A Hidden Treasure in the Literal Sense

This week I decided to focus on an object from the Clements Library. This building is unknown by a grand majority of students, but it is very well known amongst scholars. It is a really beautiful building located in a very prominent location on campus, but I will be honest in saying that I've walked by it a thousand times before I ever even realized what it was. It wasn't until this year that I actually learned what it was and how impressive it actually is. While working in the Map Library, my internship advisor, Karl, took me over to the Clements to sign me up as a reader. Once you're signed up as a reader, you are allowed to physically handle and look through some of the treasures, but what exactly does the Clements have in its collection? After signing me up as a reader Karl took me upstairs to the old "Reading Room," which is the room available to the public. This room is beautiful in its own right, and it usually houses some sort of exhibit highlighting a certain aspect of the collection. Right now there's an exhibit called, "Reframing the Color Line: Race and the Visual Culture of the Atlantic World."

Karl introduced me to Tom Dziuszko who volunteers as a docent in the reading room. He knows A LOT, and he's obviously very excited about the Clements, which is extremely contagious. I told Tom my idea about writing a blog and when I asked him if he could think of any objects in the collection that he found particularly interesting, he had a hard time narrowing them down. He did tell me about one object, however, that really stood out in my mind.

The object Tom described was the "Hack Atlas." He explained to me that in the late 1600's, the Spanish were charting the Pacific coast of South America and for some reason were especially secretive of their maps. If the Spanish were to have their ships ransacked, the first thing they would do as a precautionary measure was to throw their maps overboard so that nobody would ever have access to them. Well, one day they weren't lucky in protecting their maps and a British pirate by the name of Captain Bartholomew Sharp attacked a Spanish ship, "El Santo Rosario," and escaped with a somewhat unusual treasure that would one day save his life. Because England and Spain were not in war at the time, Captain Sharp's acts of piracy were punishable by death. When he was tried in England, King Charles II realized the value of the maps seized by Sharp and pardoned his acts of piracy in a trade for their possession. The King hired William Hack to translate and compile these maps into a new atlas. Because the atlases were considered confidential at the time, the atlas was not published, but rather hand crafted. According to the Mirlyn library database there are only 14 known copies made, and the University of Michigan has one of them! Knowing all this, it makes sense that the University acquired this object for a mere $144,000 in 1979, which is probably more lik $400,000 today.

Because I was signed up as a reader, I was lucky enough to request to see this atlas. When I was in the reading room, I turned in a slip to request this book. The real title is:

"From the Original Spanish Manuscripts & our late English Discoveries A Description of all the Ports Bay's Roads Harbours Rivers Islands Sands Shoald's Rocks & Dangers in the South Seas of America between Calafornia and the straghts of Lemaire as allso the Passage about Terra Del Fuogo Discovered by Capt Sharpe in the year 1681 & Peyps's Island lyeing in the North Sea Discovered by Capt William Ambros Cowley in the year 1684 Delineated by William Hack"

A little lengthy, but all the librarians knew it as "The Hack Atlas," and there was definitely a sense of regard as they brought it out into the room. It's enormous. It is unlike anything I've ever seen, and as I sifted through the hand painted pages, it's easy to forget how important this book really is. It isn't a large atlas of the Pacific coast of South America, but rather a collection of drawings of ports and harbors and notes to sailors entering them. I found some of these notes particularly charming. One of which pointed out a rock that could easily be mistaken for the hull of a ship in the distance. Another page said, "In the year 1680 Cap Bart Sharpe was here in this port called Velas where he & his ships company were sustein'd by eating of snakes and monkey which induced him to name it the bay of snakes." Areas were noted if the natives were willing to trade, and one harbor it was mentioned: "The valiant Cap' Richard Sawkings in the year 1680 was slain just after he landed on this shore an indian struck a launce through his body."

The story of this book is equally as intriguing as the book itself. We always hear about tales of pirates, but generally these stories seem fictional. Is there really a treasure chest marked out by an "X" somewhere? It's hard to tell, but our University houses one of the most important treasures of all and its housed in a building not known by many. Maybe it is a hidden treasure after all!