Barnacle Bill's Haunted Hostel of Treasure Island
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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"Yaaarrrrgh! Avast me harties, an' welcome to Barnacle Bill's
Haunted Hostel (for Travel bugs) of Treasure Island! It's
Halloween, perfect time to go searchin' these Haunted Hills fer
Treasure, eh? But be forewarned -- there's parking on one side an'
dead man's drop on the other, so be watchin' yer step, lest ye be
sleepin' with the fishes this night like Barnacle Bill
himself!"
***SIDE NOTE: A Pirate may be a mean, nasty and dirty
creature, but he don't like the areas he be hidin' his booty in to
be jest as nasty! So please do all ye fellow treasure hunters a
mighty favor and CACHE IN, TRASH OUT this site! I'm not askin' ye
to make the whole place spotless, but if ye could be bringin' along
a wee plastic rubbish bag to get rid of some of the garbage ye may
be findin' there, this Pirate will owe you a boon for the rest of
his days!***
William Bernard was a 19th-century sailor, miner and
resident of San Francisco, better known as the notorious "Barnacle
Bill" of American yore whose fictional exploits are chronicled in
the ribald drinking song "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" — itself
adapted from "Bollocky Bill the Sailor", a traditional folk song
originally titled "Abraham Brown." (Neither MGM comedy titled
Barnacle Bill has anything to do with Bernard. However, he
is the inspiration for the "Pirates of the Carribean"
character "Bootstrap Bill.")
Bernard first sailed into the San Francisco Bay aboard the ship
Edward Everett on July 6, 1849, just as the California Gold Rush
was heating up. Intent on striking it rich, he set out the next
morning across the bay, accompanied by a shipmate named Mr. Phelps.
They stopped first at present-day Yerba Buena Island, where the
treasure of a lost Spanish galleon was rumored by local sailors and
dockworkers to be buried, but they found it deserted except for a
small colony of domestic goats (thus it's nickname "Goat
Island").
[HISTORICAL NOTE: The waters you see directly below you from
this cache are in fact exactly where said galleon's treasure
are said to be spilled and hiding beneath the tides to this day!
Care to go for a swim? The thing is, west of the island is Blossom
Rock, a treacherous submerged stone which caused hundreds of
shipwrecks, until ships learned to use some nearby redwood trees as
a navigational aid to avoid it. The modern day Treasure Island US
Coast Guard Station was built upon that very rock.]
Barnacle Bill and Mr. Phelps did, however, discover the ruins of a
large Tuchayune fishing village on the island's eastern shore, and
reported seeing cremation pits strewn with human bones where the
villagers ritually burned their dead. After camping for a few days
on the small island, the two men moved on, exploring what is now
Oakland before heading to the gold mines to seek their
fortunes.
Little is known about Bernard's fate. It is known that in fact he
did return to Yerba Buena Island at a later date, if only to dry
out, and lived there for a time before moving on again in search of
fortune and fame. There are rumors he joined up with a rogue pirate
ship and lived out his years terrorizing the western coast. And
there are other rumors still that he fell madly in love with a
British woman Rosalie Watson who was engaged to be married to a
wealthy Englishman who came west during the Gold Rush with a hired
team of prospectors in search of gold. After a year long affaire,
the two were caught one evening and Bill was said to have been
beaten within an inch of his life and banished from town lest he be
killed, and that he spent the rest of his years alone and rejected
on the island plotting how to regain Rosalie's love. His ghost is
rumored to haunt these very hills today!
This spot was one I happened upon on a trip back from the city this
Halloween and upon taking in the incredible view thought "There
really oughtta be a cache here!" I got out of the car and started
walking -- and suddenly fealt eerily drawn to a specific spot. I
took some notes and pictures and wrote down various coordinates,
then went home and started doing research. Sure enough, I found the
info above. Let me know if you feel the same eerie vibe there I
did!
Take care getting to the cache, it's a little tricky and not
recommended for handicachers. Feel free to go any time of day, but
I recommend going during the day to take in the absolutely stunning
view from this point. Given that this cache is a Travel Bug Hostel,
I started it off with one myself, but please bring a few to drop of
your own so we can get this thing churning!
UPDATE 2/9/11: Sure enough, this li'l ol' cache was indeed
Easter Egged in the February issue of WIRED Magazine! For whomever
at WIRED picked my cache to the be the highlight, many thanks and
deep gratitude! I owe you a beer!
Cheers!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx ng gur cvpf -- gjb ner gur terng ivrjf sebz gur pnpur. Bar vf n OVT BY' UVAG!!!