Treasure Tales and Treasure Stories About Delaware from the Archives of Lost Treasure Magazine

Blue Skin

There are numerous reports of pirate treasure buried in and around Lewes. It is possible that a good many of these reports stem from Howard Pyle's story of sometimes Lewes resident Levi West, also known as "Blueskin the Pirate." According to Pyle, West -- who lived a secret life as Blueskin the Pirate -- returned to Lewes after an absence of nine years and made himself generally obnoxious to the community while causing his step brother, Hiriam White, a tremendous amount of trouble. White later learned of his step brother's second identity and followed him along the beach one night and captured the pirate in the act of digging up a recently stolen, easily-identifiable treasure. Taken to England in chains, Levi West later hanged himself in his cell at Newgate Prison.

Over the years, there has been much speculation that West, who had been Blueskin the Pirate for several years, buried the treasures in and around Lewes. In Pyle's report, Blueskin put his ship in somewhere along the Indian River to be careened and that authorities later found many residents in that area to be in possession of stolen property. According to Pyle: "It may be here said that Squire Hall made out a report of these two occurrences and sent it up to Philadelphia by the mate of the packet, but for some reason it was nearly four weeks before a sloop of war was sent from New York. In the meanwhile, the pirates disposed of the booty stored under the tarpaulins on the beach at Indian River Inlet, shipping some of it away in two small sloops and sending the rest by wagons somewhere up the country."