The Treasure Point Caves
At the entrance to Man-of-War Bay on the right hand side is a rocky spit called Treasure Point. On the seaside of Treasure Point in Privateer Bay there are several caves that are flooded by the crystal clear Caribbean Sea and inhabited by tropical fish and vacationing snorkelers. There is a legend about treasure having been discovered in the late 19th century.
It is said that Henry Creque of Anegada Island found treasure in the caves which is what prompted him to buy the Norman Island in 1894. His initial investment of forty pounds brought the Creque heirs several million dollars when the island was sold to its current owner, Dr. Henry Jarecki.
One story that supposedly took place in the 1850s, was related in the June 22, 1889 issue of The Daily Light of San Antonio, Texas. It described the caves at the entrance to Man-of-War Bay:
One morning about thirty years ago a fisherman of one of the Virgin Islands arrived at Road Town, Tortola, the capital, with a story that a large schooner was anchored off the coast of Norman’s Island and that her boats were moving along the shore. The island being uninhabited, there could be no question of smuggling; nevertheless, the circumstance was so extraordinary that an expedition was at once organized to investigate.
On arrival off the point indicated by the fisherman, the schooner was, sure enough, in sight, but was already far off, making all sail to the westward. A dim suspicion of the real facts of the case induced the party now to extend their investigations into the “Bat Hole,” a deep sea tunneled cavern extending far into the bowels of the island, and that bore the reputation of having been the treasure vault of pirates in olden days. Tradition peopled the place with ghosts and other undesirable inhabitants, and so nothing could induce the fisherman to colonize despite its excellent fisheries.
The old fisherman took the exploring party to his own settlement nearby, and there they were furnished with boats, torches, etc, and thus equipped they made sail once more for Norman’s Island. They entered the cavern despite the protests of thousands of bats that rushed around the torches. On either side was a narrow sandy beach sloped from the perpendicular walls, leaving a channel of more or less uniform width, in which the boat could with difficulty be turned. After a search of half an hour or so, the explorers came to a spot where the solid wall of the cavern had only recently been attacked with a pick. The pick itself lay prone on the pile of debris that littered the beach below.
On closer investigation, the debris was found to consist of mason work, and to have formed the walling up of a vaulted chamber sunk into the rock, about four feet square. Scattered about among the fragments were found a few pieces of Spanish gold and silver coin and a jeweled sword hilt, together with a sheet of paper, on which were written explicit instructions for the finding of the vault, in which it was stated that a vast quantity of treasure had been stored away by Captain Kidd and some of his companions.
There was nothing mysterious about the paper. It was simply a memorandum, far more exact than grammatical in the instrument it contained, written on an ordinary sheet of foolscap paper. Attached was said to be a chart of the island, but this was not found. As there were no means of obtaining the identity of the schooner no action could be taken in the matter by the local government. But that a long hidden piratical treasure had been carried off there was no room to doubt, in the face of the discoveries made. As to its having been Capt. Kidd’s may of course be questioned, but there does not appear to be any reason to doubt the assertion of the memorandum that had so truthfully guided the treasure hunters to the goal of their desires.
The real caves today bear little resemblance to the preceding description. What is consistent however, when there are tales of treasure there is usually exaggeration. One thing for sure was that it was Owen Lloyd, not Captain Kidd, who started the treasure legends of Norman Island.
Captain David DeCuir of the charter yacht, Antiquity, was my guide at Norman Island. I made six trips to Norman Island and all were with Captain Dave. His experience and knowledge of Norman Island were invaluable in preparation for my book Treasure Island: The Untold Story.
Dave can be found at
http://www.sailantiquity.com. Anyone who would like to go to “Treasure Island” should look Dave up.
It was here on November 13, 1750, that the bulk of the treasure stolen from the Spanish galleon, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, disabled at Ocracoke Inlet, was buried. One hundred years later, on November 13, 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson was born. He would write a classic adventure story of returning to recover that treasure in 1881 which is known today as Treasure Island. In this book, Stevenson gives the treasure map which describes the treasure buried by Captain James Flint on August 1, 1750. 
In real life, it was Owen Lloyd, born in Flintshire, Wales, and last living in Hampton, Virginia, and his peg-legged brother John, who stole the treasure. Treasure Island: The Untold Story is the prequel to Stevenson’s classic.
? argh 
