Ghosts along the Texas Coast Read Free Page B

South Padre Island in 1811 with a cargo of $500,000 in gold and silver. One treasure writer speculates this may have been the Santa Maria, and the treasure was valued at around a million dollars.” This event took place during the time the Lafittes were still operating from their Barataria headquarters near New Orleans.
    Moving on up along the coast, we come to Kenedy County, where it is noted that off the shore of Padre Island there is the wreck of the Spanish galleon
Capitana
. This ship was assigned to defend some smaller Spanish vessels against a band of pirates. In a furious fight, the
Capitana
went down with all hands, and so did the treasure in her hull, said to be over $1,000,000.
    Moving eastward up the coast, we hit Kleberg County, where the famous King Ranch is located. There is a peninsula that juts out into Baffin Bay that is known as “Point of Rocks.” A Lafitte treasure chest is said to have been buried there and the site marked by a copper spike driven into a crack in a rock.
    Penfield reported there are three hills, called “Money Hills,” on Mustang and Padre islands. The original Money Hill on Mustang was the highest sand dune, about three miles south of Aransas Pass. Because of the wind, the sand dunes shift a lot, and the highest dune one day might not be that way the next! Therefore, nobody knows where the original “Money Hill” was located. Sometimes it was called “Big Hill” or “Three Mile Hill” because of its location three miles south of Aransas Pass. According to local legend, a pirate ship blew ashore on northern Mustang Island, and the treasure from it was buried under “Money Hill” because it was a good landmark for the pirates to locate. Many coins have been picked up in this area over the years, so the main cache may already have been found.
    The northern tip of Padre Island, located in Nueces County, abounds in buried pirate treasure stories. Penfield’s guide states, “It is related over and over that Jean Lafitte’s men frequented this area while the pirate leader was established on Galveston Island, and for years afterwards. Corpus Christi and the Laguna Madre, then, as now, were havens during the hurricane season. In 1835 the embankments and fortifications of a rendezvous were plainly visible on the north tip of Padre, and along the beaches were many posts yet standing with iron rings affixed to them, which had been used by the small boats that plied between Padre’s shores and the larger vessels anchored offshore. There was a secret pass where the pirates could repair their ships, supply them with food and water, and divide their loot among themselves. All of these signs of Lafitte’s presence on Padre Island have now disappeared.”
    When Lafitte was forced to quit Galveston Island, the remnants of his organization drifted on down the coast to the many islands and coastal towns where they were safe from patrols. It was at this time that the legend was born that Lafitte had personally buried a vast fortune under a millstone on the northern tip of Padre Island. A printer from New Orleans named Newell spent a great part of his life, and finally lost it, searching for this elusive treasure. No one ever learned just what information he had that made him so persistent in his search, but it was believed by some that he had befriended one of Lafitte’s men while living in New Orleans and was told the secret of Lafitte’s treasure in repayment. The markers sought by Newell were a single Spanish dagger (a type of yucca plant) and three silver spikes. He found hundreds of Spanish dagger plants but not a single silver spike. In 1871 Newell’ssmall boat was found drifting in the Gulf, and a few days later his body was washed ashore.
    In Calhoun County, where the ghost town and former seaport of Indianola was located, Penfield’s treasure guide states: “A number of Texas treasure stories start with