M. A. Nazario
Jr. Member
- Jun 13, 2021
- 24
- 35
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
On April 2, 1863 the sloop Francis Palmer departed San Francisco with an empty hull, eager to fill it with gold and treasure.
Aboard the ship was a Dane named Wagener, on whom the small expedition depended. In the year 1853, he was on the Falkland Islands, probably engaged in the sealing trade. It was there he became acquainted with 42 year-old Copenhagen native John Johnson; though to his fellow sealers, he was called Pirate Johnson.
According to the official censuses, Johnson had been the only Dane on the islands for years. He would have found a fast friend and confidant in Wagener, the only countryman he could converse with in his native language. He revealed that he had been on a pirate vessel as a boy, and that he had helped to bury a treasure in a vault in the Falklands about 20 miles from Port Stanley. Whilst the ship was laying off the island, a Spanish man-of-war arrived; and as the pirates aboard attempted to escape, the frigate fired upon them and sank it with all hands.* How Johnson managed to become the only member of the shore party to survive with the secret was not told to Wagener, however, the pirate was adamant that he was the sole carrier of the information. He then gave Wagener the particulars of the location, intending that the younger man do the work in retrieving it, for which he would receive a portion of the proceeds.
Wagener chartered a small sloop and two hands. When they anchored in Berkeley Sound, he treated the seamen with a copious amount of alcohol and bade them to celebrate a job well done. The sailors drank in excess and became stupendously drunk, at which point Wagener felt he was safe to conduct his search. He drew the two men ashore and left them there to sleep off their revelry. With a pick and a shovel he followed Pirate Johnson’s directions, when he dug a shallow hole in the peat. The old pirate’s tale was true; the vault and its treasures were so abundant that he could not remove them by himself, and with so little time. Accordingly he returned to Port Stanley with the intention of proceeding again to the treasure with such assistance as could enable him to retrieve it, but that he was so closely watched by the authorities that he was unable to return.
On October 30 of that same year, Pirate Johnson died of alcohol poisoning. Whether his demise was self-inflicted or a deliberate act by Wagener will forever remain a mystery; but it is possible that the glint of gold was more exciting than the bond they shared. Before his death, Johnson told Wagener that if he did perish, that the secret should not be disclosed to the government or any other persons, except for his daughter, to whom his portion of the treasure was to go. Johnson’s Welsh widow Jane Herkes repeatedly entreated Wagener for the secret of the location, which the Dane would not disclose to her, seeing that her own husband had kept the particulars a secret from her. She then reported the treasure to the authorities at Port Stanley, and as a consequence Wagener shipped out of the port as a seaman.
He soon found himself in San Francisco, where he had friends among his fellow whalers. He made it known, through certain channels, that he was the sole living possessor of the secret to a hidden fortune, and that he was looking to lead an expedition to retrieve it. He had told his story to three or four different parties until he settled on the terms offered by the company which had chartered the whaler Francis Palmer. He hid inside the vessel until it shipped out, ostensibly for Valparaiso.
But Wagener was not so quiet that the British Consulate at San Francisco received the particulars of his story. Considering that treasure, if it existed, belonged to the Crown, they sent word of the Francis Palmer’s illegal treasure-hunt to the authorities at Port Stanley. Thus the ship returned to San Francisco in December, empty-handed. A second expedition supposedly departed the next month, likely with Wagener aboard. Whether or not this one succeeded is not known, as there is no further mention of it in the historical record.
Census records and the endorsements of prominent figures within the British Consulate corroborate the veracity of this legend. A settlement in Berkeley Sound, near the site of Wagener's search, is named Johnson’s Harbour after the pirate.
Aboard the ship was a Dane named Wagener, on whom the small expedition depended. In the year 1853, he was on the Falkland Islands, probably engaged in the sealing trade. It was there he became acquainted with 42 year-old Copenhagen native John Johnson; though to his fellow sealers, he was called Pirate Johnson.
According to the official censuses, Johnson had been the only Dane on the islands for years. He would have found a fast friend and confidant in Wagener, the only countryman he could converse with in his native language. He revealed that he had been on a pirate vessel as a boy, and that he had helped to bury a treasure in a vault in the Falklands about 20 miles from Port Stanley. Whilst the ship was laying off the island, a Spanish man-of-war arrived; and as the pirates aboard attempted to escape, the frigate fired upon them and sank it with all hands.* How Johnson managed to become the only member of the shore party to survive with the secret was not told to Wagener, however, the pirate was adamant that he was the sole carrier of the information. He then gave Wagener the particulars of the location, intending that the younger man do the work in retrieving it, for which he would receive a portion of the proceeds.
Wagener chartered a small sloop and two hands. When they anchored in Berkeley Sound, he treated the seamen with a copious amount of alcohol and bade them to celebrate a job well done. The sailors drank in excess and became stupendously drunk, at which point Wagener felt he was safe to conduct his search. He drew the two men ashore and left them there to sleep off their revelry. With a pick and a shovel he followed Pirate Johnson’s directions, when he dug a shallow hole in the peat. The old pirate’s tale was true; the vault and its treasures were so abundant that he could not remove them by himself, and with so little time. Accordingly he returned to Port Stanley with the intention of proceeding again to the treasure with such assistance as could enable him to retrieve it, but that he was so closely watched by the authorities that he was unable to return.
On October 30 of that same year, Pirate Johnson died of alcohol poisoning. Whether his demise was self-inflicted or a deliberate act by Wagener will forever remain a mystery; but it is possible that the glint of gold was more exciting than the bond they shared. Before his death, Johnson told Wagener that if he did perish, that the secret should not be disclosed to the government or any other persons, except for his daughter, to whom his portion of the treasure was to go. Johnson’s Welsh widow Jane Herkes repeatedly entreated Wagener for the secret of the location, which the Dane would not disclose to her, seeing that her own husband had kept the particulars a secret from her. She then reported the treasure to the authorities at Port Stanley, and as a consequence Wagener shipped out of the port as a seaman.
He soon found himself in San Francisco, where he had friends among his fellow whalers. He made it known, through certain channels, that he was the sole living possessor of the secret to a hidden fortune, and that he was looking to lead an expedition to retrieve it. He had told his story to three or four different parties until he settled on the terms offered by the company which had chartered the whaler Francis Palmer. He hid inside the vessel until it shipped out, ostensibly for Valparaiso.
But Wagener was not so quiet that the British Consulate at San Francisco received the particulars of his story. Considering that treasure, if it existed, belonged to the Crown, they sent word of the Francis Palmer’s illegal treasure-hunt to the authorities at Port Stanley. Thus the ship returned to San Francisco in December, empty-handed. A second expedition supposedly departed the next month, likely with Wagener aboard. Whether or not this one succeeded is not known, as there is no further mention of it in the historical record.
Census records and the endorsements of prominent figures within the British Consulate corroborate the veracity of this legend. A settlement in Berkeley Sound, near the site of Wagener's search, is named Johnson’s Harbour after the pirate.
