Captain Kidd's Treasure
06/1699 AD arrived
Privateer William Kidd buried treasure on the island in June 1699, having stopped there while sailing to Boston to answer charges of piracy. With the permission of the island's proprietor, he buried a chest and a box of gold and two boxes of silver in a ravine between Bostwick's Point and the Manor House..
Fhe box of gold, Kidd told Gardiner, was intended for Lord Bellomont. For her trouble, Kidd gave Mrs. Gardiner a length of gold cloth, captured from a Moorish ship off the coast of India, and a sack of sugar.
It is said that Kidd warned that if the treasure was not there when he returned he would kill the Gardiners, although trial testimony given by John Gardiner on July 17, 1699 makes no mention of any threats, and Kidd's conduct appears to have been quite civil.
Kidd was tried in Boston, and Gardiner was ordered by Governor Bellomont to deliver the treasure as evidence. The booty included gold dust, bars of silver, Spanish dollars, rubies, diamonds, candlesticks, and porringers.
Gardiner kept one of the diamonds which he later gave to his daughter. A plaque on the island marks the spot where the treasure was buried.
Lattitude: 41.0966° N
Longitude: 72.1041° W
Region: North America
Modern Day United States
Subjects Who or What arrived?
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William Kidd (Captain Kidd) Seventeenth century Scot...
Events in 1699 MORE
