Did pirate Captain Kidd bury treasure somewhere near Lake Lily in Cape May Point? I was told that story from the time I was child, a story passed down by my family members who lived in Cape May Point starting in 1905.
The Web site: New Jersey History Mysteries (www.njhm.com) tells the story of Kidd’s final months before being hanged following a spree of attacking ships for their valuables. In 1697, Kidd discovered he had been deemed a pirate and was wanted by the British government.
He had abandoned a ship that he had captured and looted, the Quedagh Merchant, then bought a small sloop and set off for Boston where he hoped he could clear his name.
I was watching a program about Kidd on the National Geographic Channel documenting a group that believes they have discovered the remains of the Quedagh Merchant off a tiny island in the Dominican Republic. The documentary noted he removed the treasure from the ship and then burned the vessel. He must have been carrying that treasure on his way to Boston as he sailed past New Jersey, a place he knew well.
Kidd is believed to have made stops along our state’s coast on that journey. He sent landing parties to New York with bribe money for public officials and hid some of his treasure on Gardiner’s Island, off Long Island, before sailing on to Boston, where he was arrested, sent back to England and hanged.
Kidd claimed he had hidden 40,000 British pounds somewhere, but others said it was more like 400,000. Only 10,000 pounds was recovered from the Gardiner’s Island location.
Could some of Kidd’s treasures be lingering under the sands of Cape May Point?
Lake Lily in Cape May Point was known to the British Navy and pirates as a place where they could go ashore and fill barrels with freshwater.
Pirates used Cape May as a location to loot ships. They were called “Mooncussers.” The pirates would line up on the beach on horseback and wave lanterns on moonless nights deceiving boats into believing they were seeing a row of ships. Instead the boats would head toward the lights and break up on the rocks. The pirates would row out and loot them.
The Web site: jerseycapehistory.net relays a story of New Jersey Gov. Bass, after having been informed that Kidd was seen on a large sloop off Cape May, sailed down to Cape May to catch Kidd but the pirate’s vessel outran the Governor’s ship.
The Web site also tells the story of Capt. Eli Barnett, keeper of Holly Beach Lifesaving Station, watching by telescope a sailing vessel anchoring offshore and lowering a boat, which went ashore. Barnett reported the small crew returning with a chest.
A tripod-njpiratehi Web site tells the story of a possible site of Kidd’s treasure: Del Haven. According to the Web site, “recently discovered maps and documents point to a site directly under a commercial-professional building complex.”
The story gets better including an item from the site:
/www.getnj.com/historicroadsides/capemay.shtml. It tells the story of an old tree which stood near the Cape May Lighthouse until 1893 known as Kidd’s Tree.
It also notes a report of the Lords of Trade to the Lord’s Justices dated Aug. 10, 1669 mentioning Kidd landing in Cape May Point.
Should Cape May Point declare a treasure hunting excavation weekend? Let everyone dig holes all over the borough with the agreement the town gets 50 percent of the loot?
I have been trying to think like a pirate to figure out where Kidd’s treasure may lie. I believe Lake Lily was too well known by sailors of the day. It saw too many visitors to be a safe place to bury treasure.
The Del Haven site is a possibility. If I had to guess, I would think somewhere along Higbee’s Beach would be a better location to bury treasure. I thought Davey’s Lake would be an ideal spot to bury a treasure chest until I read in Pat Sutton’s book and discovered the Cape May Sand Company created it in 1910.
The book, Cape May County: A Pictorial History, written by Herbert Beitel and Vance Enck notes a deep hole in the bay off Higbee’s Beach offered a excellent mooring site for sloops and whaling fleets. Sounds like a good place for Kidd to anchor, come ashore and bury a treasure chest perhaps using Pond Creek as a landmark.
The trees on the other side of the dunes at Higbee’s Beach take on odd shapes from the constant wind and sand blasting them from bay. That would also help mark a spot for future reference.
There are stories from Bayonne to Sandy Hook to Barnegat Bay to Raritan Bay to Ocean City claiming the treasure is buried in those locations. Some of the tales stretch to Oak Island near Nova Scotia to Larke’s Island in the Connecticut River off Northfield, Mass.
See the Herald’s Web site today for a video as I and camera person and producer Leslie Truluck explore three locations in our county where Kidd might have buried his treasure: www.capemaycountyherald.com
