Sesel Sa! January - March 2015 Jan - March 2015 | Page 69

The
Buzzard’s
Code
Will Seychelles’ fabulous, undiscovered treasure ever be found? Glynn Burridge
chronicles the search that has lasted for nearly 300 years.
Marbles, a stone horse’s head, a waterlogged woman, a quartzlined cave and a 300-year-old cipher are among mysteries
still whispered about on the islands of Seychelles where, it is
claimed, a fabulous treasure lies buried worth
around £150 million.
It all began, long ago, with ‘The Buzzard’, a
gentleman pirate whose real name was Olivier le
Vasseur, born in Calais, France, in the late 1690s.
Also known by the nickname of ‘la bouche’, or ‘the mouth’,
Le Vasseur began life on the sea as a corsair in 1716, but then
turned pirate and started terrorising the Indian Ocean,
taking rich pickings from the lucrative maritime trade
routes that criss-crossed that part of the world. As
was common practice at that time, he teamed up
with another pirate, the Englishman John Taylor
and together they raided many a merchant ship,
striking terror into the hearts of mercantile and
seafaring communities.
Perhaps it was a rare stroke of luck when Taylor
and La Buse came across the treasure ship, ‘Vierge
du Cap’, at anchor, like the proverbial sitting duck,
in the harbour of the island today known as La
Réunion. At the time, this Portuguese vessel
was carrying the Archbishop of Goa and Count
d’ Ericiera along with the count’s diamondencrusted sword, church plate, golden
goblets, coins, uncut diamonds
and – the piece de resistance – a
magnificent solid gold cross, seven
feet high and encrusted with
diamonds, emeralds and rubies,
known as the Fiery Cross of Goa.
After the division of spoils, La Buse
most mariners of the time were

was left with a problem:
extremely superstitious about

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