Back in the early 1830s, the St. Lucie Inlet along Florida's East Coast in the region known as Hutchinson Island, in present-day Martin County, was once referred to as 'Gilbert's Pass' or ‘Gilbert’s Shoal’ and the rocky limestone reefs and sandbars, located just off the coast, were also known as Gilbert's Bar. This portion of the Atlantic Ocean, where the Gulf Stream used to carry many heavy laden cargo sailing ships, was once the home base for a dreadful crew of true 19th century pirates.
The Pirate – Don Pedro Gilbert
The name Gilbert’s Bar (which means Gilbert's reef or shoal) is attributed to a man named Don Pedro Gilbert (also spelled Gibert).Born in the 1800s somewhere on the South American continent, Gilbert was a talented seaman and privateer for Colombia.He was a handsome man of thick black hair, a round face and jet black eyes.Quite popular with the ladies, he had an unlimited amount of personal drive and strength.Gilbert was fond of the name “Don” because he felt it implied a noble birth, which in fact was not the case.
In 1830, Don Pedro Gilbert, along with his first mate, Bernardo De Soto, sailed the seas on a black schooner named Panda (also referred to as Pindar), which had a shallow draft that gave it the ability to travel in any shallow inlet, protected rivers or waterways.Legend has that Gilbert was fond of the inlet into the Indian River along Hutchinson Island, with its high sand dunes along the barrier island that offered some protection from being located by passing ships at sea. The story was that Gilbert frequently positioned himself on high ground, specifically at Mount Pisgah, which is 57 feet and located at the northern end of Sewall’s Point, today just south of the former Frances Langford-Evinrude estate.Another favorite outlook was Bleech Yards, some 61 feet high, located in the Jensen Beach area. This high ground gave him the advantage of being able to spot merchant vessels as they traveled along the coast. He and his pirate crew would then assault the vessels and steal their goods.Gilbert’s method involved using the limestone reefs off the shoreline for his own advantage.Many passing ships were lured to the coast by what they thought might be distress fires set on the beach by the Panda‘s crew.Instead, the vessels became lodged on the reefs and Gilbert, along with his Spanish and Portuguese men, very easily pilfered the cargo and harmed the opposing crew. For Gilbert, the black pirate flag truly did mean “rob, kill and burn”.To this day, the shallow area off the Martin County coast is marked on nautical charts as Gilbert's Bar.
