August Gissler (9 September 1857 in

Remscheid Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remscheid ha ...

– 8 August 1935 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) was a German

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

and

treasure hunter Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both ...

who, with brief interruptions, lived on

Cocos Island Cocos Island () is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 15 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Puntarenas Province, Province of ...

(

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

) from 1889 until 1908. Gissler's aim was to find the Golden Madonna of the

Treasure of Lima The Treasure of Lima is a legendary buried treasure reputedly removed from Lima, Peru, in 1820 and never recovered. It is estimated to be worth up to £160 million or $208 million in today's money. History Spain had controlled Lima since the 16th ...

, a solid-gold, gem-encrusted, life-sized image of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, allegedly buried there by the mutineer Captain William Thompson in 1820. Over the years, Gissler dug a complex system of tunnels, some of which can still be entered today. Gissler was certain that he would find the treasure, because he had two maps from independent sources that identified the same place, where the treasure was supposed to be buried. At the same time, Gissler was looking for the treasure also allegedly buried on the island by the pirate Benito Bonito. Impressed with his organization, the Costa Rican government allowed Gissler to establish a colony of several German farmers in 1897, and named him the first (and, up to now, only) Governor of Cocos Island. The treasure hunt was mainly funded by financiers who had invested in the specially created Cocos Plantation Company. Several settler families, who grew tobacco, also lived with Gissler on the island. However, because of the island's harsh conditions and remote location from the Costa Rican mainland, Gissler's colony turned out to be short-lived. During the following ten years all the settler families moved away. Gissler and his wife were the last to abandon the island. Gissler's quest for treasure was also unsuccessful. In over twenty years, despite diligent searching, he never found more than six gold coins. Dispirited, he left the island for New York in 1908. Of over 300 treasure expeditions to Cocos Island over the years, none are known to have found any treasure.

Sources

* De Montmorency, Hervey Guy Francis Edward, 1868-1942. ''On the track of a treasure : the story of an adventurous expedition to the Pacific island of Cocos in search of treasure of untold value hidden by pirates'', London : Hurst and Blackett, 1904. Chapter XIV—A monarch of all he surveys : p 230-246
PBS Online - Nova Legends and Lore.

External links

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" Image and biographical information on August Gissler Governor of Cocos : From Machu Picchu to Darkest Africa at RGSSA *
Was a 200 Million Dollar Treasure Hoard Unearthed in Cocos Island?
Thatsfake.com
"The Pirate Treasure of Cocos Island"
documentary History Channel, 2015, imdb.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gissler, August 1857 births 1935 deaths Expatriates from the Kingdom of Prussia Expatriates in Costa Rica Archaeologists from North Rhine-Westphalia Treasure hunters German expatriates in the United States