Ahoy Mateys! Arrrh, I be hopin’ ye be not thinkin’ anyt’ing unproper-like now, I be talkin’ about the real booty pirates be after – GOLD!

But where did it get that term ya ask? Well, I’m glad ye asked! …… a long time ago, in a galax….. wait, wrong story …. well, it was a long time ago ?

Anyway, it was during the time of the spanish conquest of the new world, and the mass amounts of gold that the ships were bringing back.  It seems many ships were private vessels, commissioned for the work of transporting his/her majesty’s new found gold back to the old country, for ‘safe keeping’.  Well, it seems that, for some reason, the powers that be set up an accounting system to make sure that if 100 tons of gold were sent, 100 tons show up on the other side and none of it ‘went missing’.  ?

Well, the system (a letter with the details that was sealed with wax) could be rigged after all.  Somehow, after getting a copy of the seal, the contents could either be re-written, or just slightly altered. The challenge then would be, how to get the gold off of the ship and into other places, not under the crown’s safe keeping.  One method was to hammer the gold into nails, pound them into soft wood and then cover them with tar. The other more popular way, was to hammer the gold to be ‘relocated’ into strips that could slide down into ones boots, allowing one to to walk on by the gold inventory inspectors on the dock.  Hence, the term, ‘booty’, as it was carried away in boots.

Occasionally, the gold was already in that form in the first place from the primitive smelting and forging techniques, and the Spanish were creating these in a rush to get them to sea and home to Spain.

Of course, the term later came to refer to any ill-gotten prize, plunder, or treasure.

Attached are some pictures from the salvaged wreck of the Treasures Of The Atocha, that was found by the famous Mel Fisher (fascinating story behind that guy, but perhaps another day).

Here is a link to the site with the photos, and other info, plus just another random article about a very recent shipwreck found with tons of gold, just because. ?

http://hubpages.com/travel/florida-shipwrecks-where-to-dive-for-sunken-treasure

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150512-shipwreck-panama-spain-merchant-ship-encarnacion-ocean-archaeology/

arrrh, me hearties, thar be gold in them thar waters, just a’waitin fer some brave pyrate to be a-findin’!

weigh anchor, and may yer sails be full!

K