Fiery Cross of Goa
(Click photo to enlarge)
Let's make one thing absolutely clear: The cross shown above is NOT the fabled golden Goa Cross. It is simply a photo of my Pectoral Cross, which I bought from https://www.mckaychurchgoods.com/clergycrosses.htm.
Goa is a small state on India's west coast. Run by Portugal for about 450 years until annexed by India in 1961, Goa is by far the wealthiest place in India, boasting a GDP per capita 2½ times that of the rest of the country.
Travel brochures will tell you many more interesting facts about Goa. However, verifiable facts about the supposed Fiery Cross of Goa are pretty thin on the ground.
The story goes something like this:
Sé Cathedral, Goa, dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria
Photo by Ondrej Zvacek
An 18th century pirate called Olivier le Vasseur (also known as La Buse 'the buzzard') operated in the Indian Ocean.
In April 1721 near Réunion Island, just east of Madagascar, he raided a Portuguese ship called Virgen del Cabo (Virgin of the Cape) on its way from Goa to Lisbon. The loot consisted of treasures belonging to the Bishop of Goa and the Viceroy of Portugal, including gold and silver bars, chests of gold coins, diamonds, pearls and silks. There were also religious icons from the huge Sé Cathedral which included a solid gold cross, so bright that it was called the Fiery Cross of Goa.
This cross was seven feet tall, encrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. It was so heavy that three men were needed to carry it.
The haul was divided amongst the pirate crew but Vasseur kept the golden cross. He had a house in the Northwest Seychelles (at Bel Ombre) and there he buried the cross before he was captured by the French a few years later, tried and sentenced to death.
Just before sunset at 5 p.m. on 7 July 1730 at Saint-Denis on the north cost of Réunion, Vasseur was hanged. As he stood before the noose, he tossed a scrap of paper into the crowd, shouting "Find my treasure, ye who may understand it!" (but in Portuguese, of course).
The paper contained a cryptogram in 17 lines of Greek and Hebrew letters, clues to the location of the buried spoils.
And there the story ends until two hundred years later, when in 1947, an Englishman named Reginald Cruise-Wilkins, picked up the trail and began deciphering the code.
Employing the ancient esoteric knowledge privy to Freemasons, plus the Zodiac, the Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon), and bits of an old Greek poem about the Labours of Hercules (slaying lions, the nine-headed Hydra, and several other little jobs that earned him immortality), he cracked most of the code.
He died in 1977 and his son John is currently trying to fathom out the few remaining riddles. We wish him well in his endeavours. We also wonder if he will return any finds to Sé Cathedral.
Fact check
A few points worth noting about this story:
"The loot consisted of treasures belonging to the Bishop of Goa..."
Well it's true that by the Middle Ages, the Church had amassed a great deal of wealth so it's quite plausible that a substantial shipment of gold was sent from Goa to Lisbon. (See the Money of God.)
What's surprising, however, is that there's no mention of any fabulous diamond-encrusted solid gold cross in historical inventories of the cathedral or anywhere else. The Fiery Cross of Goa didn't seem to exist before this story.
"This cross was encrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds."
But why were so many diamonds considered worth recording in this story? The diamond was not a particularly valuable jewel until the 19th century. (See Why Diamonds Are Forever)
"It was so heavy that three men were needed to carry it."
Gregg Valentino with his 28" biceps can lift 300 lb. You would need 30 more men like him to lift a 7-foot gold crossFact: Gold was, and is, a useful currency. But currency is only useful if it can be traded. Gold is heavy (nearly twice as heavy as lead and nearly 20 times heavier than water) but can be traded relatively easily if the gold bars are a reasonable size. It makes no sense to convert such large tangible assets into something that is too cumbersome to trade with.
How cumbersome? Some accounts say the cross was seven feet high. Seven is a lucky number that adds to the mystique of this cross, but the reality is different.
If we assume the typical ratio of a cross, the horizontal arm for a 2 m high cross would be about 1.5 m. A reasonable width and thickness would be perhaps 25 cm x 25 cm giving a total volume of 218,750 cm3. Pure gold has a density of 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter, which means the cross would weigh 4,226 kg (9,317 lb).
"Le Vasseur was hanged just before sunset"
Fact: France was no different to other countries in having the tradition of hanging at dawn, not sunset.
Are there any official records to indicate that the execution of Vasseur actually took place at all?
"As he stood before the noose, he tossed a scrap of paper into the crowd..."
But before a person is hung, the hands are tied behind the back. This is not only to prevent the condemned lashing out at the hangman, but also to prevent the automatic reaction of the hands reaching for the noose.
With hands tied behind the back it is difficult to imagine how Vasseur could have tossed a scrap of paper to the crowd.
"The paper contained a cryptogram of 17 lines, clues to the location of the buried spoils."
It has been said that the paper was authenticated at the National Library in Paris, but there are no references to support this.
The location of the treasure, according to the riddle, is in a dangerous place. Venturing to the spot without sufficient regard to the tides would result in drowning.
Pirates are not particularly brave; they are just well armed with weapons and evil intent. They rob people weaker than themselves and run when the authorities chase them. In other words, they are natural cowards. So is it likely that Vasseur would risk his life by venturing to such a dangerous place?
"Reginald Cruise-Wilkins... employing the ancient [mystical methods] ... cracked most of the code."
If mystical and supernatural methods have been used, and given the vast amount of gold metal involved, why has no dowser yet discovered this cross?
"He shouted "Find my treasure, ye who may understand it!""
Why not "Shiver mi timbers, matey!"
...or the more likely utterance of somebody about to be hanged: "Aaaaaarrggghhh!"
Sadly for treasure hunters, Vasseur's promise (if we can trust the promise of a pirate) is no authority to retain what might be found since it was not Vasseur's in the first place. Theft does not legally transfer ownership to the thief.
But it's an interesting story.
And finally...
here's another little story.
Once upon a swashbuckling time...
A man meets a pirate in a bar and can't help but notice the pirate has a wooden leg, a hook on the end of his arm, and an eye patch. The man asks, "Wow! You certainly look like a rugged pirate with your pegleg, hook, and eye patch. Here, have a drink and tell me your story."
"Arrrgghh, thanks mi' 'arty." replies the pirate.
"So if you don't mind my asking, how did you end up with a wooden leg?"
The pirate replies, "Aye, matey, we was in a storm at sea, an' I was swept overboard into a school of sharks. One tore mi leg clean orf, but I bit its nose off and managed to escape. Arrrgghh, it be."
"Wow!" says the man. "What about your hand? How did you end up with a hook?"
"Well," replies the pirate, "I was digging for treasure in a swamp and this crocodile snapped mi 'and clean orf, but I bit its nose off and managed to escape. Arrrgghh, it be."
"Amazing!" remarks the man. "What happened to your eye? How did you end up with an eye patch?"
"Shiva mi timbers. That were a sea-gull dropping that fell into mi eye. Arrrgghh, it be." replies the pirate.
"You lost your eye from a sea-gull dropping?" the man asks incredulously.
"Arrrgghh, it be not." says the pirate. "It was mi first day with the hook."
