Josh Gates Hunts For The Lost Fortune Of Pirate Queen Anne Bonny

Close your eyes and picture the quintessential  pirate. Is he bearded, threatening, eye patch and pistol, or is he a swashbuckling rogue? Not  bad. But what if I told you that one of the most notorious pirates of all time wasn’t a he at all?  Her name was Anne Bonnie. And Anne here broke the pirate mold as a fearless and female buccaneer  who was just as ruthless as her male counterparts, terrorizing ships and amassing a fortune in  stolen loot that today could be worth millions.
Her story is also steamy and was finally captured  with her lover Calico Jack Rackup and fellow female pirate and possible lover Mary Reed. What  can I say? Polyamorous wants a cracker. But then she was convicted in a trial that immortalized her  as a sexually rebellious sensation. Despite being found guilty and sentenced to hang, Anne  Bonnie had one final trick up her sleeve.
She vanished. As for the fate of her illgotten  fortune, well, that, my friends, is a mystery.
Now, treasure hunters in South Carolina  are uncovering new clues that point to Anne’s legendary booty. Back off. You  know what I mean. And a longlost map is pointing toward a property deep in  the swamps where Anne and her treasure may have hidden away from the world.  And in the rivers of the Low Country, a longlost black market trading post may be the  true final resting place of her stolen fortune.
All right. So Harley, where are we going? Where  are you taking me? We’re going up about two miles.
Two more miles. Yes. So why do we think it’s up  here? So the biggest mystery about Am Bonnie is what happened to her, right? We know she was  arrested. We know she was sentenced to hang and then she disappears. Yeah. So, the number  one theory is her dad used his influence and money to spring her out of jail, right? William  Cormarmac, her dad springs her somehow and what?
Brings her back to Charleston. Yeah. Brings her  back here in South Carolina and puts her up in a big [music] house overlooking the river, which  is the spot she’s supposed to bury her treasure.
Okay. It’s a great story. Yeah. Is any of it true?  So, I have two documents from the archives that show us right where to look. Okay. Hey, what’d you  find? Yeah. So, right here, this is the official King’s Grant given to William Cormarmac. So,  this is an actual land grant. Yes. For William Cormack. Name checks her father and he’s being  given 50 acres of land in Queensboro Township.
Are we in Queensboro Township? We are here right  now. So, this gets us to the right area. And how do we narrow it down from here? So, the next  document I have here is actually a plat map.
a plat map like an old property line. Yeah.  It’s showing where the exact property is. It sits on the edge of the PD River. Yes. This river.  This river that we’re on right now. And Bonnie’s treasure could be buried on this plot of land.  I think it’s a great chance it could be buried there. Okay. Couple miles. You say just a couple  miles. Should we punch it? Let’s hit it. Let’s do it. Come on. This guy’s excited. We should get  these on. All right. You can go ahead now. Hit it.
It’s right at the bottom. Way down there. Oh, look  at that. Oh, something round. Be careful. Armor, be careful. Hold on. That’s a coin. That’s  a coin. Good job. That’s a King George, dude. That’s in great shape. Old old coin.  Oh, I’ve never found one of those. Dude, you see the bust? This is super worn, but you can  see just the outline of a profile there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And you can see Roman numerals two on  the right there. That’s King George II. King George the second. So this is an English penny or  half penny. Yeah. No doubt. This is a coin from the era of King George II who sat on the English  throne from 1727 to 1760. So this may be exactly 300 years old. That puts us in this time period.  We are in the money literally. Yes. That’s it.
Okay. So what is this place? Another homestead?  No, this is an old Native American trade outpost.
A trade outpost. So this is where natives  are trading with colonists? No. Pirates. Oh, so this is like a black market. Yes, exactly. Two  groups certain to be excluded from the traditional economy of the colonies [music] would be Native  Americans and pirates. Trade outposts like Harley is describing [music] would be a place for Anne  Bonnie and her crew to fence stolen goods and stay supplied for the months at sea. And so where  is this trade outpost? No one really knows. Damn.
I was hoping it was going to be easier than that.  Why is it never easy? It’s never easy. So Axel, where is this place supposed to be? So from  the research we’ve done, we think it’s where the Pocutalago River meets with the King’s  Highway because it’s the furthest inland that you can get by boat from the open ocean. And  the King’s Highway was like the road back then, right? It was the main road and trading  route. And in fact, you’re actually driving on it right now. Wow. Amazing. Yeah.  This is like the OG interstate. Yeah.
Woo! Guys, come look at this. Oh, look. This rock.  This rock. This rock right here. What is it? Look at them all. This stuff? Yes. Those? Yes. Oh, this  isn’t rock. No, it’s coral. This is coral. Wait, why are there huge blocks of coral here? In a  temporarily drained South Carolina riverbed, the search appears to have taken a major step  forward. Guys, look at this. This piece, dude, that’s coral. That is the best example. This is  like from the Caribbean. Yeah, no doubt. What is this doing? 10, 12 miles up a river cuz this  is a ballast stone. This is ballast stone. Yeah, this is ballast stone. It must be from a ship.  And these other big rocks, these proper rocks, are these local? No, there’s no native stone  around here. So, these are stones. Yes, but these are non-native. So, this is like a stone  from England from an English ship thousands of miles away. Wow. That means that this is like  a done deal. Yes. This must have been a trading outpost. That proves [music] it. I mean, ballast  is being dropped off. It’s being used here, I think, to shore up this embankment. Yeah.  And goods must have been going out in its place to counterweight the ship, right? This  legend about this native pirate trading post right here. Yes. where pirates were coming up,  goods were going back and forth. That’s true.
That proves it right there. Unbelievable. Let  me tell you something. Treasure comes in many forms. This is treasure. Honestly, [music] this  is history changing. This is putting this place on the map. A place that had only been legend  now exists in the real [music] world. You found it. We found it. And by the way, if the story of  this trading post is true, maybe this story about Anabani’s treasure is true, right? Awesome.  This is awesome, dude. Amazing. All right, now we just need Anony’s loot. Is that going to  woo? Definitely. Come on, Here we go. Let’s go, man. There’s a lot of roots right here. There we  go. Pull that back. Stick that out. All right, that tide’s starting to come back in. Let’s  see what it is. Something small. Yeah. Oh, hold on. Whoa. Wait. What the hell is that, dude?  Hold on. Is that lead? No, it’s kind of a silvery color. Oh, y’all. What is that? This is a ring.  No. No. Yes. Look at that. Oh, it is silver. Is that a ring? There’s something on it. What is it?  Oh, it’s a ring. It’s a coin. Oh my god. You got to be kidding me. Yes. That is a ring made out of  a coin. That is a Spanish coin. That’s like what, like a half realale? The real was the official  currency of the Kingdom of Spain. The silver was mined in South America to mint the coins,  which then became the frequent target of, you guessed it, pirates. Somebody took a half  realale [music] Spanish coin and turned it into jewelry. Yes. Have you ever found one of these?  No, never. That is awesome. That is absolutely.
Is there a date on this thing? Under the globe.  See the 17? It’s 17 something. I can’t really tell. So 17 something. Early 1700s. Yeah, that  is a 300y old piece of jewelry made out of a Spanish coin. Who would make a half? I can I can  think of one person who would. And Bonnie. Yeah, very well. That is jewelry for a  pirate right there. That is awesome.
I wish we could prove that was hers, but I have  to say it is insane to find something like this.
It just reinforces how special this site is.  Yeah, we have a trading outpost here. I think that’s for sure. And we have treasures coming  out of the ground. 100%. Confirmed. Confirmed.