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ISLA DEL COCO Costa Rica´s Legendary Treasure Island isladelcoco.go.cr

Stories of pirates, shipwrecks and legendary hidden treasures have stirred the imagination of many for two centuries since the year of Our Lord 1820, when a small, ancient English merchant ship silently sailed away carrying 24 heavy wooden boxes filled with gold coins and rich ornaments from the Cathedral of Lima. While a struggle for independence from Spain was taking place, led by General San Martin and the English Admiral Cochrane who attacked by land and sea using Chile as a friendly base of operations, the Spanish viceroy Abascal, believed it would be prudent to move the treasure to a safer place, and hired the merchant

ship. However, the captain decided to keep the treasure for himself and the crew and sailed to Cocos Island to hide it there. The plan was to resupply in Panama and remain hidden for a few months and then return to look for the treasure to divide it equally, but on the way to Panama they were intercepted by the Peruvian, a ship with a Spanish captain that left the port of Callao to pursue them and they were all placed on the upper deck and asked where the Lima treasure was. When they refused to tell, 8 of the 11 were executed. The remaining 3 sailors confessed that the treasure had been hidden on Cocos Island, but although the Captain of the