Another instance of his softer side can be found in the account of Ann Jeffries, an English girl traveling from New Orleans to Liverpool. Most, if not all, historians agree the pirate named Jose Gaspar never existed. was reading about Jose Gaspar aka Gasparilla Pirate and one story tells of his friend Roderigo Lopez wanting to leave the Pirate life and Gaspar helped him leave, so it seems Maria Lopez great great grandfather may have been Roderigo. He enjoyed telling stories about his adventures on the high seas and a large amount of Gasparillas treasure that was never discovered. Ill post one a week Treasure Tuesdaysthis that lame? Tales of pirate treasures are very difficult to substantiate due to many factors. A Tampa, Florida family going through their grandparent's attic made an interesting discovery: a treasure map, some coins, and an old human hand! ", "Jose Gaspar, from my understanding, was a name that was made up by Ye Mystic Krewe, which they tied to Gasparilla, which was tied to the railroad pamphlet that you're talking about, which that is not real. Once he was a few hundred meters away, the British flag came down and the American flag rose up the mast. It is said that he buried a multitude of treasure along the Pamlico Sound and on Bluff Point. The Search for Florida's Lost Pirate: With Josh Gates, Shamus Warren, Rodney Kite-Powell, Michael Gattuso. Box allegedly containing Gaspars hand and related items Photo Credit. Instead, he pursued a merchant ship and insisted that it convey Batista and Ann Jeffries to England and that its captain marry them on board after they were out of sight of his ship, the Jose Gasparilla II. So that's why we believe that it was Juan Gomez. So it is a huge, huge draw for people to come to Tampa.". Tampans have embraced Gasparilla for more than a century, whether or not the pirate Jose Gaspar ever came to town It's a huge juxtaposition from the quiet of the Touchton Map Library at the. The first recorded reference of Jos Gaspar was in fact over 100 years after his supposed career, in a short biography included in an early 1900s promotional brochure for the Gasparilla Inn on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte Harbor. Some records give him the honor of being what we would call an admiral. After sustaining heavy damage, the famed Spanish pirate tied himself to his anchor and leaped to his watery death apparently not wanting to be killed at the hands of the enemy. His sister found a box in their grandfather's attic in Tampa, Fla., a few weeks ago while doing some spring cleaning. He found a hillside where he buried 2 pirate chests filled with valuable metals and jewels. New Castle Island in Delaware is said to house treasure hidden by pirates from Madagascar in 1699. Or show us love by sharing articles and leaving great comments. Despite his brutal reputation, Gasparilla was supposed to have a soft side as well. If we find that buried treasure together, we can split the booty among all of our readers and we never have to work again. We've been chasing his treasures. Indian River Shores, Florida A trove of Spanish coins dating back to a 1715 shipwreck during a storm have been found along a beach in Florida. The family thinks the hand belongs to famous Tampa Bay pirate Jose Gaspar. All of it is built around the story of Gaspar. "Either my great-grandfather made the best, most elaborate pirate hoax ever and never shared it with anyone or he really did find some treasure on the Hillsborough River. The story was included in a brochure in 1900 for a hotel on Gasparilla Island, where the pirate supposedly stored his vast treasures in a hidden den that had never been found. Around noon on the Gasparilla Day, members of YMKG set sail across Tampa Bay from near Ballast Point Park to downtown aboard the Jose Gasparilla, a 165' long flat . His theft discovered, he deserted his wife and children, gathered together a nice lot of cut-throats, stole the prize vessel of the Spanish Fleet, and escaped. He wished to return to America to retrieve this treasure after Kidds execution but he never made it back. Gaspar realized in this moment that he had found the treasure he was searching for. Since the 1870s, treasure hunters have been trying unsuccessfully to crack this code you see below: Some say its Spanish. Interesting history topics are just a click away. Treasure hunter Erin Melcher. This story seems to border on the outer limits, but a local historian doesnt believe that the hand belongs to the famed pirate. The choice of the navy career wasn't courage and thirst for adventure on the part of Jose but an expediency of the moment. Rogers lost interest in the hunt after this and it is said he lived near his treasure to guard it for the remainder of his life. Magnet fishing is a hobby that is quickly increasing in popularity with good reason. In fact, we dont even know for certain his real name. He continued the diving operation, but while they were working, his wife came down with a fever and died. You are using an out of date browser. Gaspar apparently did not share this attraction and instead gave his attention to other women of the court. Find the treasure, don't report it, melt it down or sell it on the black market using a different name. This allegedly infuriated the young lady who devised a plan to essentially frame Gaspar for stealing some jewels. We lived not far from Gasparella Island and Charlotte Harbour.where the legend supposedly ended. Our knowledge of Jean and his brother Pierre begins in the early 1800s. I love this place built around 1640 . It's light on history and heavy on action, suspense, and intrigue. And she actually had maps, and she had stories that were passed down to the family about these treasures. The legend states that Gaspar terrorized the western coastal waters of Florida in the late 18th to early 19th century. (story from treasurelore.com). The coins are believed to be 18th century Spanish and Portuguese coins and the ring on the hand's is expected to be from around the same time period. Similar Names. Jos Gaspar, also known by his nickname Gasparilla , is an apocryphal Spanish pirate who terrorized the Gulf of Mexico from his base in southwest Florida during Florida's second Spanish period . Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a news anchor/reporter for Telemundo Bakersfield and KGET. We will discuss a few of them here. Gaspar did not exist, but never mind that. A band of pirates in Wisconsin operated out of a cave on Hermit island. This hoard was allegedly buried by a group of pirates in the early 1800s. The pirate, whose full name is Jos Gaspar, is a legend from the 18th and 19th century. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. Useppa Island was a military outpost, resort, Confederate stronghold, and CIA site to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion and was continuously inhabited for 10,000 years by the Calusa Indians. There is a new book out "Pirates of Southwest Florida, Fact and Legend" by James F. and Sarah Jane Kaserman that debunks some of the stories of Gasparilla. Legend states they marked a tree by driving a sword into it. The first written account of Gaspar was written in 1900 when the Charlotte . Dropa Stones: Are They 12,000 Year Old Discs? Jose Lopez's sister, Maria, was cleaning out the attic of a home owned by her great-grandparents, Eve and Ernesto Lopez, in Tampa's historic Ybor City area, when she stumbled upon the box, WFLA-TV reports. Not much is known of his early life before his pirating career. After that, they searched his cabin and found a jar of gold coins and a small sheet of copper engraved with a code indicating the location of buried treasure. Bipin Dimri is a writer from India with an educational background in Management Studies. "And it was from that little nugget of information that came from the Charlotte Harbor railroad about a pirate named Gaspar that the whole legend of Gasparilla and Jose Gaspar came about, but it was Ye Mystic Krewe that fleshed it out. Mysterious box containing a map, coins and a mummified hand found in Tampa Bay attic. Theyve done this every Sunday for a year, looking for the booty of 19th century pirate Jose Gaspar. The prices are great and you can walk more than one foot without seeing some adorable little trinket that you just can't live without. A Florida family may have discovered some unusual treasure belonging to legendary pirate Jose "Gasparilla" Gaspar. Thread starter seeker41; Start date Apr 29, 2015 Apr 29, 2015 "I'm considering it. He finally returned with his wife to find all but a handful of his crew had died. All had been going along fine for Gasparilla until the year 1822. And to this day, Jose Gaspar returns on board his pirate ship every year to capture the city.". Jose Gaspar has come in handy for parades and celebrations. It's part of our family now.". Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Gasparilla had fallen into a trap! When Jose Gaspar died, he supposedly left an untold fortune in buried treasure somewhere along the Florida coast. Some historians say Caesar has between two-and-six million dollars of treasure stashed on Pine Island. His ship was scuttled in the battle sending the valuables to the bottom of the ocean. Professional blogger, rum judge, consultant, marketer, and consumer of blue water beauty. I love this place built around 1640 . This was around the 1870s, after the Civil War. Gilchrist intended to turn the area into a community. Still, it was not very soon after that, that Tampa captured that myth," Kite-Powell said. Most confirm that the "Floridablanca" was the name of his pirate ship and the one that he served upon in the Navy. Many took the deal. All rights reserved. During the final combat, the majority of Gasparillas crew was killed, but there were 12 survivors 11 men and a cabin boy called Juan Gomez. Gaspar caught wind of his coming doom, and escaped via ship to America. He claimed to be one of the few crew members to escape a fateful attack by American pirate hunting schooner USS Enterprise in 1821. But they know long-lost treasures and artifacts are out there. In it, she introduced herself and wrote that her parents were. (3) The Spanish kept meticulous records and there is no mention of Gasparilla in the archives. To add more to the story, the treasure map contained the name of the infamous mythical pirate Gaspar. The men were executed but Gomez was to be the final survivor of this piratical outfit. In all, he buried 13 casks and chests of treasure in the vicinity of his headquarters. However there is a salacious twist to this tale, in that when this lovely young girl declined his romantic proposition, he had her executed. Legend has it that Gasparilla spotted a huge ship sailing in the distance. "But if you're gonna make up the myth, you know, go big, and so why not make him, you know, all pirates rolled into one and, you know, the baddest of them all," Rodney Kite-Powell, a historian at the Tampa Bay History Center and Director of the Touchstone Map Library said. Upon returning he discovered that he had been labeled a pirate by the British government. Florida at this time was in its Second Spanish Period which runs from 1783 to 1821. His headquarters were at Boca Grande, on what is today known as Gasparilla Island. I love searching for all types of "treasures" with my family. The American Government then decided to get into the act and sent a Navy squadron to end his career. Whether he was his cabin boy, like it states in the story, or maybe he might have been Gasparilla himself because of all the treasure maps that we have found. The parade that follows is one of the largest in the country, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to Tampa Bay. https://www.cultofweird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/pirate-treasure-hand.jpg, https://www.cultofweird.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/cultofweird-new-logo.png, Mysterious Pirate Treasure Box Found in Tampa Bay Attic, February 17, 2023 - 9:45 pm by dEBRINA bLACKMOON.