Biggles and the Pirate Treasure is the first short story in the fourth anthology of Biggles Air Police short stories of the same name Biggles and the Pirate Treasure. The anthology was first published in July, 1954 by Brockhampton. In the anthology, this story is followed by The Case of the Obliging Tourist.
Synopsis[]
Biggles accepts the invitation of an enthusiastic Marcel to join him on a mission to recover a pirate treasure from Madagascar....
Plot[]
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Marcel comes to London to invite Biggles and co. for a "picnic" in Madagascar. A party of white men had been reported to be conducting excavations on the northwest coast of the French colony. When government agents reached the scene, the men had fled into the jungle but one of them had dropped a notebook with his name: "Thomas Tew".
By referring to history books, Marcel surmises that this Thomas Tew might have been a descendent of a 17th century pirate Captain Thomas Tew, who together with one Captain James Misson and a French priest Caroccioli, had founded a pirate colony in Madagascar named "Libertia". They were believed to have buried a large treasure there which was never recovered. Perhaps the modern day Tew had found a document or treasure map left by his ancestor and had set out to look for it.
Because of the remoteness and inaccessibility of the area, Marcel has been asked to investigate by air and he decides to invite Biggles and co. along. The team flies out to Madagascar and then proceeds to search the northwest coast using a French police helicopter. After a few days, they spot a trail of oil left by a boat heading into a cove on the coast.
Marcel puts the helicopter down a few miles away and they make their way through difficult jungle on foot. They spot a yacht moored to a rock wall in the cove, well camouflaged. Ginger moves forward to scout and reports that it's the yacht crew of 5 men. They are in a mutinous mood. Their masters, three men, had gone off to hunt for treasure. They didn't bother to tell their crew about the loot and had no intention of sharing it. The crew discuss killing their masters and splitting the takings among themselves.
More police are needed to tackle such a large group so Marcel flies off in the helicopter to fetch reinforcements. Marcel is late coming back and Biggles and co. remain on watch through the night. The next morning, they hear a loud cry. Creeping to the source of the sound, they discover three men digging. They had apparently found a small box and are packing large quantities of gold coins into their haversacks.
Biggles and co. watch the three men return to the yacht and go below. The crew on deck huddle together and then go below. There are gunshots. One man runs up and jumps overboard. Two more bodies are dragged up and thrown into the water.
It looks like the crew have taken over but the must be stopped from escaping with the yacht and the gold. While the crew is still below counting their gains, Biggles and co. sneak on deck. They cut the cables to set the yacht adrift so that it would run itself aground on a beach. The crew discovers this and tries to come up but Biggles keeps them down below with his gun. They offer Biggles a thousand guineas to lay off but Biggles declines. Guineas will not help them where they are going. The crew then start dumping their gold through the portholes, as if this would help them.
Marcel arrives with some French gendarmes. He had been delyed by engine trouble. The yacht crew are arrested and the gold is recovered by the French government.
Characters[]
The Special Air Police/Scotland Yard[]
- Air Commodore Raymond
- Biggles
- Algy Lacey
- Ginger Hebblethwaite
- Bertie Lissie
Others[]
Historical characters[]
- Misson
- Caroccioli
- Captain Thomas Tew
- Captain William Kidd
Aircraft[]
- French police helicopter
Places[]
Visited[]
- London - Air Police Operational Headquarters, at Gatwick?
- Madagascar
- Diego Suarez
- Libertia
Mentioned[]
Research Notes[]
- The book which Johns mentions, General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson really does exist. Charles Johnson is believed to be a pseudonym for Daniel Defoe. The text book does mention a pirate (probably fictional) named Captain James Misson in connection with a Dominican priest Carriocioli and Captain Thomas Tew and their founding of the colony of Libertatia. The book is, of course, now in the public domain and may be found readily on the Internet.[1]
- This is a rare occasion when the entire 4-men Air Police crew goes out together. Algy is not left to watch the office.
- In the same way, Marcel and the others all proceed to the target area after landing the helicopter. It's another rare event: no one is left to guard the aircraft, their only means of transport in that remote area.