I’m going to try to separate La Buse posts from Le Butin posts…

When I look at all the different cipher mysteries, the main thing I want to achieve with them is a certain level of clarity. Solving them would be a huge bonus (given that most are from so long ago, the Muses of History have no obligation to furnish us with enough evidence to do that), but getting to the stage where I can talk clear-headedly about each one in turn would be a good starting point.

Yet the air around many unsolved ciphers is horribly clouded by the fog of acquired mythology. For example, it seems to me that treasure hunters since the year dot have gone out of their way to weave whatever optimistic stories they can from the single-strand threads of available evidence, often with the aim of convincing both themselves and other people to invest in their next treasure hunting wheeze, whether that may be digging for the gold and diamonds of La Buse (the pirate Olivier Levasseur), tracking down the hidden treasure caches of Le Butin (Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang), or whatever. And this constant upcycling of fragmentary evidence has left us with a tangled mesh of things that may or may not be true, and/or that may or may not be connected.

In the two cases of La Buse and Le Butin, though, I simply fail to see any specific way they are connected beyond treasure hunter X, Y, or Z asserting loudly that they are. They’re both improbable Indian Ocean pirate yarns that are close to impossible to verify individually, for sure: but inferring from this similarity that they must therefore somehow be connected could only really be a travesty of logical deduction.

Hence from now on, I’m going to try to separate La Buse posts from Le Butin posts: even though treasure hunters have long tried to argue that the two are somehow connected, I just don’t see it at all. Even Charles de la Roncière’s 1934 book doesn’t mention Nageon de l’Estang whatsoever, even though a pirate treasure hunting expedition from Liverpool to Vacoa had made international news in 1926, just a few years before.

Le Butin’s “Doubloons & Diamonds”

For the record, here’s a copy of the 1926 ‘Le Butin’ news story courtesy of Trove. I have, however, been entirely unsuccessful in my attempts to determine the actual identity of “Captain Russell” or the “Klondyke Company” formed to retrieve Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang’s various treasure caches, despite the long series of very specific details mentioned. Can any Cipher Mysteries do better? 🙂

Brisbane Telegraph, 5th June 1926, p.18

Doubloons & Diamonds

Hunt for 30 Millions

Venture in Mauritius

Privateers’ treasure, diamonds, and pearls and Spanish doubloons, valued at anything up to thirty millions sterling; such is the object of a systematic and scientific search which, unknown to the outside world, has been in progress in the island of Mauritius for 12 months (writes the Port Louis Correspondent of the “Daily News”).

The presence beneath the soil of some mysterious and undefined mass of metal has been “sensed” by means of an electrical instrument sent out specially by a Liverpool firm; but the nature of this find has yet to be discovered, although a crater has now been excavated to a depth of 54 feet.

Motor lorries were brought up, laden with bags in which to carry it away, and the approach to the excavations was guarded by armed police. But nothing happened.

Despite this and other disappointments, however, the greatest optimism is expressed by Captain Russell, who, as the representative of the Liverpool firm already mentioned, is directing the operations in person.

I understand that his optimism was reflected in a cable which he despatched to his firm.

The scene of the search is a spot known as Klondyke, on the west coast of Mauritius, in the Black River district, and the treasure, which has come to be spoken of as the Klondyke treasure, is believed to havo been secreted there between 1780 and 1800 by the Chevalier de Nageon, a noted privateer.

It has to be borne in mind that in the latter part of the 18th century Mauritius, or, as it was then called, the Ile de France, was a nest of the French privateers, mostly Bretons, who harried commerce in the Indian Ocean.

A number of attempts have been made, at intervals since 1880, to find the treasure, and excavations were made in accordance with instructions sent to a Mauritian from one of his relatives in Brittany.

Then the Chevalier de Nageon’s own plan was said to have been found, and a company was formed to begin regular diggings.

Some stonework and other clues tallying with the plan were brought to light from time to time, but nothing else happened, and the shares of the Klondyke Company — held by about a score of persons — became temporarily valueless.

But by the end of last December these shares were selling at 5000 rupees (about £375) each. This was because Captain Russell had come across new indications which gave rise to the highest hopes.

Captain Russell landed here almost exactly a year ago, as the sequel to correspondence between the Klondyke Company and the firm he represents, whose advertisement in an English review, of a metal-divining instrument, had led to their being consulted by the shareholders.

It is understood that the firm, having made certain inquiries of its own, was sufficiently impressed to enter into an agreement whereby it undertakes the excavation at its own cost, and, in the event of success, has the right to 50 per cent, of the treasure.

Captain Russell, whose headquarters are at Vacoa, brought with him all the necessary instruments, and digging was promptly started on a large, and costly scale.

There are tunnels lighted by electricity, and a special sewage system has been installed to drain away underground water.

The presence of water is one of the great difficulties, for when a crater 85 feet deep had been dug, infiltration from an irrigation reservoir nearly put an end to the whole process.

A high power pump was then brought into play, and the crater has now been dug out for a further 20 feet or so.

It is estimated that the Work has already involved an outlay of nearly £12,000. A large number of hands is employed.

There are plenty of sceptics, of course, for though there is no doubt that Mauritius was repeatedly used as a cache for the loot of privateers and pirates, it is hardly to be supposed that these sea rovers all failed to remove their booty later.

But Captain Russell remains cheerful. He believes that the Klondyke treasure will be discovered.

In any case he is positive regarding this one fact: that his instrument has registered, and continues to register, the presence of a mass of metal underground. and he will not desist until he has found out what the metal is.

Not only do the promoters of the Klondyke treasure-hunt share his cheerfulness, but the native diggers, as I hear, are feverishly excited concerning yet another treasure, supposed to have been hidden by the same Chevalier de Nageon at Pointe Vacoa, Grand Port.

Fabulous figures are mentioned in this latest story, but for the present it seems prudent to concentrate on Klondyke’s “thirty millions” alone.