Oderin Island and Peter Easton

A recent CBC radio interview on the subjects of Oderin Island and the pirate Peter Easton caught my attention. During the interview there were claims of Easton burying treasure in the pond on Oderin. Based on a review of mostly publicly available evidence it seems these claims are patently false. In fact, Easton’s very brief history in Newfoundland has been well recorded in numerous places such as in various documents written back to England detailing his raids by John Guy. As well, John Mason, the second Governor of Cupids, wrote a petition to the Privy Council to put down piracy in Newfoundland. Details of Easton’s activities can also be found in military letters and court documents such as the High Court of Admiralty records. Englishmen who had serious encounters with pirates were often called into the High Court of Admiralty to make a deposition. Easton operated as a pirate in Newfoundland from the late spring to early fall of 1612.

Perhaps one of the best sources of information on Easton, besides the contemporary letters and documentation written about his activities, is a 1972 PhD thesis from the University of Bristol by Clive Malcolm Senior. The following discussion about Easton before and after he came to Newfoundland for six months comes from this thesis.

Atlantic piracy reached its peak between about 1608 and 1614. Easton was in Tunis as part of a pirate fleet in 1608. In 1609, he was in Ireland as part of the same fleet under Admiral Richard Bishop. Easton was sailing in a 140-ton French vessel with 50 crew and 35 cannon. In February 1610 Easton was in the Kingroad threatening vessels sailing to and from Bristol (Senior 1972).

He took over the leadership of the fleet in 1610-1611 and under Easton piracy continued to flourish. During that fall-winter, he had several successes off the north cape of Spain. On 8 September, he took victuals and drink from the Greyhound of London, bound for the Canaries, and robbed her of her victuals, tackle and a cargo of wine on her return journey in November. On 20 October, Easton plundered the St. Nicholas of London, bound for Zante with salmon, and in the same month, he intercepted the William and John of Weymouth, as she was travelling to Galway from Spain (Senior 1972).

He rifled the Gift of God and mistreated the English sailors on board, he ordered her master Thomas Hunt: … to tell the merchants on the exchange that he would be a scourge to Englishemen, sayeng he had no Englishe blood in his belly and therefore esteemed Englishe men no other then as Turckes and Jewes (Senior 1972).

After selling his booty in Barbary, Easton refitted his ships and sailed to the Azores, the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands in search of further prizes (Senior 1972).

In March 1611, he captured the White Swan of Rotterdam as she was returning from Tenerife with a cargo of forty butts of Canary wines, sixty-two chests of sugar, twelve hogsheads of syrup, ten barrels of preserves and four packs of Spanish wool. Easton took her to Ireland where he made her his man-of-war in place of his former ship the Fortune (Senior 1972).

On 26 June 1611 he commandeered the Concord of London, 240 tons, and the Philip Bonaventure of Dover – two rich merchantmen which he encountered sixteen leagues south of the Scilly Isles. Easton’s fleet returned to Ireland where it was reported to number seventeen ships (Senior 1972).

In August 1611 Easton arrived at Santa Cruz, where one of his subordinates, acting on his instructions, captured the ValentiaI a Dutch warship manned by an English crew. He then sailed to the Canaries, where he forced the entire crew of a London vessel into his service. He then attacked five or six English and Dutch ships in the road at Lanzerote, sinking one Dutchman and capturing some of the other ships with cargoes of corn. After this, Easton captured a small French man-of-war and even engaged a great French warship but was unable to take her (Senior 1972).

After trimming his ships on the Moroccan coast, Easton sailed south to Cape Blanc, where he took the victuals from several fishing vessels and six guns from a Portuguese castle on the coast, which had been abandoned by its defenders (Senior 1972).

Sailing down the Guinea coast, Easton captured the Phoenix of London, the Love of London and the Willing Maid of Fowey. The pirate fleet then sailed to the Cape Verde Islands, but they had no further success and after refreshing themselves they crossed the ocean in April 1612, to prey on Newfoundland fishermen (Senior 1972).

In Newfoundland Easton spent most of his time on the northeast Avalon focusing on the Harbour Grace area where he erected some sort of temporary fortification as referenced in John Guy and Henry Crout’s journals. They record that they spent 10 days in Harbour Grace dismantling the fortification in October 1612. Easton spent much of the summer of 1612 attacking shipping and raiding migratory fishing stations. He also spent about 2 weeks in July in St. John’s harbour where he plundered as many as 30 English vessels and then moved on to Ferryland by 29 July 1612 and used it as his base during most of August 1612. In the petition to put down piracy John Mason states when that Easton left Newfoundland around the first of September 1612 he had nine ships, 100 pieces of ordnance, goods he had looted to the value of £10,400 and “five hundredth fishermen of his Majesty’s subjects taken from their honest trade of fishing”. He sailed from Ferryland to the Azores and then on to Morocco and never returned to Newfoundland. Early in 1613 the Duke of Savoy created a policy that offered protection, asylum and safe-conduct to any pirates in his ports of Nice and Villefranche. On 20 February 1613, Easton sailed into Villefranche at the head of four ships and 900 soldiers, leaving the rest of his vessels outside the Straits of Gibraltar. Easton invested his pirate treasure in the territory of Savoy and in return the Duke of Savoy awarded him a pension of £4,000 a year. Easton became a catholic, married an heiress, and became a marquis. He bought a palace in Villefranche, set up a warehouse and lived in luxury. He remained in the service of the Duke of Savoy until 1620, when he is lost to history (Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Senior 1972).

Understanding that Easton spent so little time here and was gone to the Azores by early1613 makes one wonder why he would bury treasure in a pond on Oderin which is hundreds of kilometres away from his main area of activity in Conception Bay and the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula. It makes even less sense when you consider the extensive European, mostly French, occupation of Oderin and the fact that it was in French territory at the time.

Oderin is one of a series of small islands on the west side of Placentia Bay, about 30 km northeast of Marystown. It has an excellent horseshoe-shaped natural harbour with its mouth facing west and is surrounded by fishing grounds which were once some of the best in the Bay. The Island’s name is likely an English corruption of Audierne, after a coastal town in Brittany (Encyclopedia of NL). We know from archaeology at other nearby sites and documentation that the harbour was likely in use by European fishers since the very early 16th century. There is also the remains of an early 16th century vessel sunk just outside the harbour which is thought to be a Basque fishing vessel. Oderin was a busy place, full of French fishing crews in the 16th century, and this use certainly continued in the 17th century and by the 18th century, as discussed below, it was occupied by at least two French planters.

In 2011 the Provincial Archaeology Office had a survey conducted of Oderin Island. The archaeologist who carried it out also conducted an archival search finding several new sources of information about the island and its inhabitants. Neither the archaeological nor the archival search found anything to do with Peter Easton being on Oderin. But interesting information about Oderin was uncovered.

Oderin Island and surrounding islands.

From the early sixteenth century onwards, French fishing crews habitually frequented the shores of the west coast of the Avalon Peninsula, the islands of Placentia Bay and St. Pierre and Miquelon, as well as the Burin peninsula. Some of the earliest evidence of the use of Placentia Bay is cartographic. Traditionally, Placentia Bay is said to make a first cartographic appearance on the Reinel map of 1504-5—which does indeed show the coast of Newfoundland, though Placentia Bay does not appear in a terribly recognizable form on this map (Harrisse 1900:Planche V). Whatever the interpretation of the very earliest maps, by the 1530’s and 1540’s, Placentia Bay itself is shown with some degree of accuracy, thus implying some degree of knowledge of the bay itself (Harrisse 1900: 106; Figures 21, 22, 36; Mollat and la Roncière 1984:227)(Crompton 2014).

So the beaches of Oderin were in use by early European fishers for nearly a century prior to as well as when Easton was supposed to have buried his treasure in the pond. By the mid 17th century long after the beaches were established as a fishing location a French survey of 1662 lists harbours on the western side of Placentia Bay giving the potential number of fishermen that each could accommodate. This survey estimates that the harbour of Oderin and its beaches could provide enough fishing space for 100 men. If one assumes three fishermen per boat, and two onshore processing their catch, this means that Oderin was thought to accommodate about 20 fishing chaloupes or small fishing boats similar to a dory (Crompton 2014).

The archaeological survey did uncover a lot of information about an early 18th century French planter named Lafosse who lived on the north side of Oderin with his wife and children, very near the pond in which Easton buried his supposed treasure. The establishment of the French colony at Plaisance (Placentia) in 1662 probably encouraged permanent settlement elsewhere in Placentia Bay. The first census that captures permanently-resident planters (or habitants) notes two individuals living on the island in 1704: [Antoine] Ricord and [Jean] Lafosse (Crompton 2014).

During their time on Oderin the Lafosse family established a considerable plantation perhaps the best description of which comes from William Taverner’s 1714-1715 survey of the inhabitants of the area.

She [Madame La Forge] has a very fine plantation Beech enough for 20 Boats. A Strong Fort, built on a little Island, all their houses Surrounded with Pallisadoes, she has a good Stock of Sheep, and Goats. In her Garden was the Largest, and heavyest Ears of Wheate, that ever I saw in my Life, very good Rye, and all sortes of Rootes, Cabbages &ca in abundance, At the South west end of this Isle is a good harbour for Ships, and on the S.o Point a Large Beech for drying ffish, this Island is good for Codfishing, Especially in Time of Capling, on it fished a Ship from St. Sebastians, the last Season (Taverner 1718: 228-228v) (Crompton 2014).

Along with this they also constructed a fort armed with eight pieces of cannon, and did the same thing on a small island contiguous to his habitation, which was armed with four other cannon.

Archaeological testing was conducted in several places including what was likely Madame Lafosse’s garden that was bordered on the south by a rough, low stone wall. Shovel tests in this area did not produce any artifacts, with the exception of a single piece of blue transfer-printed refined earthenware. In all the tests in this area the soils were well-sorted, without any visible stratigraphic layers below the sod. The absence of artifacts and the well-sorted sediments suggested this area might have been the garden described by Taverner in 1715. The low stone wall at the edge of the terrace seems to serve no purpose, and does not appear to be connected to any other walls to form a structure (Crompton 2014).

View of overall Garden area, looking to northeast. Rock wall visible in the foreground. The terrace (discussed below) is in the background of this photo.

A small terrace area north of the garden was also tested. The terrace area is elevated, about 2-3 m above present sea level, and is bordered on the north, east, and northwest sides with bedrock outcrops. Testing in this area revealed pieces of refined earthenwares such as pearlware and creamware, and one sherd of Buckley coarse earthenware, which can have dates spanning the late seventeenth through the eighteenth century, though is much more common on eighteenth century sites. Significantly, most test pits on this terrace contained Normandy stoneware, which is hard to date but its discovery is more likely to be associated with a French occupation rather than with an English one. These artifacts along with the archival documents suggest this was the main living area of the plantation, which is literally next to the supposed Easton treasure pond (Crompton 2014).

One of the nearby islands was also tested in an effort to look for the Lafosse fort. The ground on this island shows a series of ridges arranged in a rough horseshoe shape, surrounding a depressed area in the middle. All the shovel tests in the area were excavated to 50cm below surface, and no subsoil was visible. The sediments were uniformly peaty throughout. Upon examining the ridges the archaeologists became certain the horseshoe-shaped ridges form the outline of an earthen gun battery. They noticed a change in vegetation in front of the northernmost berm, and cleared some of it away. Behind the vegetation was a very rough, low stone wall consisting of three rough courses of stone, and running roughly east-west. None of the shovel tests unearthed artifacts. This is not surprising, as this battery site, which was not manned by a garrison, was probably not often occupied (Crompton 2014).

The low, very rough stone wall consisting of three courses of rock are just visible beside the shovel blade.

The researchers found evidence of the European use of Oderin in the form of artifacts and documents for well after the Lafosse plantation including artifacts and a probable 19th century headstone. In fact the area was continually used until 1966 when it was resettled.

During their archival search in preparation for the Oderin survey the researchers also uncovered other interesting evidence about Lafosse. Before his disappearance in the fall of 1711 it was recorded that he was in debt between 10,000-12,000 livres (French pounds), a substantial amount of money. To provide a comparison: in 1714, as the French were preparing to leave Plaisance for Ile Royale, a survey was undertaken to evaluate the cost of the properties they were leaving behind. The average estimated price for all inventoried plantations was almost 2500 livres (Crompton 2014).

This brings me back to the folklore surrounding Easton and his Oderin treasure. This mythology is either recent or historic. If it was historic and Easton actually buried his treasure on the island in 1612, unlikely given the distance from Harbour Grace, St. John’s or Ferryland then when did he do it and how did he do it without anyone seeing him? It is well documented that the island was heavily used by French fishers at that time, surely someone would have seen this activity or learned of this buried treasure story. Who buries pirate treasure in full view of a bunch of ragtag fishermen? I can guarantee it wouldn’t have stayed hidden for long. If this fable is historic and one of the fishers didn’t steal the treasure, then the story would have to be passed down through generations in order for it to be known today. Surely one of the Lafosse family members who were in the area for more than a decade would have heard it and tried to recover it given the debt owed by Mr. Lafosse. If not recovered by someone in the Lafosse family then there were literally hundreds of people on the island after the Lafosse family in the next century and a half. This story would have to pass through generations of people. If Easton buried treasure in the pond on the island in 1612 surely someone could figure out how to retrieve it by 1966 when Oderin was resettled. Those historic documents detailing the exploits of Easton while in Newfoundland never once mention him being on Oderin or anywhere else in Placentia Bay. D.W. Prowse’s “A History of Newfoundland”,  published in 1895, makes minimal mention of Easton but what is there contains nothing tying him to Oderin. A PhD thesis written in 1972 detailing English pirate activity from 1603-1640 refers to Easton more than 170 times. Many of those references detail his activity in Newfoundland down to the day but not one mentions Oderin or even Placentia Bay (Senior 1972, Prowse 1895). I have spoken with two scholars who are very familiar with early provincial history and the Avalon and south coast in particular. Both confirmed there is no known tie between Easton and Oderin. There is no consensus that Easton was on Oderin Island.

Almost certainly we are left with the conclusion that this tradition about Easton is something very recent. It’s recent resurgence seems related to wood and artifacts recently recovered from the pond. Crompton recently took a brief look for references to this treasure. The first reference she found seems to recount an almost identical story for Placentia Bay in 1941except the author, Le Messurier, attributes it to Ship Island, beside Barren Island (which is now Bar Haven). Le Messurier concludes the story is incorrect, and instead attributes the discovery of wood at the bottom of the pond to the French boat-sinking practice (see Denys 1908). This legend then shows up in a story by Wakeham in 1950. He repeats the story in 1953 and again in a book in 1953. In 1993 it ends up in another article by Mitchell. Given that there was over 400 years of European use of this island it would be more surprising that the occupants of the island hadn’t disposed of something in the pond. This legend is likely related to the recovery of junk the occupants of the island threw in the pond than treasure.

Most tales of pirates and buried treasure have more to do with the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island, and the many movies and television programs it inspired, than historical fact. In the end whether this folklore is recent or historic it doesn’t stand up to the scrutiny of research and common sense and it’s unfortunate this mythology has taken precedence over actual history.

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REFERENCES

Crompton & Gilbert, pers. comm. 2023 (Thanks to Bill & Amanda for the edits and fact checking.)

Crompton, Amanda
2014       Final Report for the Oderin Island Archaeological Project, 2011 Sites: Oderin Island I (ChAq-04), Castle Island (ChAq-02), and Emberley Island I (ChAq-03) Permit # 11.23

Denys, Nicolas
1908       The Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America (Acadia). Trans. by Wm. F. Ganong. The Champlain Society, Toronto. Pp. 268-315.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography http://www.biographi.ca/en/

Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador

Prowse, Daniel
1895       History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and Foreign Records.

Senior, Clive Malcolm
1972       An investigation of the activities and importance of English pirates, 1603-40. PhD, University of Bristol