dilla's ship went down with
all on board. If this galleon carrying the gold table, besides much
other treasure, had foundered in deep water, it is unlikely that Sir
William Phips would have planned to go in search of her. If, however,
the ship had been smashed on a reef, he may have "fished up"
information from some other ancient Spaniard as to her exact location.

The secret was buried in his grave and he left no chart to show where
he hoped to find that marvelous treasure, and nobody knows the bearings
of that "mighty shelf of rock and bank of sands that lie where he had
informed himself."

[1] In order to make easier reading, this and the following extracts
from Cotton Mather's narrative are somewhat modernized in respect of
quaint spelling, punctuation, and the use of capitals, although, of
course, the wording is unchanged.

CHAPTER VI

THE BOLD SEA ROGUE, JOHN QUELCH

The Isles of Shoals, lying within sight of Portsmouth Harbor on the New
Hampshire coast, are rich in buried treasure legends and rocky
Appledore is distinguished by the ghost of a pirate, "a pale and very
dreadful specter," whose neck bears the livid mark of the hangman's
noose. This is a ghost in whose case familiarity has bred contempt
among the matter-of-fact islanders, for they call him "Old Bab" and
employ him to frighten naughty children. Drake's "Nooks and Corners of
the New England Coast" narrates in the proper melodramatic manner the
best of these traditions.

"Among others to whom it is said these islands were known was the
celebrated Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, as he was often called. He is
supposed to have buried immense treasure here, some of which has been
dug up and appropriated by the islanders. On one of his cruises, while
lying off the Scottish coast waiting for a rich trader, he was boarded
by a stranger who came off in a small boat from the shore. The visitor
demanded to be led before the pirate chief in whose cabin he remained
closeted for some time. At length Blackbeard appeared on deck with the
stranger whom he introduced as a comrade. The vessel they were
expecting soon came in sight, and, after a bloody conflict, became the
prize of Blackbeard. The newcomer had shown such bravery that he was
given command of the captured merchantman.

"The stranger soon proved himself a pirate leader of great skill and
bravery and went cruising off to the southward and the coasts of the
Spanish Main. At last aft