Supposed pirate treasure found on the coast of Suriname

[Korisios]

I think I just post this for those that are interrested...

My link

If i do a quick counting, the Rum/Sword ratio would be something like 62 bottles to 1 Sword...

[Captain Midnight]

Very cool find! It's interesting that the sword would have survived that much intact buried in the ground with only a leather wrapping. It is definitely a Spanish sword of a type known as espada ancha.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Captain Midnight

[Red Cat Jenny]

Hey..I'm down with that ratio...

and I'll take the sword and as many bottles as go with it :)

Such a small place..such an interesting history..no wonder..

Dutch is the current official language of Suriname, nestled on the NE Coast of South America and sandwiched between Ex British English speaking colony Guyana and the French (speaking) territory of French Guyana. Bordered on the South by Portugese speaking Brazil.

1630 First settled by the Dutch who failed in a campaign for tobacco plantations, then in 1650 by the Government of the English posession of Barbados Lord Willoughby who gave it the clunky moniker of "Willoughbyland".

That didn't last long..in 1667 the lone fort which hosted some ugly doings in the early 80's..(yes, the recent '80's) was invaded by seven Dutch Ships. After the three hour fight won by the British and the renaming of the fort to Zeelandia, a treaty was hammered out to which the Dutch agreed that the English could keep occupying New Amsterdam (NY) if they could keep occupying "Willoughbyland" which then became Dutch Guyana..."Scratching yer head yet?"

1667 the Brits gained it back...

1668 the Dutch took posession

1683 Suriname now a Dutch colony owned in part by the Dutch West India Company

around 1795-99 Holland was occupied by France and the British retook posession of Suriname

1816 it went back to the Dutch after the defeat of Napoleon.

A haven oddly during that time for many Brazillian Jews it is filled today with synagogues as well as muslim and Hindu descendadnts of imported laborers, descendants of African slaves bought to work the plantations and later Javanese..mix in the Dutch, English, French and original natives. I've heard all manner of acents from the Guyanas here at work now I understand it a bit more..woah what a melted pot!

Started out with Tobacco, Sugar, Coffee, Cocoa and cotton. These days rubber, gold and a component of aluminum (where did yer soda can come from?)

Home to a lot of modern day piracy and a stop on the ill fated trans Atlantic journey of Bartholomew Robert's Royal Fortune among others seeking Spanish precious metals.

60,000 sq miles (about the size of Michigan) of which 90% is undeveloped rain forest, the smallest nation in S. America. 30,000 people. Most of the descendants of the original natives now live in the Netherlands.

Interesting lil place isn't it?

[Capn Bob]

Hope it was good rum...of course, quantity has a quality all of its own...

[Silkie McDonough]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Daniel]

This is a very nice find, yes, but I don't see any evidence that these are pirate artifacts. Especially if they're correct in dating the relics to the 1620s-1650s period; Suriname would have been a long way for the boucaniers to go in the little craft that they had back then. Sure, it could be a pirate site, but wouldn't these items be perfectly consistent with the far more numerous ordinary merchants of the casa de contratacion?

Of course, these items would still make perfectly good models for boucanier re-enactors; boucaniers would have stolen or traded for very similar things at that time.

[captscurvy_nc]

Great bit for refrence, thanks for sharing