Kidd-Palmer Treasure Maps SOLVED by Oliver D. Smith

[Cryptid1990]

Kidd-Palmer Treasure Maps SOLVED by Oliver D. Smith​

I have known about and taken an interest in the so-called Kidd-Palmer maps since around 2009, but did not seriously start to do research on them until last year, when I joined this forum. There are four maps in total; labeled for convenience: Plain Map, Coral Island Map, Sarah Kidd Map, and the Skeleton Map (aka 'Key Chart'). These maps first surfaced in the 1920s/early 1930s, when they were purchased by Hubert Palmer (described as a "ardent collector of pirate and buccaneer relics" by Harold T. Wilkins [1935]) who owned a private museum in Eastbourne. Palmer bought each of the maps from Arthur Hill-Cutler, the owner of an antique shop in the same town he resided; each map was discovered hidden inside a furniture piece (two chests, a workbox, and a bureau). The provenance of these furniture pieces that purported to be heirlooms and the concealed maps cannot be traced before the early 20th century and two were sold to Palmer with dubious/unverifiable records of ownership (the Hardy and Morgan chests), almost certainly fabricated. The two maps that came with pedigrees on paper included one purporting to trace back to Captain Kidd (or his shipmate, Ned Ward) and the other (Morgan Chest) from a head jailer at Newgate, while one of the maps (Sarah Kidd) is dated 1669 and contains Captain Kidd's initials (W. K.). As I detailed here, one of the names from these dubious records of ownership (Pamela Hardy) is mentioned in multiple Christie's auction catalogues (early 1930s) when 'Nelson relics' (Lord Nelson memorabilia), were sold. These items are undoubtedly spurious and many are proven forgeries; the National Maritime Museum that purchased lots of them have since removed them from public view. Cutler was involved in handling and selling many of these fake or counterfeit Nelson relics; the NMM has in its archive a letter by Cutler (that came with one of these objects). To sum up, the evidence is overwhelming Pamela Hardy never existed and she was a fictitious persona invented on paper to pass-off fake Nelson relics as genuine which were sold at auction houses (for more information read The Authentic Nelson by Rina Prentice [2005], p. 87). No authentic records have ever been found that verify Pamela Hardy was a real person, despite extensive searches of birth records and obituaries. Furthermore, her purported address (Lushington Road, Eastbourne) written on letters that accompanied some of the items sold at auctions was also false (no one by that name lived at that address if you search property records).​

The whereabouts of the original maps today is a mystery. After Cutler sold them to Palmer, they were passed to Elizabeth Dick (his housekeeper) after Palmer died, and she sold them to private buyers in the 1950s. The reproductions you find in books since the 1970s and on the internet are either copies or copies of copies.

Plain Map

Coral Island Map

Sarah Kidd Map

Skeleton Map


The dubious provenance of the so-called Kidd-Palmer maps (owners cannot be traced before c. 1920s and the fact Pamela Hardy is a fictional persona with a fake address) strongly suggests the maps are hoaxes and they were drawn in the early 20th century. There are converging lines evidence that prove this beyond a reasonable doubt and an overview can be read here. To summarise: (a) one of the maps (Sarah Kidd Map) was examined and found to visibly have modern pencil marks underneath the ink by the Metropolitan Police Laboratory in 1951; (b) Wilson R. Harrison (M.Sc., Ph.D.) from the Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory independently concluded this map was "a comparatively recent production on what might very well be an old sheet of parchment" and ruled out the ink as 17th century, the style of the compass on the Kidd-Palmer maps was determined to be 20th century and was "not in use on maps for many years after the death of Captain Kidd"; (c) copies or photographs of the Kidd-Palmer maps have been studied by experts in cartography and paleography at the British Library, most notably Peter Barber, MA, FSA, FRHistS who pointed out after looking at the visual style, they contain an "amalgam of elements from clichéd treasure maps, owing more to Treasure Island". The consensus of these experts is the Kidd-Palmer maps were not drawn in the 17th or 18th century but are post-1883, since they drew inspiration or borrowed from the treasure map in R. L. Stevenson's book. For example, the "X marks the spot" fictional trope that Stevenson popularised appears on some of the Kidd-Palmer maps ("X marks the spot" is always absent from authentic pirate maps). In Treasure Island, when Long John Silver looks at the treasure map he remarks, "Ay, here it is: Capt. Kidd's Anchorage - just the name my shipmate called it" and the Skeleton Map has "Anchorage" written on it; there is "Smuggler's Cove" on the Skeleton Map and "Rum Cove" on Stevenson's Map, and so on; (d) there are no verified cases of pirates burying treasure to begin with nor has anyone ever found buried pirate treasure (contrary to popular belief, Kidd did not bury treasure on Gardiner's Island) so this alone arguably disproves the idea the Kidd-Palmer maps relate to a treasure buried by a pirate in the 17th or 18th century since the absence of evidence for so long infers evidence of absence and finally (e), the four maps were sold by the same dodgy antiques dealer (Cutler) to Hubert Palmer, who was an avid reader of Stevenson and personally owned dozens of Treasure Island reprints.

Map of Treasure Island (1883) [click here to enlarge]

A coloured variant of Stevenson's (1883) map (with additions), was published by Monro Scott Orr (1934) but since this was published a year after the Skeleton Map was acquired by Palmer (1933), it has no relevance.

In 1976, Alan Stimson, a renowned maritime historian who at the time was the curator of navigation at the NMM stated: "I have no confidence in any of these charts being genuine, as they are all modeled on the chart by R. L. Stevenson for his book Treasure Island and are part of the romantic pirate tradition" (quoted by D'Arcy O'Connor, 1978). Aside from the similarities touched upon above, Treasure Island includes instructions to buried treasure that were written on the back of Captain Flint's treasure map:

"Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. of N.N.E.
Skeleton Island E.S.E. and by E.
Ten feet.
The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it.
The arms are easy found, in the sand-hill, N. point of north inlet cape, bearing E. and a quarter N."​

These instructions or directional clues resemble those written on the Coral Island Map in the sense both rely on starting from a prominent natural marker (tree versus rock) and pacing out a specific distance in feet. At first, I therefore took Stimson's view that the drawer of the Kidd-Palmer maps based them on Treasure Island. However, there are major differences: (a) the shape of the island depicted on the Kidd-Palmer maps (a crescent or boomerang shape) and Stevenson's (1883) map are dissimilar; (b) the different geographical coordinates in Billy Bones’ logbook to the latitude and longitude on the Skeleton Island Map (I discussed these here [although the latitude and longitude on these maps are different I do not think it is a coincidence that the coordinates on each map do not pinpoint a real island]) and (c) two of the Kidd-Palmer maps mention "CHINA SEA" (not applicable to Treasure Island). Given the extent of these differences, could there be another fictional map the Kidd-Palmer maps were based or modelled on? This is not to deny that whoever drew the Kidd-Palmer maps could have borrowed from Treasure Island, for example, "Anchorage"/"X marks the spot". Nonetheless, differences are expected since the hoaxer was trying to pass-off the Kidd-Palmer maps as genuine 17th century pirate treasure maps. If the Kidd-Palmer maps were too similar to Treasure Island, then they would have been regarded as blatant fakes. This suggests that if there was a different fictional island that the map drawer used as a template for the Kidd-Palmer maps - this would be from a lesser known book than Treasure Island.

I began my search with late 19th century and early 20th century fiction, mainly pirate fiction but also (maritime) adventure including books with plots that involved buried treasure, pirates, shipwrecks, and people marooned on islands. I flicked through or read dozens to hundreds of these books I found digitised, found on library shelves and bought a few obscure books. These notably included Blackbeard's Island by Rupert Sargent Holland (1916) and The Mystery Chest (1929) by Rear-Admiral E. R. G. R. Evans. The latter especially interested me since the plot involves a "mystery chest found on the shore of an English coast town" and the Kidd-Palmer maps, two of which were inside chests, were bought by Hubert Palmer in an English coastal town (Eastbourne). However, after managing to find a copy of this exceptionally rare book, I realised it does not contain a treasure map and the coastal town in the book is not even Eastbourne; Blackbeard's Island also proved to be irrelevant. I did not give up but decided to narrow my search. Over the past few months, I therefore focused narrowly on early 20th century castaway fiction with plots involving shipwrecks and people marooned on islands, and then narrowed the search again to the (South) China Sea (seeming as CHINA SEA appears on two of the Kidd-Palmer maps). I recently came across an intriguing book titled The Wings of the Morning (New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, 1903) by Louis Tracy. The plot involves two shipwrecked survivors on a deserted island in the southern China Sea named Rainbow Island but whom are attacked by pirates. As I was reading the pages, I realised more and more details of Rainbow Island remarkably resemble the Kidd-Palmer maps particularly the Coral Island and Skeleton Maps. Tracy describes Rainbow Island as having an enclosed lagoon with rocks on the northern side with a "tiny entrance" as well as a barrier reef surrounding the island; a stretch of sand was at the south-east "once dubbed Turtle Beach". These (and other features or details) very closely match the Coral Island/Skeleton Maps. In fact, the Kidd-Palmer maps are almost identical to Rainbow Island.

Someone might argue Tracy's descriptions being highly similar to the Kidd-Palmer maps is merely coincidental, so I continued reading and to my amazement I found a diagram of Rainbow Island with latitude and longitude. The diagram appears on page 79. Context: in the book, one of the survivors finds a canister with a diagram or crude map carved on it by a knife that he found next to a skeleton. The map is the island where he is marooned after being shipwrecked (Rainbow Island). The island map contains an X or rather skull and crossbones, latitude and longitude, as well as a cryptic clue "32/1". It will be observed the latitude is identical on the Skeleton Map (!) [9.16 N] and the island is the same crescent/boomerang shape as the island depicted on the four Kidd-Palmer maps. Tracy also describes Rainbow Island as "crescent-shaped". Most remarkably a place, "Smuggler's Cove" is described by Tracy on Rainbow Island to the south and this appears on the Skeleton Map on the south coastline.

At last they reached the south side, and here they at once found themselves in a delightfully secluded and tiny bay, sandy, tree-lined, sheltered on three sides by cliffs and rocks.
"Oh," cried Iris, excitedly, "what a lovely spot! a perfect Smugglers' Cove."

Map of Rainbow Island on tin canister.

There is no doubt this was the template the drawer of the Kidd-Palmer maps used as well as heavily borrowing from Tracy's descriptions of Rainbow Island including its topography - there are too many similarities for these to be a coincidence. You have to read the book to find the descriptions and understand the extent the Kidd-Palmer maps resemble Rainbow Island. Unfortunately, no detailed map of the island is found in the book (only the crude tin canister map). An illustrated edition of The Wings of the Morning was published in 1924 but did not add a detailed map of the island. However, had it done the hoaxer is unlikely to have used it as a template for the Kidd-Palmer maps. The reason they used the canister map is it is fairly obscure (not on the frontispiece or book cover), is quite small and only found at the bottom of page 79. This explains why (until now by me) no one realised its similarity to the Kidd-Palmer maps.

As for the instructions on the Coral Island Map, these are similar to what is mentioned in the book:

Measure thirty-two feet from the mouth of the tunnel, dig one foot in depth, and you came upon the mother-lode of this gold-bearing rock. This, then, was the secret of the cave.

Various landmarks are mentioned in the book in relation to pacing out distances in feet including rocks, for example:

To reach Palm-tree Rock—anticipating its subsequent name—he must cross a space of some thirty feet and wade up to his waist.

In 1940 (or 1942?), Hubert Palmer was sold the 'Yunnan Parchment' by Arthur Cutler; the parchment came with an oak framed mirror with the words 'Yunnan Island' made by pin-holes. Wilkins (1942) described the parchment as follows: "Palmer found (as he wrote me): An arrow on the top of the frame of the looking-glass, pointing upwards from a Death's Head and crossbones, inlaid with small diamonds and the initials 'W. K.' On the back of the mirror another arrow pointed downwards to a slight bulge in the vellum backing. The bulge, slit open, revealed, first, a wooden fragment scored with perforated letters reading 'Island.' Behind the wood was a bit of screwed-up parchment, looking [like a vellum, duodecimo book]."

The parchment does not contain a map but it seems to be related to the Kidd-Palmer maps:

Yunnan Parchment
"S[outh] China Sea
2 Fs (Feet) Deep at Back of Cave in Cliff under ledge on left side."

The name 'Yunnan Island' relates to Rainbow Island since it translates as "south of colourful clouds" (彩云之南; cǎiyún zhī nán). Furthermore, a cave and ledge are mentioned in Tracy's (1903) book. The book even has a chapter titled: "The Secret of the Cave".

Moving on, the initials J. S. appear on the canister diagram. It is worthwhile to quote this section of the book:

"I found it here, Miss Deane," he answered. Luckily she interpreted "here" as applying to the cave. "Let me see it. May I?" He handed it to her. She could make nothing of it, so together they puzzled over it. The sailor rubbed it with a mixture of kerosene and sand. Then figures and letters and a sort of diagram were revealed. At last they became decipherable. By exercising patient ingenuity some one had indented the metal with a sharp punch until the marks assumed this aspect (see cut, following page). Iris was quick-witted. "It is a plan of the island," she cried. "Also the latitude and the longitude." "What does 'J.S.' mean?". "Probably the initials of a man's name; let us say John Smith, for instance." "And the figures on the island, with the 'X' and the dot?" "I cannot tell you at present," he said. "I take it that the line across the island signifies this gap or canyon, and the small intersecting line the cave. But 32 divided by 1, and an 'X' surmounted by a dot are cabalistic. They would cause even Sherlock Holmes to smoke at least two pipes. I have barely started one."

Hubert Palmer acquired not only the Kidd-Palmer maps but the 'John S's Rough Map' (a scrimshaw carving or engraving on an ivory drinking mug [or what was possibly confused with an ivory powder horn]). According to Wilkins, 1935 he bought this in 1934 (note a drawing of a boat near the map shows a modern design so the carving must have been made in early 20th century):

It now becomes clear where that name was taken from - the 'rough map' was the carving on the tin canister of Rainbow Island (Tracy, 1903). The island from the John S's Rough Map is though a different shape to the crescent-shaped island on the Kidd-Palmer maps and Rainbow Island (carved on the canister in Tracy's book). I managed though to find a separate fictional island, Wild Cat Island that closely resembles the shape/topography of 'John S's Rough Map'. This island appears in the fictional book Swallows and Amazons (1930) by Arthur Ransome.

Wild Cat Island Map (1930)
Note how both the compasses on the John S. Rough Map and Wild Cat Island Map have W facing upright.

For many months, I was trying to explain to other forum posters that the solution to the Kidd-Palmer maps would be found in fictional literature. For example, back in February, I said:

...the main 'ingredients' to the Kidd-Palmer maps are likely to also be found in fictional literature of the late 19th/early 20th century.

The previous month I also said:

A big part of the solution to the Kidd-Palmer maps is very probably in literary fiction [...] My view is the hoaxer was primarily basing the maps they drew (that deliberately ended up in Hubert Palmer's collection) on literary fictional islands/places...

I take little pleasure in saying "I told you so" but I was ignored, dismissed, disparaged and even insulted by some posters on this forum when I tried to explain the above was the correct solution. In fact, what I have been saying for several months in these threads was ignored or rejected out of hand by virtually all posters with few exceptions (Crow and Bocaj come to mind).

I advise people read the book (The Wings of the Morning) to better comprehend the proof I posted.

CapnGeorge for the past decade (Anson's Gold, 2016) has claimed without evidence that the latitude and longitude on the Skeleton Map relate cryptically to Pinaki (atoll) in French Polynesia and there is a buried treasure (from a centuries old massive Spanish treasure) on that real island the Kidd-Palmer maps secretly point to. This implausible and highly speculative idea is now refuted if you look at the geographical coordinates on the canister map of Rainbow Island. The latitude and longitude on the canister map is 9.16 N 113.80 E and the latitude and longitude on the Skeleton Map is 9.16° N and 3.30° E or 31.30° E, or 43.30° E or 431.30° E (some numbers on the map faded/are ambiguous). The latitudes are identical on both maps, while longitudes (despite ambiguous on Skeleton Map) are similar (they both include the digits 3, 0 and 1 probably is on the Skeleton Map [31.30° E or 431.30° E]). The coordinates on the Skeleton Map evidently never had anything to do with Pinaki and were copied from Tracy's (1903) book. CapnGeorge has repeatedly asked me where did the figures (latitude and longitude) come from on the Skeleton Map. Answer: Rainbow Island and he has been proven wrong:

Cryptid... I posed the question earlier: where do you think the figures 9.16 and 31.30 come from on the Key chart? Strange that no one could come up with an answer. No one wants to admit that, of course, when you apply Wilkins simple Key code of one, you get the coordinates of Pinaki when applying the Cadiz meridian. We are, of course, dealing with a Spanish treasure, not Kidd's.

Although I was the first person to solve these maps and I was on the right track for months (searching for fictional islands), I got other things wrong and have no problem with now admitting my errors:

• I did not expect to find such a close match of the geographical coordinates in Tracy's book (on the canister map [p. 79]) to the latitude and longitude on the Skeleton Map (the latitudes are identical). That was an amazing discovery! In earlier comments I was trying to make sense of the coordinates on the Skeleton Map from Treasure Island. This is no longer needed since the answer is instead in Tracy's book, The Wings of the Morning. However, it appears I was correct when I said whoever drew the Kidd-Palmer maps wrote coordinates that led to no real island. The latitude and longitude is intentionally misleading or meaningless on both the Skeleton Map and Rainbow Island. In both Tracy's book and the Skeleton Map, the coordinates do not pinpoint the location of a real island. The coordinates 9.16 N 113.80 E on the canister map (Tracy, 1903) do not match any island but ocean in the South China Sea. The closest island is Pearson's Reef, an atoll in the Spratly Islands (see below). Similarly, the coordinates on the Skeleton Map point to either 9.16° N, 3.30° E - Nigeria, 9.16° N, 31.30° E - South Sudan, 9.16° N, 43.30° E - Ethiopia or 9.16° N, 431.30° E - nowhere (the longitude 43.30° E falls outside of standard coordinates [longitude cannot exceed 180 degrees]), meaning none of these coordinates pinpoint real islands. For fictional maps this is not unexpected.

• Although I always accepted the reality the Kidd-Palmer maps are a hoax (they are not authentic pirate treasure maps) and were drawn in the early 20th century (the evidence for this is overwhelming and it is the consensus of experts), I thought it was possible that the hoaxer left clues to a treasure they themselves buried albeit not something of particular great value. This seemed a lot more reasonable than believing the hoaxer left clues or instructions to an actual pirate treasure (buried in the 17th or 18th century) or another centuries old treasure or deposit as CapnGeorge and Gjb believe. My idea thus likened the Kidd-Palmer maps to treasure hunts as competitions or games that were published in British and American newspapers in the 1900-1920s. For example, as I detailed in this comment: "a treasure hunt craze was started by Tit-Bits (1903) and The Weekly Dispatch (1904) [see "Treasure Hunt Riots" by Paul Slade]. The latter involved metal medallions (photo) worth £50 (at the time) being buried across different cities in England". Prior to Cutler selling Palmer the Yunnan Parchment it was supposedly found on a shipwreck at Beachy Head, immediately west of the seaside town of Eastbourne (it was then passed down the family of an anonymous Sussex barrister). This provenance was almost certainly fabricated but I thought Beachy Head could have been a clue to something buried on that beach or rather in a cave on the beach by the hoaxer who had drawn the Kidd-Palmer maps. I actually visited this area twice last year and became interested in Parson Darby's Hole (a cave on Beach Head) and this region has a lot of smuggler history and folklore. Beachy Head was quite noticeable at the time as a place for treasure hunts as competitions and in August 1927, Eastbourne became a focal point for the hunt for Loddy Lud to win a cash prize. However, in light of finding Rainbow Island in fictional literature and the fact the instructions on the Coral Island/Skeleton Map and Yunnan Parchment are very similar to Tracy's (1903) book - it is time to admit I was wrong about the Kidd-Palmer maps relating to a treasure hunt competition in/around Beach Head or Eastbourne. The Kidd-Palmer maps do not contain clues to any real treasure and anyone still searching is wasting their time.

I initially intended to publish the solution to the Kidd-Palmer maps in an article for a journal. I plan to still do that and am writing a manuscript, however, I decided to post the solution and some of my research here because the article will not be published until the end of the year. I have attached my name to this thread for credit or recognition - Oliver Smith / Oliver D. Smith. It took me several months to find Rainbow Island by searching digital archives, going to libraries, and buying books. Had I not spent so much time, I would have considered not attaching my name to solving the Kidd-Palmer maps. I am going to take a break from this forum and focus on the article but I would like to thank this forum for being a place to discuss the maps and where I first posted the solution.

Update: as a supplement see this table.

Note: Anyone is free to quote any of my research but please credit me: Oliver D. Smith.

 

[releventchair]

[“I’ve taken a notion into my old numskull,” observed Silver. “Here’s the compass; there’s the tip-top p’int of Skeleton Island, stickin’ out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them bones.”

It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island, and the compass read duly E. S. E. by E.]

 

[Bocaj]

This is a great find indeed. And a lot of work went in it for sure. I will study in more before giving a detailed opinion.

 

[Cryptid1990]

As a supplement, below is a table I made showing the similarities between the Coral Island / Skeleton Island Maps and Rainbow Island. The only absent feature or landmark annotated on the Skeleton Map is "Anchorage" but that is mentioned in Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson.

Pages refer to 1903 first edition (not illustrated [1924] edition):

the wings of the morning : louis tracy : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

Coral Island / Skeleton Map	Rainbow Island (Tracey, 1903)
China Sea	China Sea (pages 24, 33, 123, 187)
Cresent/boomerang shaped island	"Island, which was crescent-shaped" (page 70)
Lagoon and rocks	Lagoon and rocks (pages 32, 42, 60)
Small entrance to lagoon from sea	"Tiny entrance" (page 32)
Lagoon coast is a bow shape	Lagoon coast like "concave side of a bow" (page 56)
Smugglers Cove	"Smuggler's Cove" (page 129, 157)
Anchorage	None
Sand and coral	"...coral strewn south beach... soft sand" (page 129)
Turtles	"Turtle Beach" and turtles (pages 127, 129)
Wreck	Wreck of the ship Sirdar (page 25)
Woods	Woods (page 57)
Trees	Trees (pages 34, 39, 40, 58, 69, 70, 137)
Hill	"Tree-covered hill" and "tallest hill" (pages 49, 56)
Reefs	Reefs and "barrier reef" (pages 25, 32, 70, 127)

 

[Bocaj]

I think there can be no doubt about the existing relation between them. No one in there right mind can go against this amount of evidence!

That said I am interested what what your response is to the question of causality: The author was a journalist and it can be argued that he had access to the Palmer Maps or their source. Nothing comes out of nothing. It is proven at least with one map that they are not 18th century originals but there is no prove they didn't already existed in 1903.

It does of course prove that the discovery of those maps was a total fake. Which is in itself a great accomplishment. Beyond that more research could be needed to prove that maps were fabricated taking the book as source. It is of course the best theory so far as it is also the most simple one. But that didn't stop in the past those with much more complex theories to fill the media and books over simple but less spectacular explanations.

 

[Cryptid1990]

I think there can be no doubt about the existing relation between them. No one in there right mind can go against this amount of evidence!

That said I am interested what what your response is to the question of causality: The author was a journalist and it can be argued that he had access to the Palmer Maps or their source. Nothing comes out of nothing. It is proven at least with one map that they are not 18th century originals but there is no prove they didn't already existed in 1903.

It does of course prove that the discovery of those maps was a total fake. Which is in itself a great accomplishment. Beyond that more research could be needed to prove that maps were fabricated taking the book as source. It is of course the best theory so far as it is also the most simple one. But that didn't stop in the past those with much more complex theories to fill the media and books over simple but less spectacular explanations.

Islands in 'Robinsonade' fiction are often crescent-shaped (at least partially) because of the castaway survival plot. This shape creates a safe area of the island with a lagoon (rocks or reefs partially enclose water, protecting it from the open sea) and this is where the survivors either are washed ashore or establish a sanctuary on the safe, inward-facing curve of the island; this contrasts with the dangerous, desert, or wilderness interior and surrounding reefs and ocean. Tracy's book describes the lagoon on Rainbow Island as having a "tiny entrance" to the ocean and distinguishes "fierce commotion" of waves outside the lagoon to the "comparatively smooth surface of the protected pool". It is unlikely there was a specific map Tracy borrowed or copied the island-shape since a crescent-shape is almost archetypal in castaway fiction.

I regret not realising this sooner since I was searching (over months) for crescent-shaped islands in early 20th century pirate fiction when the answer is in Robinsonade fiction. As for the topography and other features of the island, the cannister map by Tracy (1903) [which served as the Kidd-Palmer maps template] is largely blank (it contains a rough outline of the island with a dotted line [entrance to a cave] and an 'X'). Instead, the topography is visually described in detail across multiple chapters. This strongly suggests the features on the Coral Island and Skeleton Maps were based on Tracy's descriptions in the book and there was not an earlier map with these details. Meaning whoever drew the Kidd-Palmer maps had read the book to create a mental-picture of Rainbow Island Tracy described, and drew it, albeit adding some of their own details as embellishments. It is interesting to note that the book mentions a "Death Valley" (or the "Valley of Death") and Wilkins (1935) stated this was on one of the Kidd-Palmer maps but it does not appear on the copies or copies of copies (did the original text fade?).

After landing in the hidden bay on the south side, they crossed the island through the trees instead of taking the more natural open way along the beach. Why? The fact that he and Iris were then passing the grown-over tract leading to the Valley of Death instantly determined this point. The Dyaks knew of this affrighting hollow, and would not approach any nearer to it than was unavoidable

The wings of the morning : Tracy, Louis, 1863-1928 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of the New York Public Library and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org

Robert hoped that his present ordeal was over. It had only begun. He was called on to answer questions without number. Why had the tunnel been made? What was the mystery of the Valley of Death? How did he manage to guess the dimensions of the sun-dial? How came he to acquire such an amazing stock of out-of-the-way knowledge of the edible properties of roots and trees? How? Why? Where? When? They never would be satisfied, for not even the British navypoking its nose into the recesses of the world—often comes across such an amazing story as the adventures of this couple on Rainbow Island.

More information on Louis Tracy, including a bibliography:

Louis Tracy

Louis Tracy was a popular, though considered relatively minor, novelist, probably best known for his debut novel, the future-war adventure T...

bearalley.blogspot.com

Louis Tracy,

The Wings of the Morning (New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, 1903 [also published by New York: Edward J. Clode, 1903) was in fact published originally in the UK under the title Rainbow Island (London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1903).

 

[Cryptid1990]

The instructions or directional clues on the (1) Coral Island, (2) Skeleton Map and (3) Yunnan Parchment:

(1)
515 SE And By 50 N
36 NE 36 NE ROCKS
3 FEET BY 3 FEET BY FOUR

(2)
360 Yards V.R North 3 stumps: 55 feet
[illegible text]*
Rocks 20 feet
[illegible text]**

* Line could include the words "centre" and "triangle".
** This line could read: "E Stele of Isle" (= East Stele of Island)
or "E Skeleton of Isle" (East Skeleton of Island)

(3)
"S[outh] China Sea [illegible text]
2 Fs (Feet) Deep at Back of Cave in
Cliff under ledge on left side
W.K.

Below is a list of the instructions or directional clues (pacing out distances in feet to/from markers) in Tracy's (1903) book:

The skeleton of an Englishman lying there among the bushes near the well; the Golgotha of the poison-filled hollow; the mining tools, both Chinese and European; the plan on the piece of tin—ah, the piece of tin! Mechanically the sailor produced it from the breast-pocket of his jersey. At last the mysterious sign "32/1" revealed its significance. Measure thirty-two feet from the mouth of the tunnel, dig one foot in depth, and you came upon the mother-lode of this gold-bearing rock. This, then, was the secret of the cave.

32 feet from entrance of tunnel (cave), dig one foot to find a gold-bearing rock.

But perhaps I am not destined to be loved by you. Therefore, in the event of my death before you leave the island, I wish to give you instructions how to find a gold mine of great value which is hidden in the rock containing the cave. You remember the sign on the piece of tin which we could not understand. The figure 32 denotes the utmost depth of the excavation, and the 1 signifies that one foot below the surface, on reaching the face of the rock, there is a rich vein of gold. The hollow on the other side of the cliff became filled with anhydrate gas, and this stopped the operations of the Chinese, who evidently knew of the existence of the mine. This is all the information the experts employed by Sir Arthur Deane will need. The facts are unquestionable.

Same as above.

To reach Palm-tree Rock—anticipating its subsequent name—he must cross a space of some thirty feet and wade up to his waist.
He made the passage with ease. Pitched against the hole of the tree was a long narrow case, very heavy, iron-clamped; and marked with letters in black triangles and the broad arrow of the British Government. "Rifles, by all the gods!" shouted the sailor. They were really by the Enfield Small Arms Manufactory, but his glee at this stroke of luck might be held to excuse a verbal inaccuracy.

30 feet to palm-tree (rock) in middle of lagoon; letters in triangles with broad arrow symbol of British Government on rifle case.

The broad arrow symbol is a historical British government mark that primarily was on military equipment.

 

[Randawg72]

So to summarize, the charts are a hoax but they
depict a fictional place called Rainbow Island?
Very imaginative observations Mr Smith.

 

[Cryptid1990]

So to summarize, the charts are a hoax but
they depict a place called Rainbow Island?
Very imaginative observations Mr Smith.

If you disagree, how do you explain the similarities between the Kidd-Palmer maps and Rainbow Island -

Same latitude (9.16 N) and similar longitude (both include the digits 3, 0, and probably 1).
Same ocean (South) China Sea.
Same shaped island (crescent-shape).
Similar instructions (pacing out distances in feet to rocks).

Furthermore, almost all the annotated topography, landmarks and features on the Coral Island/Skeleton Maps (Sand [Beach], Coral, Turtles, Reefs, Hills, Wreck, etc) are described by Tracy in his [1903] book (see table) including "Smuggler's Cove". If you then compare where exactly these are located on the Kidd-Palmer maps, to Rainbow Island, you find very similar, if not identical positions as if the drawer of the maps was using the book as a guide. For example, the "Wreck" on the Skeleton Map is north-west of the island; the ship Sirdar in Tracey's book crashed on reefs off the northwestern coast hence the ship's survivors were "flung ashore on the north-west side of the island". On the Coral Island Map, the beach (sand and coral) is on the southern coast; Tracy, describes a "...coral strewn south beach... soft sand" on the south. Turtles appear at the south of the Skeleton Map, while Tracy described turtles on the south of Rainbow Island, and so on. There are too many similarities to dismiss Rainbow Island as coincidental. I intend to draw my own detailed map of Rainbow Island using Tracy's book. Based on what I have read so far, I have no doubt it will be remarkably similar to the extent of being almost identical to the Kidd-Palmer maps. Note that Tracey's cannister map is already very similar to the blank map - both islands are crescent-shaped with an X (south-west).

 

[Randawg72]

If you disagree, how do you explain the similarities between the Kidd-Palmer maps and Rainbow Island -

I've asked for people to post where they think the island on the KP charts is. So thank you.
If you want me to reply, please clarify where it is. The feature closest to your coordinates is Pearson Reef.

 

[Cryptid1990]

I've asked for people to post where they think the island on the KP charts is. So thank you.
If you want me to reply, please clarify where it is. The feature closest to your coordinates is Pearson Reef.

Rainbow Island is a fictional island in Louis Tracy's 1903 book Rainbow Island (aka The Wings of the Morning). The thread is even tagged "fictional maps". It is not surprising that Rainbow Island's latitude and longitude (9.16 N 113.80 E) in Tracy's book does not pinpoint an actual island at those coordinates because Rainbow Island is imaginary. The proof presented in this thread is the Kidd-Palmer maps were based on Tracy's (cannister) map and descriptions of Rainbow Island. There are far too many similarities to dismiss this as merely being a coincidence.

 

[Randawg72]

So you found a Fantasy Island?
Thanks for your reply.

 

[Cryptid1990]

I continue to find remarkable similarity between the Coral Island/Skeleton Maps and how Tracy describes Rainbow Island -

The northern part of the Skeleton Map has a "Wreck" off the northwestern coast of the island (in the China Sea) and a marker nearby on the coast that looks like a ∧. In Tracy's (1903) book the ship Sirdar is wrecked off the northwestern coast of an island (in the China Sea) and the survivors are "flung ashore on the north-west side of the island". They then travel along the northern coast to find a nearby lagoon; this side of the island is described as "the concave side of a bow". Tracy describes the lagoon as having a "tiny entrance", almost completely enclosed by reefs and rocks. South of the lagoon was "lofty" (hills) and "tree-clad" (woods). In the middle of lagoon in the direction of its tiny entrance (to the ocean) was a cocoanut palm that sat "on small sand cay" (low-elevation, mini-sandy isle):

They were flung ashore on the north-west side of the island. Except for the cove formed by the coral reef, with its mysterious palm-tree growing apparently in the midst of the waves, the shape of the coast was roughly that of the concave side of a bow, the two visible extremities being about three-quarters of a mile apart.

When he reached the lagoon he halted suddenly. Something startled him. He was quite certain that he had counted fourteen corpses. Now there were only twelve. The two Lascars' bodies, which rested on the small group of rocks on the verge of the lagoon, had vanished [...] He came to the conclusion that the bodies had been dragged from off the sun-dried rocks into the lagoon by some agency the nature of which he could not even conjecture.

Panting and wild-eyed, Jenks was at the girl's side in an inconceivably short space of time. She was not beneath the shelter of the grove, but on the sands, gazing, pallid in cheek and lip, at the group of rocks on the edge of the lagoon.

A heavy sea was still running over the barrier reef which enclosed a small lagoon. The contrast between the fierce commotion outside and the comparatively smooth surface of the protected pool was very marked. At low tide the lagoon was almost completely isolated. Indeed, he imagined that only a fierce gale blowing from the northwest would enable the waves to leap the reef, save where a strip of broken water, surging far into the small natural harbor, betrayed the position of the tiny entrance. Yet at this very point a fine cocoanut palm reared its stately column high in air, and its long tremulous fronds were now swinging wildly before the gale. From where he stood it appeared to be growing in the midst of the sea, for huge breakers completely hid the coral embankment. This sentinel of the land had a weirdly impressive effect. It was the only fixed object in the waste of foam-capped waves. Not a vestige of the Sirdar remained seaward, but the sand was littered with wreckage, and—mournful spectacle!—a considerable number of inanimate human forms lay huddled up amidst the relics of the steamer. This discovery stirred him to action. He turned to survey the land on which he was stranded with his helpless companion. To his great relief he discovered that it was lofty and tree-clad. He knew that the ship could not have drifted to Borneo, which still lay far to the south. This must be one of the hundreds of islands which stud the China Sea and provide resorts for Haïnan fishermen. Probably it was inhabited, though he thought it strange that none of the islanders had put in an appearance. In any event, water and food, of some sort, were assured.

Tracy describes the small sand cay (with tree) in the middle of the lagoon as follows:

He could now see the true explanation of its growth in a seemingly impossible place. Here the bed of the sea bulged upwards in a small sand cay, which silted round the base of a limestone rock, so different in color and formation from the coral reef. Nature, whose engineering contrivances can force springs to mountain tops, managed to deliver to this isolated refuge a sufficient supply of water to nourish the palm, and the roots, firmly lodged in deep crevices, were well protected from the waves. Between the sailor and the tree intervened a small stretch of shallow water. Landward this submerged saddle shelved steeply into the lagoon. Although the water in the cove was twenty fathoms in depth, its crystal clearness was remarkable. The bottom, composed of marvelously white sand and broken coral, rendered other objects conspicuous.

If you look at the Skeleton Map you find a small sand cay (isle) near the middle of the lagoon in front of its entrance:

The rest of this part of the Skeleton Map very closely, if not identically, matches Tracy's description. The wreck is off the northwestern coast; ∧ is on the north-west coast (which can be interpreted as the landing point of the survivors), the nearby lagoon has a small entrance to the ocean and is almost enclosed by reefs and rocks (the sand cay sits near the middle of the lagoon). Woods and hills are south of the lagoon.

 

[Cryptid1990]

That said I am interested what what your response is to the question of causality: The author was a journalist and it can be argued that he had access to the Palmer Maps or their source. Nothing comes out of nothing. It is proven at least with one map that they are not 18th century originals but there is no prove they didn't already existed in 1903.

Looks like I will be going down a rabbit hole. I had no idea until today (having looked into Tracy's background) that Louis Tracy was such a mysterious figure. He was born under a different first name and he used pseudonyms including sharing at least two pen names ("Gordon Holmes" and "Robert Fraser") with the author M. P. Shiel. Tracy collaborated with Shiel from about 1897 to 1911; they revised some of each other's manuscripts and co-wrote mystery novels under their own names or Gordon Holmes. The year (1903) Tracy published Rainbow Island (The Wings of the Morning) he had already collaborated with Shiel (documented here). Could Shiel have contributed to Rainbow Island?

The Tracy-Shiel link is interesting:

• Shiel was a known hoaxer who made up the publicity stunt "Kingdom of Redonda".
• Shiel was imprisoned 1914-1916 so he had a criminal history.
• There were rumours Shiel was involved in fraud or forgery.
• Shiel wrote numerous fictional stories with plots involving hidden compartments in furniture and walls; one was published in The Strand Mazagine (1896) titled "The Secret Panel". The Kidd-Palmer maps were found in secret compartments of furniture.
• Shiel had financial problems. In fact he openly admitted he collaborated with Tracy primarily to make money.

Information on Shiel here, here and here.
An article on Redonda ("The Realm of Redonda" by August Derleth) can be read here (published in Arkham Sampler, 1949).
Bibliography on Redonda here.

Books and articles of interest:
Morse, A. Reynolds. Shiel in Diverse Hands: a Collection of Essays on M. P. Shiel (Cleveland, Ohio: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1983).
Morse, A. Reynolds. The Works of M. P. Shiel (Los Angeles: Fantasy Publishing Co., 1948).
Morse, A. Reynolds, The Quest for Redonda (Cleveland: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1979).
Morse, A. Reynolds. The Works of M. P. Shiel, Updated Vols. 2 & 3, A Study in Bibliography etc. & The Shielography (Cleveland, Ohio: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1980).
Billing, Harold. M. P. Shiel: A Biography of His Early Years (Austin, Texas: Roger Beacham, 2005).
Billing, Harold. M. P. Shiel: The Middle Years, 1897-1923 (Austin, Texas: Roger Beacham, 2010).
"A History of Redonda", in The Kingdom of Redonda, 1865-1990 (ed.) Rev. Paul de Fortis (Cheshire: The Alysford Press, 1991), 19-41.
Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda (2022) by Michael Hingston.

Shiel's biographer Harold Billings died before he could publish the third volume covering Shiel's late years (1924-1947). Did Shiel ever correspond with Hubert Palmer? In 1932, Shield moved to West Sussex, the neighbouring county of East Sussex (where Palmer resided).

 

[Bocaj]

Looks like I will be going down a rabbit hole. I had no idea until today (having looked into Tracy's background) that Louis Tracy was such a mysterious figure. He was born under a different first name and he used pseudonyms including sharing at least two pen names ("Gordon Holmes" and "Robert Fraser") with the author M. P. Shiel. Tracy collaborated with Shiel from about 1897 to 1911; they revised some of each other's manuscripts and co-wrote mystery novels under their own names or Gordon Holmes. The year (1903) Tracy published Rainbow Island (The Wings of the Morning) he had already collaborated with Shiel (documented here). Could Shiel have contributed to Rainbow Island?

The Tracy-Shiel link is interesting:

• Shiel was a known hoaxer who made up the publicity stunt "Kingdom of Redonda".
• Shiel was imprisoned 1914-1916 so he had a criminal history.
• There were rumours Shiel was involved in fraud or forgery.
• Shiel wrote numerous fictional stories with plots involving hidden compartments in furniture and walls; one was published in The Strand Mazagine (1896) titled "The Secret Panel". The Kidd-Palmer maps were found in secret compartments of furniture.
• Shiel had financial problems. In fact he openly admitted he collaborated with Tracy primarily to make money.

Information on Shiel here, here and here.
An article on Redonda ("The Real of Redonda" by August Derleth) can be read here (published in Arkham Sampler, 1949).
Bibliography on Redonda here.

Books and articles of interest:
Morse, A. Reynolds. Shiel in Diverse Hands: a Collection of Essays on M. P. Shiel (Cleveland, Ohio: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1983).
Morse, A. Reynolds. The Works of M. P. Shiel (Los Angeles: Fantasy Publishing Co., 1948).
Morse, A. Reynolds, The Quest for Redonda (Cleveland: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1979).
Morse, A. Reynolds. The Works of M. P. Shiel, Updated Vols. 2 & 3, A Study in Bibliography etc. & The Shielography (Cleveland, Ohio: The Reynolds Morse Foundation, 1980).
Billing, Harold. M. P. Shiel: A Biography of His Early Years (Austin, Texas: Roger Beacham, 2005).
Billing, Harold. M. P. Shiel: The Middle Years, 1897-1923 (Austin, Texas: Roger Beacham, 2010).
"A History of Redonda", in The Kingdom of Redonda, 1865-1990 (ed.) Rev. Paul de Fortis (Cheshire: The Alysford Press, 1991), 19-41.
Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda (2022) by Michael Hingston.

Shiel's biographer Harold Billing died before he could publish the third volume covering Shiel's late years (1924-1947). Did Shiel ever correspond with Hubert Palmer? In 1932, Shield moved to West Sussex, the neighbouring county of East Sussex (where Palmer resided).

It gets better and better. This was not a normal hoaxer and I can see him as the originator of the maps. Also I think it is more probable that his friend the journalist took the details of the maps and wove a the book around them than the other way around. Redonda has quite a few shared details with Skeleton Island.

The island description is very lively it could be sourced from a real island. Maybe both of them visited it.

"The Purple Cloud" is typical 'Fin de siecle' literature with the pessimistic expectation of the next century. The idea of an island as the last retreat is reasonable. Maybe this is the origin of it and the idea to organize an expedition using the idea of a treasure hunt.

 

[Bocaj]

I finished reading the "Wings of the Morning". No doubt whatsoever this is the island described in the Palmer Maps! Including the Yunnan Parchment. Details from all the maps are in the book. So this is a verifiable solution for anyone with half a brain to see.

Still I tend to think that Shiel owned or created those maps and Tracy took the details and inspiration from them to write his story. The details in the book are less realistic than in the maps. Geological details most of all. For example the book gives the depth of the lagoon at 20 fathoms (it couldn't have sharks in it otherwise) - not really believable - but I could never find any details on the maps that pointed to something just out of imagination.

In any case your discovery should get the deserved attention even if it leaves still questions to answer.

 

[Cryptid1990]

Shiel's biographer Harold Billing died before he could publish the third volume covering Shiel's late years (1924-1947). Did Shiel ever correspond with Hubert Palmer? In 1932, Shield moved to West Sussex, the neighbouring county of East Sussex (where Palmer resided).

Correction: Billings actually published the third volume (as notes) but it is very difficult to obtain (limited to 85 copies); Ossuary for M.P. Shiel - The Final Years 1923-1947 (Bucharest: Mount Abraxas/Ex Occidente, 2016). However, Hippocampus Press has recently published M. P. Shiel: A Biography (2026) by Harold Billings, containing the final volume:

Billings wrote two volumes of a biography, M. P. Shiel: A Biography of His Early Years (2005) and M. P. Shiel: The Middle Years 1897–1923 (2010), published by Roger Beacham, Publisher (Austin). He was unable to complete the third and final volume, and the extensive notes for it were published as An Ossuary for M. P. Shiel: The Final Years, 1923–1947 (Bucharest: Mount Abraxas/Ex Occidente, 2016).

Hippocampus Press is proud to publish this biography in a single volume. We have made some modest revisions—such as the placement of separate introductions to each volume at the beginning of the book—to facilitate reading, and we have also consolidated the bibliographical references and placed them at the end of the volume. We hope that this omnibus edition of a landmark biography will foster interest and scholarship on a neglected master of weird fiction and also demonstrate Harold Billings’s lifelong scholarship on and devotion to M. P. Shiel.

I will probably buy this book to read the Final Years but I already got access to volumes 1 (Early Years) and 2 (Middle Years) and downloaded them as digital books. The Middle Years documents that Shiel was a plagiarist:

Another scandal was attached to his name by the time he left prison. Stewart Edward White (fast becoming a very popular and successful American novelist) wrote a letter to The Bookman, New York, included in “ The Bookman’s Mail Bag,” of the May 1915 issue. He stated that the short story “ One Man in a Thousand,” by Shiel, published in The Red Magazine in the January 1, 1915 issue, was an almost verbatim copy of White’s story “ The Two-Gun Man,” filched from his book, Arizona Nights (1907). He was correct. Shiel changed the name of the cowboy and tinkered with the grammar in a few spots, but otherwise his story was a total piracy of White’s work. White said the editor of the Red Magazine, John R. Scott [i.e., Stock] was asked by White’s agent to comment, and Stock wrote White in response, "...I beg to inform you that naturally when I accepted the story ... I did so on the understanding that it was an original story. Nobody had been more amazed than myself that a writer with the reputation which Mr. Shiel holds could have stooped to such a gross and wicked piece of plagiarism. I have been in communication with M. P. Shiel, but, unfortunately, cannot gain any satisfactory reply to my letters. I must express my extreme regret that such a thing should have happened, and will communicate with you again immediately I hear from him." Stock’s response to White was included with White’s letter to The Bookman. The editor concluded, “ Now, why do you suppose that a man with a fair literary reputation and somewhat of a market should do such a thing, jeopardising his reputation and his chance of selling anything in the future? It is certainly a conundrum.” Shiel, of course, was in prison.

Oddly, the fact Shiel plagiarised other authors (namely Stewart Edward White) was rarely publicly commented on at the time:

It is very strange that there was never a public comment made about Shiel’s plagiarism following the reference to it in the Bookman. Perhaps the war washed such news away. Shiel’s new writing became focused on the plays.

There was an expose of his plagiarism in only a single publication. Shiel was imprisoned 1914-1916. He had financial troubles for many years, before and after his imprisonment, to the extent he sporadically sold his furniture. In 1899, he wrote: "I am on the point of selling my furniture, rather of giving it away." In 1901, he was so desperate for money, he sold his first wife's umbrella:

They weren’t awfully enthusiastic over the umbrella at the pawnshop though I sang its praises and preached it like a religion. They even asked me, with ill-concealed suspicion: “Is it yours?” I replied: “Yes—or rather it belongs to Her, and She and I are One.

As I noted earlier, the main reason Shiel collaborated with Tracy was to make money. Some of Shiel's short-stories were "hackwork" written solely for income. After being released from prison in 1916, he temporarily turned to plays or film-scripts instead of writing new short stories/novels, probably to avoid attracting criticism over his plagiarism. He did not start writing fiction again until 1922.

Perhaps it is not surprising that Shiel’s work on short stories and other fiction was quiescent for the five or six years following his release from prison. Instead, Shiel tried his hand at converting several of his novels into plays for the cinema, and wrote at least one new play. He approached his nephew, Leonard Horsford—Cyril’s brother—asking for possible contacts.

In 1919, he married his second wife (his first wife died). His second wife was quite wealthy, so throughout most of 1920s he was financially secure and traveled across Italy but they separated in late 1928 or early 1929, and he had financial troubles again. He then made up the Redonda hoax as a publicity stunt. In March 1929 Victor Gollancz Ltd published revised book editions of The Purple Clouds (1901), The Lord of the Sea (1901) and The Last Miracle (1906). No one published Shiel's plays or film-scripts so to make money he revised texts of his earlier best-selling novels. As part of the publicity with these book revisions, Shiel wrote a pamphlet and made up the Kingdom of Redonda story, now eccentrically claiming he was a king of the island Redonda. In the early 1930s, Shiel complained about living in near-poverty.

In 1931, he met John Gawsworth who later helped him get a civil list pension in 1935. However, it was a modest sum and Shiel continued to have money-related problems up to his death in 1947. A letter from the Horsham District Council on May 25, 1935 noted he was a debtor.

Another correction:

In 1932, Shield moved to West Sussex, the neighbouring county of East Sussex (where Palmer resided).

He moved to West Sussex in 1930, and was living in a cottage near Horsham, he called "L’Abri" (Shelter).

To summarise:

• He collaborated with Louis Tracy and would have been familiar with the fictional Rainbow Island.
• He invented the Redonda hoax as a publicity stunt in 1929 around the time of the Kidd-Palmer maps.
• He was a proven plagiarist, was imprisoned for two years and was rumoured to have been involved in fraud.
• He had financial issues throughout most his life and was desperate for money.
• He sold furniture.

Could he have sold the furniture pieces with the Kidd-Palmer maps (that bear a remarkable similarity to Rainbow Island)?

 

[Cryptid1990]

Louis Tracy's book was originally published in the UK as Rainbow Island (1903). I have tried to compile all editions/reprints:

• First edition by London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1903; illustrations by Fred Pegram. No dust jacket. Red ink on title page.

I recently bought a copy (not yet arrived by post). There is a drawing of the island on one of the early pages near frontispiece.

The image of Rainbow Island is a "View from the North West" and shows the lagoon in the foreground and central ridge as a backdrop (the southern beach is hidden and out of view). You can see the crescent-shape and the coast on the northern side of the island (the foreground shoreline in the drawing) appears "like concave side of a bow" (as Tracy describes it [on page 56]), very closely resembling the Kidd-Palmer maps. By "View from North West," this means the perspective or line of sight of the observer looking toward the island from that position. When looking from a northwest position, the annotated North Cape (on the Skeleton Map's right) actually appears on the left side (both the drawing and Skeleton Map have a rock promontory titled North Cape [Edit: see my post here for a map in Tracy's book - Oliver D. Smith].)

• Reprint by Ward, Lock & Co., 1904. Sixpenny paperback edition.

The paperback edition was also published in the now scarce The Collected Works of Louis Tracy (T. Sealey Clark; Ward, Lock & Co., Limited; F. V. White & Co., Limited; C. Arthur Pearson LTD; Digby, Long & Co 1904-07, London, 1904.)

• Reprint by London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1910s (?); colour pictorial dust jacket.

• Reprint by London: The Romance Book Club, 1910; dust jacket.

The Romance Book Club frequently partnered with Ward, Lock & Co. in London.
"London: Ward, Lock & Co" appears on the publication or copyright page, alongside a "Romance Book Club Edition" imprint.

• Reprints by London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1910-1920s; with London and Melbourne copyright.

Ward Lock & Co., had a branch office in Melbourne, allowing them to distribute reprintings across Australia.

• Reprints by London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1920s; more compact format (post-WWI 'economy edition').

The primary text was condensed from the original 350+ pages into 256 (or 257) pages.

• Reprint by A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1930; colour pictorial dust jacket.

The book was alternatively published under the title Wings of the Morning in America. My next post will list the US cover editions/reprints.

Edit: I won't further update or correct this post. For more reprints and editions, see my later posts in this thread.

 

[Cryptid1990]

I finished reading the "Wings of the Morning". No doubt whatsoever this is the island described in the Palmer Maps! Including the Yunnan Parchment. Details from all the maps are in the book. So this is a verifiable solution for anyone with half a brain to see.

Still I tend to think that Shiel owned or created those maps and Tracy took the details and inspiration from them to write his story. The details in the book are less realistic than in the maps. Geological details most of all. For example the book gives the depth of the lagoon at 20 fathoms (it couldn't have sharks in it otherwise) - not really believable - but I could never find any details on the maps that pointed to something just out of imagination.

In any case your discovery should get the deserved attention even if it leaves still questions to answer.

I am trying to find if there are any more drawings or maps of Rainbow Island in different editions/reprints of Tracy's book. The island depicted in the Kidd-Palmer maps is undoubtedly Rainbow Island but I agree that there are still questions to answer: (1) who was the person who drew the Kidd-Palmer maps? (2) who (if anyone) sold the furniture pieces (with the maps) to Arthur Hill Cutler? (3) is there a link between the Kidd-Palmer maps and the Redonda hoax? (4) why were the Kidd-Palmer maps based on Rainbow Island? and (5) is the hoax much more elaborate or are we missing something? There are more similarities between Rainbow Island and the Kidd-Palmer maps I have not yet discussed, and I keep finding more. I am currently in contact with someone who works at the National Maritime Museum and I am trying to gain access to documents that might provide some of these answers especially relating to the provenance of the maps.

I think these answers could be solved a lot quicker if certain forum posters admitted they were wrong, retracted their disproven ideas or claims; collaborated or shared information and started doing research on the right track. However, we have already seen Oak Island Sage's response. Oak Island Sage must have read this thread but he is still falsely claiming the Kidd-Palmer maps were drawn by Captain Kidd. There is really no hope for these people. I predict CapnGeorge will not either admit that he is wrong even though he clearly is - since the geographical coordinates on the Skeleton Map were copied from Tracy's cannister map. Nothing to do with Pinaki atoll or Cadiz meridian.

Cryptid, part quote.....provides no credible evidence and plays around with Lat and Long figures......Far-fetched ideas' Unquote.
Ideas based on fact! And the evidence: I posed the question earlier: where do you think the figures 9.16 and 31.30 come from on the Key chart? Strange that no one could come up with an answer.

This can now be answered: from the cannister map drawing in Tracy's book.

In contrast, to remind readers here is what CapnGeorge was preposterously claiming:

No one wants to admit that, of course, when you apply Wilkins simple Key code of one, you get the coordinates of Pinaki when applying the Cadiz meridian. We are, of course, dealing with a Spanish treasure, not Kidd's. The longitude relative to London (not Greenwich) is now 138. Easy so far?? More evidence that is not credible? Read on; the Anson/Webb letters.....Latitude thirty degrees eight minutes...Anson obviously meant to recognise 38, Webb was confirming he went to 138. The Figure 19 appears in the same letter. The Scorpious star clue; when you can read a star chart, the figures 112 and 26 come out, adding to; 138! Well, fancy that! And his rubbish Mar del maps, he made the false 'direction' figures different to draw your attention to them (what's your reason? You claim to have all the answers). First lines on both maps are 69, adding up to 138! Well I never, can't believe it! The figure 19 also appears to confirm. (what's your explanation if you don't agree? I can see your mind working overtime to try and find a way of rubbishing everything so far!). and Wilkins 1940 article, what I call the 'Fat Eel Map'. How do you explain the drawing of a ship blowing up? You can't can you. I can. Read Webb's letters, he describes how he had to blow his ship up. Proving Wilkins knew all about it. The Spanish derrotero? If you know what that is. Geometric construction, i appreciate not everyone can work it out. When you can, 131.30 appears twice to confirm Pinaki and landing place. I didn't create or draw this, so you are going to have a hard time rubbishing this one! Wilkins story relating to Nova Scotia and the totally 'out of place' and obscure reference to the characters 'EIE KIDD 1670'. Wilkins puts his clues all over the place, this is another one, and alphanumeric, ignoring the '0' (nothing), 19 and 139 appear, 139 is the longitude centre of the Pinaki group. Charles Howe spent years on Pinaki at 138 and 19. Why this particular atoll, and not any one of the hundreds of others? The Spanish code signs were here, (another confirmation) but he couldn't understand them. And finally, completing the circle, the monument at Lord Anson's home, having deciphered the code on it, why do you think it decodes out to 138 and 19? What else is that code going to decode out to? So are you going to say that all the above is coincidence and rubbish? I didn't make any of the figures up. They are there, staring you in the face. You should open your eyes and look at the bigger picture and recognise that whilst Wilkins could tell a good story, he knew how to pull the wool over your eyes. He fooled you and everybody else. I will also point out that all the arguments about Wilkins and Palmer's letters etc, play no part whatsoever in the above, proving what I have said all along, to get to the centre of what these charts are all about, and to solve the 'treasure' puzzle, you just need the numbers!

 

[Bocaj]

I am trying to find if there are any more drawings or maps of Rainbow Island in different editions/reprints of Tracy's book. The island depicted in the Kidd-Palmer maps is undoubtedly Rainbow Island but I agree that there are still questions to answer: (1) who was the person who drew the Kidd-Palmer maps? (2) who (if anyone) sold the furniture pieces (with the maps) to Arthur Hill Cutler? (3) is there a link between the Kidd-Palmer maps and the Redonda hoax? (4) why were the Kidd-Palmer maps based on Rainbow Island? and (5) is the hoax much more elaborate or are we missing something? There are more similarities between Rainbow Island and the Kidd-Palmer maps I have not yet discussed, and I keep finding more. I am currently in contact with someone who works at the National Maritime Museum and I am trying to gain access to documents that might provide some of these answers especially relating to the provenance of the maps.

1. For what it is worth each person involved come with their set of skills: one a reporter, another one a plagiarist and an antique dealer skilled in "enhancing" furniture. None of them seems to be very creative. For me it seems we know who copied, reported and packed them. None of them created them - this would be my working hypothesis for the time being.
2. This is still the question to answer as from what I read so far in the book there is no prove that the maps where created from the book and not the other way around.
3. Shiel sold his furniture and that is where he possibly came into contact with Cutler. Shiel provided the maps and Cutler the furniture. Maybe the lady as well. Just guessing wild.
4. Possibly the motivation. Providing a way to get investors finance an expedition to Redonda or as I feel to some other similar island he did focus on before.
5. As I said maybe the other way around. As inspiration for a novelist who had access to them over Shiel. Otherwise I would have difficulties to explain the effort to create the maps for a different story (Kidd) based on some of the shelf fiction.
6. We are missing the island. I am quite convinced of its existence. I think this island is somehow special and not easy to access that why publishing the story and later the maps were done to get treasure hunters to invest into an expedition. Also as a possible cover story as it is easy to explain why some eccentric treasure hunters enter in some waters that could be restricted as many uninhabited island are to the present day.

I think these answers could be solved a lot quicker if certain forum posters admitted they were wrong, retracted their disproven ideas or claims; collaborated or shared information and started doing research on the right track. However, we have already seen Oak Island Sage's response. Oak Island Sage must have read this thread but he is still falsely claiming the Kidd-Palmer maps were drawn by Captain Kidd. There is really no hope for these people. I predict CapnGeorge will not either admit that he is wrong even though he clearly is - since the geographical coordinates on the Skeleton Map were copied from Tracy's cannister map.

I would not get my hopes up and I mean this in general - even if you publish your findings most will ignore it and continue to advance all kind of complex theories. Face the fact: yours doesn't make money!