Bert Kilbride, the Last Pirate of the Caribbean Honored

Bert Kilbride founded a company to take tourists out to the reefs and wrecks of the British Virgin Islands. He owned his own island there.
Bert Kilbride, the Last Pirate of the Caribbean Honored
Collage of photos of Bert Kilbride prepared by his family on display at the chair dedication ceremony at Treasure Trove pub in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (Myriam Moran copyright 2012)
John Christopher Fine
4/1/2013
Updated:
4/28/2016

Treasure Trove is a little pub tucked away on a corner of Southeast 5th Street in Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Florida. The bar was started by a treasure diver that attended a shipwreck symposium begun by Marine Geologist Bill Raymond in Ft. Lauderdale in 1984. Just out of college Ed Stevens met Mel Fisher, Bert Kilbride and other speakers at the symposium.

 The young man began diving with Bert Kilbride on a project to locate a fabled Spanish galleon that sank in the British Virgin Islands. The galleon was never found but plenty of others were located off a 13-mile long reef that extends from the Island of Anegada between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It is a treacherous passage even today with modern navigational aids. The shallow reef comes up just below the surface and has claimed ships from time immemorial.
  
 Bert Kilbride founded a company to take tourists out to the reefs and wrecks of the British Virgin Islands. He owned his own island there. Saba Rock became a legend for hard drinking treasure divers as well as an offbeat tourist attraction for the fancy yacht crowd. Bert became a legend in his own time. He had an affable, happy disposition with the character of an islander that had to face challenges of break-downs of equipment, boats and people most days without parts to replace them.
    
Bert died in 2008, just short of his 94th birthday. He moved back to Florida with his wife Gayla. Bert kept alive the quest for the Spanish galleon San Ignacio. To the last Bert planned to return to Anegada reef and salvage it. As he got older and outlived many pioneer divers and treasure hunters, Bert liked the moniker he adopted. He became the Last Pirate of the Caribbean. It is that legend that is inscribed on a pillar that contains his ashes on the underwater site of Neptune Memorial Reef.
    
Bert had many wives and as a result many children, grand children and great-grandchildren. His extended family often quips that they are not really sure how many. When they get together to honor their legendary progenitor the party is fun.
    
Jeff Rudd took over Treasure Trove bar from his cousin Ed Stevens 17 years ago. He retained the tradition of the place. His cousin opened Treasure Trove after he worked with treasure salvor Mel Fisher once the British Virgin Islands project ended. Ed was one of the divers that participated in the amazing finds from the galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha that sank 40 miles south of the Florida Keys in 1622. Ed’s idea was to create a bar as tribute to treasure divers and have income to pursue his dream of finding more treasure.
    
Jeff continues that dream. A two-ton cannon decorates a far wall in front of a window above bottles of liquor. “It was recovered from Muceras Reef, 15 miles north of Cuba,” Bill Raymond said. Bill put together a gathering of the Kilbride clan, friends and divers to dedicate a “chair back.”

Bar stools in Treasure Trove bear the names of famous treasure divers. The late Mel Fisher, Burt Webber, Big John McLaughlin and Chuck Mitchell all have one. Bert was never able to get to Treasure Trove for his chair back dedication so it was done on March 14, 2012, posthumosly.
    
Bert would have been at home among his sons, daughters, grand and great-grandchildren and the many friends from diving that attended. Gary Kilbride, Bert’s oldest son, along with his brother Mike and sister Ellen Kilbride Christopher organized power-point presentations of old films about their diving exploits.

Bert took the 20/20 television film crews of Hugh Downs and Geraldo Rivera underwater to shipwreck sites in the BVI. They raised a canon and anchor. It was at a time during the height of controversy between academicians that wanted shipwrecks left where they were until they could be eventually studied and recovered and treasure hunters that had the investments and means to recover them properly and share the treasure with governments.
    
Bert had the ‘look.’ Beard, darkly tanned, a chiseled face that could have emerged from the pages of Treasure Island as one of its legendary characters. He was the subject of many documentary films, articles and books. He worked with his sons Gary and Mike and others as well as his last wife Gayla operating Kilbride’s Underwater Tours in the BVI.

Everybody recognized Bert’s rugged face. He wore a golden Spanish doubloon around his neck on a chain and enjoyed the company of movie stars and best-selling authors like Peter Benchley. Benchley’s book, “The Deep,” was scripted into a film made in the British Virgins. It was filmed on the RMS Rhone. The Royal Mail Steamer sank off Salt Island in a storm. Bert Kilbride discovered many artifacts from the shipwreck including a complete dinner service for eighteen people. Fun was when Bert served guests on china brought up from ‘The Deep.’ Of course Jacqueline Bisset, the film’s star, made a great hit with him on Saba Rock especially with her wet T-shirt.
    
The ornately scripted wood carved chair back will remain at Treasure Trove for patrons to use. It was commemorated with chicken wings, conch fritters, shrimp and veggie platters prepared by Jeff Rudd and toasted by his friends and family. It was an occasion for divers with an interest in sunken treasure to get together and for Bert’s family and friends to enjoy good fellowship, to share tall tales and true stories about this diving pioneer.
    

 

John Christopher Fine is a marine biologist with two doctoral degrees, has authored 25 books, including award-winning books dealing with ocean pollution. He is a liaison officer of the U.N. Environment Program and the Confederation Mondiale for ocean matters. He is a member of the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences in honor of his books in the field of education. He has received international recognition for his pioneering work investigating toxic waste contamination of our land and water.
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