kenb
Bronze Member
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Pirate treasure in Maine?
By VICTORIA GUAY
Staff Writer
[email protected]
?
There are stories claiming Capt. William Kidd, the legendary pirate, has left buried treasure up and down the Eastern seaboard and inland, including in Maine, according to the 1896 book, "Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, Vol. 9," by Charles M. Skinner.
Skinner wrote that numerous stories claim large deposits of gold and other valuables were buried in locations in New York, Ipswich, Conn., Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, the Isles of Shoals, the Bahamas and the Florida Keys.
Skinner said Kidd was born in Scotland in 1645 and began his naval career fighting the French and chasing pirates until he decided to become one. He settled in New York in 1691 and was captured in Boston for piracy. He was hanged in London in 1701.
A spot near the Piscataqua River in Maine is alleged to be one of Kidd's hiding places, Skinner wrote, as is Monhegan Island, located off Maine's coast.
The island contains a cave where spirits are thought to protect some of Kidd's treasure. One story tells of treasure-seekers who tried to lift a heavy chest from its resting place when spirits promptly snatched it down. Another attempt caused the treasure to go deeper into the earth, according to Skinner.
"Some years ago, the cave was enlarged by blasting in a hope of finding that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of the island, that went 'dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will find money,'" Skinner wrote.
Another alleged hiding place for Kidd's treasure is on Damariscotta Island near Kennebec, which has a salt water lake. Kidd is believed to have sunk some of his valuables in the lake, which is purported to be bottomless. Kidd is said to have booby-trapped the location by stringing a chain from rock to rock so as to block a boat's passage near the spot, according to Skinner.
Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, also is another legendary hiding place. There, Kidd is said to have put one of his crew to death so he would haunt the place and frighten treasure hunters.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/FOSTERS01/107150342
kenb
Pirate treasure in Maine?
By VICTORIA GUAY
Staff Writer
[email protected]
?
There are stories claiming Capt. William Kidd, the legendary pirate, has left buried treasure up and down the Eastern seaboard and inland, including in Maine, according to the 1896 book, "Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, Vol. 9," by Charles M. Skinner.
Skinner wrote that numerous stories claim large deposits of gold and other valuables were buried in locations in New York, Ipswich, Conn., Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, the Isles of Shoals, the Bahamas and the Florida Keys.
Skinner said Kidd was born in Scotland in 1645 and began his naval career fighting the French and chasing pirates until he decided to become one. He settled in New York in 1691 and was captured in Boston for piracy. He was hanged in London in 1701.
A spot near the Piscataqua River in Maine is alleged to be one of Kidd's hiding places, Skinner wrote, as is Monhegan Island, located off Maine's coast.
The island contains a cave where spirits are thought to protect some of Kidd's treasure. One story tells of treasure-seekers who tried to lift a heavy chest from its resting place when spirits promptly snatched it down. Another attempt caused the treasure to go deeper into the earth, according to Skinner.
"Some years ago, the cave was enlarged by blasting in a hope of finding that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of the island, that went 'dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will find money,'" Skinner wrote.
Another alleged hiding place for Kidd's treasure is on Damariscotta Island near Kennebec, which has a salt water lake. Kidd is believed to have sunk some of his valuables in the lake, which is purported to be bottomless. Kidd is said to have booby-trapped the location by stringing a chain from rock to rock so as to block a boat's passage near the spot, according to Skinner.
Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, also is another legendary hiding place. There, Kidd is said to have put one of his crew to death so he would haunt the place and frighten treasure hunters.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/FOSTERS01/107150342
kenb
