A Parallel Search - or the Same?

[Mrobey]

I’ve been criticised here for quoting from books predating The Curse of Oak Island because it's claimed that the work of the Laginas constitutes the only valid input worthy of consideration. Some here clearly believe that a literature review of a subject is of no value whatsoever.

However, extensive reading on and around the subject does provide a sound base for a better understand of current activity. It also provides a fair amount of information that The Curse of Oak Island hasn’t even touched upon.

Furthermore, some information that might have a bearing on the Oak Island quest tends to be dismissed as nonsense because it’s been presented by apparent wackos and crazies without the critics having bothered to track down its actual origins. To be fair, this is probably not achievable now, but it was possible when I began my research into the Oak Island mystery in the 1970s when some of the people involved were still alive.

One of the sources of this material enters the arena in the late 1920s and was accessible, to my knowledge, until the early 1980s. The information that surfaced was leaked from a file in private hands. This had been assembled during the 19th century and was a collection of documents pertaining to a treasure quest by prominent people in the late 18th century.

The copying and use of the leaked material by people with their own agendas created something of a confusion. This was not surprising, because even the owners of the file were unsure of the location of the island upon which the treasure had been concealed. In fact, they believed that there were several treasures because the file contained several outlines of the same island but with different instructions. They tended to believe that the island, or perhaps one of several islands, was in the Pacific - potentially Juan Fernandez.

I trust that this is starting to ring bells. Some of the leaked material came into the hands of a somewhat eccentric author, Harold T. Wilkins, who wrongly assumed that a Captain Kidd referenced in the file was the notorious pirate William Kidd. Unfortunately, Wilkins entirely misinterpreted the material he held, essentially three maps and some jotted notes, because he lacked context.

It should by now be appreciated that these leaked documents spawned the Palmer-Kidd maps and the Wilkins-Kidd maps. Wilkins believed that Palmer’s island was in the China Sea, but in 1937 became aware of the identity of the island associated with the maps he held when he was visited by Gilbert Hedden. After publication of the 1939 article in The Saturday Evening Post he was approached by Canadian prospector Patrick Nolan and introduced to Herman Westhaver in Nova Scotia.

This resulted in the publication in 1947 of a book concerning another treasure hunt in Nova Scotia, though this may well have merged with, or been confused with, documentation pertaining to Oak Island. In the event that this parallel search and its affinities with Oak Island might be of interest, information will be provided in a further post.

I should note that some 40 years ago I spoke to two people claiming to own portions of the file and saw some of the original material. I also hold a large portion of Harold Wilkins’ files and those of Rupert Furneaux who researched and wrote on the Oak Island mystery linking it with the so-called Kidd maps of both Wilkins and Palmer. He, too, appears to have been aware of a possible link between them, and their likely true association with Oak Island, but although he approached Wilkins he failed to get him to reveal their background (this is known from correspondence in their files).

I think if there was ever any money on that island the old cabbage farmer found it and spent it. It's been said that he paid for everything in gold and bought all those extra lots paying in cash with gold coin. Just a thought. Maybe completely wrong or maybe not. I guess unless they ever find something of real value we will never know. People have been robbing and stealing from each other and just plain hiding their money for ever. Who knows when the next big find will be. It might be in your own back yard. Good luck everyone on your next adventure I hope your dreams come true.

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

That old "cabbage farmer" was also a British soldier who took part in at least two town raids that allowed looting and pillaging. He bought the island plot(s) AFTER he already bought much property on the mainland.