NAUTICAL MILE
P U B L I C A T I O N S
Massacre Pass
The Calusa people were the most powerful people in Southwest Florida when the Spanish and Ponce de Leon first arrived on these shores in 1513. But the Calusa knew about the Spanish and it is believed that they killed or enslaved at least 200 Spanish during the first years of contact. In fact, after Ponce failed, the Spanish decided to try easier targets and moved north for a while.
Today we believe he tried to approach the central capital of the Calusa Nation --
the city of Calos or Caalus. We believe the location of that city to be in Estero
Bay. Escambaba was the name that the Calusa people called themselves, and according
to an early Spanish captive of the Calusa, this word meant The Fierce People. This
fact proved to be true, they were fierce. (John Worth, Asst. Director of the Randell
Research Center)
The documentation says that Ponce stopped and took on water at an island where they had took on water before. They called the island Matanzas because of the Indians they killed. From that point on the island was referred to as Matanzas Island. The English translation, Massacre Island. (Worth)
A story I read on the internet says that some time later the Spanish killed King Carlos, they lured the king and 20 of his head men to a spot on the pass and slaughtered them at what is known as Matanzas Pass.
What we know is that the Spanish and the Calusa had a very tenuous relationship at best. The current Cacique Carlos was plotting to kill the Spanish leader Menendez and the rest of the Spanish in Calusa territory. Carlos had been put in place by his father Cacique Carlos. But Cacique Carlos was originally named Sequene and was the brother of the true Cacique. Sequene’s brother died and at that time Sequene was the Great Shaman of the tribe and as such was one of three people that led the tribe, Cacique, Shaman, War Captain. Now with only the War Captain and Cacique’s widow to deal with he was able to declare himself Cacique (Regent) and took the name Carlos. Part of the agreement that put him in power was that when the true Caciques son became of age Sequene would step down and hand over the leadership to young Phelipe. Sequene did not keep that deal with Phelipe and was able to put his own son in as Cacique. He made a deal to put Phelipe in as Great Shaman. This did not set well with Phelipe, so he waited and when the time was right he informed on the plot to kill the Spanish leader. The Spanish lured Cacique Carlos and 2 of his head men to (it is believed) somewhere in Estero with promises of gifts and when the Calusa leaders arrived they were slaughtered and their heads removed. Estero is backed by Matanzas Pass. The Spanish were able to install the King’s cousin, Phelipe the original heir to the throne as King, but as a Spanish puppet he did not last long and was also assassinated by the Spanish soldiers and again it is believed to have happened some where around Estero. Carlos was killed by Reinoso’s soldiers in May of 1567.
One of the ways a Calusa king’s power was established was by the amount of wives he had as tribute from subject tribes. The Cacique could not give up his wives without giving up his kingdom. But the Spanish insisted that he should have only one wife so you can see (and so did the Cacique) that the Spanish way of life would have totally undermined his authority and the Cacique would not and could not let that happen.
Of all the natives of south Florida the Calusa were the hardest for the Spanish. The Calusa captured, killed, tortured, and enslaved over 200 Spanish during the early days. They also were given as tribute the contents of many Spanish vessels. The Spanish wanted the loot from the lost ships and control of the Calusa shoreline (all south Florida, both sides). But they got neither and as far as the loot, it had no value to the Calusa and it is thought they may have kept small amounts and traded the rest away. There has never been a significant find of gold, silver, gems, etc in the Indian mounds to believe that they kept it. In fact more likely the gold was stolen, traded, and swindled from the Calusa by Spanish soldiers. I would not be surprise that the Spanish garrisoned here pirated all valuables they found in Calusa possession and never reported them. Some of the soldiers and sailors were accused of trading silver bars from the Calusa without paying taxes on them. The Spanish did however manage to disrupt the tribe and meddle in Calusa politics. My thanks to John Worth with the University of Florida for his help with this article.
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Devastation
South Florida is no stranger to the destructive force and power of hurricanes. After Charley hit the Sound, I went out with several friends, archeologists, and scholars to inspect damage to the assorted ancient sites, and we noticed some interesting things. Large amounts of sand and shell were gone in places, and in other places it was deposited in large amounts. I noticed in one place an old shell mound at least 20’ high had been ripped open and large conch shells had spilled out into the water. The end of Cayo Costa had disappeared and a new pass was created in Upper Captiva. I also saw pot shards on the beach along the Captiva pass end of Cayo Costa.
Imagine if you will the time is about 600AD and you live on Pine Island Sound at
Pineland. You have your family living with you of maybe 5 to 15 people, and your
home is on a sand ridge along the waterfront where you can gather all the seafood
you want. Life is good and food is abundant. The little community has constructed
a communal house on the beach with drying/cooking racks around fires. Then one day
you notice the wildlife has disappeared and it seems so quiet, you know something
bad is going happen--you can feel it in the air. The wind and rain start and you
try to take shelter in the grass stick house, but soon the wind destroys it. As vegetation
starts blowing away and the waters start to rise, everyone heads inland. But at this
time in history, Pineland is an island of its own and separate from Pine Island.
So you flee into the swampy interior, huddle up, and wait for the end to come.
The islands were swept and a large deposit of sand was left at the Pineland site. Then after the people regrouped and survivors banded together, some point along this path they decided to have a central government and a leader was chosen or came forth to lead them. They started public works projects like building canals and mounds and by 1513 a great civilization was here and the Calusa city of Tanpa was where today’s Pineland is. An estimate of this city population was 750 to 1000 people at first contact with the Spanish. They developed a sophisticated religion and military. They believed we all are born with three souls but only one went on after death and that one would go into a smaller animal and when that animal died it went into a smaller one still, until finally they just disappeared.
Note: John Worth, Former Assistant Director of Randell Research Center, conducted
research revealing that, indeed, a small community was living at Pineland around
600AD when a 12-16 inch layer of sand covered all signs of human habitation and it
was 50 to 100 years before the Calusas had returned to the island. Join me on a Calusa
Ghost Tour and find out where the village was.
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Useppa
Once called Caldez Island, Josepha Island, and today this small island in Pine Island Sound is known as Useppa Island. The local history of this unique island is intricately intertwined with world and American history.
Late in the 18th century, the Creek Indians attempted to establish their own mark on the island, driving out the ancient Calusa and blending their culture with any “Spanish/Indians” (probably earlier Creek) that may have been in the area. Around the same time Spanish/Cubans arrived, establishing small seasonal fish camps amongst the native population in Pine Island Sound and maybe bringing some remnants of Florida Indians back as hired help.
America made its claim in the early 1800’s when President Andrew Jackson targeted the Indians (and some of the blended population) for removal to the west as part of the historic “Trail of Tears,” although a small number the hearty natives and Spanish may have stayed in the area. The island was raided by a band of Indians and evacuated by 1836
Useppa was owned by the Caldez family in 1831 and many Spanish/Indian mix lived there, and ran a fishing business. But the American government did not want them there and made legal ownership difficult at best to obtain.
During the civil war, the island served as a port and fort for the Union cause, and a refugee village for the union sympathizers that had lived on Florida’s west coast. Not for the first time in history, the island was a hot bed of political intrigue.
In 1985 while renovating the Collier Inn on the island workers uncovered an ancient grave. Under the guidance of the University of Florida archaeologist there was the additional discovery of 6,000 year old artifacts of the ancient Shell People including a variety of bone and shell.
The historical and cultural intrusions that took place within this 200-year period
of first contact with Europeans literally caused the original native civilization
to disappear from this area. Today it is a privately owned island with a beautiful
Inn and Museum, swaying palm trees and a private beach. You can only enter on the
island with an invitation or special permission.
An interesting note: Around the beginning of the Second Seminole War (1836) there
was a report by refugees from Josepa Island saying that “they were assaulted by a
band of 25 Indians under Chief Wy-ho-kee, the Customs Inspector murdered and the
establishment destroyed and the village plundered.” The Caldez family, the murder,
and the raid on Useppa are being researched by Dr. John Worth. In a separate reporting,
Fluensio, a member of the Caldez family was charged and convicted of murdering Lewis
Bataucuu with a shotgun in Charlotte Harbor
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Bird Bones
I have been making shell instruments lately and experimenting with bone flutes for the show we put on. I also have been researching information on Calusa costumes and dancers. We know at certain times of the year the Calusa shaman or someone he chose would dress like animals and harass the people of the tribe. The record talks of someone dressing like a deer stag and bothering people. Well I also knew that a wooden carved top of a bird head (we think bird head) was discovered in Pineland in 1971 by Phyllis and Ed Thomassons. Phyllis saw the beak sticking out of the muck after a storm and pulled out a finely carved and hollowed out piece of cypress. The thing is a little over ten inches long and a little over 2 inches wide and high.
In a 1993 publication from the Florida Museum of Natural History it is said that the artifact demanded some imagined scenarios be created to account for the artifact. Merald Clark took on the project and produced several scenarios and a replication of the artifact to see if something fit. He came up with a long necked bird with an attached bottom jaw that opened and closed. As a side note a search for the lower jaw was undertaken but never discovered. This long necked bird sat on the persons head and a mask, feathered headdress and mantle were worn with shell rattles around the lower legs. It is imagined that it was worn by a dancer in a ritual dance and used to frighten children in one scenario. Since then archeologists have created several scenarios for this find. One was just a hand puppet and another was an elaborate costume with a cranes neck and movable jaw.
Based on the things I have read and from the design of the bird head found I would take a guess that this was a bird mask probable used during the time that the shaman had people dress as animals. Used for ceremony or even in sacrifice. We are told in some of the old documents that the Calusa would practice a seasonal sacrifice of slaves or at the death of the king, queen, or their child. As a matter of fact if the king’s child died the tribe would sacrifice the same aged children in the tribe to be with the king’s child in the afterlife.
The bird head is now in the Florida Museum of Natural History at Gainesville and
no lower jaw or other artifact associated with it has every been discovered, that
we know of. Who knows -- maybe a researcher will come across something in a bag of
artifacts that has not been looked at for a very long time.
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2006 Dig
Hi everyone, I would like to take this opportunity to report on the 2006 Useppa Island
Archaeological Project. The Dig, co-sponsored by the UCLA Department of Anthropology,
the Randell Research Center, the Useppa Island Historical Society, and the Useppa
Island Club, was a huge success. Project Director John Dietler had an end-of-the-dig
party, which I attended at the Randell Research Center Lab (next to the Pineland
Post Office) with my oldest son John Nick. The archaeologists and volunteers will
analyze catalog everything they found, including shell tools, blanks, and some beads
at UCLA.
When the analysis is complete, all of the artifacts will be sent to the Florida Museum
of Natural History in Gainesville for permanent storage so that they will be available
for future study. We had a good time -- ate some burgers from the grill and had some
refreshing beverages. There was a spear thrower demonstration and I brought my conch
horns for people to blow and shell rattles to shake. We heard about and saw pictures
of some of the artifacts found during the dig and we discussed some possibilities
that they suggested. John Dietler also held a wonderful demonstration of shell tool
construction (see pictures).
John starts by notching out a spot for the handle by hammering it with another shell hammer. Then he hammers a hole in the other side to fit the rest of the handle shaft.
He uses sandstone cobble from the river to smooth the rough edges and to grind a sharp edge for an axe or leave it as a hammer like the one already made in the background above. The next step is to pass a stick, cut from a native stopper tree, through the holes to serve as a handle. Once the stick is tied onto the tool with a strip of leather, we have a finished axe or hammer.
For thousands of years prior to first contact with the Spanish in 1513, shell tools were the primary tools of the Calusa and they made their living with them. Between shell tools and nets they made, the Calusa were able to build the greatest civilization in south Florida.
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Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda
A 13 year old boy and his brother are on a ship bound for Spain in the early 1500s and the boys name Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda. Their parents were sending them to Spain to be educated like good Spanish nobles. But his fate was to be much different then his parents had planned for him, when they encountered a storm and were wrecked and washed upon the islands of the Keys. Thinking they were lucky to survive and then saved from starving by the natives. They were taken to the Calusa Cacique (Great king) with other slaves, gold and salvage from the wreck but Hernando’s brother did not make it and was killed or sacrificed along the way. The Cacique at this time was based in Escampaba in Estero Bay on Mound Key.
Hernando spent 17 years as a Calusa slave and managed to become an advisor to Carlos II the Cacique. Calusa slaves were assimilated into the People but could not have rank. They were treated well if they contributed to the People but some historians believe that they made human sacrifice of the nonproductive slaves. When Hernando was rescued some Spanish even stayed behind with Calusa families that they had established.
He tells us that the Calusa women wore small grass skirt thongs made from Spanish moss and that the men wore thongs made from palm. That they painted themselves with the colors white, black, and red and these colors are believed to have been sacred colors for the Calusa. I think that they may have used the paint as a kind of bug repellent and status or rank symbol.
One of the stories he tells us is about the killing of some Spanish captives by Calusa soldiers. Spanish captives were brought to the Cacique and his soldiers reported having to kill some of them because they would not obey the soldiers. The Cacique ask Hernando why this was and Hernando ask the Spanish captives why they would not obey the Calusa soldiers. They replied that they did not understand the language and Hernando told this to the Cacique. Not believing Hernando the Cacique ask another interpreter the same question and got the same answer. To prove Hernando’s story the Cacique told the captives to do something. When the Cacique told them to get up and go to the look out they ask Hernando what he said and when the other interpreter told the Cacique this Hernando was told to tell them what he said. When he told them, they got up and went to the look out as instructed. Because of this instance the Cacique ordered his military that all Spanish captives were to be brought before him without killing if possible. Hernando saved many Spanish captives from death by this simple act.
Hernando grew up fast and traveled the Calusa territory and much of what we know about the Calusa we know from his memoirs. He tells us about their religion, political structure, military, and every day life. He was rescued by the explorer Menendez, but that’s another story.
After his rescue he worked for Florida’s Spanish Governor, Menendez for a while but never was paid. So he went back to Spain and wrote his memoirs for the king in hopes of some kind of compensation.
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Modern Calusa
Hi everyone. This month’s article and the next will be different than usual, but it is in a round about way about the Calusa Indians, but in a more modern perspective. I would like to give my personal thanks to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission for the opportunity they have given me to glimpse the Calusa point of view. Let me explain.
I have been going out with the Florida Fish and Wildlife researchers for the last few years as a volunteer. I’d like to tell you about a little group of researchers, scientists, and volunteers who go out into Florida estuaries on a weekly if not daily mission to collect vital information about Florida’s waters. You may not hear about these folks too much, because they don’t get the glory. But the research and facts they gather is used by Mote Marine and many other organizations for studies and research of their own. It is used to determine bag limits and slot sizes. It gives us warning if the systems start to break down, and the information helps us in restoring fish populations.
Our day starts out at Pineland Marina in Pineland on Pine Island (you notice a theme here?) first thing in the morning. Chuck (Marine Biologist), our Captain, has planned the day so we hit the tides right. It’s all about having enough water to get back deep in the mangrove estuary. Few boaters go to the places we do and it gives me a great opportunity to feel like the ancients that once called these waters home. This place untouched for thousands of years as the world of concrete, steel, pesticide, phosphorus, fertilizer, oil, and god knows what else creeps slowly but ever steadily upon it. But out here the only signs you see are in numbers and data that is being collected. We don’t just sample the remote places we also do places that everybody has access to and can compare the differences.
Chuck pulls us up to a mangrove island, and I can see ancient Calusa Indian mounds in the back drop. I think about a time when Indian canoes would be pulled up to the shore and the Calusa in the water in this same spot with their homemade nets and spears for the big and dangerous fish that ended up in their nets. Five hundred years later and it does not seem to have changed, but I get a quick reality check when I look at our boat and motor.
We check the water depth, and if it is within the right depth range, two of us will jump out and pull out one end of a 600 foot net. The nets of the Calusa were made from plant fiber and were very strong and they made the net holes uniform with a net gauge. Today, holes in commercial nets are the same size.
Chuck moves the boat around in an arc and I watch the net unfurl into the water. Sometimes the smell in these back water spots can assault your nose until you get used to it. The Captain pulls into the shallow water just down from the other two of our team and he and I jump out and take the other end of the net and start walking to the other half of our team. We have to shuffle our feet along the bottom to warn the stingrays of our presence and hopefully they will get out of our way. On occasion when wading in the water we see shark so we keep a watchful eye. I feel like one of the fierce Calusa portrayed in the paintings and drawings in waste deep water pulling large nets in.
We turn the arc into a loop with a bag in the middle of the net, which the fish will swim into. We don’t use a gill net because we try to get the fish back in the water as fast as we can. The two teams meet and start to pull the net in, it takes a while and the nets aren’t light. As the bag gets closer to us the fish naval air force goes into action and every mullet in the net starts flying up and over the floats to freedom. The nets we are using today are not the special nets used just for mullet because the information we are gathering today is not about mullet. I’ve actually been hit by a large escaping mullet in the throat and it knocked the wind out of me. As the bag continues towards us we feel some big tugs on the net and see the floats go down with some splashing in the water in front of us. We look at each other and speculate as to what was making the tugs, Snook, redfish, shark? We get to the bag and start rolling back the net to contain the catch in the bag and then put it into a tub of water. The water begins to boil from the fish contained in the small space. I notice that this year we have been getting more new hatchlings than we did last year. After Charley hit it seemed that the hatch was way down on the trips that I was going on. In this bag we get an unusual catch. There are Snook, gag grouper, juvenile red and goliath groupers, Spanish mackerel, assorted large bait fish, catfish and some blue crabs. Sometimes we have stingray and catfish in a net and it becomes a very serious situation to free them without them or us getting hurt.
You don’t get that big a variety in one net not to mention the number of Snook and grouper. We count each fish and measure a sampling of each species and all the large sport fish are measured and we also take water readings after we release the fish. Most of the fish will be released but some will be bagged and tagged for research. On different occasions I have seen and had to release sea turtles and shark.
Next the work of gathering this net up takes place and I must apologize that I was not able to capture all the process on camera because I was needed to help. The net is gathered into the boat by two people in the back of the vessel while a third one helps keep the boat facing in the correct position and the net is quite heavy often with sea weed and algae stuck in it and it takes a lot strength and energy to clean and gather it up. At the same time the Captain finishes the paperwork and gets the vessel ready to go. We start up and go out to where I had tossed out a small buoy that marks the spot where the bag started from in the water. We take water readings here also.
We move on to the next spot and again I can not help but note the desolate look of the dead red mangrove. Charley’s destruction of the red mangrove is the biggest reason for the brown dead look of many of the islands in the harbor. Unlike it’s relatives the black and the white (it sounds like a fantasy movie) the red did not recover quickly and is still in very rough condition. Many of the islands are just piles of decaying red mangrove. If they are not destroyed by fire or hurricane they will form the base for the black and the white mangrove to take hold. It could be many years before the harbor goes back to the lush green that I remember before Charley’s visit. The red mangrove is the island starter, and it’s seed pods float with the tides until it finds an shallow spot to take hold of. Then it will send out long tap roots into the water. It is one of the few trees that thrive in a saltwater environment and can actually filter it. Other pods will get caught in the same area and before you know it an island has started. When the Calusa were here they kept their inhabited areas clear of vegetation and many of the islands that are here today may not have been here five hundred years ago when the Calusa plied these waters. In fact there is a theory that they started many of the islands as fish weirs. But today it looks gray and dead in many areas and in some cases I can even see open Calusa shell mounds exposed to the sun and spilling out into the water. These gray desolate islands wait as nature takes it course and if the reds rot and form a stable base then the next wave of mangrove will come. The black and white don’t come until the island elevation goes up a little and unlike the reds the black and white are recovering.
As we motor across the Sound I think about some of the time I have spent with these people collecting data. I remember having guest scientists on board doing specific research. One in particular was doing studies on cataracts on redfish and Snook. When he pointed out that many of the fish we were catching seemed to have them. I started checking more closely and noticed them too. But that could be some sort of natural occurrence in the animal much like man. Only research will tell.
We pull up to the back shoreline of Cayo Costa by Boca Grande Pass and we pullout the small net. With this net we gather small fish and can get a good handle on the years bait and sport fish hatchlings. We quickly gather in the net bag and try to get all the sport fish and rare fish documented and back in the water as fast as possible. Sometimes it seems impossible when the bag has a few thousand fish in it.
The information we gather will help regulate fishing without wiping out fish populations that are hard to bring back and at the same time make fish more plentiful for more fishing. It also gives us vital information about the fragile ecosystem that we are privileged to live in. As custodians of this paradise it is our job to keep this beautiful and fragile ecosystem from destruction and try to preserve some measure of it for the future generations.
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More Bones
If you remember in last month’s article I talked about experimenting with bird bone whistles. Well I was able to replicate my first one and it was a copy of one found on Frontenac Island NY. It was over 6,000 years old and what I find remarkable is the ability that they had to make these instruments. While experimenting (with help from the Snook Cowboy) we discovered that just playing around with some chicken and turkey bones we could get a sound and we figure some long, long dead ancient Indian was sitting around a fire digesting a nice bird BBQ and he blew on a bone and heard it’s voice. I imagine to ancient man this must of seemed like a voice from god. Having said all that you should be aware no bird bone whistles or flutes have ever been found connected with the Calusa. Talks with several experts only gives us an idea of might have been possible or what other Indians in the area were doing.
For example in a conversation with Dr. Worth of UF he tells me that although we have no records of flutes or whistles it was not uncommon for other Florida Indian Tribes to have a flute player to announce the presence of the Cacique (king). Talk with Dr Marquardt of the Randell Research Center tells me that although we don’t have any evidence of drums (that we know of) some artifacts found that may have been drums instead of wooden bowls and we know other neighboring tribes used drums. So as you can see recreating this past civilization is very challenging. I have also done some research of my own and found that plains Indians and north eastern Indians had special dancers and in some cases spiritual dancers received or were taught to make bird bone flutes and whistles. In some of the tribes the dancers actually wore the whistle around their neck all the time as a status cymbal. The eagle bone whistle was suppose to sound like an eagle when blow by special dancers.
I have been going over Frank Hamilton Cushing’s lost manuscript books and I am finding an assortment of new information we did not have. Cushing wrote about 1000 pages of detailed descriptions about our Pine Island Sound sites that were misplaced for 100 years and have just been put into book form. From some of his writings I found reference to a collection of catfish spines and I wondered at the purpose of collecting these. I talked to Dr Karen Walker (marine expert) at the Randell Research Center and she tells me there are a lot catfish bones in the mounds but she did not have an idea if there was a reason other than food. I suspect that they may have been for weapon points but until more information comes to light it is just a theory. They were found with some weapons and I also wonder why they were so abundant in the mounds. Clearly you would think that the mullet would be predominating.
But many things can explain this and until more discoveries we are just scratching the surface. I did find reference to gourds being used as net floats and more details about many of the Pine Island Sound islands. Fascinating reading and insight into one of those rare lights that burn twice as bright but only half as long, he was born in July of 1854 in Erie County, Pennsylvania and died in 1900. Much of what we know about the ancient Calusa comes from his research and manuscripts. The artifacts and detailed research he did led to many new archeological methods and techniques. Unfortunately he was never recognized for his brilliance until he passed away. In fact because of the lost manuscripts we are still finding new info. As with all good stories this one does not end with the discovery of the manuscripts, because it is still believed that he left hidden some diaries and field notes that have not yet been discovered. You also might like to know that towards the end of his life and research someone meddled in his affairs and made things very difficult destroying his reputation and leaving him to die destitute. He started writing in code and in the first manuscript book you can see the unreadable code. It reads like a great mystery novel to a history nut like me.
When talking with Theresa Schober of the Mound House on Ft Myers Beach she told me they found out in their recent dig, they got carbon dating that showed the mound was built about 1000 years before the Pineland site and was abandoned around 850 AD about 100 years after starting the Pineland site. This helps add to the ever growing wealth of knowledge we are accumulating on this once great civilization.
For those of you interested in visiting Calusa mound sites there is only a few that you are permitted to visit, Pineland on Pine Island, Mound House on Ft Myers Beach, and Mound Key State Park are the best known. The Calusa inhabited many of the islands from Charlotte Harbor down to Marco and controlled south Florida but the biggest concentration of mounds is in this area. Many islands on the harbor and sound show signs of their ancient occupation and habitation and can also be found in some site around Lake Okeechobee.
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Tampa
If you live in South West Florida, you know where Tampa is located. But you may be surprised to learn that the original Tampa was located in Pineland – actually, at the present site the Randell Research Center!
Settled more than 1,000 years before the Spanish arrived on our shores, “Calusa” Tampa was a capital city with 700 to 1,000 residents. There were large shell mounds/pyramids that were 60 feet high with a canal carved between the large mounds/pyramids that led to water courts and the royal burial mound/pyramid in the center of a lake. The canal also went across the island to the other side. This canal was hand dug and went 2 ½ miles at a depth of about 8 feet and width of about 30 feet (Cushing, 1898). The city’s royal family was led by a Cacique (king), the head shaman, and war captain. They lived atop the mounds/pyramids with a view of Pine Island Sound and the outposts, work sites and villages scattered along the shores and islands, including Josslyn, Useppa and Cayo Costa.
These smaller settlements played an important role in Calusa life. They represented the hub of their culture’s trade – fishing, canoe building and tool making. The sites were also believed to serve as designated areas for Calusa ceremonies and human sacrifice (Cushing). Although crude by modern standards, their society was also steeped in politics, religion and military interests, but based on aquaculture instead of agriculture. “Most people live on the edge of the land, but the Calusa lived on the edge of the water.” (John Worth, former assistant Director Randell Research Center)
Some artifacts found on Useppa have been dated back 6,000 years. Enough time for a great and powerful civilization to form. In their language they called themselves “The Fierce People”, the Creek and Seminole Indians referred to them as “The Bad People”. There is no disputing they were a powerful people and in 1614 proved it by sending out 300 war canoes and killing 500 people (up the west coast). They sent 12 survivors to St Augustine to warn the Spanish to stay out of Calusa territory.
We have found Calusa artifacts in the north as far as Ohio and New York and we have found artifacts here from the north also. They traded with Cuban Indians and maybe much more than we originally thought (John Worth), by traversing the water by canoe.
To communicate with the other outposts, the Calusa used smoke signals and the far-reaching
sounds of horse conch horns. Take a Calusa Ghost Tour and you’ll hear that eerie
horn even today, as though the spirits of the Calusa are reaching out to reclaim
Calusa Tampa – or perhaps their next human sacrifice.
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700 AD
a group of Calusa lived in Pineland on the beach. They hunted and fished the area. Then something happened and the area was covered with about 12 to 18 inches of sand and the Calusa disappeared for about 100 years before reappearing and this time they started building the Pineland mounds and what would be the Calusa city of Tanpa.
When I was working as operations manager of the site in 2004 they were doing a dig on the Surf Clam Ridge as it is now known. They did a test hole and carbon dated an artifact that was at water level that went back to 50BC.
The main dig as it turns out dates from about 700AD but it is clear that the Calusa were there a lot longer. Many volunteers worked on this dig and it spread over a several year period. Interesting things found were post molds or places where posts had been stuck in the ground and wood had rotted leaving dark round spots. In many cases it looked like they were in a circle. It is believed these were round structures that the Calusa lived in. With drying racks at the fire pits. That was another interesting thing found. Fire pits with debris in and around them. People think that archeology is like Indian Jones and Tome Raider but is more like CSI. The archeologists and volunteers sift through each bucket of earth removed. They go over things like arrow points, pieces of wood, bone, or shell “with a fine tooth comb” literally. Exposing it little bits at a time and trying to not damage it. All the dirt removed is placed in a bucket and pictures are taken of artifacts where they lay.
Everything is mapped out on a piece of grid paper as to depth and location. Carbon dating is taken from different levels. Artifacts are then put in plastic bags and labeled in code so we know where they were found. Then the buckets are sifted and pieces of, bone, shell, wood, pottery, and stone are removed bagged and labeled. Then removed to the lab and at the lab some of the artifacts will be washed and cleaned with fine brushes. After all this is done it is then archived or in layman’s terms warehoused until professionals can examine them and make educated theories about what they are, how they were used, and made. Sometimes artifacts can be warehoused for many years before new technologies or knowledge brings them back in the light. Most archives are kept dark and climate controlled to slow down the deteriorating processes of light and moisture. Lab workers (volunteers) at the RRC are now into the cleaning and washing part of the Surf Clam Ridge project.
In the case of Cushing manuscripts it would be almost a hundred years before his observations and theories about Pineland were rediscovered in the Smithsonian Archives. This is another form of archeology and many of these archeologists never go into the field they spend their time going over old archival materials and make great discoveries right in the archives. As newer and better technologies develop like in DNA testing we will continue to reexamine our archival materials and make more discoveries.
I had the opportunity to speak with archeologist working with Miami University about discoveries at Little Salt Springs. Intact remains found will tell us new things about the peoples that once roamed these lands. If you are interested in DNA research there is a great video you can see online call “The Journey of Man”. This is a must see documentary if you are interested in the origins of mankind.
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A Pirate’s life for me
I don’t think so! I have done a great deal of research on the subject and have to tell you the only reason pirates became pirates is was their future was so bleak they figured they would go out with a bang. In fact Black Beard only wanted to go down in history and not be forgotten. So he would tie cannon fuses from his hat and light them on fire and tie bones in his beard to appear fierce. It worked well for him and many ship surrendered to him without a fight because he would give them quarter (would not kill them and often only took their things and left them with the boat). Black Bart was forced into piracy then elected captain. When he accepted the captaincy he knew his fate was sealed and became one of the most ruthless of his kind. He even set pirate rules. Many pirates in fact had rules for the “Brethren of the Sea” as they sometimes called themselves. Everything was split equitably in the pirate community, food, clothes, weapons, supplies, and once in a while a little gold and silver. Pirates rarely got gold and silver mostly it was, food, clothing, spice, china, slaves, and some jewelry.
Life in Europe was not good for young poor men and starving to death and working to death was not real appealing. The European governments took men off the streets and put them in their navy’s often tricking them into it. Once on board a navy ship life was bleak indeed. You were not issued clothes so you only wore what you had on when they took you. Eventually you only wore rags. Many slept on deck curled up to anything that would give protection. Life below deck was sheltered but stunk of, men, urine (kept in a jar), bilge, and rotting food. Money was little good because you would not get a chance to spend it. Only the captain and officers got the good food and clothes and the crew often died of, starvation, scurvy, or exposure. We have many sayings that come from this time period like, “Don’t let the cat out of the bag”. This means don’t do something wrong or the captain will order the “Cat of Nine Tails” be taken out of the bag and administered as punishment. The Cat was nine pieces of cording or rawhide with three “Blood knots” ties at the end of each lash. 100 lashes of The Cat would kill a man. Another saying you might have heard refers to pirates because after enduring the unbearable conditions of being a sailor they often would take the most extravagant clothing and jewelry as booty and wear it. This habit earned them the name of a “Motley Crew” and they did play musical instruments (not electric guitars) but often time’s musicians received a little extra for their talent in the split of the booty.
You can hear stories and legends around here of Gaspar the pirate and others, but after extensive research I can find no documentation of him only the stories of an old fisherman who once entertained his clients with fanciful pirate stories. None of any real pirates wasted much time here and the only buried treasure ever found related to pirates was found in Africa (Captain Kidd).
There is the story that old Captain Jocelyn came after the Civil War and he was noted for knocking people off their ships and stealing them but that is about it. For the most part the only the Indian and the fisherman plied these waters.
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The Greatest Kingdom
When Ponce De Leon came in the early 1500s he was bent on conquest and decided to take the Calusa kingdom by force. The Calusa were known to be the riches and greatest kingdom in south Florida by other Florida tribes. Many of the tribes paid tribute to Supreme King or Cacique Carlos of the Calusa. Fontaneda (captured at 13 years old and lived with the Calusa for 14 years) said that once while in the Cacique’s city he saw the tribes from the keys bring in a million dollars worth of loot from a shipwrecked Spanish ship. Carlos took the best and then distributed the rest to the sub leaders.
Ponce tried to sneak up on the Calusa and landed on a small island in the center of a protected pass before going to the mainland to attack the Calusa. Finding Indians on the island he had them slaughtered. From that point on it was referred to as Massacre Island in Spanish and that was Matanzas Island in Mantansas Pass. (Worth)
I also read another story connected with that area and that legend says that some time later the Spanish were plotting the over through King Carlos 20 and lured the king and 20 of his head men to a spot on the pass and slaughtered them there, becoming known as Matanzas Pass.
What we know is that the Spanish and the Calusa had a very tenuous relationship at best. Carlos 2 was plotting to kill the Spanish leader Menendez and the rest of the Spanish in Calusa territory. Carlos 2 had been put in place by his adopted father Cacique Carlos 1. But he was originally named Sequene and was the brother of the true Cacique. Sequene’s brother died and at the time Sequene was the Great Shaman of the tribe and as such was one of three people that led the tribe, Cacique, Shaman, War Captain. Now with only the War Captain and Cacique’s widow to deal with he was able to declare himself Cacique and changed his name to Carlos. Part of the agreement that put him in power was that when the true Caciques son became of age Sequene would step down and hand over the leadership to young Philipe. Sequene did not keep that deal with Philipe and was able to put his own adopted son in as Cacique. He made a deal to put Philipe in as Great Shaman. This did not set well with Philipe, so he waited and when the time was right he informed on the plot to kill the Spanish leader. The Spanish lured Carlos and 2 of his head men to (it is believed) somewhere in Estro with promises of gifts and when the Calusa leaders arrived they were slaughtered. Estrio is backed by Matanazas Pass. The Spanish were able to install the King’s cousin, Philipe the original heir to the throne as King, but as a Spanish puppet he did not last long and was also assassinated by the Spanish.
One of the ways a Calusa king’s power was established was by the amount of wives he had as tribute from subject tribes. The Cacique could not give up his wives without giving up his kingdom. But the Spanish insisted that he should have only one wife so you can see that the Spanish way of life would have totally destroyed the Calusa culture and the Cacique would not and could not let that happen.
Of all the natives of south Florida the Calusa were the hardest for the Spanish. The Calusa captured killed, tortured, and enslaved over 200 Spanish during the early days. They also were given as tribute the contents of many Spanish vessels. The Spanish wanted the loot from the lost ships and control of the Calusa shoreline (all south Florida, both sides). But they got neither and as far as the loot, it had no value to the Calusa and it is thought they may have kept small amounts and traded the rest away. There has never been a significant find of gold, silver, gems, etc in the Indian mounds to believe that they kept it. The Spanish did however manage to break up the tribe and meddle in Calusa politics. I would not be surprise that the Spanish garrisoned here pirated all valuables they found in Calusa possession and never reported them.
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Forming
Take a trip back in time--before electricity, before Columbus, before Christ-- back
to the ice ages. Eight to ten thousand years before the birth of Christ, the South
Florida we know today was much, much different. The Gulf of Mexico was more like
a bay, and most of the land mass was vast savannah grassland with herds of mammoth,
mastodon and 15-foot giant bison roaming the land. Great glaciers formed a land bridge
between Asia and Alaska.
Man came to North America (named Paleo Indians by archeologists) in pursuit of the
herds, following them all the way to Florida—although they did not settle in the
area for long as it was still too cold to stay in one place, and they needed to follow
the herds to survive. They constructed long, teardrop-shaped stone points that were
glued and lashed to long sticks and used as spears to take down the large prey.
As the planet started to warm, the ice gradually melted and the waters rose, forming the Gulf of Mexico. The huge beasts of the plains began to die out and smaller animals replaced them like deer, raccoon, wild boar, and many birds and reptiles. Man returned here repeatedly, his tools, spears and weapons evolving to meet the new needs of the changing prey. These Ancient Indians developed a civilization that would dominate and shape the culture of South Florida for thousands of years. Discoveries in the rivers and springs of Florida have yielded amazing evidence of these ancient Floridians. In fact, many of the ancient sites in this area are under water and probably more lay undiscovered.
When building a House for Barron Collier (now the Collier Inn) on Useppa Island in
1985, a human burial site was uncovered, further investigation uncovered more bodies
and revealing carbon-dated artifacts as far back as 6,000 BC. To learn what items
were discovered, and hear more about what they revealed about the Calusa people,
join me on a Calusa Ghost Tour.
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Ponce Fled Spain
Everyone knows that history credits Ponce de Leon with the discovery of Florida, but did you know that he thought it was the fabled island of Bimini, the Cuban Indian legendary site of the Fountain of Youth? Ponce landed at the east coast of Florida by accident in St. Augustine, but he was looking for a deeper, more protected port, so he sailed south and around the tip of Florida where he set ashore to get provisions. While ashore he captured two natives to be used as slaves. These natives were the subjects of the Calusa Cacique (Great King) and they spoke Spanish! They told the Spanish of the Calusa Empire and their city along the south west coast of Florida. The Spanish set sail to meet the Calusa King to see if they could arrange for port. Although the exact South West port is disputed by historians, it is believed to be either the north end of Pine Island Sound or the south end by Sanibel. (With the geographic changes that occurred since Ponce de Leon’s findings were recorded, a positive identification is not possible).
The Calusa was wise to the Spanish slave tradition, so when they saw the Spanish ship in the Sound they organized a plan to greet the Spanish and then attack them when they did not expect it. The Calusa had secret canals and channels that connected them through the islands and they were able to plan their attack and appear in unexpected places.
Fleeing the area to escape the attack, Ponce fled to Spain, where he was knighted for the discovery of Florida. But Ponce was not happy with that; he wanted another shot at the Calusa. I can only imagine it, but if I were a great conquistador and explorer and was repelled by natives with bows and arrows, I would want to conquer the Calusa as well! Ponce convinced the Spanish King that the Calusa should be brought under control and Ponce once again set sail for the Calusa territory, deciding his fate. He was better armed with a Calvary for this excursion and planned to land farther away from the city so he could attack from a land base. If you have spent any time along the south west Florida shores, the strategy of attacking a native tribe through mangrove swamp and mud flats from horse back is a joke. In Ponce’s case, a very cruel joke; not only was he unsuccessful in taking the Calusa, he was wounded by an arrow to his royal "nalga."
As you might guess, Ponce called off his attack after this injury. (I can only assume his retreat was due, in part, to the severity of his injury; the conquistadors were a hardy lot and they would not give up easily if the wound was not severe.) The Spanish retreated to Cuba, where Ponce de Leon died a few days later from infection.
Editorial Note: It is my belief that the arrow that killed Ponce was possibly a stingray spine or catfish. The Calusa are believed to have used spines as arrow and spear tips. They had no stone locally available to use for points, so they used what was available, including bone and shell. These points could actually penetrate Spanish armor mail. While poisonous, they were not typically fatal, just extremely painful and the wounds are prone to infection. John Worth at Randall Research Center is quick to point out that no actual evidence exists for this theory, although he acknowledges it is possible. He also notes that the Spanish records of these events indicate that the Indians did not tip their arrows with poison.)
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Styrofoam
This month’s article is about my oldest son. When he was a senior in high school his science teacher told him that each creature in this world has a purpose.
From the smallest organisms to the elephant whose mere existence creates life and opportunity for other life forms to exist. The small fly that lays its eggs and the maggots that hatch from them, eat and break down organic waste. The bee that pollinates the fruit trees so the trees could not exist.
Everything on the planet is related to each other and directly affects the other.
Sometimes the impact is very slow and not noticeable for a long time--like global
warming--and other times we can see the results in a short time, like the effects
of over farming the land and the poor erosion practices that created the Dust Bowl
in the 1900s. DDT and the Bald Eagle, mosquito ditches, draining the Everglades,
nuclear plants raising the average temperature of the Great Lakes--these things all
impact everything else in our world.
After the teacher goes through this whole list of creatures and demonstrates how we are all interconnected and he has explained that everything has a purpose on this earth, he then asks, “What was man’s purpose for being created”? The teacher assigns a written response to the question to be handed in the following day.
I first would like to say that I worship my two boys and can see in them a great light in the darkness, and I hope all fathers feel this way. But that is my fatherly pride talking.
Anyway my son writes that, “Man’s creation was very purposeful, that the earth was lacking in one very important thing and it could not continue as it was. That the inhabitants of the earth were using up resources faster than they could be replenished and eventually they would be used up. Water, wind, air, would no longer support life. The planet needed something that would balance out the eco system.” Here it comes… “So man was created to produce Styrofoam and plastic. The planet could not make it on its own, and man brings the unique ability to both produce it and wipe himself out at the same time. The plant and animal life on the planet would adapt and mutate to survive with foam as a medium, but man would be eventually wiped out on the planet and never be able to establish there again. The Earth would continue on and now be safe from man.”
This planet has been here a very long time and our time on it has been but a blink
of the eye. The planet does not need us, we need it and because of the way we treat
it we may find that homo-sapiens may some day go the way of the dodo and the dinosaur
and the prophecy “the meek shall inherit the earth’ will be fulfilled. I am reminded
of aboriginal philosophy “that mankind fighting each other for procession of land
is like fleas fighting over the ownership of the dog they are on”.
This may not be far from the truth. Will we still be on this planet in 3006? What
about all the plastic and petroleum products we produce? What about the fluorocarbons
created by the production of petroleum products? How will this planet be affected
by an increased average temperature of 5 degrees? Here is the big question--how much
research has actually been done to prevent or prepare for the future? And last but
not least, does this fall under Homeland Security?
I wrote this article a few years ago and would like to thank my son John Nick for it. I was reminded that this message is even more important today. Please buy and use GREEN products and think GREEN.
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“Star light star bright first star I see tonight, wish I may and wish I might, upon the first star I see tonight.” The ancients believed that the stars and constellations were gods and things that fell from the sky were sent from the gods and magic.
In truth most falling stars are no bigger than a grain of sand and the light we see is just amplified by the electrical particles in the air. But on occasion bigger pieces fall to earth!
I recently learned some things from my friend Ken Largin (retired master Kegin knife maker). Ken tells me that maybe they were not so far from the truth. When a larger meteor fell and hit the Earth it would leave an impact crater and you can imagine what early man would think that! People would find these places and these meteorites and put religious meaning to the encounter. After stone and shell tools came bronze. Once man learned to work bronze he learned about iron. In early days men forged metal from the ground and often it was soft and flexible. It rusted quickly and would not hold a good edge. Blacksmiths learned that the meteorite was iron. But not just any iron it was “sky iron”, it was harder and stronger and would hold an edge longer. When a meteor falls to earth it becomes a meteorite. Meteorites are almost entirely iron and they are mixed with about 5% nickel and that is what makes them stronger. In times past “sky iron” was special and only select people ever received items made from it.
To have a weapon of “sky iron” was like the gods had blessed you in battle. Many kings and heroes of legend and lore had such weapons. Not only did it make good knives and swords it was sometimes magnetic and a small sliver of it could be used as a compass. The first compasses were made of this metal and were “magic” because they would point north. But swords made from this metal were superior to other swords and were able to break or bend lesser grade swords. Many times these weapons would be given names and were passed down from generation to generation. The samurai swords smiths took it even a step further and heat treated and bent and hammered the iron many times. They learned to mix alloys with the metal to make it stronger and folded it in layers. Many samurai swords would bend slightly after hard use and not fit in the scabbard but after sitting out all night it would fit in the morning (memory metal). It takes over 50 hours to sharpen a samurai sword correctly and ten years to learn just to sharpen them. Many are on display in museums and have names and documented histories. Often a Daimio (samurai overlord) would test his new sword on a serf (people owned by the overlord) by cutting them in half. Remember there is only one use for a sword and according to samurai tradition the sword was tested on blood and not put back in the scabbard until it tasted it. Today folded and layered steel is named Damascus.
My friend Ken makes Damascus knives and I am lucky enough to have a few. His Kelgin knives have been used in novels and TV (Matlock). They have been awarded to soldiers and are collected worldwide. The ones I have were made from the “Campo del Cielo Meteorite” that was first shown to Conquistadors in Argentina in 1572. I would like to thank Ken and his wife Paula (also a master knife maker) for providing information for this article.
Bloody Watson
If you follow my columns you know that pirates did not frequent here, but did you know that we did have our own outlaw and gang! Around 1900 a man named E. J. Watson came to the area. He was a farmer by trade but brought with him a reputation as a gunfighter and outlaw. He was wanted in Arkansas for harboring stolen horses and it was said he killed the “Outlaw Queen” Bell Star (actually it was her own son that killed her and then cursed her out as she lay dying). He had spent some time in the lawless west before coming to Southwest Florida and along the way he had become good with a gun. Arcadia was a rough and tough cattle town when he came through it and its biggest bully and outlaw was a guy named Quinn Bass. Bass was a cold blooded killer and trouble maker. When Watson arrived his reputation came with him and he was approached by a local to put an end to Bass. Watson managed to get Bass to pick a fight with him (Bass loved to fight and pick fights) and Watson ended up killing him. During the day Arcadia was wild and everyone was happy Bass was gone.
Watson came down through Ft Myers and to Chokoloskee and from there to Chatham Bend where he started farming. Believe it or not he brought and developed a strain of sugar cane and named it Florida Pride (still used today). But unlike many of the great industrialist (Disten), developers (Broward), and inventors (Ford) his fate would be much different. Ft Myers was a cattle town and everything south was pretty much wild country. It was a good place to start over and not be observed or hunted. Out on the bend he farmed his cane and got a great reputation as a can farmer, producing the best cane sugar and syrup in the land. But his reputation followed him and he had a hard time getting field hands to work for him. Several accidents at the mill caused some talk about Watson killing off field hands on payday. He could not sell his syrup because of a rumor that blood was in it and when he could not pay his black field hands he killed two that vocal and buried them in a shallow grave in the woods. Of course someone found them and Watson had told everyone that he dropped them at the train station.
Now everyone knew the truth but because this was the Deep South and they were black nothing ever happened to Watson. Except the rumors started about “Watson’s Payday” it was not long before the only people working for him were outlaws. Then it became the Watson Gang led by Bloody Watson and his men, Leslie Cox (wanted for murder), Dutchy Melville (wanted for gun fighting), Green “Hog” Waller (wanted for stealing pigs), and his wife big Hannah Smith (you can’t make this stuff up). Les was pretty much a wild dog killer and when Watson was gone he killed everyone there. Watson came back and because of his reputation he was accused of another “Watson’s Payday”.
He ended up being gunned down by friends and neighbors in front of his wife and children at Smallwood’s Store. He was accused of some 57 killings but I think most of that he let slide because he liked having people afraid of him. In the most part he started out real hard in life and tried to make good the best he could. If you would like to read about him and make your own choice about him there is a great book out called “Shadow Country” by Peter Matthiessen. It tells the story this of area and the rise and fall of E. J. Watson.
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Town of Survey
In 1539 the Calusa were here to meet Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon had thoughts of conquering the Calusa and establishing a colony where they were (Mound Key). The Calusa controlled all of south Florida. This was the center of the Calusa world and the Calusa did not tolerate intruders. The Spanish were ambushed and he was struck by an arrow (thrown from an atlatl or throwing stick) in the thigh and gave up the battle and retreated back to Cuba where he died within weeks from infection.
In the 1870’s the government decided it was a great place to pitch camp for their surveyors. This place had a mineral spring and the Indians legends said it had healing powers. This legend could have been linked to the Cuban refugee Indians that believed the Fountain of Youth was here.
At one point in the 1500s the Cacique of the Calusa (Sequene/Caalos on Mound Key) had so many Cuban refugees here he had to make a village of them and it was said that they tried to bathe in every little bit of water they could find, including puddles. The Calusa made fun of them (Fontaneda). The surveyors eventually left the site but the name of Survey stuck (and became the town of Survey) and the stream that ran through it became known as Surveyor’s Creek.
A few families came here during the 1800s but not much happened until around the turn of the century 1900. Citrus started booming and homesteaders moved in. In 1910 the Eagle Hotel was operating for hunting and fishing tourists. In 1912, 70 students were enrolled in the public schools. Then a man from Tennessee decided to develop the site and the name Survey did not have enough appeal, so they renamed the site Bonita Springs.
The river name changed and became the Imperial. The roads at the time were pretty
useless so the best way to get there was by boat, but then Barron Collier decided
he wanted to expand so he extended his railroad to Bonita Springs in 1925. The Tamiami
Trail came through in 1928 and Fiddler-
Few people know it but this is also where the first Shell Factor was started (Bonita Springs Historical Society).
Today Bonita Springs is a thriving community of about 48,000 out of season residents and approximately 68,000 in season. It has great beach front and old Florida river front. The newest addition is the Riverside Park with the renovated Liles Hotel and renovated bungalows and water tower. The park is perched right on the Imperial River and next to one of the area’s major attractions Everglades Wonder Gardens (native plants and animals like alligators and cougars). The park has docks, kayak launches, wilderness river trails, and areas to fish. You can watch the manatee in season from the river platform. You can also catch live music and entertainment at the park bandstand or visit the art shops in the renovated bungalows. There is a nice little walking trail and foot bridge over the river for a breathtaking nature walk. After that you can stop across the park for great little meal at the Survey Café and now you will know why they call it that.
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You probably have just heard the word Megalodon. About 12,000 years ago the last Ice was starting to end and large herds of mastodon and mammoth roamed a great savannah that is now part of the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding states. Great herds of giant bison and the giant sloth also moved on this savannah and they were followed by the great predators like the cave lion and cave bear. The first people came to this continent (North America) by crossing a land bridge from Asia to Alaska sometime around this also. They moved down into parts of Florida and sometime between then and 6,000 years ago the ancestors of the Calusa came here. They had to brave the ice and the great predators before they finally came to paradise. I know you are thinking, ‘What has this got to do with the megalodon?”
Well the biggest predatory fish in the sea at this time was Megalodon. It was 40-
Today beach goers and shell hunters look for the teeth of these monsters. It is considered
one of the supreme finds or treasures of the deep (Neptune’s Bounty). They can be
up to 6 inches in length and weigh up to 12 ounces. These teeth can fetch prices
from $75 to a $1000. Some are even fossilized into gem stone and can bring even greater
prices. We are lucky enough to be in an area where on an occasion one of these teeth
is found. I have heard of finds on the barrier islands and beaches up into Venice.
If you walk Venice Beaches you will see little shiny black triangle stones-
This month is shark month and I would like to make you aware of some facts. Ninety percent of the world’s shark population is gone. Pressure on other fishing industries has made shark a target by commercial fishermen because in many cases there are no limits or regulations. This is also compounded by the fact that Asian Shark Fin Soup has become popular. At $100 a bowl for soup, just a medium size fin can sell for $1000. This makes poaching big business in many places also. The shark is caught, and then all its fins including tail are cut off while it is alive! Then it is unceremoniously dumped back in the water to drown, this practice is highly illegal here, you must bring the whole fish to shore.
Don’t miss us at this year’s Calusa Blueway Festival Costume Ball. On October 30
at the Tarpon Lodge in Pineland, starts at 7:30 – 11pm, Entertainment, Prizes, food
and drink and/or paddle with us the next day to the “Hidden Lagoon” from Cushing’s
“Lost Manuscripts”. We will be giving away a new RTM Kayak and door prizes at the
event. Contact for more info www.calusabluewaypaddlingfestival.com or Betsy Clayton
at 239-
Check out our web sites for videos and more information, www.calusabackwater.com
or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations 239-938-5342 email me at calusaghosttours@comcast.net
or www.youtube.com search calusajohn for all our videos
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Pigeons & Parakeets
While I was researching last month’s articles on sharks I found out some other interesting things I thought I would share with you.
Have you ever heard of the Passenger Pigeon or the Carolina Parakeet? Well at one time we had a native pigeon called the Passenger Pigeon. Its population was estimated at 5 billion! They boasted the largest flock migration and roosting sights of any other animal on the planet. A flock migration could be three miles wide and blot out the sky for twelve hours as they passed by. Roosting sites could cover forty six square miles.
Pehr Kalm, described their passage in the spring of 1749: "on the 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 22nd of March . . . there came from the north an incredible multitude of these pigeons to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Their number, while in flight, extended three or four English miles in length, and more than one such mile in breadth, and they flew so closely together that the sky and the sun were obscured by them, the daylight becoming sensibly diminished by their shadow" (Fuller 1987).
John James Audubon describes a roost in Kentucky with some pigeon hunters in 1831:
Many trees two feet in diameter, I observed, were broken off at no great distance
from the ground; and the branches of many of the largest and tallest had given way,
as if the forest had been swept by a tornado. Everything proved to me that the number
of birds resorting to this part of the forest must be immense beyond conception .
. . Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of 'Here they come!' The noise which
they made, though yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea passing through
the rigging of a close-
I felt a current of air that surprised me. Thousands were soon knocked down by the pole men. The birds continued to pour in . . . The pigeons, arriving by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above another, until solid masses as large as hogsheads, were formed on the branches all round. Here and there the perches gave way under the weight with a crash, and falling to the ground, destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the dense groups with which every stick was loaded.
It was a scene of uproar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even to shout to those persons who were nearest to me. Even the reports of the guns were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing the shooters reloading (Schorger 1973).
It was thought that the birds could never be hunted to extinction. But sadly we proved that theory wrong and in 1914 the last one died in captivity. They covered most of the continental US but seemed to be mostly from the northeast down to Kentucky. Commercial harvest of the birds (for squab dinners and for the male feathers) during the height of this period in the 1800s and very early 1900s at a point was over 7 million a year. They could be clubbed from the hilltops as flocks migrated across country. One shot from a shot gun into the flock could bring down thirty birds. The Indians harvested them with nets but never made much of an impact until the whites came and paid for them. Then they were harvested in great numbers from about the mid 1800s until their extinction.
The Carolina Parakeet is the only North American Parakeet and became extinct by
the early 1900s. A few Carolina parakeets survived into the first years of the 20th
century, with sightings reported in the Panhandle and the Kissimmee Prairie of north-
The Cincinnati Zoological Gardens had the last pair of these parakeets (the same zoo that housed Martha, the last passenger pigeon). Sixteen parakeets were purchased by this zoo in the 1880s for $2.50 per bird (Fuller 1987). They never were able to successfully breed them (My thanks to the Endangered species handbook).
They were in many of the southern states and could raise quit a ruckus when a flock was in the trees. They were abundant residents in the states of, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and up the Mississippi to Kentucky. They fed on cocklebur but they also attacked grain crops and fruit crops to the point of being a menace. Farmers would come out to see bails covered with hundreds of the birds. But as the farmers would shoot them the survivors would take to the air and scream at their attackers only to return to their feeding site among the dead birds. The farmer would take aim and shoot again and over a day’s time he could eliminate a flock of a hundred birds or more. Now the only ones you can see are 150 year old stuffed remains in zoos and museums.
Don’t miss us at this year’s Calusa Blueway Festival Costume Ball. On October 30
at the Tarpon Lodge in Pineland, starts at 7:30 – 11pm, Entertainment, Prizes, food
and drink and/or paddle with us the next day to the “Hidden Lagoon” from Cushing’s
“Lost Manuscripts”. We will be giving away a new RTM Kayak and door prizes at the
event. Contact for more info www.calusabluewaypaddlingfestival.com or Betsy Clayton
at 239-
Check out our web sites for videos and more information, www.calusabackwater.com
or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations 239-
Sometime in the 1700s, a man named Juan Gomez was born. Some texts have him born in Portugal and others say Spain. I talked to some of his distant relatives (he and his wife never had children) and they told me he claimed he was from Portugal.
There also seems to be a discrepancy of thirty years in the date he was born, it was somewhere around or between the years 1759 and 1789. This colorful old storyteller became quite famous in this area and his stories became famous legends. His knowledge of the area was unequaled and if you needed a guide he was the one.
If you read the local history you will see that he was a guide for the suspected “Outlaw Bloody Watson” and he guided Frank Hamilton Cushing for a short time on his way to the famous discoveries on Marco Island. As a matter of fact, you cannot tell local history accurately if you leave him out. One of his stories was of meeting Napoleon Bonaparte in Madrid Spain and the “emperor spoke kindly to him” and another story was of a narrow escape from Cuba on a Filibustering mission. It was said that when he died in 1900 he was 123 years old and called the oldest man in Florida.
He said he was captured by the pirate Jose Gaspar when he was a lad and ended up joining the pirates and was befriended by Gaspar. The story of Gaspar is a famous legend that is believed to have been created by Juan Gomez. His family told me he used to take fishing charters out all the time and would tell them his stories. They thought they were fiction because the old man never had anything and the government ended up taking care of him and his wife in their last years. To date no treasure, documentation, or artifacts have shown up related to Gaspar or other pirates in the area. There are however some stories about Bru Baker as a fellow pirate of Gaspar’s in Bokeelia and Black Caesar in Sanibel. By the way, Black Caesar was a real pirate that is believed to have kept captive women on Sanibel.
Gaspar is believed to be myth. But what is unusual is that Gaspar was once to have used an alias of Lafitte the Pirate from New Orleans. Also the story of Gaspar seems to mirror that of Lafitte and I would not be surprised that the stories are modeled from there. I also would not be surprised if the old guy had contact with Lafitte and used some firsthand knowledge for the story. Lafitte was known to use many fictitious names and Juan may not have wanted to get himself in trouble with Lafitte by using his real name. Juan was called the Pirate of Mound Key and he did indeed live there for a while. It is said that he searched the mounds for Indian treasure and never found it (it is because it is not there unless you’re looking for broken shell tools). He lived on Panther Key for while and is attributed with naming it. He said that a panther once swam across the water to his island and ate his goats. From that time on it was called Panther Key. Juan loved to fish and the newspaper reports say he got tangled in his fishing net and drown. Net fishing by himself at his age is amazing in and of its self. The “Oldest Man in Florida” probably never would believe his stories would SO outlive him.
Here are a couple of facts about the area you may not know. Bokeelia is a Spanish word for "mouth," referring to outlet. The Matlacha Pass Bridge was given the nickname "the Fishingest Bridge in the World" by army troops stationed at Fort Myers’ Page Field during World War II who fished there on their days off.
Check out our web sites for videos and more information, www.calusabackwater.com
or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations 239-
Part 1
The sun was bright and warm as he spied through his glass on the barrier islands
of southwest Florida in 1790. He had an English warship under him but he no longer
honored that flag. After he and the men faced the hardships of the crossing, they
still were abused by their captain and officers. Their clothes were nothing but tattered
rags and they had to eat rats for meat while the officers ate well-
More than one shipmate sleeping on a cold wet deck with no blanket and their clothes worn away met Davey Jones and his locker. But that was then and this is now; now the men and he wore an assortment of finery although somewhat miss fitting. The people in the civilized world called them a Motley Crew because of this. But this band of English pirates did not care as they flaunted their stolen finery. Bru Baker was at the helm and as he put down the spy glass he yelled out an order, “Run up the Jolly Rogers and let my old friend Gaspar see my standard.
We don’t want him hiding and attacking us, thinking we are the enemy.” He yelled again, “Mr. Grogin, make for that island off the port bow. Bring her steady into the harbor.” It had been many years since he had seen his friend Gaspar but he knew he was here. He also knew that the old Pirate Black Caesar kept a harem of beautiful slave women on one of the islands and used them for his pleasure. He kept princesses and noblewomen and on occasion fed one or two to the sea if they preferred it to him. They call his slave island Captive Key. They say these islands were once inhabited by a fierce race of natives that built pyramids of shells and cities on the water. They say that Ponce Deleon found the “Fountain of Youth” here and was then killed by “The Fierce People”. They made human sacrifices to their God on these pyramids. It is said their ghosts still walk the ruins and wander their ancient cities. Hundreds of thousands of them with a hundred cities, “The Fierce People” were to have ruled for thousands of years before we came. But Bru had heard that before and it was all just legend now. Gaspar was starting a confederacy or “Brethren of the Sea” to rule these islands now that the natives were gone. Every man lived and died by the rules of the brethren. But everyman got his fair share of the booty prescribed by the rules also.
Bru planned on taking his booty and ship and becoming a privateer. He could be part of the brethren and go out and take whatever prize he could find and start his own trading company here. As they pulled into harbor two heavily armed sloops swooped out from behind a couple of mangrove islands. They were on him in seconds with two larger ships bearing down behind them. Bru yelled another order, “Prepare to be boarded.” In no time at all they were surrounded by a larger and motlier crew than they. He walked on deck and looked over the crew and prize. When he got to Bru he looked at him then looked again and stared hard into his eyes. Gaspar was armed with two cutlasses and two pistols that Bru could see. Also with Gaspar was a black captain in a scarlet gentlemen’s dress coat. He wore his long kinky salt and pepper hair in a pony tail tied with a red ribbon and he also wore two cutlasses at his side. These weapons were of the finest metal. Bru could see from looking at them that were once owned by royalty. These would be made from “Sky Iron” that God sent from the sky for heavenly purpose. Only the finest swordsmiths were blessed by God with it. The metal of these blades were stronger than other blades and could break Earth metal weapons. Yes, indeed, Gaspar was much different now than when he and Bru were stealing scrapes of food to survive. But would he remember Bru? Would he accept him or just take it all? Bru and the men waited to see what their fate would be. Would they be allowed to join the Brethren or would they become slaves? They looked at Bru and then at Gaspar.
Part 2
When last we saw Bru Baker the Pirate, his ship was taken over by his old friend the famous pirate Gaspar. Bru had not seen him in a long time and he hoped that the pirate still remembered him. The crew looked fitfully at one another and their captain. Gaspar inspected each man then he looked over the ship and saw she was of sound construction and four guns were mounted on each side with a smaller one at bow and stern.
As Gaspar drew near him Bru could smell the odor of the man and feel heat rising from him. In fact he was so close Bru could see the open pores on his face. He looked much older than Bru remembered and a whole lot harder. Gaspar’s face broke into a grin and he clapped Bru on the back nearly knocking him over and said “Why Brewster Baker you’re a long way from England. Did you finally decide to take to the life of freedom?” At this Bru’s men all seemed to relax and the tension left the air. At that moment the African Pirate Captain decided to speak up. He looked at Gaspar and then at me and said “Did you bring any women”?
Gaspar laughed and Bru said “I am sorry but we had a hard enough time getting here without inviting the wraith of the sea upon us with women on board. We would be seeing Davy Jones’s locker if weren’t for a little good luck in getting here.” Everyone laughed at that and then the serious talk began. Gaspar asked, “Well you have a fine ship and crew my friend.
But I don’t think you came here just to visit me. What is it that you want?” Bru looked Gaspar in the eye and said “Why we want to join you of course.” Gaspar smiled and said. “This is a great life but it probably won’t be a long one my friend.” “Are you and your men prepared to sign the rules as Brethren of the Sea, asked Gaspar?” Every last man said yes in unison as if they had rehearsed it. Of course living as English sailors was worse than death and although each one of them knew their lives would probably end at the end of the gallows rope or worse they did not care. At least this life would be free and they would take what they needed to survive. No navel officers would starve and beat them without cause.
The Brethren was a democracy and they all had a vote and a fair share of the booty. Each man given his share depending on his skill and job assignment with the captain getting the largest share, and the captains were elected by the crew to lead specific expeditions. If the captain did not make his men happy he was replaced. Each man was required to sign or X a contract agreeing to the rules of the Brethren. After each man made his mark on the contract they moored the ship and rowed into shore. Gaspar introduced Bru to the extravagantly dressed Black Captain as Black Caesar. Caesar had been a slave in Cuba and got involved in one of the slave revolts. The revolt was put down but not before Caesar had managed to escape the island and steal a slave ship then freeing its slaves to become his crew.
From then he had taken many ships from his former Spanish masters. Bru did not know the whole story of Caesar but he had heard a lot of it. If it could be believed this Black captain had terrorized the Spanish Maine and had many white woman of substance in his extensive harem. Bru had heard Caesar kept a hundred white women captive on one of the islands. Caesar asked Bru, “You have no woman? Aye, well then, TO Gaspar he said, “I am leaving Gaspar and with that he walked to a ship tied at the wharf. A large, fit, beautiful black Amazon met him and took him on board. As Bru looked up he saw many such women manning the vessel and preparing it to leave. Bru looked at Gaspar with a puzzled look on his face. Gaspar laughed heartily and said. “To some captains women onboard are bad luck for him it is the opposite”. Gaspar nodded at one of the island that formed the chain of barrier islands and said, “That island we call “Captive Island” because that is where he keeps his harem. He does not trust any men and only a few women. The Amazons guard the captives but there is no where they can go.
He captured a Spanish princess and brought her there. He keeps her there and walks with her on the beach at night. He once told me that when they walk he asks her to marry him and be his princess but she refuses him. He says he won’t put up with it much longer and if she continues to refuse him she won’t last the year”. Gaspar laughed again and grabbed Bru by the arm and led him away. “Let me show you the Country of the Brethren”. We dominate and protect several of these outer islands. Our ships comb these waters and harass the Spanish ships off the Isle of Turtles. We have several buildings and I even have a fine house being built. Several of the small islands are occupied by a Spanish fisherman and his Spanish Indians. They harvest the mullet and row in these waters. We trade with them and buy from them. They are good to have around. The guy that runs it they call Uncle Zeppa”.
Gaspar pointed into the harbor at a couple of the smaller islands and said, “That
one way down south with the big trees coming off the top-
Part 3
Bru Baker and Juan Gomez walked through the community of the Brethren of the Sea
and Bru was amazed at the settlement. He could smell the sea salt in the air and
hear the sounds of waves on the shore. The sky was clear and the sand under their
feet was warm -
As a matter of fact they had things here you could only get in the home lands. Many of the things here were meant for aristocrats and royalty. Fine clothes and the best wines and liquor were all here for a reasonable price. He realized his friend Gaspar lived like a king. There was a blacksmith shop and many weapons were on display there. The cutlass and pistol were the favored weapons of the freebooter (pirate) and this little shop looked like it could supply a whole navy.
The cutlass was shorter than a sword and wider with a curved blade. The officers of the royal fleets were usually of good families and were issued uniforms and weapons. Unlike their crews that wore whatever rags they could scavenge and they used whatever they could for a weapon. Many times the sailor’s clothes would wear out by the end of a cruise leaving them very exposed to the elements. Bru had friends that had died from exposure to these elements on deck while officers were warm in their clothes and cabins. The sea could very unforgiving. The officer’s weapon of choice was his military sword. They were on display here but few freebooters would use them for anything other the ornamentation. Many were long and straight with artful etchings and insignias on the narrow blades with a short hilt and filigree guard for the hand.
Bru had been in several skirmishes and had learned a very important lesson about the officer’s sword on board ship. He remembered the skirmish that won his prize. He was in a tight group of men ready to mutiny when the officers rushed them with swords drawn. Bru dodged a stab from one of the long weapons as he grabbed a marlin spike from a work pouch that was close at hand and moved under the rigging of the vessel. The officer made another lunge for Bru as he reached for a belaying pin. The regular sailors were issued no weapons and they fought with whatever they could lay their hands on. Bru was holding his own so far and was able to parry away another stab with the belaying pin and Bru could see the frustration in the officer’s eyes as he looked for an opening.
The other mutineers seemed to be winning and he could feel the momentum turning their way. Then with a scream the officer raised his sword over his head and was sure to hack Bru’s head from his shoulders when the most absurd thing happened, the officer seemed to stop mid swing. He looked up and Bru followed his eyes and saw the sword was tangled in the rigging. Bru stepped to the officer’s left side because the officer was using his right hand for the sword and drove the marlin spike into the officer’s throat and he went down choking on his own blood as the sword came untangled from the rigging and rattled to the deck.
Bru knew from that point on it would be the short cutlass for him. One other thing he knew and that is he would be on the run for the rest of his life and he thought of the pirate Black Bart’s motto when he was forced into piracy “it’s a merry life for me albeit but a short one”. The marlin spike was a metal pin from 6 to 18 inches long and was used as an all purpose tool by the sailors. From separating rigging and rope to using it as an eating utensil. The belaying pin was a piece of wood or metal about 12 to 18 inches long cylindrically shaped with a handle that was used in a pinrail. The pinrail was a railing with holes in it that you inserted the rigging ropes and then inserted a belaying pin to secure the rope. But they also made a formidable club. Onboard fighting was close and stabbing, slashing, and hacking were the most efficient methods of fighting. Many freebooters had used pistols also but they were only good for one shot and then you were back to the cutlass. He had even heard that the famous freebooter Black Beard had six pistols on a sling around his neck when he went into battle. All ready to fire in an instant and close at hand.
Bru came out of his thoughts as Juan introduced him to the Smithy. He was a very
big strong looking man with jet black hair and large shoulders. His hand swallowed
Bru’s as they shook. Bru said, “You have some great looking cutlasses here. Is this
your work?” The Smithy beamed with a smile and nodded yes but when he spoke it was
Spanish and English mixed. Juan explained that many here spoke mostly Spanish. Bru
said goodbye to the smithy and Juan led him down the main street of the village.
The village had inns and even a small trading company of which Bru took a special
interest. This was very exciting and Bru for the first time felt he may have found
a home. They went into a tavern for some food and drink and there Bru encountered
some of the foulest of the freebooters-
It seems many were hateful of the British, freebooter or not and wanted him hung. They surrounded Bru as only a dozen drunken fools will do trying to provoke a confrontation. Juan pushed into the center of the group and told them that Bru was Gaspar’s personal friend and if they did anything to him they would feel the full weight of laws of the Brethren. It seems they must have been well out of reasonable thinking as they pushed Juan to the side and muscled Bru to the ground and bound his hands. Bru was fighting as best he could but they were all over him and even though he was sober and they were drunk he still had no advantage. He was roughly grabbed from the ground and dragged out into the street. One of the brutes yelled for a rope and Bru thought for sure it was over. Juan tried again to calm them down but was shoved the side and a pistol put to his head. Juan was sure the captain’s old friend was about to meet Davey Jones and his locker.
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or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations on Pine Island -
Part 4
Bru looked around for some hope of help, for anyone or anything that could rescue him. The Spanish roughens threw a rope up over a tree branch and one of them started to make a knot. Juan stood motionless with a pistol to his head as the mob wheeled a wagon under the tree. The tree was huge and with reddish orange bark that flaked off like sunburned skin. They called it a Gumbo Limbo. Bru reflected for a moment that he knew the life he chose was probably going to end at the end of a rope but he did not think it would be a pirate’s rope! Bru was yanked onto the wagon and the rope put around his neck and pulled taught as one of the pirates started to secure it to the tree.
Juan was watching and noticed Gaspar as he pushed his way into the crowd with pistols drawn and before anyone could react, the sound of the pistols reports rang in their ears. Everyone’s head snapped around to see where the shots came from and there stood Gaspar. The smoke from the pistols curling in front of him made him appear almost ghostly. Everyone’s head had turned, that is accept the man holding the rope and the one holding the wagon. They seemed to slump for a moment right where they were standing. The man holding the rope just seemed to let go of it and the other looked at the dark hole starting to turn red in the center of his own chest before they fell to their knees and then faces into the sand.
Gaspar looked at the crowd and bellowed, “Is there anyone else that believes we have the hanging before the trial? Aye?” The pistol mysteriously vanished from Juan’s head and he was standing free and alone again. Juan looked to Gaspar and pointed to the two dead men and said, “I told them they would pay the price for breaking the laws. I told them he was a friend”. Gaspar looked around again and broke into big grin. Then he yelled to the gathering, “This is my good friend Captain Bru Baker, he and his crew are members of the Brethren and anyone that breaks the law will meet this same fate” he nodded to the two dead men on the ground. Then he pointed a finger at the man that had held the pistol to Juan’s head and said, “Clean this mess up and bury the bodies, NOW!”
The man scurried off to get the wagon and move the bodies, surely believing that he was blessed that Gaspar only had two hands and two pistols at the time everything happened. As Juan undid the rope from Bru’s hands and neck, Gaspar turned to the crowd and bellowed in his strong voice and the flowing sound of his Spanish, “Rum, me amigos, is on me”. Everyone yelled their approval and delight as they hurried back into the tavern and forgetting everything that just transpired. Gaspar grabbed Bru by the shoulder and laughed his deep hearty laugh before shoving him into the tavern.
Juan followed behind the two. Few would ever guess that Juan would be the last living to tell their story. When they found a table they pulled up chairs and Gaspar told Bru they needed to discuss this problem. He felt it would be a bad idea for Bru and his men to stay in this village. As it turned out, while Juan and Bru were in their little altercation, other little fights and battles had erupted all over the island all related to the English crew and there were many dead and wounded men. Gaspar told Bru and Juan of this development. Then he told Bru of a fine beach and island that the sailors called Bojelia just across the harbor to the southeast. He said they would be able to careen their ship there and clean her hull and they could build a pier.
Gaspar said something he heard from other sailors, “They say that there are great mounds of shell there left by the ancient people that once populated this whole area”. In fact Gaspar told him most of the islands had remains of the ancient ones on them. Old Juan spoke up after being so quiet for so long they forgot he was there and were even a little startled by the sound of his voice. He said, “Uncle Zeppa’s Island to the south of here has great mounds and even human bones exposed to the sun on them”. He said, “Sometimes at night sailors see spirit lights of the ancient ones over the island and lights descend into it”.
Then he told Bru of Bojelia and its great mounds overlooking the harbor. He told him the great vantage points from the tops of these ancient structures were unbeatable. He said they would be able to make a great little seaport there. Gaspar told Bru that there was an island east of them that had a small fishing and farming village on it and they traded with Gaspar’s town. He said the old Spanish fishermen and Indians on the island called it Cayo Paleu and claimed the north end of the island had large haunted burial mounds on it and the locals would not go there. They stayed to the southern end. They also had a fine tavern there that his men often frequented. They decided that the island of Cayo Paleu would be neutral territory. This could be where crews from both sides could have a fun night. It was decided that the next day Bru would take his prize and crew to Bojelia and make their fortune there.
Part 5
Bru opened his eyes to see an aura of orange red light rising over the sable palms and mangrove trees on the horizon. As he looked out the doorway of his shelter he could smell salt and fish in the sea air. He heard the splash of mullet and the sound of some large sea creature breaking the surface of the water to catch a breath. In the early days the sailors said there were mermaids in these waters. But they turned out be just some big form of sea cow. They weren’t bad eating though. The legends say the ancients that lived here believed they were sacred and only their king and his family could eat them.
He wasn’t ready to get out of his bed yet. The frame was driftwood with a grass mattress covered with old sail material. It was covered however with fine bedding (obtained from one of the prizes). As he rolled on his back he could see the driftwood center pole through the fine cloth mesh hung over the bed to keep the bugs out and see the supporting poles all meeting in the center to form the frame of his little thatched house. The roof was thatching made from the palm frond leaf. They were laid overlapping in layers so the rain would run off. The walls were also thatched with one window cut in it.
It had been three months since they had careened their ship on the Bojelia beach.
Bru had built his little shack on top of one of the Indian mounds overlooking the
harbor. His men had gone out and found their own stops to settle. Some of his men
turned out to be pretty good farmers, hunters, and fishermen and Bru had started
working out trading agreements with the other islands for their goods. Of course
some would never change from being the sea dogs they were and continued freebooting
whenever they got the chance. Gaspar and his pirates-
His little shack may have been constructed of only primitive materials but it was furnished much better than it looked from the outside and he was planning on building a real house. He had fine silks and rugs hung on the walls and laid on the sand/shell floors and a fine cheese cloth over the window. The door was open which meant the oriental carpet that hung from the doorframe was pulled back so he could see the horizon from his bed. The weather was starting to chill a little in the morning and the bugs seemed to have slacked off a bit from their constant assaults on the flesh. Some of his men had gotten sick from the bugs and died or had been bitten by snakes and suffered a painful death. This was not a place for the weak or infirm. But it was a breath taking place all the same.
This mound he was on towered over the surrounding area and gave great vantage points and vistas. He could see Gaspar’s Pass and his island from here and because he knew the shoals and bars he could maneuver into his little bay easily. For those that did not know these waters, they would have to slowly pick their way in, sounding the depths to get here. It would take hours for any large ship to get to their camp and easily be detected. The mound also seemed to generate its own kind of energy and Bru felt he was drawing strength from the old ones that once built these mounds. At night he sometimes would be visited with dreams of large fierce warriors throwing spears and swinging clubs tipped with shark teeth and broken shell as tips and imbedded as blades in the wood. In the dreams he saw these warriors attack a Spanish ship. They had swarmed it with large canoes made from large trees. Some were strapped together with rope and there were hundreds of natives attacking this ship.
He saw someone onboard that he knew…someone all sailing captains knew. It was Ponce Deleon and he looked like the paintings Bru had seen of him. When Bru was training he was introduced to maps from Ponce’s voyages. Anyone that sailed these waters had to be familiar with them. The day was waning and the natives broke off the attack after killing several Spanish but taking heavier losses. Then Bru woke up to see the aura of the sun rising. He had never had these dreams of Indians until he started sleeping on top of this mound and now they were coming almost every night. Old Juan Gomez has come over a few times and has told stories of his explorations of these old mounds. He took Bru to one of the islands so big it could shelter thousands of Indians. He said that the Spanish had called it the City of Carlos and capital of the Indian nation. Old Juan said he had explored this place before, looking for treasure but never found any. They had come in on a small boat and were able to paddle right into the center of the island on a central canal. Large mounds of shell on both side formed a gauntlet entering the island.
Once there, old Juan told how the Spanish were driven away by these people and many Spanish were captured and enslaved by them. He said the Indians with Jose Caldez, the fisherman who had set up a fishing ranchero on an island they called Uncle Zeppa’s Island, (that is what they called the old man and was the name of his boat) had said that they were descended from these old ones and talked about the place. Juan said that this place speaks to him when he comes here. They walk and explored for a while and found many pieces of broken pottery both Spanish and native. Some piece of Spanish metal but very little else. They were on one of the very large mounds poking and digging at artifacts when Juan yelled for Bru to come help. He had uncovered what he thought was a wooded floor. Bru helped him push away sand and shell using whatever they could find and all of a sudden the floor collapsed under them. They found themselves surrounded by skeletons in a room lined with logs. It was a tomb. They looked up at the hole in the ceiling they had fallen through and wondered how or if they would be able to get out or were they going to be here until they looked like the other residents.
Part 6
Slowly Bru’s eyes adjusted to the dark light of the tomb. He scanned the room and
noticed many skeletons of adults, children and animals. He saw assorted tools made
from shell and stone. Then his eyes fixed on something that sparkled in a beam of
light that penetrated the foliage and the broken ceiling of the tomb. He walked over
and lying on a bed of furs was a skeleton wrapped in fur and just sticking out of
the top of furs on the skull was a gold medallion. It was not very big-
This place had a strange feeling and Bru was eager to find his way out. He had no interest in disturbing the skeleton or taking its treasure. All around him he could feel the eyes of these long dead people on him. Juan said, “I do not like this place. I feel eyes watching me. Why are all these people buried and like this?” It smelled of old death, mold, and decay.
The empty sockets of skeletons blankly stared at them and it was like he could hear their ancient thoughts in his head. For an instance in his mind he saw people dancing around a fire and a glimpse of someone dancing with a human head dangling by the hair from his hand. Suddenly the air was thick and he felt his chest constricted. It felt like the air was drained from the space and he could not breathe. Bru had enough and started looking for a way out.
Juan just kept looking at the skeletons unable to move. Finally Bru grabbed him and shook him back to reality. Juan’s eyes cleared and Bru said, “Grab that log and let’s try to stand it up in the opening.” They pried a long log loose from the wall and tipped it up though the opening in the ceiling then cat walked up the log and out of the hole as each balanced the log for the other. They stood on the top of the mound and looked out at the bay and outer islands drinking in deeply the fresh, sweet smell of the sea air. Juan told Bru, “When I was staying on this island and slept on this mound I had a dream of a great ceremony.
In it the king had died and his people were sacrificing themselves to him for the afterlife. They were all buried together in room lined with logs. I never knew what it meant until now.”They left the island deciding never to return.
On the way back they stopped at Uncle Zeppa’s Island and traded for fish, fruits
and vegetables. The water on the Sound was blue-
Back in Bojelia they had a little village but the only women were women of the night and not interested in settling down with one man. Indeed they were very much like the pirates. They could fight, drink, and curse with the best of them. Bru knew that Black Caesar had special women in his harem but no one was ever allowed on that island more or less meet the captives.
Rumors said he had a hundred of them there and some of them were even princesses. Bru kept thinking of the black pirate and his crew of Amazons until he heard the sound of a dolphin breaking the surface of the water. Dolphins were good omens to sailors and Bru believed it. It seemed to be a magical day and he wondered what it all foretold.
As they sailed their small boat back home the sun sank into the water on the horizon and as the last bright golden edge of the brilliant orb went below the surface a bright green flash happened. It was so fast Bru was not sure he saw it. It looked to Juan and asked” Did you see that flash?” Juan replied, “Yes.” Bru said, “What was it?” and Juan answered, “I don’t know what it is but I have seen it a few times before.
It happens, I think it is the old ones reminding us that they are still here.”
As they got close to Bojelia they could see the men had lit a fire and were sitting drinking around it. Juan and Bru glided their small boat onto the beach. They had taken a “Sharpie”, a row boat equipped with a sail and two side boards so she could track straight and two oars for the shallows and dead air.
The trip back had taken many hours and they were tired and hungry. The men and women had a pot of stew on the fire and Bru grabbed a coconut bowl and scooped some out. He ate his stew with his back against a log on the beach and looked to the stars. This sky was different than the sky of England. It was so clear and the constellations were in different places and some of them were new to him.
He could still see Polaris (North Star) and the Great Bear it was part of. Each star had its story and legend. Many were representatives of gods, super humans, and unnatural animals like Pegasus the winged horse. He did not know when it happened but he fell asleep and had dreams of winged horses and gods throwing lightning bolts. He awoke to the sprinkle of rain and the sound of thunder. As he walked to his house and entered he wondered not for the first time if the spirits of this place were trying to tell him something.
NEW THIS YEAR, Calusa Ghost Tours on the Estero Bay Express. Don’t want to or can’t
paddle? Take a ride to Mound Key with us on the new and beautiful Estero Bay Express.
Hear the stores and see the demonstrations of the lost civilization that once lived
there. For reservations call 239-
Check out our web sites for videos and more information, www.calusabackwater.com
or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations on Pine Island -
Bru baker
Part 7
Bru had been here several years now and built himself a nice little trading post. He had a couple piers out into the harbor and he traded with Gaspar and his men on a regular basis, the old animosities being laid to rest. He had acquired a few ships and captains and they plied their trade both legal and illegal as needed. As Bru’s business grew so did his range and he was sailing to meet with Black Caesar on the captive island. Black Caesar was once a slave in Cuba but he joined a voodoo leader and revolted against the government.
They did not do well and were driven into the mountains where Caesar made his way to the water and stole a small boat. Under stealth he released the slaves on a slave ship at night in the harbor and captured the ship, sailed off to Florida and hid in the keys taking ships at will. Then he took some women and brought them to the captive island to start a harem. Now he had a crew of Amazon women and a hundred harem girls.
This would be the first time Bru has been on the captive island and was not sure what to expect. Unlike Bru’s Island, the Captive Island was exposed to the Gulf of Mexico and its entire west side was sandy beach. Caesar had a couple small houses on the island and a big house with a main pier in the Sound. The water was greenish blue and you could smell clean fresh salt air. The dolphin were jumping in the surf and throwing small bait fish around. They would approach the boat and swim in the wake. The sailor’s legends say they are a sign of good luck and fair weather.
Many seamen tell tales of being rescued by them. Bru had even heard and old seadog tell about how he lost a leg to a shark and thought for sure he was going to Davy Jones’s Locker when this dolphin shows up and attacks the shark driving it away from him and killing it. “My leg was badly bit up but the shark never got a chance to rip it off.” He remembered holding on to the back of the dolphin and getting to shore. Then he said the next thing he knew he woke up in a bed missing the leg.
Evidently people had witnessed the attack and the rescue and then brought the man in for medical attention. The tide was strong and with the breeze they were making good time. In the sky Bru could see frigate birds circling. Frigate birds were legendary. He had traveled around the world and many of the European sailors knew the night sky, the constellations, and legends. He knew he could find the big dipper and then Polaris the North Star of the north sky and the constellation of the Greek legend, Cassiopeia and how she got into the stars. But he also had gone to Hawaii and that was a different world. There they believed the constellation Cassiopeia is ‘Iwa Keli’i, the “Man of War Bird” or Frigate bird. In Hawaii you can’t see the Big Dipper but you can see the Man of War Bird and it takes over as the North Star identifier. If you look into the night sky you can see it soaring among the stars. Unlike the Greeks who have her (Cassiopeia) forced to lie on her back for eternity. Bru comes back from his thoughts and thinks again of the island he is going to with a hundred women. He had not been with anyone but the brothel women of Gaspar in many years and he was anxious to say the least of what he would see. From here he could see a pier jutting out into the bay with several ships moored in the harbor.
NEW THIS YEAR, Calusa Ghost Tours on the Estero Bay Express. Don’t want to or can’t
paddle? Take a ride to Mound Key with us on the new and beautiful Estero Bay Express.
Hear the stores and see the demonstrations of the lost civilization that once lived
there. For reservations call 239-
Check out our web sites for videos and more information, www.calusabackwater.com
or www.calusaghosttours.com for reservations on Pine Island -
Brubaker
Part 8
He anchored his vessel and took a longboat and men ashore. The sea was calm behind the barrier islands and very shallow. The water was full of life with great schools of mullet as far as you could see. Large sea cows swam in the channels that the men once thought were mermaids like in the legends. But after a couple of years here they had seen these creatures up close and personal and knew they were not mermaids, but just the same they stayed clear of them.
What they did eat a lot was turtle. They went to the outer beaches and would catch
the turtles on the beach and flip them over. They could leave them like this and
come back when they wanted them. Bru was just about sick of eating turtle and their
eggs. He preferred the wild hog and curlew eggs. Then there was always mullet and
mullet row, smoked, pickled, roasted, or just about a million other ways. The Spanish
had left cattle but none left on these islands-
The Captive Island was a long slender piece of shell crushed sand that extended north and south with a great pass at each end. In the summer months the large silver tarpon came through in huge schools with hammerhead shark 20 foot long feeding on them. This place could be very deadly to a person all alone trying to get away. The closer Bru got to shore he noticed most everyone on the island were women. Many of them were armed with cutlass and pistol like men. He did not expect that at all.
Also he saw a large black man dressed in bright scarlet with many armed women around him. This was the Caesar he knew. Bru was not sure what to expect but he was greeted as a friend and his men were shown to a nearby tavern where they could have some fun and relax.
Caesar and his guard led Bru to his house where Bru met one of his concubines. She was a Spanish noble woman with auburn hair and dark complexion with stunning green eyes that seemed to change in hue. She seemed very nice but also distant. When she spoke to her master she was very humble but at the same time somehow managed to make him look the fool. Caesar finally just told her to leave. Bru followed her with his eyes unable to look away. Caesar looked at Bru and said, “I am afraid I will have to have her head”. Bru looked at him with surprise on his face, because Caesar looked back at him and said, “No not for this.
I gave her a choice a year ago to marry me and be my queen or to lose her head.” Bru had heard about this. It seems Caesar had done this before. But it also seemed this girl was going to be one of the ones that did not give in. She was defiant even in subservience. Bru was curious about her and he had come here to talk to Caesar about women. Bru’s camp was a good size village now with a trading post and pier but very few women. Bru wanted to trade women for goods. Caesar wanted beef and Bru had some and Caesar also wanted some men to stay in his village. It seems he now had so many women pirates that they were pressuring him to bring men in. The Amazon pirates did not care about his harem after all what a pirate did with his prize was his business.
Bru had picked his men carefully and they were all prepared to stay if asked. As a matter of fact as Bru reflected with a smirk on his face there were a lot more that volunteered for this mission. Caesar took it all in silently and filed it in his very good memory for later. As they sat there Bru asked about terms for their deal. What was Caesar looking for? Caesar replied, “I need five men and two cows for ten slave women”. Bru replied, “I can’t speak for the men, but they are prepared to stay if they like what they see and if they are allowed to leave when they are ready, just as any free pirate”. Caesar replied, “Are you ready to fill their vacancy, mate”?
Bru said he would. Then Bru wanted to know if they had their pick of all the slave women? Caesar’s eyes sparkled because he knew where this was going, he said, “My friend, you have your pick of all but one, the one that just left the room. She I am afraid has a much larger price to pay”. Bru was now intrigued. “How much” he said. “You do not want her, my friend, she will make your life miserable and she has caused me nothing but pain. She cost me a ship!” Bru had to have her. He had a couple of ships but what would he get in return if he traded one for her. Still he could not stop thinking about it as he told Caesar he would agree to the other deal and his men would be picked out and so would the women slaves. He would spend the night here and see what tomorrow would bring.
Touring - August 2010
What a great month we had. Kayak Camp for Kids was a hit with the adults and the
kids. We did two 3-
The kids were great and by the end of each camp they were picking out and putting in the kayaks they wanted on their own. They took to it like ducks to water. My compliments to our programmer Wendy Rex for pulling it all together and our thanks to Lee County Parks for partnering with us in this program.
On another note I have had some of the greatest flats fishing. Big 30 plus inch red fish have been cruising the flats and I have been catching them at sunrise. I have been using glow in the dark baits because the big predators are keying in on the phosphorescence.
This brings me to the next part of my article-
I went out paddling on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks from my kayak. As expected
they were everywhere in the sky. The man-
Soon I found myself staring at the light show in the water and not the sky. So until it goes away we are offering Glow in the Dark Adventures paddling out in the back water at night. For many people this is a once in a lifetime experience.
Then to top it off we had a great Mango Mania. Patrick Nolan from television’s FOX-
Our friends from the county were there with the Blueway van and Dr. Steve Brown from the county was a guest agricultural speaker. One of my favorite attractions was there and that was the MOTE Marine Mobile Exhibit with Coordinator Glenn Markos and his staff of dedicated volunteers. This was a very popular attraction with a touch tank for the kids and large aquarium.
We now offer a kayak and lodging package at the Bokeelia Tarpon Inn on Pine Island.
Call them for package prices and details (239) 283-
www.calusaghosttours.com email calusaghosttours@comcast.net or www.youtube.com search
calusajohn for all our videos. In Bonita you can call 239-
Brubaker pt9
Bokeelia Legends
Eleven years had passed and Bru had become wealthy trading with his friend Gaspar. The woman he loved, Josepha was with him now. She had convinced him it was time to move. The Americans had taken over Florida. It was no longer Spanish and the Americans were determined to get rid of the pirates that plied these waters. Bru knew it would be just a matter of time before the American Navy would find them. In reflection he would miss this place. Gaspar and his men were even talking of moving to the Caribbean. Bru had managed to trade one of his ships to Black Caesar for Josepha and now he figured it was time to count his blessing and run. American gunships moved up and down the coast these days escorting merchant vessels and just looking for a fight.
Bru sailed to Gaspar’s Island and met with him. Gaspar as always was of great humor and wit. He said to Bru, “My men have spotted a big merchant ship coming this way. Why don’t you and I take her and then leave this place for good.” Bru looked at his friend and said, “I think not this time. We are leaving and heading for less congested seas.”Gaspar gave out a hearty laugh and bellowed for his men to ready his ship the Floridablanca.
Bru went to his own ship and gathered Josepha in his arms. He gave the order to set sail and head south. As they were leaving the pass they could see Floridablanca sailing out to meet the big merchant ship. As Gaspar’s ship displayed his flag the other ship changed theirs. Bru watched in horror as he saw the merchant was not a merchant but a disguised war ship. Bru did not know it but the Americans were trying to draw out Gaspar from his hiding place and it appeared as they succeeded.
Gaspar had told Bru he did not really want to go after this ship but that the men wanted one last haul before leaving and he as captain had to lead them. Old Gaspar was 65 years old by now and was looking for easier pickings. The warship came about and a tremendous thunder rolled out of her hull as her guns let loose a barrage of cannon balls. Bru saw the Floridablanca shudder from the impact of the balls. Bru knew this was not good and over the next hour bru would not set full sail because his eyes were glued to the drama of his friend.
Finally when it looked as the Floridablanca was going to sink he gave the order to set full sails south. Years later Bru found out that Gaspar had attacked the USS Enterprise and that he chained himself to the mast of his ship when she started to sink and went down with her. Bru also found out the old pirate Gomez had managed to be the only survivor and now lived on one of the remote islands as a hermit looking for buried treasure and telling stories of the glory days. THE END
This is a short story of historical fiction. You will have to read the book to get the whole story. Gaspar and Bru are fictional characters and in fact there is no evidence to show that pirates ever plied these waters. Black Caesar was real but I took liberty with his character and location. The Calusa Indians and their stories are real. Juan Gomez was real and is credited with creating the Gaspar myth. He lived on the islands and told these stories to his charter customers.
Contact John Paeno
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Nautical Mile Home
Calusa Indians by Bokeelia resident John Paeno
Calusa Ghost Tours
