John Levique's Legend
Though he started life at sea as a cabin boy on a Spanish sailing vessel, John Levique’s fortune changed when his ship was ambushed by pirates. Given the choice to join the crew or die, the French peasant joined the pirates and proved to be an avid sailor. Soon enough he worked his way up to captain his own ship, but he lacked the desire to hurt people he captured or even hold them for ransom, so he made very little as a pirate. It is said that all he managed to acquire was a small chest of gold, which he buried right here in Madeira Beach. He eventually retired from pirate life and became a turtle farmer.
But fate had one more turn for him. While returning from a trip to Louisiana, Levique sought safe harbor from the Great Gale of 1848. When the fierce storm was over, he found it had cut the land right where he buried his small chest of gold. He sailed his boat through this new waterway that would become known as John’s Pass in his honor. He spent the remainder of his days right in the area until his death in 1873.
