BOOK REVIEW: ‘Treasure Island: The Untold Story’

In Treasure Island: The Untold Story, author John Amrhein, Jr. delivers an entertaining and factual tale of the truth behind Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, Treasure Island.

John Amrhein, Jr. lives in the Outer Banks of North Carolina where he works as a real estate broker. His first book about the 1750 Spanish fleet was titled The Hidden Galleon: The True Story of a Lost Spanish Ship and the Wild Ponies of Assateague Island. The meticulous research and quest over many years saw Amrhein find La Galga. The shipwreck was not underwater as official mantra put it, but rather under National Park Service land where it has been put off limits to further discovery.

The author continued his painstaking research that revealed the fate of seven ships that left Havana for Cadiz, Spain on August 18, 1750. The 1750 fleet’s story parallels other hapless losses, ships delayed in Havana, cargo late in arriving and circumstances that put them in harm’s way. These merchant ships were too late to join the main convoy that included armed ships of the line to escort them back to Spain. Ten days later, off what is now Cape Canaveral, Florida, the fleet was hit by hurricane-force winds. Two days later the only surviving ship, the Guadalupe, was foundering off shore, south of Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina. Anchors were put out and the battered ship rode out the storm, the only vessel to survive.

La Galga was wrecked in the fury of a hurricane off Assateague Island. It is believed that the wild ponies, which were immortalized in the 1947 Marguerite Henry book Misty of Chincoteague, swam ashore from that shipwreck. Since La Galga was returning to Spain, some question the likelihood that it was from this wrecking that the ponies escaped. It is a wonderful story nonetheless. Descendants of Spanish horses remain wild on the islands today, subject to an annual roundup, sorting, and auction to benefit the volunteer fire department. The roundup serves to keep the herd viable on the sparse grass of the islands.

The wonderful tale of wild ponies inspired John Amrhein, Jr. as did his favorite book of all time, Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” Only one of the ships in the 1750 fleet survived the ordeal. The Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe ended up in Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina. As fate would have it a ship operated by two brothers, who would play the ultimate role in purloining the Guadalupe’s treasure, sprang a leak and put it into the same harbor.

The brothers left Hampton, Virginia for the Caribbean. Owen Lloyd and his one-legged brother John’s vessel put into Ocracoke to fix a leak. It is there that they encountered the shipwrecked and distressed Spanish ship owner Juan Manuel Bonilla.

Bonilla’s cargo contained 8 million pesos in gold, silver, and treasure along with valuable merchandise including cochineal dye, used to make bright red cloth. The cochineal, according to Amrhein’s research, was then worth 250,000 pesos. More than a million Pieces of Eight were stowed aboard the Guadalupe. A peso is considered the equivalent of a Spanish silver Piece of Eight. At the time Spanish sailors were paid one Piece of Eight a month, perhaps two if they were skilled. It was a colossal treasure.

Owen and John Lloyd were American mariners. They, like most in the former English colony, resented the Spanish. A 9-year war had just ended between Spain and England. Privateers and naval vessels preyed on shipping on both sides. There was no great sympathy for the 51-year old, pudgy, arrogant Spaniard when he landed on shore and sought assistance to protect his treasure.

Bonilla sought the help of the Lloyd brothers. Much of the treasure was off-loaded onto a ship they commandeered from a once honest captain Zebulon Wade of Boston. The Lloyd’s own ship was unseaworthy so they took over Wade’s Seaflower.

Perhaps this honest captain was an unwilling accomplice to the events but he eventually joined the band of pirates to escape with 50 chests of silver Pieces of Eight, 2 chests of worked silver, 130 bales of cochineal, tobacco stems, indigo dye, and hides. Owen Lloyd took charge of the Seaflower and his one-legged brother John took another vessel, the Mary, likewise loaded with Bonilla’s silver and gold. The Mary ran aground trying to make it out of the inlet but Owen Lloyd and his pirate crew escaped on October 20, 1750, and made it to the Caribbean.

A falling out began and the treasure was divided among the crew. Most of it was carried ashore on Norman’s Island in the British Virgin Islands. The pirates separately buried and hid their loot. Owen Lloyd buried some of his but likely kept the largest portion on board the Seaflower. His wife and brother-in-law were living in the islands so he had a plan, which eventually worked despite being dogged and hunted for years following the theft of the treasure. Owen Lloyd was given citizenship on St. Thomas and the protection of a governor that likely got paid handsomely for his help.

John Amrhein, Jr. tells the tale of Blackbeard, killed 32 years earlier in the very place where the theft of Bonilla’s treasure occurred, never having made a score such as the Lloyd brothers pulled off so easily. The author also weaves a story of the map drawn of Treasure Island and dated by Robert Louis Stevenson August 1750. This is the same date that saw the wrecking of the fleet and Bonilla’s badly damaged Guadalupe make it into Ocracoke Inlet. While Stevenson wrote his now classic novel in 1883, inspired by his stepson’s craving for tales, Amrhein’s research shows the liaison in real life that inspired the book.

Long John Silver, like John Lloyd, was a one-legged sailor. Stevenson’s stepson, Samuel Lloyd Osbourne, was named for a Welshman John Lloyd, likely his mother’s previous lover. It was made clear then and accepted even now that the stepson was Stevenson’s inspiration for Treasure Island.

Amrhein’s 396-page book contains an appendix of notes that demonstrate his and his collaborators’ meticulous research. The author uses dialogue and novelization to make the facts come to life in the book. His nonfiction work is based on research and fact. As prelude to his extensive bibliography he tells readers that “Everything in this book is based on documented facts. However, the author took license in some cases to create dialogue and some scenes for the sake of illustration.” This adds another dimension to the book and creates an interesting and exciting story. The personalities come alive in the text, which is lavishly illustrated with color photographs and black and white maps and documents.

Set sail with John Amrhein, Jr. on his contemporary exploits and enjoy a wonderful tale of pirates and history from a great storyteller, researcher, and historian.

John Christopher Fine is the author of 24 books. His articles appear in magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe.