PIRATES OF THE COASTAL BEND

Pirates have long been admired as larger-than-life scalawags who have managed to plunder their way from legends into popular culture. Thanks in part to the success of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, the popularity of these swashbucklers has soared in recent years.

But the legends of pirates are rooted in real stories, and there is more than enough evidence in the annals of local history to prove that pirates once sailed these waters and buried their treasures right under our noses.

The name that comes up the most often when researching pirates in this area is Jean Laffite (sometimes spelled Lafitte). Laffite was born around 1780 in France and reached New Orleans around 1804. By 1808, Laffite and his brother, Pierre, were involved in smuggling, and eventually Laffite became a well-known pirate in the Gulf of Mexico waters.

While it is well known that Laffite made Galveston his home base at one point, he, along with other pirates, also left their mark throughout the Coastal Bend, including the counties of Matagorda, Refugio and Calhoun.

"We do know that Laffite spent time out on Goose Island, and there were a lot of Spanish pirates in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1600s. One of La Salle's ships was actually captured by Spanish pirates," said Jennifer Rogers, education director for the Texas Maritime Museum in Rockport.

In the administration of his piratical empire, Laffite made use of the islands off the coast of Texas and the inlets, bays and coves. One of his bases was Culebra Island, composed of Matagorda and St. Joseph's islands, according to "Refugio," the historical book by Hobart Huson. Smuggler's Creek, in present-day Calhoun County, was a favorite resort for various pirates, as were Barkantine and Copano Creek in present-day Refugio County.

Huson goes on to say that Laffite maintained a fort of his own on St. Joseph's Island, in the southwest part. The village of Aransas was later laid out near the site of this pirate fort.

According to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Web site, there are legends of pirates and lost treasure in the area. Laffite, known for plundering Spanish ships and running to hide in shallow, uncharted bays, is said to have deposited a large booty somewhere along False Live Oak Point. The story goes that in 1821, Laffite was disbanding his crew and preparing to leave the region. Grandma Frank, a local legend in her own right, is said to have witnessed this final business meeting and having said, "Many men went into the woods bearing heavy treasure chests, but only one man came out."

Will Bickford, a grandson of Peletiah Bickford, who was a friend of Frank, relays this story in more detail in Volume 1 of "Refugio."

"(Grandma Frank) lived in a house overlooking Espiritu Santo Bay, not far from Carlos City ... According to Madam Frank's story, which was corroborated in parts by old seaman reputed to have been Lafitte's men, the final act in the dramatic career of the great buccaneer took place in original Refugio County, in that part which is now Aransas County ... for three days and three nights, the pirates labored to unload their accumulated booty ... During the progress, Lafitte came to (Frank's) house and took refreshment. Once he exclaimed, 'There is enough treasure in those woods to ransom a nation!' When the last trip was made, Mrs. Frank noted that the bearers did not return. Lafitte desired to be the sole repository of his secret and dead men tell no tales."

After disbanding, many of Laffite's surviving crew who did not help him bury his treasure settled in Texas under the advice of their former pirate captain. According to Huson, some of his former followers settled in Refugio County and became substantial and highly respected citizens of the county. The descendants of some of these old freebooters still reside in the county, Huson said, and make no concealment of the glamorous past of their roots.

In the book "Historic Matagorda County," another tale of discovered buried treasure is told. Around 1928, Will McNabb of Matagorda was digging postholes for a fence near the mouth of the Colorado River when he struck something. About two feet underneath the ground, he found part of an old chest and about 20 Spanish dollars. The iron-end braces of the chest had corroded the coins together but some dates and names were still legible, such as the year 1811, the Spanish coat of arms and the names Isabella and Ferdinand. McNabb believed that the rest of the chest, which most likely contained thousands more of these coins, sank through the soft ground and is now resting many feet below the surface.

McNabb's family is said to still have some of these old coins in their possession today. It is not known who buried the chest, but one of the most popular theories, according to local tradition, is that the coins were a small part of the vast treasure buried along the waterways and coastal areas of Texas by Laffite and his men.


This was in the Victoria newspaper today.