The 94yr-old message in a bottle from man who sailed world seeking adventure... and £300m treasure hoard

of Ecuador, where he left that message was to last more than three years.

It seems travelling became a bit of a drug for young Hugh who did not return to Britain. Instead he disembarked in Colon, Panama, in February 1926.

He then moved to Cristobal, Panama, in 1929 where he became a banker and married an American called Gay, with whom he went on to have a daughter. But his adventurous spirit endured and Hugh had a dream of finding the incredible Lima Treasure.

This is revealed in the 1935 book Rough and Tumble by Bob Roberts.

In it another adventure-seeking sailor recounts: “In Cristobal we ran up against a young man named Hugh Craggs..[who] appeared vastly interested in our doings.

“Craggs started talking of Cocos Island [around 350 miles off Costa Rica]. When serving in the Malaya he had spent 47 days there. The place fascinated him.

“Stories of treasure said to have been buried there he had investigated and disproved so far as was humanly possible.”

The greatest of this was the £300million Lima Treasure, an incredible hoard of gold and jewels stolen by an English ship’s captain and said to be buried in a cave on Cocos. Over the years Hugh, along with the likes of film star Errol Flynn and speed king Malcolm Campbell - became obsessed with finding it.

However, if Hugh returned to Cocos he did not find the treasure. It seems from online records he and his wife moved to New York in 1932, then around Florida, the West Indies and on to Central and South America. However there was much more to Hugh than just wanderlust and treasure hunting.

On the Malaya he had helped to collect samples of rare orchids.

A 1970 book called the World Wildlife: The Last Stand by Philip Crowe, catches up with Hugh.

He writes: “Near El Salto is the finca of Hugh Craggs, the leading orchid grower of Guatemala. “He gave us lunch and showed us his greenhouses, holding some 8,000 to 9,000 orchids.” Along with orchids he was also a very successful coffee grower. In 1983 Hugh’s beloved wife Gay died. Eight years later after moving to Arizona, he died too.

One of his grandsons recounted more tales: “During the war he organized an effort to raise funds in Colon to purchase a Spitfire for England. He also was the first to kayak through the Panama Canal.”

As for the Malaya, it returned to London three and half years later.

It seemed after leaving London it put in at Falmouth where Dr Cottle married a 17-year-old girl he took on the trip.

The Mirror proudly reported on their “bridal voyage of three years”.

All this from a message in a bottle. Grant is stunned by what his appeal for help uncovered. He says: “Hugh had an amazing life. It’s been a privilege to find out about it, what an adventure.”