José Gaspar

In some versions of the story, Gaspar began life as a troubled youth who kidnapped a young girl for ransom. Captured and given the choice between prison and joining the navy, he choose to go to sea, where he served with distinction for several years before leading a mutiny against a tyrannical captain and fleeing to Florida with a stolen ship.[7][1]

Other versions of the story state that Gaspar was a nobleman who achieved a high rank in the Spanish Royal Navy and became a councilor to King Charles III of Spain. He was popular in the court, but when he spurned one lover for another, the jilted lady levied false charges against him, often said to involve the theft of the crown jewels. Unjustly facing arrest, he commandeered a ship and fled, vowing to exact revenge on his country.[7][1]

In still other versions, Gaspar was a brilliant Spanish admiral of questionable character who actually succeeded in stealing the crown jewels. When his theft was discovered, he seized the "prize vessel of the Spanish fleet" with a group of loyal followers and abandoned his wife and children to flee across the Atlantic Ocean.[2][8]

In all versions, the renegade settled along the virtually uninhabited southwest coast of Spanish Florida around 1783 and turned to piracy aboard his ship, the Floriblanca.[1] Gaspar established a base on Gasparilla Island and was soon the feared scourge of the Gulf of Mexico and the Spanish Main, plundering dozens of ships and amassed a huge cache of treasure in the period coinciding with the second Spanish rule of Florida. Most male prisoners would be forced to join his crew or be put to death, while women would be taken to a nearby isle (called Captiva Island for this reason) to be held for ransom or serve as wives or concubines for the pirates.[7][1][9]

Different versions of Gaspar's legend relate different episodes in his piratical career. One of the most famous involves a Spanish princess (or Mexican, depending on the version) named Useppa who was a passenger on a captured ship. The noble woman rejected the pirate's advances until he threatened to behead her if she would not submit to his lust. Still she refused, and he killed her in a rage (or alternately, because his crew demanded her death). Gaspar instantly regretted the deed and took her body to a nearby island, which he named Useppa in her honor, and buried her himself. Some versions identify the lady with Josefa de Mayorga, daughter of Martín de Mayorga, viceroy of New Spain from 1779 to 1782, and contend that the island's name evolved over time, though no evidence has been found in the Viceroy's surviving records to support the claim.[1]

Similarly, Sanibel Island is said to have been named by Gaspar's first mate, Rodrigo Lopez, after his lover whom he had left back in Spain. Empathizing with his friend's plight, Gaspar eventually allowed Lopez to return home. Some versions of the legend claim that Gaspar entrusted Lopez with his personal log, which has been cited as a source for information about the pirate although it has never been produced.[1]

Gaspar has been associated with various other pirates, both historical and not. Some versions of Gaspar's story claim that he often partnered with the real (alleged) pirate Pierre Lafitte, and that Lafitte barely escaped the battle in which Gaspar was killed.[9] This is unlikely, as there is no record of Lafitte spending time on the southwest Florida coast, and he died in Mexico before Gaspar's supposed demise.[10] Gaspar has also been associated with Henri Caesar and "Old King John", other semi-legendary pirates for whom there is little to no historical evidence.[7][1][11]

Most versions of the legend agree that José Gaspar met his end in late 1821, soon after Spain transferred control of the Florida Territory to the United States.[12] Gaspar had decided to retire after almost four decades of pirating, and he and his crew gathered on Gasparilla Island to split his enormous treasure cache, which some versions of the story value at the enormous sum of $30 million.[2] (For comparison, Spain has just agreed to transfer all of Florida to the United States for $5 million.)[13]

During the treasure distribution process, a lookout spotted what appeared to be a vulnerable British merchant ship sailing nearby. Gaspar could not resist taking one last prize, so he led his crew aboard the Floriblanca to pursue their prey. However, when the pirates fired a warning shot, their intended victim raised an American flag to reveal that it was no merchant vessel, but the United States Navy pirate hunting schooner USS Enterprise in disguise. A fierce battle ensued, and the Floriblanca was soon riddled by cannonballs and in danger of sinking. Rather than surrender, Gaspar supposedly wrapped an anchor chain around his waist and leapt from the bow, dramatically shouting "Gasparilla dies by his own hand, not the enemy's!" before plunging into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico within sight of Gasparilla Island.[2] Most of his surviving crew were captured and hanged, but a few escaped or were imprisoned. Some versions of the story claim that one of these survivors was John Gómez, who would tell the tale to subsequent generations.[7][1]

John Gómez (also known as Juan Gómez and Panther John) was a real person who has become entangled with the legend of José Gaspar. In the late 1800s, Gómez lived in a shack with his wife on otherwise uninhabited Panther Key, a small island near Marco Island in the Ten Thousand Islands region of Southwest Florida. He was well known along Florida's Gulf coast as an expert hunting and fishing guide, boat pilot, and an eccentric teller of tall tales, mostly about himself.[20] His self-reported age and birthplace varied, even on official documents. In the 1870 United States Census, he is listed as having been born in 1828.[21] However, during the 1880 US census, Gómez claimed to have been born in France in 1785.[22] In 1885, he told state census takers that he had been born in Corsica,[23] and reported to the 1900 US Census that he was born in Portugal in 1776.[24] Meanwhile, various contemporary letters and news articles report that Gómez claimed at different times to have been born in 1778, 1781 or 1795 in Honduras, Portugal, or Mauritius.[20][25][21] Most of his supposed birth years would have likely made him the oldest person in the world before his death.[1]

Gómez's uncertain birth was said to be just the beginning of an exceedingly long and adventure-filled life. He claimed to have seen Napoleon as a youth in France (or, alternatively, was drafted into Napoleon's army), sailed the world as a cabin boy on a merchant ship, served as a scout for the U.S. Army during the Seminole Wars, served as a coastal pilot for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, was involved in filibustering (and perhaps pirating) in Central America and the Caribbean, and escaped scheduled execution in a Cuban prison to return to Florida, among other remarkable exploits spread out over an entire century.[21][1][7] While none of these stories can be verified, Gómez is documented to have lived in various locations across west and southwest Florida from about 1870 until his death, including the Florida Everglades, Key West, Tampa. Pass-a-Grille, and the Ten Thousand Islands.[7][25][20] Between his eccentricly entertaining tall tales and his real skills as a boat pilot and fishing guide, Gómez was mentioned several times in Forest and Stream, an early conservationist and outdoorsman magazine.[25][20][21]

Gómez's stories were usually shared in very informal settings, such as around a campfire during a fishing trip or hunting expedition. They are documented only in a few contemporary personal letters, magazine articles, and obituaries, with the details differing and often conflicting from listener to listener.[7][20] However, though many versions of the Gaspar legend claim that Gómez was the last surviving member of the legendary pirate's crew, no contemporary account of Gómez's life or tall tales mention the name José Gaspar. The connection was first made soon after his death in 1900, when a promotional pamphlet for a Charlotte Harbor resort hotel (see below) claimed that the late John Gómez was the primary source of its tale of the pirate Gasparilla.[1][14][20][2]

Since then, many elaborate and often conflicting stories have been told regarding Gómez's alleged exploits alongside José Gaspar. Some claim that Gómez was the pirate's cabin boy, others that he was the Floriblanca's first mate, others that he was Gaspar's brother-in-law, still others that Gómez was Gaspar's first mate while his son, John Jr., was the cabin boy, and some even suggesting that Gómez actually was the retired pirate Gaspar hiding under a false name.[1][25] Most versions of the legend also claim that, despite the fact that he was so poor that he petitioned the Lee County Commission for a $8 per month stipend, Gómez knew the whereabouts of Gaspar's vast treasure cache supposedly hidden in the Charlotte Harbor area.[26][21][1][14][20]

1774 English map featuring the names Gasparilla and Captiva well before Gaspar's supposed arrival in the area

The first known written account of José Gaspar comes from an early 1900s brochure for the Gasparilla Inn Resort in the recently established tourist town of Boca Grande, Florida on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte Harbor.[1] It was authored by publicist Pat Lemoyne for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway Company, which owned the resort.[3] The brochure consisted of two parts: the legend of José Gaspar followed by a promotional section touting the Gasparilla Inn, the railroad which served Boca Grande, and the Charlotte Harbor area in general. It was freely distributed to guests at the Inn and in northern markets to draw attention to the recently opened tourist destination.[2]

The cover of the brochure featured a blood-dripping illustration of Gaspar, and the introduction claimed that the tale of the pirate contained therein was gleaned from stories told by the recently deceased John Gómez, who was described as the longest-lived member the crew. Several episodes in Gaspar's career first mentioned in the brochure have been repeated and expanded upon in later retellings, including the tale of the "little Spanish princess" and the details of his dramatic demise.[2] It also sought to connect Gaspar to Charlotte Harbor by claiming that his sprawling home base had encompassed several islands in the area. Captiva Island was said to be where his captives were held, Sanibel Island was named after Gaspar's love interest, and his home was on Gasparilla Island - "Taking the best of everything when a capture was made, he chose the best of the islands in Charlotte Harbor for his own secret haunts," it declared.[2] Finally, it claimed that a burial mound "forty feet high and four hundred feet in circumference" near Gasparilla Island had been found to contain "ornaments of gold and silver" along with "hundreds of human skeletons", but that the bulk of the buccaneer's vast cache of buried treasure "still lies unmoved" nearby, in the vicinity of the Gasparilla Inn.[1][2]

Though the brochure presents its history of the pirate Gaspar as established fact, there is no evidence to support the story. For example, local place names supposedly inspired by José Gaspar appeared on maps drawn long before the pirate was said to have arrived in the area, with historical documents stating that Gasparilla Island was named for Friar Gaspar, a Spanish missionary who visited the native Calusa in the 1600s.[7] It claimed that the nickname "Gasparilla" means "Gaspar, the outlaw" in Spanish when it is actually a feminine diminutive meaning "little Gaspar", an unlikely moniker for a bloodthirsty buccaneer. And despite the brochure's lurid tales about the discovery of gold and skeletons, no such artifacts or any other physical evidence of Gaspar's "regal" home base, victims, or treasure has ever been found on Gasparilla Island or anywhere else in the Charlotte Harbor area.[1][7][4][15]

In 1949, a retired Pat Lemoyne gave a local history lecture at a Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce function in which he admitted that his story of José Gaspar was a "cockeyed lie without a true fact in it" and that he had written the brochure in a dramatic style that "tourists like to hear". He further explained that it actually had been inspired by tall tales attributed to the colorful John Gómez, whom Lemoyne said claimed to have been a pirate and was known to sell fake treasure maps to "the gullible" for a "fancy figure".[3]

In 1923, a Boston historian named Francis B. C. Bradlee received a copy of the Gasparilla Inn brochure from Robert Bradley, then president of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway Company.[27] Assuming that the story of Gasparilla as described in the pamphlet was authentic, Bradlee included José Gaspar in a book that he was writing about piracy, Piracy In The West Indies And Its Suppression.[1] Bradlee included details from the brochure which were clearly incorrect, including the claims that a "burying ground" containing the "bleached bones" of Gaspar's many victims had recently been discovered on Gasparilla Island, that a tall "burial mound" built by a "prehistoric race" had been excavated and found to be full of gold and silver artifacts along with "hundreds of human skeletons", and that a dying John Gómez had confessed to witnessing Gaspar's murder of a "Little Spanish princess" and sketched a map that led searchers to her body.[28] However, none of these claims were true, as no treasure, murder victims, or other physical trace of Gaspar's exploits has ever been found in the area, and John Gómez drowned in a boating accident, making a deathbed confession implausible.[1][15][20]

Despite his obvious lack of fact-checking, Bradlee's book was used as a source for later works such as Philip Gosse's Pirates' Who's Who and Frederick W. Dau's Florida Old and New, the authors of which also took Gaspar's authenticity for granted. Over the next few decades, several more books about pirates or Florida history erroneously included José Gaspar / Gasparilla as a real historical figure, leading to continuing confusion about the authenticity of his story and repeated attempts to find his lost treasure.[1][15][7][4]

Inspired by the story of Gaspar, the city of Tampa organized a Gasparilla-themed May Day festival in 1904. The event proved popular, and several local leaders organized a krewe called Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG) to run the festivities, which became known as the Gasparilla Pirate Festival. In 1936, YMKG, commissioned Tampa Tribune editor Edwin D. Lambright to write an authorized history of the Krewe. The volume included a version of the legend of José Gaspar in which he was a more "respectable" and "courtly" pirate who resorted to violence only when absolutely necessary.[1] Lambright claimed that his account was supported by "unquestionable records", including a diary written by Gaspar himself and secreted to Spain by a member of his crew, perhaps Juan Gómez. However, the diary was said to have been lost, and no other evidence was disclosed.[7][4]

In 2004, YMKG published a new centennial history of the organization. This document basically recounts the Gasparilla legend first published in 1936, but adds a coda which concedes that scholarly research conducted in both Spanish and American archives has not uncovered any evidence of Gaspar's existence.[29] The history concludes with this statement:

Whether Gasparilla, the pirate, actually existed or not is a moot point. The legend exists, and that's what matters. The story of Gasparilla and his pirates has lent a certain flair of mystery and adventure to Florida's West Coast since the late 1800s. And on that legend, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla was founded 100 years ago.[16]

In 1949, Fort Myers author Jack Beater published a mass-market paperback version of the Gaspar legend called The Gasparilla Story. Though written in the style of a light adventure novel, the narrator claimed that the story was true and had been by verified with a "mouse-eaten Cuban manuscript" supposedly written by José Gaspar's cousin Leon and an old map found in a used book store, neither of which were made public. The book also included advertisements for hotels and real estate firms in the Fort Myers and Charlotte Harbor area and invited readers to “Make [their] conquest of Sanibel and Captiva Islands . . . in the manner of the buccaneers!"[1][30]

Beater published several additional books about Gaspar and other Florida pirates; some marketed as fiction, some as non-fiction, and some as a mix of guide book and tale tales. His works and the writings of other local authors with similar themes served to further expand the story of Gaspar while also sowing confusion about the veracity of the legend.[1]

Box allegedly containing Gaspar's hand and related items

In the 1930s, construction worker Ernesto Lopez showed his family a mysterious box that he claimed to have found while working with a repair crew on the Cass Street Bridge in downtown Tampa. According to family legend, the wooden box contained a pile of Spanish and Portuguese coins, a severed hand wearing a ring engraved with the name "Gaspar", and a "treasure map" indicating that Gaspar's treasure was hidden near the Hillsborough River in Tampa.[31][32]

In 2015, Lopez's great-grandchildren rediscovered a box in their late grandfather's attic containing the items Ernesto Lopez had found plus what appeared to be his wedding photo. The family brought the box to the attention of a local reporter, whose TV news report on the strange find was picked up by several national and international news outlets.[32][33][34] However, upon examination, experts at the Tampa Bay History Center determined that the box contained several non-precious old coins, souvenirs from early Gasparilla parades, and a plat map from the 1920s with local streets, businesses, and landmarks from that time clearly depicted. The origin of the hand remained a mystery, though the curator of the history center opined that it might be a mummified monkey hand.[31][34]

In 1904, members of the Tampa business elite staged a surprise pirate "invasion" during the city's previously sedate May Day celebration.[35] Under the guise of "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla" (YMKG), an organization modeled after the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade krewes, the "invaders" donned pirate costumes and rode through the streets on horseback and encouraging residents to follow them to the festivities. The event was a hit, and the following year, the Krewe organized a parade in which all 60 of Tampa's cars rode through downtown. The first seaborne "invasion" came in 1911, and YMKG has organized a theatrical pirate invasion and parade almost every year since.[14][35]

Tampa now hosts many community events during its "Gasparilla Season", which runs approximately from January to March. The focal point is still an "invasion" by José Gaspar and his crew, which takes place on the last Saturday in January. Members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, accompanied by a flotilla of hundreds of private boats, sail across Tampa Bay to downtown Tampa on the José Gasparilla, a 165' long "pirate" ship which was specially built for this purpose in 1954.[5] The mayor of Tampa then surrenders the key of the city to the "pirate captain", and a "victory parade" ensues down Bayshore Boulevard. Dozens of other Krewes have joined the festivities over the years, which has grown into of one of the largest parades in the United States. An average of over 300,000 people attend the event, which contributes over $20 million to the local economy.[36]

• The names "Gaspar" or "Gasparilla" are used by many businesses, organizations, and events in the greater Tampa Bay area, while others have names inspired by the mythical pirate. One notable example is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League, who began play in 1976 with a nickname inspired by the well-known local legend.[37] Another sports-related example is the Gasparilla Bowl, a college football bowl game once played in Tropicana Field as the "St. Petersburg Bowl" that changed its name when it moved to Tampa in 2018.[38]

• The legend of Gasparilla has been featured in several television shows and publications over the years. Recent examples include September 2019 episodes of the TV series Expedition Unknown on the Discovery Channel and Code of the Wild on the Travel Channel, both of which followed amateur treasure hunters (unsuccessfully) searching for Gaspar's treasure in the Charlotte Harbor area.[39]