The following comes, in part, from the book Dig for Pirate Trea.sure by Robert I. Nesmith. I quote:

. A good lead for a treasure hunt was written in 1737 by an author who was active in the days of piracy. Clement Downing, a midshipman aboard the H. M. S. Salisbury, sent to Madagascar to suppress piracy, left this tip for treasure hunters:

. . At Guzarat I met with a Portu.guese named Anthony de Sylvestre; he came with two other Portuguese and two Dutchmen to take on in the Moor. s service, as many Europeans do. Anthony told me he had been amongst the pirates, and that he be.longed to one of the sloops in Vir.ginia when Blackbeard was taken. He informed me that if it should be my lot ever to go to York River or Maryland, near an island called Mulberry Island, provided we went on shore at the watering place, where the shipping used most commonly to ride, that there the pirates had buried considerable sums of money in great chests well clamped with iron plates.

. . As to my part, I never went that way, nor much acquainted with any that ever used those parts; but I have made inquiry, and am informed that there is such a place as Mulberry Island.

. . If any person who uses those parts should think it worth while to dig a little way at the upper end of a small grove, where it is convenient to land, he should soon find whether the information I have was well grounded.

Fronting the landing place are five trees, amongst which, he said, the money was hid. I cannot warrant the truth of this account; but if I was ever to go there, I should find some means or other to satisfy myself, as it could not be a great deal out of my way.

. . If anybody should obtain the benefit of this accounting, if it please God that they ever come to England, . tis hoped they will remember whence they had this information..

. This clue to Blackbeard. s lost loot may be a cold trail 250 years later, but many expeditions have dug on lesser evidence..