Pyrates and chests are almost synonymous. Almost.
There are some fairly well-known pyrate chests, and those are the ones I’ve been plunderin’ lately. Namely, the mysterious chest of Billy Bones of Treasure Island fame; Blackbeard’s medicine chest adventure in Charles Towne; the infamous chest of Captain William Kidd; and the chest of Captain Thomas Tew.
Today’s plunder is Captain William Kidd’s Gardiner Island Chest of Plunder! Get your grog and let’s set sail!
Yes, Virginia, there was (at least) one very real, very buried, very full of plunder, pyrate treasure chest. It was buried on Gardiner’s Island by none other than the infamous Captain William Kidd. If you aren’t familiar with Kidd, it’s a long and sad tale (at least for him), that ends with him being hanged not once, but TWICE, for pyracy. How twice? On the first try, the rope broke.
How awful is THAT?
The broken rope was the last link of a rather long string of ill fortune for Kidd. Suffice it to say that what began as a venture to capture pyrates waaay down near Madagascar, ended with Kidd himself accused of acts of piracy and murder.
Sidenote: Kidd had indeed been granted Letters of Marque from the British king, but the papers were nowhere to be found during Kidd’s trial. He was found guilty. His Letters of Marque did eventually present themselves; unfortunately for the captain, it was 200 years too late.
However, before Kidd was captured and taken back to London, he had spent a few weeks hiding on his ship just off the coast of New York. He did come ashore at least twice: Once to Gardiner’s Island and once to Block Island.
On Gardiner’s Island, Kidd visited with the island’s owners for a very brief respite. In return for their welcome, Kidd rewarded the couple with fine gifts and then asked permission to bury some “goods” that he said he would retrieve at a later time.
The Gardiners were gifted with two very valuable items: A gold cloth for Mrs. Gardiner, and a diamond that Mr. Gardiner eventually passed on to his daughter.
Sidenote: You can see the gold cloth if you visit the East Hampton library. The library describes it as being composed of “silk, cotton and metallic gold and silver thread”.
The buried treasure, of course, has a few “mysteries” that accompany the tale:
- Who actually buried it, Kidd or Gardiner? Some say that Kidd asked Gardiner to bury the chest(s) so that the location was “secret”, (even from himself?) Other tales say that Kidd himself buried the plundered goods by moonlight.
- What was in the chest? Most sources report that the contents were quite valuable:
- Four bags of gold and gold dust
- One Bag of Silver Rings
- Two bags of precious and semi-precious stones
- One Bag Silver Buttons and a Lamp
- Two Bags Gold Bars
- Two Bags Silver Bars
- 57 bags of Sugar
- 41 bales merchandise
- 17 pieces canvas
- Where is the treasure now? Most likely, the governor of Boston, a fellow named Bellemont, had the treasure retrieved from Gardiner Island and then sent it to London as evidence for Kidd’s trial. Did Bellemont keep any for himself? One does wonder…
Anyhow…that’s some heavy plunderin’.
So, here we go with the pyrate chest plunderin’ checklist:
Chest: Buried on Gardiner ‘s Island, NY
Chest Type: Storage
Real or fiction: Real
Chest contents: Included four bags of gold (dust and coin), a bag of silver rings, two bags of precious stones (cut and uncut), along with a few gold and silver bars.
Whereabouts of chest: Removed from Gardiner’s Island – Boston or London?
Okay, good work, mateys! Time for RUM!
Next time: Captain Thomas Tew’s Chest of a Hundred Locks
Virginia Chandler 