Book Review
Pirates & Buried Treasures
of Florida By Jack Beater
Editor’s note: By reviewing this book, we in no form or fashion
are stating that Gaspar the pirate was ever a real person. There
is much information that has been found to the contrary;
information that all but 100 percent indicates he never existed in
the form that we know him as today.
More importantly, it is integral for our readers to realize
that digging for buried treasure in the wrong place around
Gasparilla Island is a felony. We have had our share of wouldbe
treasure hunters over many years, and all have left emptyhanded.
Please do not desecrate any historic landmarks in the
search for buried treasure.
Jack Beater is known in pirate story afi cionado circles as one of the leading researchers and
writers regarding Gaspar the pirate and other legends around Cayo Pelau, Useppa Island,
Little Gasparilla and Gasparilla Island. While the Pennsylvania native passed away in 1969
after making Florida his home for many years, Beater never stopped believing in – or researching
– Jose Gaspar. He amassed a generous collection of stories since he began writing in the 1940s,
including not only Gaspar in his works but also of the swashbuckling pirates of the Mary Anders
and other lesser-known rapscallions.
In this book, “Pirates and Buried Treasure of Florida Islands,” there is a note from the publisher at
the beginning of the book. It explains to readers that while pirates were not uncommon in Florida
waters, Gaspar was more than likely made more of myth than of fl esh. In fact, the note states,
“Serious historians don’t accept the exploits attributed to Jose Gaspar as being true and accurate
and many even deny that he existed at all.”
Over the years Beater himself admitted that his collection of pirate tales was more about
romance, fantasy and adventure than reality, and is quoted as having said, “You can make a lot
more out of pirate treasure by writing about it than you can by digging for it.”
Beater explained to his readers at the beginning of the book that he has been fascinated with
the story of Gaspar the pirate for almost half a century. When he fi rst heard any part of the story
it was from a young Cuban who was a passenger on a steamship on its way to Havana in 1911.
In later years he heard other bits and pieces of the story about Gaspar from some of Florida’s
original settlers. Beater was better able to piece it all together with research he did on his own, in
periodicals that went back as far as 1823.
The book is a compilation of several biographies that Beater wrote about Gaspar, the fi rst of
which was originally published in 1949. Another longer version called “The Gasparilla Story” was
published in 1952 and 1956, followed by a full-length novel called “The Sea Avenger” in 1958.
18 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • January/February • 2022
Reviewer Marcy Shortuse