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This is another thread relating to the Kidd-Palmer maps but specifically it is only about Dan Morgan. If you are instead discussing the current whereabouts of those maps see my thread here, or to discuss my Rainbow Island solution and the proof they are a hoax (the drawer of the Kidd-Palmer maps based them on/copied from the RI map), see my thread here. So please stay on topic to this thread.
If you found this thread on a search-engine and know anything about Dan Morgan - please get in contact with me or comment below.
Dan Morgan
According to Harold T. Wilkins in his book Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island (1935 [1937]), Hubert Palmer acquired an old chest from the antique dealer name Arthur Hill-Cutler and inside was one of the Kidd-Palmer treasure maps. We do not know with certainty what one of the (four) maps was inside nor do we know the specific year Palmer acquired it (between 1929 and 1932). Wilkins (1935) states Morgan sold the chest to Cutler in 1929, but there was a delay until when Palmer purchased it from Cutler. Wilkins claimed that Morgan died in 1932 in Barnstaple but that he had moved (from Liverpool) to Bristol. He was supposedly a sailor of the Liverpool Wanderer and a captain.
Wilkins (1935), p. 329:
Wilkins (1935, p. 330) noted that he had in his possession a photograph of "Captain Dan Morgan" (dated about 1874 taken at Liverpool):
The old chest (Morgan Chest) came with a pedigree note purporting to trace the provenance of the chest (with map) back to a jailer at Newgate jail at the time of Captain Kidd's trial (1701). Morgan also alleged that he descended from Sir Harry Morgan (a spelling mistake of Henry Morgan?). Finally, Wilkins (1935, pp. 330-331) quoted two letters that Morgan supposedly sent to Arthur Hill-Cutler:
Wilkins did not make these letters up since he was sent transcripts of these letters (he copied) from Palmer. We know this because Geoff Bath published one of these transcripts:
The transcript adds a note at the bottom (by Palmer) that Morgan's letter was sent to Arthur Hill Cutler.
In other words, Cutler sent Palmer these letters or they came with the chest (alongside pedigree note) when he bought the chest.
Wilkins' (1935) book was revised in 1937 and the second edition was published in the US. The second edition notably included the (1874) photograph of Dan Morgan:
The second edition of the book (pp. 366-367) also mentions that Dan Morgan sold a sword inscribed "William Kidd, Captn. Bristol, 1697", to Arthur Hill-Cutler.
Harold T. Wilkins first met Hubert Palmer in the Summer of 1932 at his house in Eastbourne. During the visit, Palmer showed him the Morgan Chest and the above photograph (portrait) of Dan Morgan. This was discussed by Wilkins in a unpublished manuscript quoted by Geoff Bath in one of his books:
Wilkins in an article published in 1940 [see here] changed some details of his account. Wilkins now claimed Morgan sold the chest in Autumn 1932 and met Dan Morgan to buy the chest from him.
It is possible Wilkins confused the date he earlier said Morgan died (1932) but we do not know the exact year Palmer bought the chest, sometime between 1929 and 1932. Geoff Bath has argued Palmer bought the map in (early) 1932 but I personally think 1930 or 1931 is more probable. Wilkins himself saw the Morgan Chest in Summer 1932, when he first visited Palmer, so Palmer must have owned the map sometime before June-August 1932. Clearly, Wilkins (1940) was mistaken by the Autumn 1932 date Morgan sold the chest and map since Wilkins had already seen the chest and map months earlier.
In 1942, in another article, Wilkins again changed the year Palmer bought the chest (1930):
Wilkins (1935) claimed that the Morgan Chest was sold by Dan Morgan to Cutler (and later Palmer) with knowledge that it contained the map inside (Morgan supposedly found it). Wilkins repeated or strongly insinuated this in his later articles; see for example, Wilkins, 1940 (quoted above). In contrast, Howlett (1958) claimed that Palmer bought the chest from Cutler without knowing the map was inside and he therefore found it hidden unexpectedly while searching the chest after he purchased it. Both accounts therefore disagree who first discovered the map in the chest. In 1947, Wilkins mentioned Dan Morgan again in his booklet but added little new information. There is no evidence that Palmer ever met Dan Morgan and nothing in Wilkins' or Palmer's unpublished papers that suggest either of them met in person based on the letters Bath has quoted. Wilkins (1940, 1947) noted that Palmer met Dan Morgan and Morgan sold Palmer the chest but this claim is not repeated elsewhere and is contradicted by the private correspondence and Wilkins' book (Palmer bought the chest from Cutler not directly from Morgan). However, it is possible when Wilkins (1940, 1947) said Palmer bought the chest from Morgan, he meant indirectly from Cutler. Wilkins (1934) earlier mentioned Dan Morgan in his book Modern Buried Treasure Hunters (1934, p. 3):
Wilkins never met Morgan either but says he corresponded with him by letter in 1932.
According to Wilkins, Morgan also owned a "pirate chart" from an 18th century ship. The map appears to depict South America.
According to Wilkins, Morgan died in 1932 in Barnstaple but earlier moved (from Liverpool) to Bristol and had lived in or at least visited Eastbourne. Since last year, I have extensively searched records to try to verify Morgan's existence. It was quite a common name a century ago but I found absolutely nothing when searching death records for Dan Morgan (or Daniel Morgan) for the year 1932 (as well as the years 1930 to 1935 in case Wilkins made a mistake by a few years). In other words, his existence cannot be verified. The forum member Crow also searched records and could not find anything to confirm Dan Morgan was a real person. I also searched records from the towns Barnstaple and Bristol and found no sailor or captain by that name. Crow also did not find anything:
As noted by the Naval Marine Archive:
The latter letter is an obvious pastiche or imitation of the style and content in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island (1883).
"15 men on the dead mans chest" is an unambiguous reference to a pirate song in Treasure Island: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest / Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!".
All that said, who is the gentleman in the photograph?
If you found this thread on a search-engine and know anything about Dan Morgan - please get in contact with me or comment below.
Dan Morgan
According to Harold T. Wilkins in his book Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island (1935 [1937]), Hubert Palmer acquired an old chest from the antique dealer name Arthur Hill-Cutler and inside was one of the Kidd-Palmer treasure maps. We do not know with certainty what one of the (four) maps was inside nor do we know the specific year Palmer acquired it (between 1929 and 1932). Wilkins (1935) states Morgan sold the chest to Cutler in 1929, but there was a delay until when Palmer purchased it from Cutler. Wilkins claimed that Morgan died in 1932 in Barnstaple but that he had moved (from Liverpool) to Bristol. He was supposedly a sailor of the Liverpool Wanderer and a captain.
Wilkins (1935), p. 329:
Wilkins (1935, p. 330) noted that he had in his possession a photograph of "Captain Dan Morgan" (dated about 1874 taken at Liverpool):
The old chest (Morgan Chest) came with a pedigree note purporting to trace the provenance of the chest (with map) back to a jailer at Newgate jail at the time of Captain Kidd's trial (1701). Morgan also alleged that he descended from Sir Harry Morgan (a spelling mistake of Henry Morgan?). Finally, Wilkins (1935, pp. 330-331) quoted two letters that Morgan supposedly sent to Arthur Hill-Cutler:
Wilkins did not make these letters up since he was sent transcripts of these letters (he copied) from Palmer. We know this because Geoff Bath published one of these transcripts:
The transcript adds a note at the bottom (by Palmer) that Morgan's letter was sent to Arthur Hill Cutler.
In other words, Cutler sent Palmer these letters or they came with the chest (alongside pedigree note) when he bought the chest.
Wilkins' (1935) book was revised in 1937 and the second edition was published in the US. The second edition notably included the (1874) photograph of Dan Morgan:
The second edition of the book (pp. 366-367) also mentions that Dan Morgan sold a sword inscribed "William Kidd, Captn. Bristol, 1697", to Arthur Hill-Cutler.
Harold T. Wilkins first met Hubert Palmer in the Summer of 1932 at his house in Eastbourne. During the visit, Palmer showed him the Morgan Chest and the above photograph (portrait) of Dan Morgan. This was discussed by Wilkins in a unpublished manuscript quoted by Geoff Bath in one of his books:
Wilkins in an article published in 1940 [see here] changed some details of his account. Wilkins now claimed Morgan sold the chest in Autumn 1932 and met Dan Morgan to buy the chest from him.
It is possible Wilkins confused the date he earlier said Morgan died (1932) but we do not know the exact year Palmer bought the chest, sometime between 1929 and 1932. Geoff Bath has argued Palmer bought the map in (early) 1932 but I personally think 1930 or 1931 is more probable. Wilkins himself saw the Morgan Chest in Summer 1932, when he first visited Palmer, so Palmer must have owned the map sometime before June-August 1932. Clearly, Wilkins (1940) was mistaken by the Autumn 1932 date Morgan sold the chest and map since Wilkins had already seen the chest and map months earlier.
In 1942, in another article, Wilkins again changed the year Palmer bought the chest (1930):
Wilkins (1935) claimed that the Morgan Chest was sold by Dan Morgan to Cutler (and later Palmer) with knowledge that it contained the map inside (Morgan supposedly found it). Wilkins repeated or strongly insinuated this in his later articles; see for example, Wilkins, 1940 (quoted above). In contrast, Howlett (1958) claimed that Palmer bought the chest from Cutler without knowing the map was inside and he therefore found it hidden unexpectedly while searching the chest after he purchased it. Both accounts therefore disagree who first discovered the map in the chest. In 1947, Wilkins mentioned Dan Morgan again in his booklet but added little new information. There is no evidence that Palmer ever met Dan Morgan and nothing in Wilkins' or Palmer's unpublished papers that suggest either of them met in person based on the letters Bath has quoted. Wilkins (1940, 1947) noted that Palmer met Dan Morgan and Morgan sold Palmer the chest but this claim is not repeated elsewhere and is contradicted by the private correspondence and Wilkins' book (Palmer bought the chest from Cutler not directly from Morgan). However, it is possible when Wilkins (1940, 1947) said Palmer bought the chest from Morgan, he meant indirectly from Cutler. Wilkins (1934) earlier mentioned Dan Morgan in his book Modern Buried Treasure Hunters (1934, p. 3):
Wilkins never met Morgan either but says he corresponded with him by letter in 1932.
According to Wilkins, Morgan also owned a "pirate chart" from an 18th century ship. The map appears to depict South America.
According to Wilkins, Morgan died in 1932 in Barnstaple but earlier moved (from Liverpool) to Bristol and had lived in or at least visited Eastbourne. Since last year, I have extensively searched records to try to verify Morgan's existence. It was quite a common name a century ago but I found absolutely nothing when searching death records for Dan Morgan (or Daniel Morgan) for the year 1932 (as well as the years 1930 to 1935 in case Wilkins made a mistake by a few years). In other words, his existence cannot be verified. The forum member Crow also searched records and could not find anything to confirm Dan Morgan was a real person. I also searched records from the towns Barnstaple and Bristol and found no sailor or captain by that name. Crow also did not find anything:
According to Wilkins, Morgan was a shipmate of the Liverpool Wanderer so I also searched records relating to Liverpool. I did not find anything but Crow found one result:
The problem is, there is no evidence this individual was aboard the Wanderer, he was not a captain, and he did not die in Bristol or Barnstaple. Furthermore, Wilkins claimed that Dan Morgan got married in 1874 and the photograph was of Morgan "about 30" years of age. The other individual was born in 1857 so would have only been 17 years old in 1874.
As noted by the Naval Marine Archive:
To his credit, Crow also searched records for Wanderer but did not find any evidence for Dan Morgan as a shipmate. He was certainly not the captain of the ship. The absence of evidence Dan Morgan existed from records, combined with the fact we know the Kidd-Palmer maps were a hoax, is compelling evidence Dan Morgan never existed. Neither Palmer or Wilkins met him and the evidence suggests Arthur Hill-Cutler invented Dan Morgan to fabricate a provenance of the Morgan Chest and map (like Pamela Hardy). Two of the letters Hill-Cutler claimed were written by Morgan, very poorly resemble the third letter quoted in the second edition [1937] of his book. Look at the extreme variation in the wording, spelling and punctuation of these two letters:
The latter letter is an obvious pastiche or imitation of the style and content in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island (1883).
"15 men on the dead mans chest" is an unambiguous reference to a pirate song in Treasure Island: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest / Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!".
All that said, who is the gentleman in the photograph?
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