Coco Island, located 600 kilometers south of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica in Central America, is a picturesque tourist destination. A captivating legend surrounds this island, claiming that it is home to a vast treasure of gold and silver. After Spanish colonial leader Pizarro conquered Peru in 1535, Lima became the seat of the governor of the Spanish colonies in South America, accumulating a significant amount of gold and silver that was regularly shipped to Spain. In 1821, British pirate William Thompson raided the Peruvian port city of Callao, escaping with a large haul of treasure, including 24 chests of gold and silver jewelry. Thompson buried most of his treasure on Coco Island before destroying his pirate ship, the Mary Dear.
Before his death, Thompson revealed the secret of his treasure to his friend Keating, who made three trips to the island and returned with treasures worth over 500 million francs, but he could not locate the entire hoard. Keating then shared the treasure secret with Navy Corporal Nicola Fitzgerald, who, before his death, passed it on to Captain Cozens-Hall. Despite numerous attempts to find the treasure on Coco Island, none have succeeded. In 1927, French captain Tony Mangel replicated the relevant documents and made two trips to the island in search of treasure, but abandoned the quest due to the treacherous water flow in the caves. Over time, the ecological environment of Coco Island has been severely damaged, leading the Costa Rican government to prohibit treasure hunting on the island.
