Dark5 | Oak Island Treasure Pit and The Real One Piece: 5 Biggest Unsolved Pirate Mysteries @dark5tv | Uploaded 3 months ago | Updated 1 day ago
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As soldiers led him to the hangman's noose on the 7th of July, 1730, the notorious pirate Captain Olivier Levasseur made a stunning and mysterious announcement to the crowd gathered on Reunion Island to see his execution.
“Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!” he bellowed, throwing his necklace bearing a coded message into the crowd.
For fifteen years, Levasseur had terrorized merchant ships across the Caribbean and Indian Oceans, repeatedly emerging victorious and amassing great wealth from the perilous encounters.
He would not be so lucky on this day. At precisely 5 p.m., the rope snapped taut, and Levasseur took his final breath, his mysterious words echoing through history.
For nearly three centuries, Levasseur’s cipher has tantalized treasure seekers, sparking a relentless quest for one of the most legendary hidden fortunes—if it still exists.
Much of the fortune was amassed in the year 1721. After a series of crushing defeats, Levasseur, also known as "La Buse," forged a strategic alliance with three other pirate captains.
Their luck shifted when they stumbled upon the Nossa Senhora do Cabo, a colossal Portuguese galleon anchored off the coast of Réunion Island for storm repairs.
With its cannons removed to facilitate these repairs, the galleon was an easy target for Levasseur’s fleet. In a swift and brutal assault, the pirates seized the vessel and its treasures.
The plunder they amassed was staggering. Among the spoils were gold and silver bars, gold Guineas, and religious artifacts from the Se Cathedral in Goa.
The most remarkable was the Fiery Cross of Goa, a relic so massive that it required three men to carry. It was made of pure gold and adorned with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.
As the French fleet closed in on his position, Levasseur desperately moved to secure his loot. He concealed or buried his share of the treasure, including the Cross of Goa, and allegedly killed the men who had helped him to keep the location secret.
On the day of his execution, Levasseur tossed his necklace to the crowd as a final act of defiance. This necklace, it is said, contained the key to the treasure’s whereabouts—a hoard that could be worth up to one billion dollars today.
One man believes he has deciphered it: John Cruise-Wilkins has pursued Levasseur’s treasure since the 1970s, meticulously studying the cryptogram.
To the untrained eye, the parchment’s 17 lines of jumbled symbols appear meaningless. However, after delving into Greek, Hebrew, astrology, mythology, and astronomy, Cruise-Wilkins theorized that the cipher is a coded riddle based on the Twelve Labors of Hercules.
He believes the codes indicated the treasure lies hidden on the northern coast of Mahé Island in the Indian Ocean off East Africa. His excavations have uncovered cannonballs, bones, and peculiar symbols, leading him to believe he has located the treasure's cavern.
However, a final hurdle remains: obtaining permission from local authorities to access the restricted nature area where the treasure is hidden.
Until that permission is granted, the question lingers—has Cruise-Wilkins truly unraveled Levasseur’s cryptic message, or does the pirate’s mystery continue to elude treasure hunters centuries later?
Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring this video! New subscribers get 20% off your first monthly shipment — go to https://bespokepost.com/dark20 and enter code DARK20 at checkout.
As soldiers led him to the hangman's noose on the 7th of July, 1730, the notorious pirate Captain Olivier Levasseur made a stunning and mysterious announcement to the crowd gathered on Reunion Island to see his execution.
“Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!” he bellowed, throwing his necklace bearing a coded message into the crowd.
For fifteen years, Levasseur had terrorized merchant ships across the Caribbean and Indian Oceans, repeatedly emerging victorious and amassing great wealth from the perilous encounters.
He would not be so lucky on this day. At precisely 5 p.m., the rope snapped taut, and Levasseur took his final breath, his mysterious words echoing through history.
For nearly three centuries, Levasseur’s cipher has tantalized treasure seekers, sparking a relentless quest for one of the most legendary hidden fortunes—if it still exists.
Much of the fortune was amassed in the year 1721. After a series of crushing defeats, Levasseur, also known as "La Buse," forged a strategic alliance with three other pirate captains.
Their luck shifted when they stumbled upon the Nossa Senhora do Cabo, a colossal Portuguese galleon anchored off the coast of Réunion Island for storm repairs.
With its cannons removed to facilitate these repairs, the galleon was an easy target for Levasseur’s fleet. In a swift and brutal assault, the pirates seized the vessel and its treasures.
The plunder they amassed was staggering. Among the spoils were gold and silver bars, gold Guineas, and religious artifacts from the Se Cathedral in Goa.
The most remarkable was the Fiery Cross of Goa, a relic so massive that it required three men to carry. It was made of pure gold and adorned with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.
As the French fleet closed in on his position, Levasseur desperately moved to secure his loot. He concealed or buried his share of the treasure, including the Cross of Goa, and allegedly killed the men who had helped him to keep the location secret.
On the day of his execution, Levasseur tossed his necklace to the crowd as a final act of defiance. This necklace, it is said, contained the key to the treasure’s whereabouts—a hoard that could be worth up to one billion dollars today.
One man believes he has deciphered it: John Cruise-Wilkins has pursued Levasseur’s treasure since the 1970s, meticulously studying the cryptogram.
To the untrained eye, the parchment’s 17 lines of jumbled symbols appear meaningless. However, after delving into Greek, Hebrew, astrology, mythology, and astronomy, Cruise-Wilkins theorized that the cipher is a coded riddle based on the Twelve Labors of Hercules.
He believes the codes indicated the treasure lies hidden on the northern coast of Mahé Island in the Indian Ocean off East Africa. His excavations have uncovered cannonballs, bones, and peculiar symbols, leading him to believe he has located the treasure's cavern.
However, a final hurdle remains: obtaining permission from local authorities to access the restricted nature area where the treasure is hidden.
Until that permission is granted, the question lingers—has Cruise-Wilkins truly unraveled Levasseur’s cryptic message, or does the pirate’s mystery continue to elude treasure hunters centuries later?
