Raynor On The Coast

Pirate Treasure

2021 TREASURE HUNT

It is 2021- six years after Sully’s first hunt for pirate treasure. This search has been delayed for months by – well, you know what. A new map has surfaced from the dusty Raynor archives, and Sully now has a hearty companion in this hunt – his younger sister Seabrook.

This hunt will be more demanding on Sully’s abilities, and the new map has compass bearings so he will be adding compass reading to his skill set, already well developed. Seabrook’s main task will be to probe when we come to the “X” place on the map where the treasure should be buried. Pirates are not farfetched in the Raynor and Painter households, since the ancestor Josiah Raynor was a pirate practitioner back in the late seventeenth century. Sully’s father Zac is from Spartanburg, and I heard Sully say something like “We have pirates on one side of our family, and Cherokees on the other.” We set off with the Painter adults bearing tools, and myself and the kids leading the way. (Susan held down the fort in our absence.)

Consulting our map, we began at a holly tree, and Sully took a 22 degree bearing leading to a sweet gum tree, at a distance of 16 cabin boy paces (cbp).

From there, Sully sighted 355 degrees, and paced off the 15 cbp to a cedar tree. Next, 383 degrees, 23 cbp to a giant hickory tree with a striped root. Seabrook found the striped root to confirm the tree, and we knew we were getting closer to our goal.

And now, the map had the “X” at 237 degrees and 9 cbp. There was no tree as a marker, but another vector to a tree at 255 degrees and 6 cbp from the “X”. And this led to a live oak tree “Doak” with hole in the head? Yes, this tree had those characteristics. So with those two vectors we had an idea for the “X”, and Seabrook began her probing. We expected there to be a metal piece covering the treasure chest, and it took multiple probes before Seabrook struck metal.

We cleared off the dirt covering the metal, remove it, and located the chest, and brought it to the surface! It appeared authentic, with an old hawser lashing old sailcloth around the chest as a protective cover.

Sully and his Dad hauled the chest through the woods to the drive where we unwrapped the chest, and brought it up to the porch. We pulled off a few more skins from this onion, and found inside the chest two boxes. Bringing them into the house, Sully and Seabrook dug in, examining their loot: crystals, sharks teeth, stones, shells, turtles (of course), “silver” platters, containers. And for each, a scrolled message “The future ~ and more treasures await ye.”

A major family treasure for both will be a first visit with their new cousin, Claudia, less than a month old at the time of this hunt. There is also the prospect of more treasure – perhaps locating another treasure map. Sully and Seabrook will be ready to lead their younger cousin on such a future adventure when she is ready.

2015 TREASURE HUNT

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Buried treasure in Awendaw, SC? An old map, found in dusty Raynor archives, pointed out an “X” marking the spot. But buried Raynor pirate treasure – far-fetched? [Actually, one of my forebears, Josiah Raynor, grew up on Long Island in the seventeenth century, and learned his trade sailing in the bays and Long Island sound. He shipped out with the privateer Thomas Tew in the 1690’s, and somewhere off the coast of Africa Tew and his crew transitioned to straight piracy. They consorted with a flotilla of pirates including Henry Avery into the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, and Raynor returned to Long Island with a good share of loot.]

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Working together with Sully in our pirate personas (Sully as Jake, and me as Captain Bop), we consulted the treasure map, made our preparations, and grabbing tools headed out for the buried treasure, somewhere behind the house in the woods. Besides the map, there was a page of directions giving us specifics, with directions, landmarks, and distances measured in PP’s (pirate paces).

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From table SW of house walk 5 PP to oak with hole.

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Walk WSW 13 PP to twin pines.

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Turn and walk NNW 29 PP to old roof metal. [Remnant of Raynor roof section blown off in 1989 courtesy of Hurricane Hugo.]

Continue to walk NNW 24 PP to tall pine on small rise.

Probe for chest in front of tree. [Also on the alert for interloping pirate bandits.]

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Dig there for the Treasure! [Amazing how hard it was to find the treasure buried the day before!]

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After finding the treasure, we returned to the house to open the chest, and inspect the loot. There was a chest inside the chest, an exotic hand carved wooden box from India. Inside were further treasures: shell, tumbled stone, petrified wood, brass book mark, etc, all with family connections.

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And one last item: another small scroll stating “More treasures await ye”.

18 thoughts on “Pirate Treasure”

  1. Arggggeyy Mateys! What a fun adventure! I know Pirate Jake a.k.a. Sully was into it and was even counting his paces (P.P.’s) around the house last night. The pirate theme is already working itself into future plans for his March birthday party, which according to Sully, is going to be a Racecar/Garbage Truck/Pirate theme. We’ll keep working on that, but in the meantime, thanks for the adventure, imagination and especially, the loot!

    1. The loot was in the adventure. Next time Jake will have to have an expanded pirate crew – need to get the Jersey Raynor pirate crew on board!

  2. Not only would we love to participate, we could fend off opposing pirate ships (with the help of our esteemed governor) by creating a traffic jam at the entrance of the bay.

    1. There is historical precedent for that – Yankees blockading Bulls Bay (and all along coast) in Civil War. Except they were trying to keep the pirates (Confederates) in rather than out. Actually, they were also trying to keep the blockade runners out. Or were the pirates those Yankees?

  3. Lia VanderClute Tremblay

    I am descended from Josiah Raynor too, and found this while searching for more information on him. How fun! Thank you for the smile, distant cousin!

    1. We have found a second treasure map, and Sully’s sister Seabrook with help him in December in what will be the second pirate treasure quest.

    1. I have my moments. Also, you are getting ahead of yourself, am only a Grandad. I have also gotten to know my 3 acres of forest very well in the last year.

  4. That is the coolest adventure ever! Thanks for sharing the pictures of those adorable grand children and their fun during the hunt!

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