Could 2 pirates survive on a tropical island 

The tale of the treasure of Lima

The treasure of Lima is one of the most well known and valuable lost treasures of all time, but if the story is true, then it could still be located on a small tropical island over 300 miles off the west coast of Costa Rica, but this would depend entirely on the survival skills of the two pirates who were stranded there.

(Cocos island, the rumoured site of the lost treasure of Lima)

The story begins during the 16th century when the Spanish beat the Incas and successfully invaded most of the continent of southern America. The Spanish did the exact same thing that all colonial armies did, which was to steal all the wealth from the region and move it to the safest location possible, usually in the capital city or somewhere large that had walls.

Over 200 years of hording wealth had led to the Spanish becoming extremely wealthy, but it also angered the native population who had reached their breaking point and in the year 1820, they organized a rebellion to push the Spanish out once and for all.

The rebellion was a success and the native population managed to take back the whole country, but the capital city of Lima was the country’s power center and managed to resist long enough to load all the treasure they had accumulated on board a private ship. There were no Spanish ships in port when the rebels attacked, and they didn’t have time to call for some, so they were forced to load the treasure on board a trade ship called the “Mary Dear” who was commanded by captain William Thompson.

The Spanish sent a group of soldiers and priests to accompany the treasure, which apart from a load of coins and gems was supposed to include two life-sized statues of the Virgin Mary holding her baby, both made out of solid gold. The plan was to sail to Mexico where the Spanish had a much stronger presence, but at some point along the voyage, William Thompson and his crew killed all the soldiers and priests on board and took the treasure to a place called Cocos island.

Since the treasure was extremely hot and the Spanish would be looking for it, the crew thought the best option would be to hide it somewhere on the island and come back for it later. After word reached Central America that a huge amount of treasure had been stolen, and by whom, it didn’t take long for the Spanish to capture and kill the entire crew, leaving only the captain and his first mate alive under the promise they would show them where the treasure was buried.

(The steep terrain and thick forest would make it easy to hide from dozens of people)

William Thompson and his first mate were taken under very heavy guard to the island, but at some point walking through the thick trees, the two of them managed to escape and hide for long enough for the soldiers to give up looking for them. The Spanish went back to their ship without their prisoners or the treasure, leaving captain William Thompson and his first mate alone on the island with nothing but their clothes.

This is where the story ends because the captain nor his first mate were ever seen or heard from again, suggesting they perished either on the island or in the sea in an attempt to get back to the main land. To this day no one has found the treasure even though hundreds of people have looked for it, and if someone did find it, they managed to launder the entire thing without so much as a rumor.

So would it be possible to survive on Cocos island?

The shortest distance to the mainland is 310 miles and would take you to the south-western coast of Costa Rica, a journey that would be very dangerous on a raft made without tools. The island is 9.08 sq miles ( 23.52 km2 ) and is big enough to support quite a large amount of food. There are avocado and coconut trees across the whole island and are common enough to support two peoples food requirements, but both are seasonal crops and won’t do much good at the wrong time of year. Fishing is plentiful and a large range of tropical fish and beach dwelling mollusks can be found, but making the equipment to catch them without any tools to help would be tricky to say the least.

(Avocado trees cover the whole island, and would provide tons of food collectively)

A number of natural springs and the amount of dew that collects on the large-leaf plants would provide enough drinking water to easily support two people, but the biggest danger on this island would be the same as any other tropical climate. In an age when there’s no such thing as antibiotics, a small infection can turn bad really fast, and no where is better at making infections worse than the hot and humid conditions of the tropical climate.

Would it be possible to survive on Cocos island with shelter, food and water? Absolutely, but making it back to the mainland alive would be close to impossible. With no tools to make a sea-faring ship capable of traveling over 300 miles, the pair would have been stuck with some kind of raft tied together with whatever cordage they could make. Apart from the danger of the raft falling to pieces in the sea, it wouldn’t have been able to hold enough food and fresh water to last the days or weeks it would take to get back, not to mention they had nothing to store the water or food in.

If the story is true, and it very well could be, the likelihood of Captain William Thompson and his first mate managing to get off the island alive is almost impossible, but it would have been either disease or a wreckage at sea that killed them in the end. In terms of Cocos island being survivable, its one of the best places you could possibly get stranded on, if there ever was a “best” place to get stranded.

With over 90 species of Fungi and the Avocado and coconut trees being two of the most common trees to make up the forest canopies, Cocos island is one of the most bountiful small isolated islands on earth. Surrounded by a large population of yellow fin tuna and shellfish, finding food here should never be a problem for the skilled survivalist, but leaving the island on a homemade raft would almost guarantee death.