The Kidd-Palmer Charts
The Kidd-Palmer charts were
discovered by retired lawyer and collector of pirate relics,
Hubert Palmer, in a number of items of furniture that were
said to have belonged to
Captain William Kidd.
In 1929, Palmer bought a heavy
17th century oak bureau bearing the inscription 'Captain
William Kidd, Adventure Galley 1669,' it is said that within
the bureau Palmer found a secret compartment which contained
a hand drawn map of an unnamed island, it bore the initials
W. K., the words 'China Sea' and was dated 1669.
Palmer went on to track down two sea chests and a wooden box that
were also supposed to have belonged to Kidd, Palmer claimed
to have found further maps in all three of them, all
depicting the same unknown island, but with varying levels of
detail.
After Hubert Palmer's death, ownership of all four of the maps passed to
his housekeeper, Elizabeth Dick, who took them to the
British Museum to be examined by map expert R. A. Skelton.
Skelton expressed the opinion that all of the maps were
genuine 17th century charts, a fact that he confirmed to
author Rupert Furneaux in 1965. [Money Pit - The Mystery of Oak Island by
Rupert Furneaux, Fontana/Collins, 1976, page 43]
Elizabeth Dick sold all four maps in 1950 to an
Englishman man who later moved to
Canada. Author Rupert Furneaux contacted the owner of
the maps who told him 'The charts are fading badly.'
[Money Pit - The Mystery of Oak Island by
Rupert Furneaux, Fontana/Collins, 1976, page 43]
The current whereabouts of the four maps is unknown.
Misdirection
Many believe that the island depicted in the maps is not
in the 'China Sea' as the inscription claims, but is in fact
Oak Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The
'China Sea' inscription being a deliberate attempt to throw
treasure hunters off the scent.
William Kidd and Gardiners IslandSome have noted that the island in the Kidd-Palmer charts
does look a little like Gardiners Island (Suffolk County,
New York State), where Kidd unquestionably did conceal goods
and items of value in the Cherry Tree Field area of island
in June 1699, shortly before his arrest for piracy. This treasure was
recovered and returned to England by Governor Bellomont
where it was used as evidence at Kidd's trial.
The recovered treasure consisted of gold and silver bars,
gold dust (over 1000 troy ounces of gold and more than 2000
troy ounces of silver in total), rubies and other precious
stones, silk, 57 bags of sugar and other more utilitarian
objects. The treasure was sold off in November 1704 for a
total of £6437, the money used to found Greenwich hospital.
The location
Kidd concealed the treasure on Gardiners Island is private property and not
accessible without the landowners permission.
Appeal for Information
I am currently searching for more information about the
Kidd-Palmer charts, where are they now? Does the British
Museum still have copies of the photographs they took of
maps? If you have any information please
email me!
References
Further Reading
Captain Kidd and his Skeleton Island; The Discovery of a
Strange Secret Hidden For 266 Years by
Harold T Wilkins, Cassell and Co. Ltd, 1935,
Hb. 377pp including index. Interestingly dedicated 'To
Hubert Palmer The Friend of Captain Kidd and the Old
Buccaneers'.
This work was revised and reprinted a number of
times (not necessarily an exhaustive list, unconfirmed):
(Unconfirmed) Liveright Pub Co. New York. May 1937. 411pp (First US edition?)
(Unconfirmed) New facts about mysterious Captain Kidd and his Skeleton Island: The
strange story of a secret cunningly hidden for 272 years and
discovered in 1942. Haldeman-Julius publications (Big Blue Book), 1947.
Money Pit - The Mystery of Oak Island by
Rupert Furneaux, Fontana/Collins, 1976 (but first published by Tom Stacey Ltd. in 1972) Pb. 158pp including index. ISBN 0006341896
On Buried and Sunken Treasure by Rupert Furneaux, Penguin Books, 1973, Pb. 48pp. no index.
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