At the entrance to the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum, guests are greeted by a two-page broadsheet published in London in 1605, now locked behind a panel of protective glass. It is a royal decree from King James I of England warning that anyone caught in the act of piracy “shall suffer death, with confiscation of lands and goods.”
So it’s amusingly ironic to come upon another royal declaration elsewhere in the exhibits, this one issued by King George II in 1744. He called for privateers—that is, pirates operating with the approval of a government—to aid a war effort against France and Spain.
The murky, oft-mythologized history of piracy is brought vividly to life at the museum, which claims to house more than 800 authentic pirate artifacts, including a blunderbuss allegedly used by Blackbeard. Some of it was recovered from shipwrecks by the museum’s founder, the multimillionaire entrepreneur Pat Croce, and the exhibits seem to reflect his somewhat eccentric sensibilities. Don’t miss the hidden, darkened room that features a neat multimedia story.
Founded in the arguably more appropriate setting of Key West in 2004, the museum relocated in 2010 to the most tourist-heavy part of St. Augustine, the oldest European-settled city in the United States. It’s a more worthwhile pit stop than might be expected in that setting. I didn’t walk away feeling like Francis Drake (who burned St. Augustine to the ground in 1586) had robbed me of the entrance fee. I even had some pirate treasure of my own: a replica piece of eight in my pocket, earned at the museum by completing a treasure map puzzle.
