The Legend of Captain Blackbeard’s Treasure

Legend has it that the evil Captain Blackbeard, an infamous Cornish pirate, hid a huge hoard of treasure somewhere in the Southwest. It was believed that he kept the secret of its location to himself, and when he was killed in a duel, the hoard was lost forever.

But, amazingly, when you went up into the loft the other day, you found an old box and in it was a letter from Blackbeard along with a key. Could it be that Blackbeard left a Trail for your intrepid explorers to find?

Preparation

All printing should be done on A4 paper. It is important that you do not resize or rescale the key or map otherwise the puzzle will not work correctly.1. Print page #1 – Captain Blackbeard’s Letter. 2. Print page #2 – The Jigsaw Map. Cut out the whole rectangle of the jigsaw and glue it onto a piece of cardboard (e.g. the back of a cereal

packet). When dry, cut out the individual jigsaw pieces.3. Print page #3 – Blackbeard’s Final Clue. Cut to size. To add a bit of authenticity – put the clue in a small envelope and seal it with some

red candle wax. You will hide this along with the 5 jigsaw pieces.4. Print page #4 – Blackbeard’s Key. Glue the whole page onto a piece of cardboard (e.g. the back of a cereal packet). When dry, carefully cut

out the outline of the key and then internal lines to create holes in the key. This is the fiddliest bit, so take your time. It is important that you do cut out the internal lines as accurately as possible.

5. Think about six locations in and around your home where you could hide the 5 jigsaw pieces and the final clue. Remember, the harder, more cryptic or more vague you make your clues, the longer it will take your explorers to complete the quest!

6. When you have chosen your locations, you need to create your clues describing where they are hidden. You can either use the code on the key to encode all six locations or mix it up with some rhyming or riddle clues. Write them in the space provided on Captain Blackbeard’s letter which will be given to the explorers along with the key.

7. To create a coded clue convert the letters of the words in the clue to the numbers shown on the key. So “in the fridge ” would equal 19,8-23,7,21-9,20,19,12,13,21. On your clue sheet just write – ‘19,8-23,7,21-9,20,19,12,13,21’. To crack the code, the explorers need to reverse the process.

8. When you have created your 6 clues, write them all on page #1. To add a bit of authenticity - cut the letter to the shape and roll into a scroll and tie it with a red ribbon.

9. Hide the 5 jigsaw pieces and the final clue in the six locations. It doesn’t matter which item goes into which location, as the explorers can find them in any order. They will not be able to complete the whole puzzle without finding all of the items.

10. Gather together the explorers and give them page #1 along with the key.11. Sit down and enjoy a break whilst the explorers do all the work!12. Once they have completed the Trail, why not get the kids to create their own treasure maps with locations that line up with the key and

set their own clues to test their siblings.

The Solution

Once the maps are put together, the explorers must follow the instructions precisely. If they do that they should see the following:

The hole placed by the ruby stone on Wras Island.

The hole by the silver diamond placed over the Ancient Village

The lines drawn between the two emerald stones and the two sapphire stones converge over ‘Trewince’.

WATERMILLCOVE

PELISTRY BAY

PORTHLOOBEACH

PORTMELLONBEACH

HUGH TOWNTHEGARRISON

PORTHCRESSABEACH

LOWER MOORS

HIGHERMOORS

OLDTOWNBAY

WATERMILL

HOLYVALE

BARPOINT

PENDRATHEN

HALANGYPOINT

THE CREEB

TOLLSPORTH

BARFARM

TRENOWETH

PUNGIES LANE

HALANGADOWN HELVEAR

WATERMILL MILL

HIGH LANE

CONTENTFARMCARN

MORVALPOINT

TAYLOR’SISLAND

MORVAFARM

PORTHLOO

PORTHLOWFARM

TREWINCE

SUNNYSIDEFARM

ROCKYHILL

RATISLAND

WOOLPACKPOINT

MORNINGPOINT

WRASISLAND

PENDENNISHEAD

OLDTOWNINN

PARTINGCARN

CHURCHPOINT

GIANT’SCASTLE

SALAKEEFARM

POTTERY

TREMELETHENFARM

CARNFRIARSFARM

PORTHHELLICKDOWN

NORMANDYFARM

LUNNONFARM

DEEPPOINT

DARRITY’SHOLE

MOUNTTODDEN

BLACKSMITHS

CARN VEANINN

TOLLSISLAND

Ancient Village& Burial Chamber

Page 2 : The Jigsaw MapA

B C

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5

blackbeard’s

k ey

WATERMILLCOVE

PELISTRY BAY

PORTHLOOBEACH

PORTMELLONBEACH

HUGH TOWNTHEGARRISON

PORTHCRESSABEACH

LOWER MOORS

HIGHERMOORS

OLDTOWNBAY

WATERMILL

HOLYVALE

BARPOINT

PENDRATHEN

HALANGYPOINT

THE CREEB

TOLLSPORTH

BARFARM

TRENOWETH

PUNGIES LANE

HALANGADOWN HELVEAR

WATERMILL MILL

HIGH LANE

CONTENTFARMCARN

MORVALPOINT

TAYLOR’SISLAND

MORVAFARM

PORTHLOO

PORTHLOWFARM

TREWINCE

SUNNYSIDEFARM

ROCKYHILL

RATISLAND

WOOLPACKPOINT

MORNINGPOINT

WRASISLAND

PENDENNISHEAD

OLDTOWNINN

PARTINGCARN

CHURCHPOINT

GIANT’SCASTLE

SALAKEEFARM

POTTERY

TREMELETHENFARM

CARNFRIARSFARM

PORTHHELLICKDOWN

NORMANDYFARM

LUNNONFARM

DEEPPOINT

DARRITY’SHOLE

MOUNTTODDEN

BLACKSMITHS

CARN VEANINN

TOLLSISLAND

Ancient Village& Burial Chamber

Page 2 : The Jigsaw Map

WATERMILLCOVE

PELISTRY BAY

PORTHLOOBEACH

PORTMELLONBEACH

HUGH TOWNTHEGARRISON

PORTHCRESSABEACH

LOWER MOORS

HIGHERMOORS

OLDTOWNBAY

WATERMILL

HOLYVALE

BARPOINT

PENDRATHEN

HALANGYPOINT

THE CREEB

TOLLSPORTH

BARFARM

TRENOWETH

PUNGIES LANE

HALANGADOWN HELVEAR

WATERMILL MILL

HIGH LANE

CONTENTFARMCARN

MORVALPOINT

TAYLOR’SISLAND

MORVAFARM

PORTHLOO

PORTHLOWFARM

TREWINCE

SUNNYSIDEFARM

ROCKYHILL

RATISLAND

WOOLPACKPOINT

MORNINGPOINT

WRASISLAND

PENDENNISHEAD

OLDTOWNINN

PARTINGCARN

CHURCHPOINT

GIANT’SCASTLE

SALAKEEFARM

POTTERY

TREMELETHENFARM

CARNFRIARSFARM

PORTHHELLICKDOWN

NORMANDYFARM

LUNNONFARM

DEEPPOINT

DARRITY’SHOLE

MOUNTTODDEN

BLACKSMITHS

CARN VEANINN

TOLLSISLAND

Ancient Village& Burial Chamber

Page 2 : The Jigsaw Map

WATERMILLCOVE

PELISTRY BAY

PORTHLOOBEACH

PORTMELLONBEACH

HUGH TOWNTHEGARRISON

PORTHCRESSABEACH

LOWER MOORS

HIGHERMOORS

OLDTOWNBAY

WATERMILL

HOLYVALE

BARPOINT

PENDRATHEN

HALANGYPOINT

THE CREEB

TOLLSPORTH

BARFARM

TRENOWETH

PUNGIES LANE

HALANGADOWN HELVEAR

WATERMILL MILL

HIGH LANE

CONTENTFARMCARN

MORVALPOINT

TAYLOR’SISLAND

MORVAFARM

PORTHLOO

PORTHLOWFARM

TREWINCE

SUNNYSIDEFARM

ROCKYHILL

RATISLAND

WOOLPACKPOINT

MORNINGPOINT

WRASISLAND

PENDENNISHEAD

OLDTOWNINN

PARTINGCARN

CHURCHPOINT

GIANT’SCASTLE

SALAKEEFARM

POTTERY

TREMELETHENFARM

CARNFRIARSFARM

PORTHHELLICKDOWN

NORMANDYFARM

LUNNONFARM

DEEPPOINT

DARRITY’SHOLE

MOUNTTODDEN

BLACKSMITHS

CARN VEANINN

TOLLSISLAND

Ancient Village& Burial Chamber

Page 2 : The Jigsaw Map

Page 1 : Captain Blackbeard ‘ s Letter

To the finder of this scroll, I give you my heartiest greetings. I am getting old and sense that my time is up. I am a wealthy man but have no family or friends to whom I can leave my vast fortune. So I have hidden this letter in an old box, to be found by whomever. It contains instructions as to where SIX items are hidden that, when put together, will reveal where my vast treasure hoard can be found. All I ask is that, if you manage to complete the quest, you remember me and raise a toast to old Captain Blackbeard - the finest and fiercest pirate in the West.

Item 1 -

Item 2 -

Item 3 -

Item 4 -

Item 5 -

Item 6 -

WATERMILLCOVE

PELISTRY BAY

PORTHLOOBEACH

PORTMELLONBEACH

HUGH TOWNTHEGARRISON

PORTHCRESSABEACH

LOWER MOORS

HIGHERMOORS

OLDTOWNBAY

WATERMILL

HOLYVALE

BARPOINT

PENDRATHEN

HALANGYPOINT

THE CREEB

TOLLSPORTH

BARFARM

TRENOWETH

PUNGIES LANE

HALANGADOWN HELVEAR

WATERMILL MILL

HIGH LANE

CONTENTFARMCARN

MORVALPOINT

TAYLOR’SISLAND

MORVAFARM

PORTHLOO

PORTHLOWFARM

TREWINCE

SUNNYSIDEFARM

ROCKYHILL

RATISLAND

WOOLPACKPOINT

MORNINGPOINT

WRASISLAND

PENDENNISHEAD

OLDTOWNINN

PARTINGCARN

CHURCHPOINT

GIANT’SCASTLE

SALAKEEFARM

POTTERY

TREMELETHENFARM

CARNFRIARSFARM

PORTHHELLICKDOWN

NORMANDYFARM

LUNNONFARM

DEEPPOINT

DARRITY’SHOLE

MOUNTTODDEN

BLACKSMITHS

CARN VEANINN

TOLLSISLAND

Ancient Village& Burial Chamber

Page 2 : The Jigsaw Map

Page 3 : Blackbeard ‘ s Final Clue

My treasure is hidden on St Marys in the Scilly isles.

To find out where - carefully fit together the pieces of the island that you have collected. Make sure they slot together precisely.

Lay the key down on top of the map so that the hole beside the ruby gem stone (on the key handle) covers WRAS island on the map, and the hole beside the silver diamond (at the other end of the key) reveals an ‘ancient village’.. Now draw a straight line in the square hole from the corner of the sapphire stone to the other sapphire. Then draw another line from the emerald stone to the other emerald stone. Where the two lines cross is the X where the treasure is hidden.

Good Luck!

Captain Blackbeard

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