur in the 1935 Errol Flynn film Captain Blood.
- The story of Levasseur's treasure was featured in the comic book series coco de mer. This coconut was sold in Belgium in 1988 to the heroes of the series, and they went on to discover the medallion and finally the treasure.
- The 28th episode of Redbeard features the fictitious daughter of the historical pirate Olivier Levasseur.
- In the Japanese Gol D. Roger, who, much like Levasseur, during his public execution dared the assembled people to find his hidden treasure called "One Piece", assuring them that he had left everything he owned in one place.
- In the mobile game Assassin's Creed: Pirates, the Templar-fronted corporation Abstergo Industries wants to find La Buse's treasure. To this end, they hire the player, a genetic memory researcher, to delve into the memories of the pirate Alonzo Batilla, whom La Buse befriended before becoming a legend. His treasure contains a Piece of Eden, one of numerous artifacts left behind by the First Civilization, humanity's precursors.
- The travel book William Dalrympledevotes a chapter to Levasseur and the people's local belief in the spiritual power associated with his grave in Saint-Denis.
- The Amazon Prime Video series The Grand Tour features La Buse's treasure in season 4 episode 2 "A Massive Hunt". The episode ends with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May failing to find the treasure - but discovering the Holy Grail instead, to their disappointment.[10]
See also
Sources
- Treasure Islands, Cameron platt & John Wright, London, O'Mara books, 1992. ISBN 90-6564-201-3
- Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, fiction, and Legend, Jan Rogozinski, New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X
- Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates, Don Carlos Seitz, Mineola, NY: Courier Dover Publications, 2002. ISBN 0-486-42131-7
- Erik A. Dresen, Paragon Island, Ventura Verlag (2015), ISBN 978-3-940853-28-8.
- (in French) http://www.pirates-corsaires.com/levasseur-la-buse.htm
- Nelson, Laura "Samuel Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur – Two Pirates Just Kickin' Around the Caribbean" in Pirates and Privateers http://www.cindyvallar.com/BellamyLevasseur.html
References
- ^ "Olivier Levasseur". goldenageofpiracy.org. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-64826-767-3.
- ^ Grey, Charles (1933). Pirates of the eastern seas (1618-1723): a lurid page of history. London: S. Low, Marston & co., ltd. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781291943993. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0547415758.
- ISBN 978-1-4998-6128-0. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- ^ 'One Man's Search for Buried Treasure' by Jean-Marc Mojon (Agence France-Presse) in The Jakarta Globe of 14 December 2009, Features C3
- ^ "La Buse Cryptogram". The Cipher Foundation. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ISBN 9780191668654. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
- ^ "A massive Hunt", The Grand Tour:
- Hammond: "There's something there!"
- Clarkson: "What's that?"
- May: "What is it?"
- Hammond: "I think it's the Holy Grail."
- May: "Oh cock."
- Clarkson: "And on that terrible disappointment, it's time to end."
External links
- (in French) Biography of Olivier Levasseur