BlueBrixx Pirates Island: Treasure Cave Set 105266

BlueBrixx's Pirates Island: Treasure Cave is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from 1,146 blocks, measuring 43.5 × 22.2 × 44 cm assembled — a modular rock island with a cave. Designed by Marco P., released 2022. No stickers or printed parts. Instructions are supplied as a free download after registering.

Almost nobody ever buried treasure

The buried chest is the most durable image in the whole pirate story, and there are essentially two documented cases in the entire golden age.

William Kidd buried some goods on Gardiners Island off New York in 1699, hoping to use them as a bargaining chip when he was arrested. It was dug up within weeks and used as evidence at his trial, which he lost.

That is close to the complete record. Everything else comes from Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Treasure Island in 1883 — the map, the X, the chest, the marooned sailor. He invented the visual language of piracy almost single-handedly, and it has outlasted every actual account.

The reason nobody buried anything is straightforward. Plunder was mostly not gold: it was cargo — cloth, sugar, tools, slaves, ships' stores — which had to be sold quickly before it spoiled or was recognised. What coin there was got divided among the crew immediately, by written articles agreed in advance, and spent. A pirate with a life expectancy of two or three years has no use for a long-term savings plan on an island he may never see again.

A cave, on the other hand, was genuinely useful — for shelter, for careening a ship out of sight, and for waiting somewhere a navy patrol would not look.

Two pirate island systems

BlueBrixx has two modular pirate ranges by the same designer. Pirates Island is this one, with set 105130 — natural rock islands. Governors Island is the other, sets 105181, 105128, 105326 and 105327 — a settled colonial harbour. Check the set number rather than the picture.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,146 · Designer: Marco P. · Series: BlueBrixx-Specials · Modular · No stickers · Instructions as free download
Model dimensions: 43.5 × 22.2 × 44 cm (17.1 × 8.7 × 17.3 in)