The question remains did he see the maps?
There was a claim The Palmer-Kidd maps were actually sold to a partnership in Canada (Toronto) in 1956, not in 1950 (which was the date of the initial approach.) the maps were in a safety deposit vault in Winnipeg. I imagine that the partners may no longer be alive, and it's surprising that nobody has heard of the maps in the past 50 years, in view of the widespread interest and the possible change of ownership
. ( this above is not confirmed )
It has been claimed R.A. Skelton definitely saw only one of the maps (the Skeleton Map, or Key Chart), as he informed Rupert Furneaux by letter. He certainly didn't buy the maps, and he certainly didn't confirm their authenticity to Furneaux. T
he British Museum Map Room (now at the British Library) has no record of the inspection, and no copies - and they show not a little irritation when asked about them.
(Note this is what I found to be very strange? If these maps was real the British library would snapped these maps up?)
Rupert Furneaux claims Elizabeth Dick sold all four maps in 1950 to an Englishman who later moved to Canada. Author Rupert Furneaux contacted the owner of the maps who told him 'The charts are fading badly.'
Source: [Money Pit - The Mystery of Oak Island by Rupert Furneaux, Fontana/Collins, 1976, page 43]
Rupert Furneaux below
News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 2 July 1952, page 25 reported the following. (Sorry for terrible copy.)
Gippsland Times (Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Monday 13 November 1950, page 1
Here is the above newspaper below. ( save your eyesight)
Captain Kidd's Lost Treasure
IN the South China Sea there is an uninhabited island about one mile long from tip to tip. It is shaped like a boomerang with the two points enclosing a lagoon and on the Southern side of the island there is a coral reef, writes
David Leader in "Answers." It is not large enough to find recognition on any maps except the largest navigating charts, but this is probably the island where the notorious Captain Kidd buried gold and precious stones to the value of something over £ 100,000.
I have just seen four charts written on faded parchment which identify the island as the one where Kidd buried his fortune. Either they were made by Kidd himself, or they are a very elaborate joke by one of his contemporaries? I believe that the maps are genuine, designed and probably drawn by Kidd, and that they hold the key to his treasure.
The charts belong to Mrs. Elizabeth Dick, a pleasant Eastbourne householder. She inherited them from her employer, Mr. Hubert Palmer, who discovered them when he started a collection of pirate antiques. Mrs. Dick has never doubted that the maps are genuine. "Before the war." she said. "Mr. Palmer and Sir Malcolm Campbell were organizing an expedition to recover it.
But then the war broke out and they had to put it off. "By the time the war was over, all except Mr. Palmer were dead. And he never got around to organising another party. "We used to meet in this room while we were planning the trip. They made a lovely picture. Four grown and sensible men, poring over the maps and looking as excited as schoolboys !"
Palmer had believed in the maps sufficiently enough to arrange an expedition to the other side of the world on the strength of them. And he had also refused an offer of £3,000 from an American syndicate who wanted to make the journey. Mrs. Dick has had several bids for them, too: but for the time being she is not selling. I asked her if she intended to go and find the treasure herself.
The intriguing story behind four ancient charts which may lead their owner to a pirate's hoard.
"Me?' she echoed. "No: I'm too old to go treasure-hunting. Sometime, when there is not so much trouble in that part of the world, I hope another expedition will be formed. But when they go. I shan't be with them."
PIRATE OR PRIVATEER? I made some remark about pirate's gold, and back she came at me: "Pirate? Kidd was no pirate. Every penny he buried on the island belonged to him. "He was a privateer, the same as Drake or Prince Rupert. If you call Kidd a pirate you must call Drake the same." The distinction between privateer and pirate was never a large one.
Privateers were commissioned to earn money for the King, and as long as they appeared regularly and paid their dues, no questions were asked about where the money came from. Kidd was a good sailor and a successful privateer. He earned enough money to retire and spend the rest of his life in luxury while he was still comparatively young.
But in his enthusiasm he over-stepped the bounds of privateer and committed several acts of undeniable piracy. Then it seems he had a premonition of his fate, for he took his share of the spoils and buried them on his island. According to Kidd's own estimate the value of his hidden treasure was something over £ 100,000.
Today it would be worth infinitely more. Kidd was no fool, and he cover-er his tracks well. So well, in fact, that for over 200 years no-body suspected his hiding-place. He did not rely on his own memory, however. He had a weakness for making maps, and rather a genius for hiding them. So he mapped his island and marked the hiding-places with circles. Then he hid the maps in the most awkward places he could think of. Two of them he hid in his sea chest, each in a separate compartment. One compartment contained a map of the island, with the other had written directions on how to find the hiding-place.
One was no use without the other. A third map he hid behind the glass of an ornamental mirror, and the master-map, containing complete directions and map references, he hid in a work box belonging to his wife. ( Why has it got WK on it?)
FACED FOUR TRIALS He probably made more maps of the island. If so, they remain undiscovered. But there was enough evidence in the master map alone to pin-point every one of the four hiding-places. When Kidd was eventually captured he had four separate trials: one on a charge of murder and three on charges of piracy.
He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to hang —a verdict that many historians have considered unfair. While he was awaiting execution. Kidd volunteered to retrieve the treasure. His terms were that if he were granted a parole he would recover the treasure and give himself up afterwards.
The offer was refused, and in 1701 Kidd, protesting his innocence to the last, was executed. It was more than 200 years later when Mr. Palmer started his collection of pirate relics. VALUABLE RELICS
Mrs. Kidd's work box was handed down through her family and eventually sold to a dealer, who in turn sold out to Palmer. He acquired the mirror in the same way.
The sea chest was taken by the chief gaoler at Newgate Prison, ( that might be confirmed in the archives?)
while Kidd was awaiting execution. It stayed in his family until 1932, when the last surviving member sold it to Palmer. So eventually nearly all Kidd's relics came into the possession of the same man. Palmer must have had some in-tuition about Kidd's maps, for in each of these relics he found charts. I looked at them.
Two were just plain outlines of the island. without any compass bearings or directions; the third consisted only of written directions for what was presumably the main hoard. The master-map was larger. The parchment was yellow and mottled with age, and the drawing had merged with the dark parchment until in parts it was almost impossible to make out the outline.
MOST LIKELY THEORY Below the map was a compass bearing and a latitude and longitude reading —incidentally, the only one in the whole set. Round the border directions were written in the same spidery hand that had drawn the map.
Mrs. Dick showed me a letter from the British Museum vouching for the age of this map. It is quite possible that the treasure never really existed. If so, the maps were a very elaborate joke, and the joker was taking a lot of trouble for nothing. But by far the most likely theory is the obvious one. Two hundred and fifty years ago Captain Kidd, pirate, buccaneer, or privateer, buried his fortune and made maps of his hiding place. And centuries later Palmer discovered those same maps. If this is so, Mrs. Dick is sitting on the only clues to more money than she could hope to spend in a lifetime.
David Leader is reporter of the story
Crow
