GCC 2019 - 05 Dead Men Tell No Tales

May 2019 - Dead Men Tell No Tales!

Design notes from Chris:  

Mortui Non Morden... or Dead Men Tell No Tales is an ancient proverb hearkening back to the days of Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago.  They have been uttered many times in the centuries since that first morbid accounting of the assassination of Pompey, but would only truly become infamous when piracy became rampant.  With the need for secrecy in both taking an hiding treasure, pirates would live and die by this phrase.  I recall, as a child, reading stories of pirate captains taking men ashore to bury treasure deep in an island jungle before drawing their cutlasses and quickly disposing of the men who had labored to hide the booty.  By eliminating any witnesses, a pirate captain could be assured only they new the true location of the treasure and thereby be assured against mutiny or deserters recovering their ill-gained goods.  Before long, as pirating became more political and brutal, the scourge of the seas would begin eliminating the crews of boats they overtook to avoid having anyone spread the tale of who had robbed them and where they may have gone from there.  

While our own treasure hunting (and hiding efforts) are much more friendly, the idea is still a rather apt idiom for geocachers.  The more people beyond the secretive group of cachers who know of a hidden treasure, the greater likelihood that it will be pillaged by some scurvy dog before you've had a chance to return.  Hide your treasures well, share your treasure map with only your most comrades (other cachers) and beware the loose lips that sink ships!