Whether you choose to believe pirate tales
or not, it would take the hardest heart not to
give even slight recognition to the fact that
piracy and buried treasure are the stuff that
children’s dreams are made of. The tales
Beater tells are stated in such a matter-of-fact
manner that the reader can easily get lost in
the “reality” of the situations.
For example, take Juan Gomez, one of
Gaspar’s better-known crew members.
There is more than one generational Boca
Grande resident who might say that their
great-grandmother knew Gomez and had
seen a map that was purported to lead to
buried treasure. It all sounds far-fetched until
you take into account a story from Tampa
published in 2015.
In this particular story of the Lopez family,
Mike and his sister Maria found a box in their
grandfather’s attic that contained a tattered
map of the Hillsborough River, some very
old coins, a family picture and a severed,
skeletal hand wearing a ring. When they
took these items to several antiquity dealers
they were told that while the map appeared
to be from some time around the 1930s, the
coins were Portuguese and Spanish from
the 18th century and the ring on the hand
appeared to be from that time period as
well.
Maria and Mike explained that their
grandfather, Ernesto Lopez, had told them
stories about Gaspar the pirate when they
were young, stories that had been handed
down through Ernesto’s family. They never
thought they would fi nd physical proof of
the possibility that their grandfather knew
him, though.
Whether an elaborate hoax or a key to a
greater truth, everyone loves a good pirate
story … and this book does not disappoint.
20 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • January/February • 2022