Cryptogram of Olivier Levasseur

The cryptogram of Olivier Levasseur

The cryptogram of Olivier Levasseur (also known as La Buse cryptogram) is a 17-line pigpen cipher by French pirate Olivier Levasseur, first brought to public attention by French historian and librarian Charles de La Roncière in his 1934 paperback novel Le Flibustier Mystérieux: Histoire d'un trésor caché.

The origin of the cryptogram emerged from a raid on the Portuguese cargo ship 'Nossa Senhora do Cabo' in 1721 by a group of pirates, including Levasseur, Jasper Seagar and Captain John Taylor. On board the Nossa Senhora was a large amount of valuable cargo, along with the Viceroy of Goa, whom was later released for ransom. With a share of the loot and currency, Levasseur went into hiding for nine years, until being discovered in July 1730, where he was executed. Before his execution was completed however, it is written that Levasseur threw a piece of paper into the watching crowd and shouted French: "Mes trésors à qui saura comprendre", lit. 'My treasures to he who will know how to understand'. This cryptogram supposedly ended up in the possession of La Roncière, whom then decrypted it in his 1934 novel. Even though the 1721 raid of Nossa Senhora by Olivier Levasseur and his associates did take place, despite many searches and investigations, no concrete evidence for the treasures existence has ever been uncovered. This means the cryptogram was likely an invention of La Roncière for his novel.

Historical background

Raid of the Nossa Senhora

Olivier Levasseur was born in Calais in 1688, at the beginning of the Nine Years' War. Receiving a Letter of marque from Louis XIV, Levasseur then became a privateer throughout the period of the War of the Spanish Succession as a raider of enemy ships in the Caribbean for the French. Early on, Levausseur decided to serve himself rather than his government and began accumulating wealth as a pirate, earning himself the nickname of 'La Buse'. After the end of the War of Spanish Succession came a period of time within what is now known as the Golden Age of Piracy. In 1716, Olivier Levasseur, using the alias of Louis de Boure, and working with Benjamin Hornigold and Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy, began to build a reputation as an efficient pirate.

On April 8, 1721, Levasseur, Jasper Seagar and Captain John Taylor aboard the sailing ships Victory and Cassandra, arrived at the island of Réunion . There they found the Portuguese cargo ship Nossa Senhora do Cabo anchored at Saint-Denis. The masts and two thirds of the cannons were reportedly missing upon discovery, having been dismantled in a recent passing storm. The band of pirates boarded the Nossa Senhora without resistance and allegedly discovered a trove of valuables including gold and silver bars, gemstones of various kinds, precious silks and stones, spices and furniture collectively valued in the millions of the local currency. Along with the highly valuable treasure, the Nossa Senhora was ferrying the Viceroy of Goa en route to Portugal. Before splitting the treasure and going into hiding, the pirates released the Viceroy in exchange for a ransom.

The Viceroy of Goa, Luís de Meneses, 1st Marquis of Louriçal, who was on board the Nossa Senhora at the time of the raid

The Fiery Cross of Goa

Whilst the raid on Nossa Senhora is known to have taken place, many details such as certain artifacts on the ship and what took place after are dubious. One such artifact was the golden Fiery Cross of Goa from the Se Cathedral, and dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, of which no one has seen as of the 20th century and very little is known to be written about it. Goa, also known as the 'Pearl of the Orient', is a state on the southern western coast of India's Konkan region. It was under the rule of Portugal from the 16th century up until 1961, at which point it was annexed by India. The Cross itself was described as being as much as seven feet tall and covered with high value gemstones such as emeralds, ruby and diamonds. Being made of gold, the Cross would have required multiple individuals to carry it. Despite the legend of the Cross existing now, it has not been mentioned by name anywhere prior to La Roncière's 1934 novel, which even itself does not mention the Cross.

Execution of Olivier Levasseur

Levasseur was captured and transported to Réunion by Captain d'Hermitte of the naval vessel La Meduse and then executed, nine years after the Nossa Senhora raid, in 1730. However, the details surrounding what took place leading up to his execution varies by source. Levasseur received a high standard of education in his early life and later became known for being a ruthless and very efficient pirate. The most famous story of Levasseur's execution speaks of Levasseur throwing a piece of paper with a 17-line pigpen cryptogram written on it to the watching crowd. This cryptogram containing the location of his share of the treasure from the raid, completed nine years prior. As he threw it, Levasseur shouted French: "Mes trésors à qui saura comprendre", lit. 'My treasures to he who will know how to understand'. Some accounts say that the cryptogram paper was concealed within a necklace, however neither the necklace nor the original paper containing the cryptogram have ever been seen.

Cryptogram

The Clavicles of Solomon

In 1934, Charles de La Roncière wrote a novel, 'Le Flibustier Mystérieux: Histoire d'un trésor caché' (translated to 'The Mysterious Buccaneer: The Story of a Hidden Treasure'), for the Parisian publishing house Le Masque. Written entirely in French, Le Flibustier Mystérieu begins by presenting the idea of The Clavicles of Solomon as a non-fiction cabalistic manual, both authored and passed down from King Solomon himself to his son Rehoboam (Roboam in the novel). A testament left to Rehoboam by King Solomon engraved on the bark of a tree read, French: "J'obtins par surcroît la jouissance de tous les trésors célestes et la connaissance de toutes choses naturelles. C'est, mon fils, par ce moyen que je possède toutes les vertus et richesses dont tu me vois jouir à présent.", lit. 'I also obtained the enjoyment of all heavenly treasures and knowledge of all natural things. It is, my son, by this means that I possess all the virtues and riches which you see me enjoying presently.' La Roncière then draws on poet Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold-Bug, writing that when heated the poetic instruction written in an opaque ink would appear on the parchment, revealing the existence of a hiding place.

La Roncière then pivots back to the Clavicles of Solomon, introducing a young woman and an island in the Indian Ocean, unnamed so that the treasure remains undiscovered. Three bodies are observed, two in coffins with a ring on the left ear, identifiable as sailors. The young woman was then handed two documents from the land owner, one being a cryptogram, which could only be deciphered by using the characters of the Clavicles of Solomon.

Translation by Charles de La Roncière of Olivier Levasseur's cryptogram signs.

The Cryptogram of Olivier Levasseur

The next seven pages of the novel (pages six through twelve), discuss the cryptogram which has come to be attributed to Olivier Levasseur's share of the treasure from the 1721 raid on the Nossa Senhora. The section of the novel is titled French: "Le Cryptogramme Du Forban", lit. 'The Cryptogram of the Privateer'. Levasseur, having been a privateer during the War of Spanish Succession, means the title is understood literally as 'The Cryptogram of Olivier Levasseur'. The sixth page of Le Flibustier Mystérieu provides a description of the written cryptogram symbolage and their attributed values, translated by La Roncière, on the seventh page. La Roncière writes that Levasseur's cryptogram uses handwritten signs, reminiscent of Hebrew letters, each of which represent two letters, known as a digraph. The first of these letters is usually removed, leaving only the second letter readable. Levasseur was not consistent however, a dozen of the signs translate 'indifferently', meaning sometimes the first letter of the digraph is not removed, for example a sign representing 'il' may only show as 'i' or 'l'. This may have been due to a difficulty on the part of the encrypter in telling apart certain letters or numbers. Some signs also represent a letter or a number, with no clear distinction, their meaning instead determined by context and placement within the text. Ambiguity plays a deliberate part in the composition of the cryptogram.

La Roncière's decryption

Pages eight and nine offer an attempted decryption of Levasseur's cryptogram, written line by line in French on the eighth page and the cryptogram in full presentation on the ninth page. Whilst mostly matching more modern versions, La Roncière's decryption deliberately leaves out certain letters, instead leaving it up to the reader to "guess" the parts that are not filled in. The decryption in Le Flibustier Mystérieu is written as follows:

Charles de La Roncière decryption

Levasseur's cryptogram

1. I. Prenez une paire de pijon virez les
2. 2 cœurs... tête cheval... une kort
3. fil winshient écu prenez une cullière
4. de mielle .. outre vous en faites une ongat
5. mettez sur le pasage de la .........
6. ........... prenez 2 liv cassé sur le ch-
7. (ch)emin, il faut ..... toit à moitié couvé
8. pour empecher une femme ....... vous n'avé
9. qu'à vous sere la ........... pour ve-
10. nir ........ épingle ... juilet .....
11. ........ faire piter un chien turq un
12. ..... de la mer.. bien sèche et sur
13. ................... k'unne femme q-
14. (qu)i veut se faire d'un ..............
15. dans ......... dormir un homm(e) r
16. ......... faut rendre ... q
17. (q)u'un diffur (?) ..................

From these 17 lines, Le Roncière extrapolates on the words from the decrypted cryptogram, describing them as strange 'bizarreries' and hypothesising on who it could be. He quickly establishes that the encrypter is likely of French origin, specifically the North-East of France, one factor being attributed to the harsh pronunciations of certain words. Both 'kort' (line 2) and 'k'unne' (line 13)—despite neither originating from French—can be derived from French: 'corde', lit. 'rope'. Moreover, 'piter' (line 11) can be synonymised to bitter, which means to roll a rope around the 'bitte' of a ship ('bitt' in English being the nautical post used to secure mooring rope). On the twelfth line, two points following the word French: 'mer', lit. 'sea' are described by La Roncière as being easily replaced. These are not elaborated on, instead being left to the reader to guess.

Possible location of Levasseur's treasure

Using a drawn map of an island, on page ten La Roncière begins "controlling" the cryptogram's data, matching words to various things that provide "clues" as to the location of Levasseur's treasure. 'Les deux cœurs' meaning 'the two hearts' (line 2) is attributed by La Roncière to a matter of French: "virer", lit. 'drawing', as in 'drawing' meaning 'to arrive' at the French: "tete de cheval", lit. 'the horse head'. La Roncière then mentions a roughly drawn out glacier to the south, where French: "la chien turc", lit. 'a Turkish dog' and French: "le toit à moilié couvé", lit. 'a half-covered roof' are located. Finally La Ronciere lists what he describes as an 'abundance of rock engravings' from the surrounding area including a French: "lézard, tortue, chien patte levée, toit pointu, œeil du monstre, deux ailes", lit. 'lizard, turtle, dog with a raised paw, a pointed roof, the eye of a monster, two wings'. Altogether, these excerpts from the cryptogram describe the location of where the privateers stayed.

With this cryptic information extrapolated from the cryptogram, La Roncière questions where this mysterious island could be. He states that they have 'astronomical data that denotes the trained eye of a seasoned sea captain', providing the reader with the following data:

'Pr N nord 24 B 39 Pas 2° sud — 2° sud S T 62.39 jaites 3 toises.'

La Roncière attributes this data to one of the cryptogram's aforementioned petroglyphs, the half-cut roof. The latitude is said not to match, with the exact map plotted questioned also. Reference is made to the first accurate map of the Indian Ocean, published by Jean-Baptiste d'Après de Mannevillette in Le Neptune oriental during the latter half of the 18th century, decades after the privateers disappeared. The longitude is then discussed, with La Roncière stating it was so difficult to determine before the 20th century, that God had 'forbidden human knowledge of it'. It is reasoned that without the chronometers of the day, and the instantaneous time of wireless telegraphy to determine the meridian to within a few metres, consequently verifying geologist Alfred Wegener's hypothesis on continental drift, locating the treasure using the intersection of latitude and longitude would otherwise be an 'illusory investigation'. Instead, on page eleven of Le Flibustier Mystérieux, La Roncière uses a rebus to attempt further placement of the treasure:

'P^r I^er pas^se avec p^re de pqtx
En prendre L 2 V L f S N I C^lot de même
Et de L S^ce E f^re l^a ge Cm Io gat L m^e
Sur 1'0 : pge de la source
p^r I h² 8 C^a ghe p^s0 pour L ch de la M^e
Bⁿ ghe L frote C^tre la p^se S^rd g L V t q^e
p^ser cher S f^re X d l^de L D g^lo D L^o
D du C^ble du C^eur.'

French: "La plage de la source", lit. 'The beach at the source' is indicated to be a spring near the sea, located within the estate of the aforementioned land owner, of whom passed Levasseur's documents to the young woman. Unfortunately, the 'ingenious' explanation given by the land owner to La Roncière for the petroglyphs, are not shared with the reader out of discretion. The French: "C^ble du C^eur", lit. 'cable of the heart' is also mentioned by La Roncière, 'cable' being interpreted as a measurement of length meaning height, and 'heart' meaning a person in control. Put together, 'cable of the heart' could refer to 'height of the Commander'. Another interpretation is that 'the heart' could be interpreted as 'the Curator', a title held by a French pirate leader. Both of these conclusions are left open ended for the reader. La Roncière adds further context to the reading of 'the Commander', which he says is understood to mean the foreman of enslaved Africans (described in the novel as 'Negroes'). La Roncière attributes this to pirate Captain Henry Every who owned a number of them, and whom the latter half of the novel focuses on.

Search attempts

Reginald Cruise-Wilkins and Savy family's search at Bel Ombre

During the nineteenth century, the Savy family of Mahé, Seychelles, came into possession of Levasseur's papers. The information they extracted from the papers led them to Bel Ombre, Mauritius. Here, at the National Archives of Mauritius, they discovered other scarcely seen papers containing Levasseur's cryptogram. From 1913 onwards, the Savy family excavated the beach at Bel Ombre. It was during this time that an unidentified cryptographer studied the cryptogram, ultimately finding no solution until Charles de La Roncière's publication in 1934. Fourteen years later in 1948, former King's Guard and Kenyan settler Reginald Cruise-Wilkins visited Seychelles during a holiday. Unable to return home until another boat departed three months later, he chose to reside at Bel Ombre. Cruise-Wilkins was shown Levasseur's cryptogram by Mrs Charles Savy of the Savy family and the unidentified cryptographer. Using the information they had learned, along with the petroglyph identifiers from La Roncière's work, Cruise-Wilkins became set on finding Levasseur's treasure, which he believed was located under the beach at Bel Ombre.

A beach located on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

In 1949, Cruise-Wilkins enlisted the help of retired Indian Army officer Colonel D. M. Hennessey, after seeing an advert by him in a local paper offering services for water divination. After a year, they had not been able to locate anything of note. From 1951 through to 1955, Cruise-Wilkins continued to dig under a giant rock he named 'the glacis', this was funded by an investment from the Government of Seychelles. Previously having funded the search from his own funds with help from his mother, by 1955 Cruise-Wilkins had run out of money. Under Kenyan accounting firm Gill and Johnson, Cruise-Wilkins managed to secure £24,000 from 400 shareholders. These shareholders would each receive a share of Cruise-Wilkins' percentage (with the other divisions going to the Seychelles Government), should the treasure be discovered. The prospectus was subsequently authorised. Returning to Bel Ombre, Cruise-Wilkins continued to search with updates being provided to shareholders in Kenya by Colonel J. Kent, this arrangement ended in 1957. Reginald Cruise-Wilkins continued to search for Levasseur's treasure at Bel Ombre until his death in 1977.

Continued searches by John Cruise-Wilkins and Robert Graf

Reginald Cruise-Wilkins' son John continued the search in 1988 after obtaining the required permits from the government. Carrying on in the same area of Bel Ombre, John Cruise-Wilkins used modern equipment including pumps, drills, jackhammers, excavators and blasting, along with hand tools where necessary. Four years prior to the restart of the search, former US Air Force technical instructor Robert Graf moved to Mahé and joined the project, contributing both to funding and locating the treasure. Graf and Cruise-Wilkins broke off to search in different locations after four years of searching. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Graf and Cruise-Wilkins had alternating licensing periods to expand the search further. By comparing markings on the rocks at Mahé, Graf was able to construct a lagoon, furthering his excavation between Cruise-Wilkins' search periods. Twelve petroglyphs located by Graf were allocated to specific comments in Levasseur's papers, with one photo revealing a sequence of holes mirroring a constellation referred to in Levasseur's writings. Prior to this, the number '62' was found to be referenced in Levasseur's papers, matching a domino game piece found by Cruise-Wilkins, with handmade inlays showing a six and two close to where Graf was searching at the time. Graf and Cruise-Wilkins continued their excavation work on alternating licenses until 2009, at which point the Government of Seychelles mandated that a 250,000 Seychellois rupee licence fee must be fulfilled to be able to continue the search.

Authenticity

Of historical events

Many sources on the subject mix fictional events with people and events that did exist in an effort to story-tell, this makes validating what is and is not true difficult. It is generally understood that Olivier Levasseur likely partook in the 1721 raid on the Nossa Senhora which at the time was transporting the Viceroy of Goa. Whilst a large amount of high valued "treasure" was taken by Levasseur and his associates, it is understood that much of his associates' shares were given to Spanish Portobelo in return for amnesty of the crime. According to historical sources, Levasseur kept his share. In 1730, when Levasseur was captured, many sources suggest he threw a piece of paper into the crowd. This included Charles de La Roncière, whom admitted within his novel that he did not like the governor's version of Levasseur's execution, instead preferring the version with the cryptogram.

Of the cryptogram

Levasseur's cryptogram is generally agreed to have originated within La Roncière's novel Le Flibustier Mystérieux. All publications discussing the cryptogram after this novel refer back to La Roncière's writings and no mention of a manuscript containing a cryptogram exist before this. The novel's publishing house La Masque were known for publishing fictional works and satire, it is likely La Roncière would have chosen a different publisher if he intended the novel to be a historical publication. It is questioned why a notable historian such as La Roncière would publish a novel about a cryptogram where no evidence exists linking it to Levasseur directly. It is possible a document was shown to La Roncière which was then attributed to Levasseur, however no physical evidence for this has ever surfaced. Robert Charroux's 1962 book 'Treasures of the World' introduced Mrs Savy, descendant and inheritor of the pirate Nageon de L'Estang. Unfortunately, no direct evidence of a document containing the cryptogram being passed from the Savy family to La Roncière has ever been found to exist. Charroux's publications are known to be questionable, and no information regarding where this information was obtained is known. Altogether, this leaves the origin of Levasseur's cryptogram a likely invention of 20th century fiction.