The Lima Treasure (Cocos Island Hoard)
The treasure of an entire city, buried on a remote Pacific island—and the treasure map that inspired Treasure Island.
- Category
- buried
- Status
- lost
- Year lost
- 1820
- Region
- Cocos Island, Pacific Ocean
- Country
- Costa Rica
- Body of water
- Pacific Ocean
The dossier
In 1820, as Spanish colonial rule in South America began to collapse, the Catholic Church and wealthy citizens of Lima, Peru faced a crisis. Revolutionary forces under Simon Bolívar were advancing. Lima needed to be evacuated. The city's enormous accumulated wealth—the treasure of the Cathedral of Lima, gold and silver religious objects, jeweled statues, coins—needed to be moved before it was seized. The British merchant captain William Thompson was contracted to transport the treasure north on his ship, the Mary Dear. The cargo was enormous: gold and silver religious artifacts, a life-sized solid gold Madonna, hundreds of chests of gems and coins. Estimates of its value vary wildly—some put it at $200 million, others at over a billion in today's terms. Thompson murdered his Spanish guards, sailed to the remote and uninhabited Cocos Island in the Pacific, buried the treasure, and disappeared. He was eventually captured by Spanish naval forces. To save his life, he offered to reveal the location. He led an expedition to Cocos Island, escaped ashore, and was never captured again. No treasure was recovered. The island has been searched hundreds of times since. No treasure has been found. At least one researcher believes the burial location used by Thompson was later washed into the sea by erosion. Cocos Island is now a Costa Rican national park; excavation requires government authorization that is virtually never granted.
Legal status
Cocos Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Costa Rican National Park. All excavation strictly prohibited. Research access by special permit only.