Arr! Treasure Island Day is on the Horizon!

    KITTY HAWK, NC, November 11, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Treasure Island was real and inspired by dramatic historical events. Stevenson's treasure map dated August 1, 1750, was without a doubt inspired by this true 18th century crime. It was Owen Lloyd, born in Flintshire, Wales, who buried the treasure stolen from the Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, not Captain James Flint. Owen was aided by his one-legged brother, John, not Long John Silver. The Lloyd brothers were living in Hampton and Norfolk, Virginia respectively and were in transit to the island of St. Kitts when their sloop sprung a leak forcing them to Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, where they encountered the damaged treasure ship.

Owen Lloyd had formerly lived in St. Kitts and was married to a woman from a prominent family there. The Spanish treasure was soon recovered and fell into the hands of various Colonial governors. St. Kitts became the hub for pursuit of the lost treasure. Twenty years later, the great grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson moved to St. Kitts. He died mysteriously a few years later at the age of twenty-four. This story would be remembered at St. Kitts long after Stevenson's great grandfather died.

American author, John Amrhein, Jr., spent ten years with an international team of researchers to uncover this amazing tale which he has retold in his book, Treasure Island: The Untold Story. "Robert Louis Stevenson's classic is ingrained in modern culture," says Amrhein. "Our imagery of pirates comes in large part from Treasure Island." Amrhein points out that one day a year, thanks to Robert Newton who played Long John Silver in Disney's 1950 rendition of Treasure Island, we talk like a pirate around the world. And another Disney success, Pirates of the Caribbean, owes Stevenson a debt of gratitude. But that debt, in the end, says Amrhein, is owed Owen Lloyd.

Robert Louis Stevenson Day is already celebrated in Edinburgh, Scotland, on this day. To date, the other localities that played a role in the true story of Treasure Island have been ignored. What began in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Havana, Cuba, spread to Ocracoke, North Carolina and Hampton Roads, Virginia, down to the Caribbean Islands of Tortola, Norman Island, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Eustatius, Anguilla, cross the Atlantic to Cadiz, Spain, Greenwich, England, and Flintshire, Wales, back again to Scituate, Massachusetts, and Carmel, California, each played a unique role. And last, but far from the least, is Assateague Island, which holds the last remnant of this truly historic fleet. It is here that the Guadalupe's escort, the fifty- six gun warship, La Galga, is buried, the only remnant of the 1750 fleet to be discovered. La Galga has her own place in history. It is this shipwreck which legend says brought the wild horses to Assateague Island. The horses became internationally famous with the publication of Marguerite Henry's, Misty of Chincoteague. For more, visit Treasure-Island-Day.com and read American author John Amrhein's award winning book Treasure Island: The Untold Story.

New Maritima Press is a publisher of maritime history located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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