Other editions of book The Cruise of the Esmeralda

THE STORY OF THE BURIED TREASURE. Those of my readers who happen to be well acquainted with Weymouth, will also be assuredly acquainted with a certain lane, known as Buxton’s Lane, branching off to the right from the high-road at Rodwell, and connecting that suburb with the picturesque little village of Wyke. I make this assertion with the most perfect confidence, because Buxton’s Lane happens to afford one of the most charming walks in that charming neighbourhood; and no one can well be a sojourner for any length of time in Weymouth without discovering this fact for him or herself, either through inquiry or by means of personal exploration. And of those who have enjoyed a saunter through this lane, some there will doubtless be who can remember a substantial stone-built house, standing back a distance of about a hundred yards or so from the roadway, and environed by a quaint old-fashioned garden, the entire demesne being situate on the crest of the rise just before Wyke is reached, and commanding an unparalleled view of the roadstead of Portland, with the open channel as far as Saint Alban’s Head to the left, while on the right the West Bay (notorious for its shipwrecks) stretches from the Bill of Portland, far away westward, into the misty distance toward Lyme, and Beer, and Seaton; ay, and even beyond that, down to Berry Head, past Torquay, the headland itself having been distinctly seen from Wyke Nap on a clear day, so it is said, though I cannot remember that I ever saw it myself from that standpoint. The house to which I refer is (or was, for I believe it no longer exists) known as “The Spaniards,” and was built by my ancestor, Hubert Saint Leger, with a portion of the proceeds of the Spanish prize that— having so harried and worried her that she at length became separated from the main body of the Great Armada—he drove into Weymouth Bay, and there, under the eyes of his admiring fellow-townsmen, fought her in his good ship Golden Rose, until she was fain to strike her colours and surrender to a craft of considerably less than half her size. “The Spaniards” had continued in possession of the Saint Leger family from the time of its building down to the date of my story; and under its roof I was born. And to its roof I had returned from an Australian voyage, a day or two previous to the events about to be related, to find my dear mOther in the direst of trouble. My father, like all the rest of the male Saint Legers, for as many generations as we could trace back, had been a seaman, and had died abroad, leaving my mOther such a moderate provision as would enable her, with care, to end her days in peace and comfort beneath the old roof-tree. It was a lonely life for her, poor soul! for I was her only child, and—being a Saint Leger—took naturally to the sea as a profession. That I should do so was indeed so completely a foregone conclusion, that I was especially educated for it at Greenwich; upon leaving which, I had been bound apprentice to my father. And under him I had faithfully served my time, and had risen to the position of second mate when death claimed him, and he passed away in my arms, commending my mOther to my tenderest care with his last breath

Buried Treasure!They were tough times, those years, but there was a story in his family -- they'd been telling it for generations -- that centuries ago, an ancestor of Captain Saint Leger's had found a shipwreck laden with a huge hoard of gold and jewels. He'd buried it, so the story went, in a secret location on an island in the Far East. Young Captain Saint Leger -- broke as he is -- sets out to find the treasure. It's not as easy as it sounds: he gets attacked by pirates, and of course the voyage itself is long and fretful. . . . but they get there, puzzle out the directions his ancestor encrypted, find the treasure -- and then the crew turns on him, intending to steal the treasure!

Buried Treasure!They were tough times, those years, but there was a story in his family -- they'd been telling it for generations -- that centuries ago, an ancestor of Captain Saint Leger's had found a shipwreck laden with a huge hoard of gold and jewels. He'd buried it, so the story went, in a secret location on an island in the Far East. Young Captain Saint Leger -- broke as he is -- sets out to find the treasure. It's not as easy as it sounds: he gets attacked by pirates, and of course the voyage itself is long and fretful. . . . but they get there, puzzle out the directions his ancestor encrypted, find the treasure -- and then the crew turns on him, intending to steal the treasure!

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After the death of his father, Captain Saint Leger and his family are left impoverished. Though, the Saint Legers have a family mystery, a forefather is thought to have kept an enormous wealth in gold and gems some place in the Eastern Seas. The problem is all tracks are coded. Nonetheless, Captain Saint Leger chooses to take a risk and voyages east. A sail filled with loads of mishaps starts, such as pirates, disasters and riot. This is a spectacular novel, wonderfully created, with a heavy naval contextual. The lead character’s family, which had a very lengthy marine custom, was a tad less of money. But there was a tale narrated in the family that a few centuries before a forefather of his had searched a deserted ship which appeared to have a large quantity of gold and gems. He had hidden this in a secret place on an islet in the Far East, marking paths for searching it in code some place in his home in England. Our protagonist looks for the paper with the code after a vast hunt in the cottage, and goes to search the hidden wealth, although he had not yet decoded the directions. Harry Collingwood is the fictitious name of William Joseph Cosens Lancaster, the son of a Royal Navy captain and studied at the Naval College, Greenwich. He was at the deep when he was 15 years old but had to quit his Royal Navy profession because of grave myopia. From 1886 to 1913, while laboring as a marine engineer majoring in harbor design, he penned 23 marine based books such as Harry Collingwood which privileged his idol Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Nelson's second in command at Trafalgar. A few of his novels are depicted as stories for the young ones and those who are children at heart.

Book Excerpt: ...tention to other matters, he set himself to the task of seeking for the particulars relating to the buried treasure. But though he patiently examined every document and scrap of paper contained in his father's desk, and otherwise searched most carefully and industriously in every conceivable hiding-place he could think of, the quest was unavailing, and the particulars have never been found, to this day!""It is very curious," I remarked, when my mother had brought her narrative to a conclusion--"very curious, and very interesting. But what you have related only strengthens my previous conviction, that the document or documents no longer exist. I have very little doubt that, if the truth could only be arrived at, it would be found that Richard Saint Leger kept the papers concealed somewhere about his clothing, and that they were buried with him.""No; that was certainly not the case," rejoined my mother; "for it is distinctly stated that--probably to obviate any such possibility--Hugh SaClose...

Those of my readers who happen to be well acquainted with Weymouth, will also be assuredly acquainted with a certain lane, known as Buxton’s Lane, branching off to the right from the high-road at Rodwell, and connecting that suburb with the picturesque little village of Wyke. I make this assertion with the most perfect confidence, because Buxton’s Lane happens to afford one of the most charming walks in that charming neighbourhood; and no one can well be a sojourner for any length of time in Weymouth without discovering this fact for him or herself, either through inquiry or by means of personal exploration.