Coconut Island (Costa Rica)

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Coconut Island
The coconut island
The coconut island
Waters Pacific Ocean
Geographical location 5 ° 31 '45 "  N , 87 ° 3' 36"  W Coordinates: 5 ° 31 '45 "  N , 87 ° 3' 36"  W.
Location of Coconut Island
length 7.49 km
width 4.61 km
surface 23.85 km²
Highest elevation Cerro Iglesias
634  m
Residents uninhabited
Historical map of Coconut Island
Historical map of Coconut Island
waterfall

The Cocos Island ( Spanish Isla del Coco , English Cocos Island ) is an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean . Politically, it belongs to the canton of Puntarenas in the province of the same name in the Central American state of Costa Rica .

The island has become popular thanks to numerous publications about treasures that pirates such as William Dampier , Benito Bonito or Henry Morgan are said to have hidden there. There have been several expeditions in the past that ransacked the entire island, but no major treasure has been found so far. The further treasure hunt is prohibited, the island has been under nature protection since 1978.

geography

Consisting mainly of volcanic existing rocks island is 494 km off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica on the so-called coconut back (Cocos Ridge), a 1000 km long and 250 to 500 km wide undersea structure, commonly referred to as track of the Galapagos hot spot is interpreted. The coconut plate that rests on the Caribbean plate is named after the coconut island. Seaquakes and tsunamis are not uncommon in this tectonically turbulent zone .

The coconut island is roughly rectangular in shape, 7.49 km long, up to 4.61 km wide and has an area of ​​23.85 km². The highest point is the Cerro Iglesias with 634 m in the west.

Chatham Bay

Most of the approximately 24 km long coastline consists of steep cliffs that rise up to 200 m from the sea. Narrow beaches and small bays have emerged in only a few places. Two larger bays provide access in the north: Chatham Bay (Bahía Chatham) and Wafer Bay (Bahía Wafer), each of which has wide valleys leading into the island's interior. The frequent rains have created numerous flowing waters, which often flow directly into the sea with spectacular coastal waterfalls.

Off the south coast of Coconut Island are the small side islands of Bayo Alcyone and Isla Muela, Isla Cóníco in the east and Isla Manuelita in the north. In addition, there are several offshore rocks that make the approach dangerous, as they are partially under water. There is no surrounding fringing reef , and strong surf reaches the island immediately.

The coconut island is located in the tropical climate zone , and the frequent and heavy rains favor lush vegetation. The average annual rainfall is 1930 mm, almost four times what, for example, falls annually in Leipzig . The annual average temperature is around 26 ° C, with the individual months only differing slightly.

Flora and fauna

Coconut Island has been a national park of Costa Rica since 1978. In 1997 it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites .

flora

The name Coconut Island is misleading in that coconut palms are only found in small numbers today. The pirate and explorer William Dampier described the island as follows in 1684:

“The island of Cocos was so named by the Spanish because there are numerous coconut trees on it. Not only do they exist in one or two spots, but they grow in extensive groves all over the island. . . "

- William Dampier

Another pirate, Lionel Wafer (1640–1705), visited Coconut Island in 1685:

“It is named after the coconuts with which it is covered in abundance. This little island is very refreshing. In the middle is a steep hill, surrounded on all sides by a plateau that slopes abruptly to the sea. This plain, as well as the valleys leading to the coast in places, are densely covered with coconut trees, which thrive very well in the rich and fertile soil. "

- Lionel Wafer

The island is now covered with a dense rainforest, but coconut palms are not common compared to other tropical Pacific islands such as the Tuamotus . What has caused the upheaval in vegetation since the 17th century is unclear. The British botanist William Botting Hemsley believed that buccaneers and whalers had felled the palm trees in order to be able to harvest the coconuts more easily. However, it seems doubtful whether occasional visitors or the brief settlement of the island between 1888 and 1903 with only a few people could have caused such a devastating impact on the vegetation.

Today's flora in the interior of the island consists mainly of species that are related to those of the neighboring American continent, but there are numerous endemics . Striking is the absence of the otherwise on the coasts of Central America frequent mangrove . The central beach areas have conquered beach winds ( Ipomoea pes-caprae ). This is followed by light groves with Hibiscus tiliaceus and balsam apple ( Clusia Rosea ).

The lush, almost impenetrable rainforest plateau is made up of different Ficus species , Brosimum guianense , ant trees ( Cecropia ) and balsa ( Ochroma ) along which a dense tangle of epiphytes and vines covered. The endemic Eugenia pacifica , the soap bush ( Clidemia hirta ), and Miconia dodecandra are found as bushy growing border and under plants .

The fern-like plants (Pteridophyta) are common, especially in the shady and damp crevices. Among them are six endemic species: Cyathea Alfonsiana, Cyathea notabilis, Lycopodium brachiatum, a Sumpffarnart ( Thelypteris ), Trichipteris nesiotica and the veil ferns belonging Trichomanes capillaceum . The most widespread genus is that of the sword fern (Nephrolepis ).

fauna

Of the 87 bird species found on the island, three are endemic: coconut island cuckoo ( Coccyzus ferrugineus ), coconut island tyrant ( Nesotricus ridgwayi ) and coconut finch ( Pinaroloxias inornata ). Numerous seabirds breed on the surrounding islets and rocks, including frigate birds (Fregatidae), red-footed boobies ( Sula sula ), fairy terns ( Gygis alba ) and noddis ( Anous stolidus ).

The small beaches are important breeding grounds for green sea turtles ( Chelonia mydas ). Two types of lizards are known, mammals are not indigenous to the island .

history

The Coconut Island from the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius , Amsterdam 1589

It is unclear whether the coconut island was inhabited before the European discovery. The abundance of coconut trees described by the pirate Lionel Wafer could suggest that Polynesians chose the island as at least a temporary stopover. The American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill was of the opinion that the occurrence of coconut palms was an indication of the colonization by Polynesians. Polynesian seafarers carried seeds and cuttings of crops with them on their voyages and planted them on the islands they discovered.

Archaeologists of the "Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and in the East Pacific" by Thor Heyerdahl examined the Bahía Wafer and the Bahía Chatham on July 25 and 26, 1956, but without digging. Man-made terraces were found on the northern cape , which separates Wafer Bay from Chatham Bay, as well as two parallel rows of buried boulders not far from the beach in Wafer Bay, which may be the remains of a foundation . The age of the structures is unknown. It could be remnants of the Gissler settlement from the late 19th century, but it cannot be ruled out that they come from pre-European times.

It is also unclear who discovered the coconut island for Europe. What is certain is that it was already on the world map by Nicolas Desliens from 1566 under the name “Y. de Coques ”and on other maps of the 16th century, albeit with different positions. The imprecise determination of the position meant that the island was "rediscovered" several times by fishermen, pirates and trading sailors. In the 19th century, the coconut island was often the port of call for whalers who replenished their fresh water supplies there.

On July 25, 1793, the British merchant ship Rattler reached Coconut Island under the command of James Colnett. Colnett was not interested in the fabulous treasures, but more in the incomparable nature.

"It's Otaheite [Tahiti] on a smaller scale."

- James Colnett

He saw the island as a possible supply base for future whalers and merchants, so he released a boar and a sow as well as a goat and a billy goat in Chatham Bay and brought seeds of "every species" for the benefit and convenience of those in Wafer Bay who may follow us ”. Colnett included a detailed map of the island in his report, published in 1798.

George Vancouver reached Coconut Island on January 24, 1795 with the HMS Discovery and the escort ship HMS Chatham and stayed until January 27, 1795. In his notes, published in 1798, he describes the geography, vegetation and weather and gives nautical information on the Position and possible anchor grounds. On the island he saw a young pig, apparently a descendant of the animals Colnett had abandoned two years earlier. In Chatham Bay, he had the date of his arrival and the names of his two ships and their captains carved into a rock. He doesn't mention any possible treasures. In the lower left corner of Vancouver's map of the Sandwich Islands ( Hawaii ) is a detailed map of Coconut Island.

The end of the African slave trade in the mid-19th century led to a labor shortage in South America, which was to be remedied with the often forcible recruitment of workers from the Polynesian islands. In July 1863, the governments of Chile and Peru prohibited this practice and ordered the repatriation of the Polynesians. The Peruvian barque Adelante was supposed to bring 429 Polynesian workers from Callao to Tahiti for $ 31.07 per person . However, some of the Polynesians had contracted smallpox. Either to protect himself from infection or to save himself the long journey to Tahiti, the German-Chilean captain August Grassau Stecker released his passengers far away from their homeland on the uninhabited Coconut Island, where they were removed from the whaling ship by Captain Blake on October 21, 1863 Active from New Bedford were discovered. Some had since died of smallpox, the rest was saved by the Peruvian warship Tumbes in November of that year.

Under the president Jesús Jiménez Zamora (1823-1897) the coconut island was incorporated into the state of Costa Rica in 1869. In 1936 Costa Rica issued a series of postage stamps depicting a map of the island.

“Graffito” by Jacques Cousteau on Coconut Island; the inscription in Greek letters refers to the Halcyon -Sage

In the 20th century, the documentary filmmakers Hans Hass (1954) and Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1987) visited Coconut Island. They were less interested in the treasures supposedly hidden there than in the unique underwater world.

Today, the only island residents are national park rangers who are temporarily stationed there and make sure that the occasional diving tourists do not cause any damage.

Diving

Coconut Island is the destination of liveaboards today . In the surrounding waters you can see schools of hammerhead sharks and other large shark species, sea ​​turtles , several species of rays , including giant manta rays , and other large fish. The underwater visibility is exceptionally good. PADI counts the Coconut Island among the ten best diving areas in the world. Coconut Island may also be entered during the diving tours, but only for a few hours, at specified locations and under the supervision of the park rangers.

Treasures and treasure hunters

The history of the treasures of Coconut Island is rife with rumors, speculation, and unproven claims. Half-truths, wishful thinking and pure fantasy merge and are difficult to separate. Historically secured facts are rare. Several treasures are said to be hidden on the island:

Treasures

The British pirate and explorer William Dampier is said to have hidden part of his booty there. In his notes, he describes Coconut Island based on hearsay, but also describes how his ship missed it because of adverse winds. Although Dampier sailed with a privateer crew, but was only a simple crew member under Captain John Cook . In addition, that pirate voyage was not very successful, so that hiding a treasure appears unlikely. English buccaneers used the coconut island at this time to take in coconuts and fresh water and set up food depots there.

Henry Morgan claims the same thing. However, the detailed biography of Exquemelin does not indicate that Morgan ever sailed to the Pacific. His field of activity was rather the waters of the Caribbean and the Spanish coastal cities of Central America.

The pirate Edward Davis went on raids with his ship Bachelors Delight from the Galápagos Islands and Cocos Island in the Pacific in the 17th century . Among other things, he attacked the treasure fleet of Lima off Panama in 1685 and the then Spanish port city of Guayaquil in 1687 . It is believed that he hid parts of his prey on Coconut Island.

The pirate Benito Bonito , described as cruel , with the nickname "Dom Pedro" or "Bloody Sword", allegedly stole a load of gold and jewels in the port city of Acapulco in 1819 and then buried them in Wafer Bay. He is said to have left a card that the grandson of a crew member of Bonito's ship sold to the German treasure hunter Gissler.

Most likely, Benito Bonito is a fantasy figure, a pirate , privateer , privateer or buccaneer with this name has not been historically proven. In the numerous publications about the "Treasure Island" he is portrayed very differently. There is only broad agreement that he lived in the first half of the 19th century. There is probably a mistake with the Spanish pirate Benito de Soto (born April 22, 1805 in Pontevedra , † January 25, 1830 in Cádiz hanged). Benito Bonito is a myth, a conglomerate of set pieces from different biographies of real people. Also eligible are: Benito Socarras Y Aguero, commander of the Spanish Guarda Costa Sloop St. Francis de la Vela , Don Benito Derezans, captain of the slave ship Relampago , Don Pedro Gilbert (* around 1800; † 11 June 1835 executed in Boston ) , Privateer in the Atlantic and the Caribbean as well as individual details from the lives of other pirates.

→ see main article: Benito Bonito

During the South American Wars of Independence in the first half of the 19th century, Spain gradually gave up its South American colonies. The secular and ecclesiastical dignitaries as well as the rich merchants of Lima, the then capital of the Spanish colony Peru, wanted to save their accumulated possessions from the rebels. They allegedly entrusted their treasures, including the centennial, solid gold Madonna from the Lima Cathedral , to a Scottish captain named William Thompson, whose schooner Mary Dear happened to be in Callao , the port city of Lima. Thompson was supposed to bring the treasures to Panama in safety. However, he had no intention of keeping the contract, got rid of his Spanish guards on the high seas and allegedly brought the valuable cargo to Coconut Island, where he is said to have hidden it in a cave.

The so-called “Church Treasure of Lima” is described in different ways: gold coins and magnificent tools, precious stones and statues as well as a “life-size gold figure of Our Lady , richly set with precious stones and weighing more than a ton”. According to other sources: "Piles of gold and silver, countless coins, golden statues, strange devices with ornaments, boxes full of precious stones and two large chests that were still locked", as well as a skeleton and rolls of paper and documents.

Historical plan of Callao with the Fortaleza del Real Felipe

General José de San Martín , fighter for the independence of the Spanish colonies in South America, began his famous expedition to liberate Peru in 1820 to conquer Lima. The wealthy Spanish merchants wanted to secure their accumulated possessions and deposited them in the Fortaleza del Real Felipe , the massive fortress built in the middle of the 18th century at the port of Callao. The troops loyal to the Spanish king under Marshal José de la Mar (* May 12, 1778 in Cuenca (Ecuador) , † October 11, 1830 in Costa Rica ), the governor of Callao, had holed up in the almost impregnable fortress. The port itself was blocked by the warships of British Vice Admiral Cochrane , who was fighting on the side of the insurgents .

Cochrane shied away from taking the well-defended fortress and relied on negotiations, especially since his blockade ships were in supply difficulties. Against the will of San Martín, he offered the Spaniards free withdrawal with all their possessions.

". . . However, the said enemy [the Spaniards], who had relieved and armored the fortress, then went off boldly and unmolested with silver and money worth several million dollars; in fact, all the wealth of Lima, which, as already mentioned, had been deposited by the inhabitants in the fortress for security reasons. "

- Thomas Cochrane : Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 1, James Ridgway, London 1859, p. 147

San Martín later accused Cochrane of receiving some of the valuables as a ransom. He vehemently denies this in his notes.

There is no reliable evidence that the "Lima treasure" existed in the form described by the various treasure hunters. The existence of Captain William Thompson and the treasure ship Mary Dear is also in doubt. It is likely that the Spaniards themselves brought their belongings deposited in the fortress away from Callao.

Treasure hunter

Countless adventurers have set out over the past 150 years to look for legendary pirate treasures. Peter Disch-Lauxmann, author of a non-fiction book about Coconut Island, estimates that around 500 expeditions visited the island over the years to dig for the treasure. Treasure fever reached its peak in the first half of the 20th century. Many scammers tried to lure backers with supposedly secure clues, cards and diary entries. Numerous treasure maps are still circulating on the Internet today.

As early as April 1879, the schooner Vanderbilt set out on an underwater treasure hunt. The crew rowed the dinghy, at the bow of which was posted an observer who searched the crystal clear water, twelve days around the island in order to find an allegedly sunken Spanish galleon. A few days later the steamer Rescue arrived from San Francisco, also in search of the hidden gold. Both were unsuccessful.

Captain Thompson of the Mary Dear is said to have appeared in St. John's, Newfoundland , around 1850 and lodged with a fisherman named John Keating. On his deathbed, he is said to have told him the story of the church treasure in Lima and handed over a map of Coconut Island with the location of the treasure. Keating was able to convince another Newfoundland dog named Boag (according to other sources: Bogue or Boeck), owner of the Brigantine Edgecombe , of the treasure story. They sailed to Coconut Island, where Keating claims to have discovered the treasure of Lima in a cave, consisting of: "several boxes with gold coins and bars, silver and precious stones, jeweled swords and the golden statue of the Virgin". Keating claims to have been to Coconut Island twice and found a total of $ 100,000 worth of gold and jewels. Allegedly he died a rich man. In fact, a seaman named Nicholas Fitzgerald found him “an old man, living in a derelict hut, with no money and half starved.” Fitzgerald looked after him and together they planned to return to Coconut Island until Keating's death. Keating's treasure map does not seem to have been very reliable, as his widow went to Coconut Island a few years after his death and teamed up with the German treasure hunter August Gissler , who was already on the island . They found nothing.

Gissler, the son of a manufacturer from Remscheid , whom the government of Costa Rica appointed as the first and only governor of the island in 1897, was probably the most ardent treasure hunter on the coconut island. In 1894 he founded the "Cocos Plantation Company" and sold shares in the company to finance his treasure hunt. He succeeded in attracting a few families to the island as workers for the treasure hunt. Six families arrived on December 13, 1894 and another four in May 1895. They lived there with Gissler and his American wife in a small colony and planted tobacco, bananas, citrus fruits, cereals and vegetables. The settlement only existed until 1903, after which Gissler and his wife lived alone on the island until 1908. The couple then moved to New York City , where Gissler tried to monetize his knowledge of the treasure. He died impoverished in New York in 1935. Until his death he lived on the donations from his family. His notes eventually came into the possession of the New York Times journalist Julian A. Weston.

During his treasure hunt, Gissler dug entire underground tunnel systems over the years, the traces of which can still be seen today. He was looking for the lost church treasure of Lima and was certain of his cause, as he had two maps from different sources that indicated the same location as the hiding place. In addition, Gissler also believed that Benito Bonito's pirate treasure was buried on Coconut Island. All he found were solitary Spanish gold doubloons buried in the sand . There is a wide variety of information about their number, ranging from one coin to 33.

Far better options were available to Admiral Henry St. Leger Bury Palliser (June 22, 1839 - March 17, 1907), Commander-in-Chief of the British Pacific Fleet from 1896 to 1899. Without further ado, he deployed the crew of his flagship, the armored cruiser HMS Imperieuse, on a treasure hunt. In the turmoil of an attempted coup against the general and incumbent president of Guatemala , José María Reina Barrios , Palliser had taken in a shady person named Charles Edward Harford with her companion FA Harris in Puerto San José , who claimed to have discovered the treasure of Lima on Coconut Island to have. He also had a treasure map. The Imperieuse arrived on October 14, 1897 on Coconut Island. The team dug several deep holes at the places indicated by Harford, because of the constant rain and the continually sliding earth, which was at risk of death. Palliser also had powder charges attached to blast away rocks, but to no avail. On October 16, 1897, Palliser and the Imperieuse left the island without discovering a trace of the treasure.

Peter Bergmans (according to other sources: Petrus Bergmann), a seedy Belgian, claimed to have found a box full of gold, a 60 cm high golden Madonna and a skeleton on Coconut Island in the 1920s. He was allegedly a member of the crew of the yacht Westward, owned by a Mr. Young from Seattle, which sank in a storm off the coast of Nicaragua in 1929. Bergmans was able to save themselves with the captain in the dinghy and they were stranded on the coconut island. Bergmans accidentally found an extensive gold treasure there while wandering around the beach. With the restored boat, both of them, their pockets allegedly full of gold coins and jewels, were put to sea on November 30, 1929 and were rescued four days later by the German steamship Nachwezeld , Captain Carl Heinrich.

According to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven , there was no steamer with the peculiar name of Nachwezeld in the 1920s, either in Germany or internationally.

The MV Westward is a 26 meter (86 feet) motor yacht designed by Leslie "Ted" Geary in 1924. The owner was the Alaska Coast Hunting & Cruising Company of Campbell Church, which had the ship built for deep-sea fishing and hunting excursions in Alaska and Canada . Nothing is known of a trip to Coconut Island. The Westward has by no means sunk, but is still in the port of Seattle today and was added to the list of the US National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

One of the numerous treasure hunters from the first half of the 20th century was the British racing driver Sir Malcolm Campbell , who visited Cocos Island in February and March 1926 with several friends. Like everyone else, he was unsuccessful. Even the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt is said to have been interested in the treasures of Coconut Island. However, it should be noted that Roosevelt was an avid deep sea angler. On October 9, 1935, the cruisers USS Houston (CA-30) and USS Portland (CA-33) anchored in Wafer Bay. The President and several accompanying persons went fishing in the dinghies of the warships in the bay, followed by a picnic on the beach. It is not recorded that Roosevelt dug for treasure or had excavations carried out.

With the most modern technical means, the Briton Charles Augustus Arthur wanted to make the treasure hunt a success in the 1930s. After leaving the army prematurely in India, he became the aide-de-camp of the wealthy Hari Singh , the prince and heir to the throne of the princely state of Kashmir in India, and was involved in an attempt at blackmail to its disadvantage. Arthur used an early form of crowdfunding in Great Britain to raise money for a treasure hunt on Coconut Island. Thanks to excellent press work, he managed to accumulate a considerable amount of capital by issuing small parts. He emphasized not to rely on a treasure map and supposedly authentic reports of pirates, but to seek only with scientific methods for the treasure, he would, for example, with a gyrocopter fly over the island and means of transmitted from the cockpit "electric ray" the hidden Track down gold. With the yacht Queen of Scots he sent a group of 18 helpers to the island. All of them were immediately arrested and the equipment confiscated because Arthur had not obtained excavation permission from the Costa Rican authorities. Back in London, Arthur succeeded in acquiring capital again and founding “Treasure Recovery Limited” as a stock corporation in order to initiate another, technically well-equipped expedition (including metal detectors) to Coconut Island with the yacht Veracity . Peter Bergmans had been hired, who claimed to know the location of the treasure and to be able to lead the expedition members there directly. Despite Bergmans' leads and weeks of searching, they found nothing.

The first half of the 20th century was the heyday of the treasure hunt on Coconut Island. Countless searches - legal and even more illegal - took place. Some developed original methods in the process if they were not given excavation permission. For example, the Americans Earl Palliser from San Diego , Paul Stachwick from Huron, South Dakota and Gordon Brawner from Springfield, Illinois came to the island in a small sailing boat, where they were allegedly shipwrecked. They were well equipped with shotguns, canned food, fishing rods and excavation equipment. After a few weeks' stay, they were discovered by a Mexican fishing boat and "rescued" by the USS Sacramento . They hadn't found a treasure.

As the newspapers reported frequently and extensively on the treasure hunts, the island became so popular that wealthy idlers wanted to try to find the treasure. The half-hearted “expeditions” were planned more as short-term adventures to entertain the guests on board, of course with all the comforts, rather than serious undertakings. In November 1936 the yacht Metha Nelson from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer arrived off Coconut Island with actor Mario Bello (stepfather of actress Jean Harlow ) and several illustrious guests from Hollywood. On board was a certain Bill Bowbier, who claimed to know the exact location of the treasure hiding place, as he had "accidentally" stumbled upon the treasure a few years earlier while walking on the beach. The yacht was two weeks off the island, no treasure was found.

All of these stories (and countless others) are based to a large extent on sheer speculation. To date there is no credible evidence that a treasure was ever found on Coconut Island. Entering the island requires official permission. Excavation permits are strictly denied and the nature park rangers ensure that no illegal searches take place.

Others

It is believed that Coconut Island served as the template for the famous novel Treasure Island . The author Robert Louis Stevenson probably learned about the island and the legendary treasure from Lima in 1880. The Swiss Walter Hurni, on the other hand, believes he has evidence that Stevenson suspected the treasury of Lima on the island of Tafahi - also called "Cocos Eilandt" on old maps. Thus the island of Tafahi in the east Pacific would have been the template for the novel Treasure Island . Walter Hurni's research was processed by Alex Capus in his novel Journeys in the Light of the Stars .

Coconut Island is not identical to the one that Jacob Le Maire baptized and discovered on May 11, 1616. This is the island of Niuafoou , which today belongs to the Kingdom of Tonga . Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten's route did not pass by Coconut Island (Costa Rica).

literature

  • Georg Bremer: The secrets of the coconut island: adventurers in search of the greatest pirate treasures in the world . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-9655-2 .
  • Peter Disch-Lauxmann: The Authentic Story of Stevenson's Treasure Island . Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg-Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-89136-038-X . (an excitingly written, but largely speculative "standard work" on the treasure hunt on coconut island)
  • Ina Knobloch: The Secret of Treasure Island: Robert Louis Stevenson and Coconut Island - on the trail of a myth . Mare-Buchverlag, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86648-097-1 .

Web links

Commons : Coconut Island  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ In the original text it is called "plate". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary writes: Middle English; partly from Anglo-French plate ; partly from Old Spanish plata silver; precious metal especially: silver bullion.
  2. ↑ According to another source, Keating is said to have met Thompson in Cuba.
  3. ↑ Disch-Lauxmann incorrectly uses the name "Haffner"

References

  1. ↑ Christian HE Walther: The crustal structure of the Cocos ridge off Costa Rica, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2003, Vol. 108, 2136
  2. ↑ Weather base
  3. ^ A b c William Dampier: A New Voyage Round the World , James and John Knapton, London 1697, p. 111 ff
  4. ^ Lionel Wafer: A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, London 1699, reprinted: Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland 1903, p. 175
  5. ^ William Botting Hemsley: Report on the present state of knowledge of various insular floras, being an introduction to the Botany of the Challenger Expedition, London 1885
  6. ^ Dieter Mueller-Dombois , F. Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 0-387-98313-9 , pp. 584-585
  7. ↑ Luis Diego Gomez: The Ferns and Fern-Allies of Cocos Island, Costa Rica ; in: American Fern Journal No. 65 (4), 1975, pp. 102-104
  8. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage List
  9. ↑ Elmer Drew Merrill: The Botany of Cook's Voyages and its unexpected significance in relation to anthropology, biogeography, and history, in: Chronica Botanica Volume 14, Waltham (Mass.) 1954, pp. 190 ff.
  10. ^ Thor Heyerdahl & Edwin Ferdon: Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific , Vol. 2, London 1965, pp. 465-466
  11. ↑ James Colnett: A voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, for the purpose of extending the spermaceti whale fisheries, and other objects of commerce, by ascertaining the ports, bays, harbors, and anchoring births [sic] , in certain islands and coasts on those seas at which the ships of the British merchants might be refitted: undertaken and performed by Captain James Colnett, of the Royal Navy, in the ship Rattler (1798) , W. Bennett, London 1798, p 66-74
  12. ↑ George Vancouver: A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world; in which the coast of north-west America has been carefully examined and accurately surveyed. Undertaken by His Majesty's command, principally with a view to ascertain the existence of any navigable communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans; and performed in the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, in the Discovery sloop of war, and armed tender Chatham, under the command of Captain George Vancouver, Volume 3, GG and J. Robinson, London 1798, P. 368 ff.
  13. ^ Henry Evans Maude : Slavers in Paradise. University of the South Pacific Press, Suva (Fiji) 1986, pp. 161-162
  14. ↑ James B. Richardson: The Peruvian Barque “Adelante” and the Kanaka Labor Recruitment, in: Journal of Pacific History, Volume 11, 1977, pp. 212-214
  15. ↑ Anna Vander Broek: World's 10 best scuba spots. In: Forbes Traveler , August 2007
  16. ↑ Danny Kringiel: The Great Trench. Spiegel Online from April 10, 2016 [1]
  17. ↑ a b Ina Knobloch: The Secret of Treasure Island. Mare-Verlag, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86648-097-1
  18. ↑ a b Hidden Treasures, Time-Life book from the series “Library of Amazing Facts and Phenomena”, Amsterdam, s. a., p. 126
  19. ↑ Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin: The Buccaneers of America. London 1684
  20. ^ Lionel Wafer: A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, London 1699, reprinted by Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland 1903
  21. ↑ a b c Michael Groushko: Legendary treasures and its secrets, Augsburg 1995, pp 24-27
  22. ↑ a b c d e Peter Disch-Lauxmann: The authentic story of Stevenson's Treasure Island. Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg-Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-89136-038-X
  23. ↑ The New York Times of November 8, 1879: "Cocos Island Gold - Two Expeditions that Searched and Came to Grief"
  24. ↑ Seek Cocos Treasure, The Washington Post, Washington DC, July 24, 1911, p. 6
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g Ralph Hancock, Julian A. Weston: The Lost Treasure of Cocos Island. Thomas Nelson and Sons, New York, 1960
  26. ↑ Ralph Delahaye Paine: The Book of Buried Treasure. William Heinemann, London 1911, p. 281
  27. ↑ ZDF broadcast Terra X from July 3, 2005
  28. ↑ Victoria Daily Colonist , Nov. 4, 1897, p. 8
  29. ↑ Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe: Secrets of the World's Undiscovered Treasures, Ontario 2009, pp. 210-211
  30. ↑ A flying magnet to spot Cocos Island´s hidden gold, article in "The Miami News" of October 28, 1934
  31. ↑ The Colusa Herald, Volume 46, Number 250, October 28, 1931, p. 4