I’ve been carefully reading the diary entry scanned in from the Prince Edward Island Magazine by Matt Malone, and wondering if it might be possible to reconstruct the secret history yet further. We now have what seems likely to be a name for the person who constructed the cryptogram: while the account gives a number of pointers to specific pieces of historical evidence that could feasibly be tracked down. Hence I thought I’d post a list of possible research leads to follow.

J Crowshay?

What little I can see beyond ancestry.com’s paywall is that a James Crowshay (born 1715?, hence aged 23 in 1738) married a certain Margaret Seuton. This seems to have been in York (according to this Spanish Geneanet page).

Might this J Crowshay have been the same young man who was (according the diary account) a seaman on a brig (presumably sailing out of London) bound for the (then British colony of) Massachusetts in late April or early May 1738 that was accosted by the French sloop L’Aigle (The Eagle); and who was rewarded for his zeal in defending the brig against French pirates by being taken prisoner by them? “The ship escaped without serious injury”, but was most likely relieved of all its cargo (and the single fighty seaman taken prisoner).

The Attacked Brig?

If the account of the French seaman (who had returned to Prince Edward Island to dig up the treasure, but had found his memory wanting) is correct, the ship from which the young seaman was taken prisoner was a brig (only lightly armed merchant ship) on its way to Massachusetts, so probably sailing into Boston.

Might there have been a mention of this action in the Massachusetts press of late May 1738 not long after the brig presumably arrived there?

As far as I can see, there were six newspapers published in Massachusetts during 1738, all from Boston (none of which are in the LOC, while Harbottle Dorr Jr’s newspapers all start from 1765, while BGSU doesn’t list any from 1738 as being freely available on the Internet). GenealogyBank has copies from 1735 for name searches, but behind a paywall.

The newspapers I’d like to have a look at for May 1738 are as follows, two of which are listed on the Massachusetts Historical Society’s ABIGAIL database:
* Boston Evening-Post
* Boston Gazette
* Boston Weekly News-letter
* The Boston Weekly Post-boy (Massachusetts Historical Society: OFFSITE STORAGE SH 18R2 )
* The New England Weekly Journal (Massachusetts Historical Society: OFFSITE STORAGE SH 18XP Q (1733-1738) )

If anyone has shelfmarks in different archives for the other newspapers, please let me know, thanks!

Other newspapers may be listed in (1907) Check-list of Boston Newspapers, 1704-1780, which I haven’t yet consulted.

The Eagle or L’Aigle?

The diary account includes no names or details of the French pirate ship The Eagle (L’Aigle). However, the French seaman telling the story to the diarist relates that the young seaman taken prisoner had in his possession a newspaper account (published “in the city of London”) that detailed how the King (presumably of England) had made a proclamation offering several hundred pounds for the capture of The Eagle.

If this is correct, it should be possible to find a copy of this proclamation – it (and/or any copies of it in the London press) may well have additional information. However, all I have found so far for 1738 relates specifically to Spanish attacks on British shipping than with the French:

Alderman Perry, on the 3d of March [1738] brought into the house of commons a petition from the merchants, planters, and others, interested in the American trade, specifying these articles of complaint, which they recommended to the consideration of the house. This petition with others of a like nature, which produced warm debates, were referred to a committee of the whole house, and an order was made to admit the petitioners to be heard by themselves or by counsel. Sir John Barnard moved for an address to the king, that all the memorials and papers relating to the Spanish depredations, should be laid before the house, which with some alteration proposed by Sir Robert Walpole, was actually presented, and a favourable answer was returned.

This parliamentary debate appears in the History and Proceedings of the House of Commons Vol. 10. The King of England in 1738 was George II, for whose coronation Handel wrote “Zadok The Priest”: his response to the petition made no mention of the French:

Gentlemen,

I Am fully sensible of the many and unwarrantable Depredations committed by the Spaniards; and you may be assured, I will make use of the most proper and effectual Means, that are in my Power, to procure Justice and Satisfaction to my injured Subjects, and for the future Security of their Trade and Navigation. I can make no Doubt, but you will support me, with Chearfulness, in all such Measures, as, in Pursuance of your Advice, I may be necessitated to take, for the Honour of my Crown and Kingdoms, and the Rights of my People.”

Any good suggestions as to where to look next?

Thanks to help from Cipher Mysteries commenters Paul Relkin and Thomas, it became clear that though my initial attempt at cracking the Hollow River Cipher was close, it wasn’t as close as it could have been. Essentially, even though I worked out the upper case / lower case trick and what I thought was a single cipher, it turned out that there were actually two separate ciphers in play (i.e. for lower case letters in the cryptogram) that the encipherer could choose from, either a +1 Caesar Shift or a -2 Caesar Shift.

It then became acutely clear that the otherwise mysterious line “2 = 1. 1 = 3. A = A.” in the cryptogram was therefore the key to the cipher, where the two Hollow River Cipher alphabets are as follows:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A  (+1 Caesar Shift)
X Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X  (-2 Caesar Shift)

This means that we can decrypt almost all of the cryptogram, leaving only a handful of letters ambiguous. Here are the workings out:

e q E m e g u k O O o k A I k E    [= cryptogram]
F R E N F H V L O O P L A I L E    [= +1 Caesar Shift if lower case]
C O E K C E S I O O M I A I I E    [= -2 Caesar Shift if lower case]
F R E N C H S L O O P L A I L E    [= Most likely plaintext]

i U k e u s k A y q E m E o A Y 10, 1738
J U L F V T L A Z R E N E P A Y 
G U I C S Q I A W O E K E M A Y
G U L F S T L A W R E N E M A Y 10, 1738

o q I u O m E q f U A q c E c e q e y O
P R I V O N E R G U A R D E D F R F Z O 
M O I S O K E O D U A O A E A C O C W O 
P R I S O N E R G U A R D E D C R E W O

m u g O q E
N V H P R E 
K S E M O E 
N S H O R E

k E A i M E y E u s m A U e q A i E
L E A J N E Z E V T N A U F R A J E 
I E A G K E W E S Q K A U C O A G E
L E A G U E W E S T N A U F R A G E

I . u s i o
I . V T J P
I . S Q G M
I . ? ? ? M

g m o k A m w m m O y m I m s E m c y q
H N P L A N X N N O Z N I N T E N D Z R
E K M I A K U K K O W K I K Q E K A W O
E N P L A N U N N O W N I N T E N D W R

E e m u g I o s O O m A k k i U m u A m c s q E A u U q E j I c c E m k I m
E F N V H I P T O O N A L L J U N V A N D T R E A V U R E K I D D E N L I N
E C K S E I M Q O O K A I I G U K S A K A Q O E A S U O E H I A A E K I I K
E C K S H I P T O O K A L L G U N S A N D T R E A S U R E H I D D E N ? I N 

e i u E E I i g s u O m E g U m c q g c A m c E k E n E m Y e w w o u o A k k
F J V E E I J H T V O N E H U N D R H D A N D E L E O E N Y F X X P V P A L L 
C G S E E I G E Q S O K E E U K A O E A A K A E I E L E K Y C U U M S M A I I
F I V E E I G H T S O N E H U N D R E D A N D E L E V E N ? ? ? U P S M A L L

u s q g A o - k I m E g A k e k E m i s g m . y E u s e q O o u O u s g E m e - o
V T R H A P - L I N E H A L F L E N J T H N . Z E V T F R O P V O V T H E N F - P
S Q O E A M - I I K E E A I C I E K G Q E K . W E S Q C O O M S O S Q E E K C - M
S T R E A M - L I N E H A L F L E N G T H N . W E S T F R O M S O U T H E N D - P

I s u o I c c k k E u E e O m c . i e q O y u g A Y .
I T V P I D D L L E V E F O N D . J F R O Z V H A Y .
I Q S M I A A I I E S E C O K A . G C O O W S E A Y .
I T S M I D D L L E S E C O N D . J C R O W S H A Y .

This gives the following net decryption:

FRENCH SLOOP L’AI[G]LE
GULF ST LAWREN[C]E MAY 10, 1738
PRISONER GUARDED CREW ONSHORE
LEAGUE WEST NAUFRAGE
I. ???
MEN PLAN UNNOWN INTEND WRECK SHIP TOOK ALL GUNS AND TREASURE HIDDEN ? IN
FIVE EIGHTS ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN ??? UP SMALL
STREAM – LINE HALF LENGTH N. WEST FROM SOUTH END –
PITS MIDDLLE SECOND. J CROWSHAY.

If the “L’Aigle” was the French Sloop ‘Eagle’ mentioned in the diary entry, then I’m almost certain that the “FIVE EIGHTS” were five 8-pounder cannon boxes. Moreover, my best guess for the final ??? is that this is YDS (i.e. “ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN Y[AR]DS UP SMALL STREAM”).

Hence it seems that what we have managed to decrypt is indeed exactly the kind of treasure map every schoolboy since Treasure Island has fantasized about:

1) TOOK ALL GUNS AND TREASURE HIDDEN ? IN FIVE EIGHTS
2) ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN Y[AR]DS UP SMALL STREAM (i.e. the Hollow River)
3) LINE HALF LENGTH N[ORTH] WEST FROM SOUTH END
4) PITS MIDDLE SECOND
5) [Signed] J CROWSHAY

So, if you walk 111 yards up Hollow River, then follow a line roughly half that length (say, 55 yards) in a north-westerly direction from the south end, you might well find pits containing five eight-pounder cannon stuffed out with treasure. (The “Legend” specifically mentions five pits!)

Of course, I’d say that there’s a 90+% chance that this Hollow River Treasure has been cleared out or robbed out over the centuries (particularly given what was related in the “Legend” article), but you can never be 100% sure of what’s still there, eh? So… do we have any Cipher Mysteries readers on Prince Edward Island? (Asking is free, right? 🙂 )

Here, courtesy of Cipher Mysteries reader Matt Malone, is a new historical cipher that he calls the “Hollow River Cipher”, which he found in a magazine from the early 1900s called “The Prince Edward Island Magazine” while on vacation. (There are 67 issues scanned online here from 1899 to 1905, so other interesting stories may well be lurking there for the persistent.)

The first part of the story, related by Mr Senachie, was on pages 163-164 of the July 1900 edition:

This mentioned a pair of strange rectangular pits that appeared near the Hollow River around 1840 one March, that some thought might be to do with treasure pits.

A follow-on article by “D. A. W.” appeared on pages 241-248 of the October 1900 edition:

This related a story copied from “a remnant of a comprehensive diary”, dated 1749, that described a cryptogram dated 1738 that the diary writer had found written on folded parchment in a floating bottle, as well as a story of how some treasure was buried (allegedly in 1738) in similar size holes to the ones (presumably uncovered by the winter’s frost) found in 1840.

All the pages can be conveniently found on a single imgur webpage, courtesy of Matt Malone. Or, if you want to download all the pages in one go, Matt has very kindly placed a single zipfile here.

The Hollow River Cipher

Of course, we cipher people have long learnt not to put too much trust in the stories that end up backfilled around unsolved ciphers (e.g. the Beale Ciphers etc). Rather, we must instead start with the cryptogram itself as reproduced in the PEI Magazine:

Here’s my transcription of the cryptogram in the magazine:

e q E m e g u k O O o k A I k E              |    m u g O q E
i U k e u s k A y q E m E o A Y 10, 1738     |  k E A i M E y E u s m A U e q A i E
2 = 1.          1 = 3.        A = A.         |    I. u s i o
o q I u O m E q f U A q c E c e q e y O      |  g m o k A m w m m O y m I m s E mc y q
E e m u g I o s O O m A k k i U m u A m c s q E A u U q E J I c c e m k I m
e i u E E I i g s u O m E g u m c q g c A mc E k E n E m Y e w w o u o A k k
u s q g A o-k I m E g A k c k E m i s g m. y E u s eq O o u O u s g E m e-o
I s u o I c c k k E u E e O m c. i eq O y u g A Y.

My initial decryption notes:
1) the letters appears to have been spaced apart for clarity (which is nice)
2) the two panels of lines 1-4 appear to be intended to be read left-half then right-half
3) the top left of lines 1-2 is probably the place/date where/when the note was composed
4) the left half of line 3 appears to have a somewhat mysterious structure
5) some pairs of letters have no space between: mc (lines #4 and #6), eq (lines #6 and #7)
6) there are a few hyphens and a few full stops, almost all in the final two lines.
7) having been found off Canada, the plaintext language is probably French or English

Now, I could leave this for my readers to figure out (which is what Klaus Schmeh does with his messages found in bottles)… but many apologies, becauseI’ve basically cracked most of it already. So here’s what it (mostly) says:

Nick’s Decryption

Using the above transcription carefully, CryptoCrack was able to help move me far enough in the right direction to work out the basic idea behind this cryptogram. The big trick is that only lower case letters are enciphered, i.e. upper case letters are completely unenciphered (and these are usually vowels).

Once you’ve got that idea worked out, you then have to try to read past the inevitable enciphering errors and copying errors that cryptograms almost always include. (Here we have parchment -> diary -> copy of diary -> article passed to editors -> article typeset in magazine.)

Where a letter seems to have been omitted in the plaintext, I’ve inserted an underscore. A few letters have been manually corrected to the most probable, but it’s pretty much all as it should be:

eqEmegukOOok_AI_kE
FRENCHSLOOPL'AIGLE

iUkeuskAyqEm_EoAY10,1738
GULFSTLAWRENCEMAY10,1738

2 = 1.   1 = 3.   A = A.
(No idea what these mean)

oqIuOmEqfUAqcEceqeyO
PRISONERQUARTERCREWO

mugOqE
NSHORE

kEAiMEyEusmAUeqAiE
LEAGUEWESTNAUFRAGE ---- ("naufrage" = "shipwreck" in French)

I.usio
I.STGM   (no idea about this bit)

gmokAm_wm_mOymImsEmcyq
ENGLANDUNKNOWNINTENDWR    ("England" is a bit of a guess here, though very close)

EemugIosOOmAkkiUmuAmcsqEAuUqEJIccemkIm
EFNSHIMTOONALLGUNSANDTREASUREHIDDENLIN

eiuEEIigsuOmEgumcqgcAmcEkEnEmYewwouoAkk
FGSEEINGITSONEISDTHDANDELE?ENYFUUMSMALL

usqgAo-kImEgAkckEmisgm.yEuseqOuOusgEme-o
STREAM-LINEHALDLENGTHN.WESTFROSOSTHENF-M

IsuoIcckkEuEeOmc.ieqOyugAY
ITSMIDDLLESEFOND.GFROWSHAY

My best guess is that “GFROWSHAY” is the name of the English sailor writing this note, though there may well be errors in his name. 🙁 And might the “SMALL STREAM” be the Hollow River (which was indeed little more than a creek)?

Overall, here’s my attempt at reconstructing the enciphering table, though many of the cryptogram’s slips and miscopies have made it hard to be 100% certain:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
C - D - F Q H - G - L - N - M - R - T - S - U - W -

My best guess is that “2 = 1. 1 = 3. A = A.” is somehow an aide-memoire for the cipher table. But I don’t know exactly how.

But It’s Not All Over Yet…

Tantalizingly, the lines containing the phrase “ALL GUNS AND TREASURE HIDDEN” onward are extremely hard to make out. So now that I’ve got this started, this is where my talented readers come in, to try to resolve all the genuinely difficult stuff that I’m unable to.

What can you clever people make of the rest of this? Does it describe where to find treasure? 🙂