BIGGLES –

SCARCE. The Biggles Book of Treasure Hunting was a non-fiction work by W. E. Johns which was published by Max Parrish in 1962 with illustrations by William Randell. As far as is known, there has only been this one edition.

In the foreword of the book, Johns states that treasure in its widest sense, ought to encompass not just gold ad silver but long lost archaeological secrets and artefacts and these are perhaps of far greater significance. However, for the rest of the book, Johns proposes to only cover treasure in the more limited sense that is prevalent in the popular imagination, namely hoards of mostly gold. What follows are accounts of such treasures, how they originated, and the effort of those to find them. The book ends with a bibliography of reference works which Johns consulted.

• Biggles is mentioned in Chapter 1. Johns reiterates what readers of his stories are already familiar with, that Biggles is almost always reluctant to embark on a treasure hunt, knowing that most expeditions were expensive failures. However, Biggles was fascinated by the subject and he kept a scrapbook of notes and news clippings of relating to treasures found or treasure hunting expeditions which had failed. It was because he knew too much that he was seldom keen to try.
• This scrapbook was consulted in Biggles Breaks the Silence.
• Why there are treasures – why people bury their valuables and why some never come back to retrieve them.
• Treasure Trove – on the law of treasure trove and why that resulted in many finds never being reported.
• The Historical Background – on the Spanish conquest of the gold-rich civilizations of the Aztecs and the Incas. These events resulted in a “chain reaction” of hidden treasure. The Incas and Aztecs hid gold from the Spaniards. Pirates captured Spanish galleons carrying the gold back to Spain and then had to hide the treasure they seized. Priests amassed gold on the Spanish main and hide them to avoid pirate raids.
• Cocos – a real treasure island – on Captain Thompson of the Mary Dear which had been commissioned to transport the treasure of the wealthy inhabitants of Lima. Thompson made off with the riches and hid them on the island of Cocos in the Pacific. Many expeditions had searched the island thoroughly but have failed to find it.
• Horrible Trinidad – a treasure captured by the Portuguese pirate de Soto was buried on this Atlantic island. Several expeditions have dug for it but also without success.
• A Hill stuffed with gold – a somewhat different type of treasure. This one was buried by a group of Spanish monks who wanted to keep their wealth out of the hands of their king. The treasure was placed near their monastery at Pazuela and a huge artificial hill piled on top of it. The location was well documented. Mr Cecil Prodgers and later Dr Sanders led expeditions which appeared to be on the right track but had to give up prematurely because of the lack of cooperation of the Bolivian government.
• The story of El Dorado – El Dorado was most likely a myth started by a Spanish soldier named Martinez but those who searched for it found a “man of gold”. He was a high priest of the Chibcha tribe who ritually immersed himself while covered with gold dust into Lake Guatavita in Colombia. His devotees would also throw offerings of gold into the lake. Various expeditions made ttempts were made to recover the loot, including efforts to dig a tunnel to drain the lake. Some gold was recovered but most still remains.
• Hispaniola’s lost millions – On the gold of the Haiti ruler Christophe. He buried his treasure, amassed by taxation and seizure from his subject, in his fortress at La Ferrière. Its location was lost when he committed suicide during an uprising against him and the treasure has never been found.
• Treasures under the sea – examples of treasure on sunken ships. Egypt (1922), Laurentic (1917 – salvaged after the war). Madagascar (outbound from Australia to Britain. Some crew and passengers mutineed and seized the treasure but most died when they left the ship and attempted to reach land in lifeboats. General Grant, wreck on Auckland Island, the Lutine wrecked in shallow water at the entrance of the Zuyder Zee. It should have been easy to salvage but efforts were only partially successful and most of its treasure is believed to be still there. Dorothea and Grosvenor off the coast of South Africa, and the Florencia at the bottom of Tobermory Bay in Scotland which has defied all efforts at salvage.
• A hunch that paid off
• Legends and treasures
• More pirate loot
• Fortunes won and lost
• Bibliography
• pp. 144 (no dustjacket) Very Good+