Lammerlaw
Tenderfoot
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 1
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Dunedin, Otago
- Detector(s) used
- Garret Deepseeker, Minelab Xtreme, Goldbug
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
- #1
Thread Owner
Jimmy the Needle or James Saunders - Loder was an old time whaler. He was sent to the Australian penal colonies in the early 1800s, probably late 1820s to early 1830s. In any case he was in New Zealand by 1838 and in the year 1840 was reported to be at the Waikouaiti whaling station and later the same year at the Moeraki whaling station. He purchased land near Moeraki but later moved to North Otago.
In the year 1862 he fell from the back of a horse while crossing the Waitaki river and was drowned. Now it stands to reason that there would be around 25 years between a generation but my grandmother was his grand daughter. When he died everyone knew that Jimmy the Needle was extremely rich and had a soft spot for gold coin. He also kept good records. My grandmothers mother told her that when she was young and her father died they found all his accounts records but no sign of the money and it was known that he had hidden it. My grandmother died 135 years after her grandfather but in turn she told me about the coins. Ten Thousand pound in gold coins hidden in North Otago near Oamaru - still lying there waiting to be discovered perhaps one day. This is probably the equivalent of about twenty thousand US dollars and all in gold!
This account has never been told outside the family I do not think until I told a few individuals. Jimmy the Needle was given his nickname when he was whaling as all whalers had nicknames - his was based on two major factors - he was tall and thin with disproportionately long legs and secondly he was described as 'cute, sharp and sly in his dealings'
In the year 1862 he fell from the back of a horse while crossing the Waitaki river and was drowned. Now it stands to reason that there would be around 25 years between a generation but my grandmother was his grand daughter. When he died everyone knew that Jimmy the Needle was extremely rich and had a soft spot for gold coin. He also kept good records. My grandmothers mother told her that when she was young and her father died they found all his accounts records but no sign of the money and it was known that he had hidden it. My grandmother died 135 years after her grandfather but in turn she told me about the coins. Ten Thousand pound in gold coins hidden in North Otago near Oamaru - still lying there waiting to be discovered perhaps one day. This is probably the equivalent of about twenty thousand US dollars and all in gold!
This account has never been told outside the family I do not think until I told a few individuals. Jimmy the Needle was given his nickname when he was whaling as all whalers had nicknames - his was based on two major factors - he was tall and thin with disproportionately long legs and secondly he was described as 'cute, sharp and sly in his dealings'
God Bless HH Chris
