“In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
Aye Matey, there’s a treasure in these here caves. It was stashed here by Mr. Owen Lloyd and his crew after they committed mutiny on the Spanish Galleon Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe while it was sheltering from a storm off the coast of North Carolina. The pirates, with their hearts pounding and the wind in their sails, made a daring escape from the Carolina coast to St Croix on a bilander, a two-masted vessel sporting a square and lateen rig.
The caves on the North coast of an island, named for Captain Norman, would ultimately be the perfect place to conceal the loot, or so Robert Louis Stevenson’s naval uncle told the young writer.
As recently as 1910, somebody found a chest of silver coins on Norman Island. Then, according to local legend, a member of the Chalwell family sheltered his small fishing boat in one of the caves during a storm in 1915. The same wave action that formed the caves over thousands of years bashed his boat against the stone walls, filling it with rocks and, as his luck would have it, a small chest filled with gold doubloons. There remains to be official documentation of this windfall, so there is some speculation here. Still, the family gave up fishing shortly after the storm, opened a shop in Charlotte Amalie, and gave their new daughter-in-law a necklace made of doubloons long enough to reach her feet.
Today, there is still treasure on Norman Island of the natural beauty kind. Aptly named, The Caves, at Privateer Bay are draped in color as they extend up to 70 feet into the darkness of the sandstone wall.
The Indians and their catamaran-riding warriors are visible in the distance, and Nanny Cay on Tortola provides the backdrop.
Under the waves, blue tangs serve as tour guides.
Around the corner of Treasure Point is the harbor known as the Bight, which is home to The Willie T, The Pirates Bight Restaurant, and 100 first come, first serve mooring buoys.
The natural treasures are easy to find in abundance. Pirate Treasure is a little more challenging. The rumors are that Owen Lloyd hid 55 bags of silver on the island; Tortolians found much of it, but I know I’ll look for the glint of silver and gold on my next trip when I hike to Spyglass Hill. I wonder what else his naval uncle told young Bob.
Different caves in a different country, Spain, but what the heck.
Sailing Sea Sea 