Who Was the Mysterious Pirate Whose Cryptogram Continues to Challenge Researchers?

We often evoke pirates as folk figures, forgetting that they have really influenced maritime history and colonial economic circuits. In the 18th century, some bounded the Indian Ocean to intercept the return ships of the Indies, loaded with gold, spices and precious stones. One of them, Olivier Levasseur, known as “the nozzle”, left a singular imprint. His name remains associated with a colossal loot which he would have hidden after having looted a Portuguese galleon.

Of a feared calaisian bourgeois calaisian

Olivier Levasseur was born in Calais between 1688 and 1690, in a wealthy bourgeois family. It has a solid education, rare for a future pirate. According to several sources, he studied architecture and received classic training, testifying to a structured and cultivated beginning of life. But the geopolitical context will upset its destiny. At the dawn of the 18th century, France was engaged in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), a major conflict between the great European powers.

It is in this context that he obtains a brand letter – an official document issued by Louis XIV – which authorizes him to attack enemy ships in the name of the king. This legal status, legal in the eyes of the kingdom, allows him to start his maritime career in an institutionalized framework. At the end of the conflict, his mission theoretically ends. But like many former corsairs, Levasseur does not return to civilian life. He keeps his ship and enters active piracy.

In 1716, he joined Benjamin Horigold, an influential captain among the filibusters operating in the Atlantic. Indeed, in 1716 he founded a sort of pirate republic in Nassau, on the island of New Providence. He even becomes the mentor of Edward Teach, better known as the Blackbeard. The collaboration with Levasseur initiates the latter to a more organized and formidable piracy.

But the nozzle quickly takes its independence. He arms a merchant ship to operate on the Brazilian coast. He notably attacks a slave ship which he brutally seizes. Pursued by the Portuguese authorities, he fell back to the Indian Ocean. There, in 1724, he hit a historic blow by capturing the Nossa Senhora do Cabo, a Portuguese galleon in repair in Reunion.

A hanging, a cry and a cryptogram

In 1730, Olivier Levasseur was captured in Madagascar, after several years of wandering in the waters of the Indian Ocean. He was arrested by the French colonial authorities and transferred to Bourbon Island, current Reunion. At that time, he is one of the most sought after pirates of his time. His loot precedes him: gold bars, pearls, precious stones and sacred objects stolen aboard the Portuguese Galion Nossa Senhora Do Cabo. This ship also transported ecclesiastical goods, including a cross inlaid with diamonds and a set of religious archives.

The trial is expeditious. The accusations are numerous, the evidence sufficient, and the piracy no longer has the slightest official tolerance. He is condemned to death and he is publicly executed in Saint-Paul. What intrigues is the course of his last moments. Several testimonies evoke a spectacular scene. While the gallows is ready, the nozzle would have torn off a necklace or parchment from its neck. He threw him into the crowd, shouting: ” My fortune to whom will take it! ».

© © Thelastbrunneng/CC by SA 4.0

Flag of the nozzle. © Thelastbrunneng/CC by SA 4.0

This cry becomes a historical enigma. The document thrown – or transmitted according to other stories – constitutes a cryptogram of 17 lines, written in a readable alphabet but arranged in an incomprehensible manner. It is not a simple encrypted code, but a complex symbolic system whose structure remains unclear. The original text remains lost today, but copies have been circulating since the 1930s.

This cryptogram intrigues by its complexity. According to some researchers, it would mix references with ancient myths, lunar cycles or masonic symbols. Nothing confirms its authenticity or value, but its only existence gives the nozzle a rare singularity.

A treasure hunt that crosses the centuries

The treasure raised by the nozzle during the capture of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo has been constantly fueling research since the 18th century. Recall that in this Portuguese galleon were ingots, jewelry, liturgical dishes, precious stones and raw diamonds. According to researcher Reginald Cruise-Wilkins, quoted by the Bbceach hacker would have received 42 diamonds and 5,000 Guinea. The rest would have been hidden by levasseur on an island of the Indian Ocean, possibly in Seychelles.

© © Public domain

Olivier Levasseur's cryptogram. © Public domain

For Cruise-Wilkins, nicknamed “Le Treasure Man”, has devoted almost 30 years to search the Bel Ombre region, north of the island of Mahé. Convinced that the cryptogram left by the nozzle contained references to ancient myths and to Masonic esotericism, he tried to decipher the 17 lines. According to him, the treasure was hidden in a cave closed by a landslide. Only a few pirates knew the exact location – before being executed to keep the secret. His son John continued research after 1977, devoting his whole life to it.

In 2024, a new track arose in Mauritius. Seven hikers identify enigmatic engravings on a rock in the Albion region. Nearby, natural training nicknamed “sleeping man” would strengthen the correlation with the supposed clues of the cryptogram. The site is now monitored and experts mandated by the Mauritian national heritage fund provides supervised excavations.

Between Mahé, Reunion and Mauritius, the historical, symbolic and topographic indices meet. But despite the objects found – old weapons, bones, decorated fragments – no direct proof of the treasure has yet been scientifically validated.