Captain Kidd Ship Found

The wreckage of a pirate ship abandoned by Captain Kidd in the 17th century has been found by divers in shallow waters off the Dominican Republic, a research team claims.

The underwater archaeology team, from Indiana University, says they have found the remains of Quedagh Merchant, actively sought by treasure hunters for years.

Charles Beeker of IU said his team has been licensed to study the wreckage and convert the site into an underwater preserve for the public.

It is remarkable that the wreck has remained undiscovered all these years given its location, just 70 feet off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic in less than 10 feet of seawater.

"I've been on literally thousands of shipwrecks in my career," Beeker said. "This is one of the first sites I've been on where I haven't seen any looting. We've got a shipwreck in crystal clear, pristine water that's amazingly untouched. We want to keep it that way, so we made the announcement now to ensure the site's protection from looters."

The find is valuable because of what it could reveal about William Kidd and piracy in the Caribbean, said John Foster, California's state underwater archaeologist, who is participating in the research.

Historians differ on whether Kidd was actually a pirate or a privateer — someone who captured pirates. After his conviction of piracy and murder charges in a sensational London trial, he was left to hang over the River Thames for two years.

Historians write that Kidd captured the Quedagh Merchant, loaded with valuable satins and silks, gold, silver and other East Indian merchandise, but left the ship in the Caribbean as he sailed to New York on a less conspicuous sloop to clear his name of the criminal charges.

IU Anthropologist Geoffrey Conrad said the men Kidd entrusted with his ship reportedly looted it and then set it ablaze and adrift down the Rio Dulce. Conrad said the location of the wreckage and the formation and size of the canons, which had been used as ballast, are consistent with historical records of the ship. They also found pieces of several anchors under the cannons.

"All the evidence that we find underwater is consistent with what we know from historical documentation, which is extensive," Conrad said. "Through rigorous archeological investigations, we will conclusively prove that this is the Capt. Kidd shipwreck."

The IU team examined the shipwreck at the request of the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional De Patrimonio Cultural Subacuático.

"The site was initially discovered by a local prominent resident of Casa De Campo, who recognized the significance of the numerous cannons and requested the site be properly investigated," said ONPCS Technical Director Francis Soto. "So, I contacted IU."

Byrne is a splendid writer. He died way too young. I have most of his books.

A lot of people think that Messer Marco Polo is his best book -- but I think Destiny Bay is his best by ten lengths and going away, an expression he would probably use himself. It's really a collection of short stories gathered together in the frame of a family living in Northern Ireland around the turn of the last century. It has everything - horses, racing, gypsies, a Spanish treasure (and a couple of Spaniards to go with it), a Chinese lady, and many other interesting and instructive things! He captures very nicely the speech and manners of the country people in the north.

I posted this capsule review awhile back:

Donn Byrne was an Irish author of the old style (he was actually Irish-American, but he moved back to Ireland and was fluent in Gaelic) and his novels are period pieces, (the period being very late Victorian/early Edwardian) but beautifully written.
Destiny Bay (1928) is set in rural Northern Ireland, and concerns the fortunes of the local landed family. Narrated by the nephew and heir of the house, Kerry MacFarland. Lots of local color, some great horse racing adventures, gypsies, bare-knuckle boxing, a larger-than-life uncle Valentine, the gentle Aunt Jenepher, and a touch of the supernatural.
Opening:
My aunt Jenepher, who is so beautiful, and is blind, was sitting on a marble bench in the herb garden, whistling, and I was standing by her. I would have you know that my aunt Jenepher is the best whistler in the world; it is one of the many gifts vouchsafed her for the loss of her eyes. She was imitating the clear liquid trill of a blackbird,and the blackbird himself, a fat rascal who had been gorging on the cherry trees, was hopping about in front of her on his inadequate yellow feet, his glossy head nearly as glossy as my aunt Jenepher's , now cocked on one side now on the other, puzzled and a little angry that a mortal lady had stolen his dance music, while in the hawthorn bushes his consort gave loud squawks of dismay.
"Now who the devil - " said I, for I had been looking down the drive, and had seen my uncle Valentine - "now who the devil has he with him now?"
My aunt Jenepher turned around and faced the drive. Her beautiful pale hands lay quietly in her lap and she was as though dreaming. "I think I can tell you, Kerry," she said. My aunt Jenepher had the faculty of seeing people without her eyes. I always felt that she left her body,she stood outside it, and in some mystical way saw people soul to soul. An expensive Dublin physician, with side whiskers, once told me that this was rot, that the human organism has eyes everywhere, in the back of the head, as the saying is, and in the finger tips. They only need developing, and in my aunt Jenepher's case they are developed. I have given a lot of thought to this, and I have decided that the expensive Dublin physician, and his side wiskers, can go to - but need I be explicit? My aunt Jenepher saw people soul to soul.
"It is a very old man," said my aunt Jenepher,"and a very feeble one. A very great nobleman, Kerry, and a very poor one. And - "
"And the boy, Aunt Jenepher?"
"The what, Kerry?"
"The boy in the clothes that are much too big for him."
"Is very noble," said my aunt Jenepher, "and good and very poor."

On Donn Byrne.

Aunt Jenepher

I hope we are not overstaying our welcome here (laughs). Up I goes to the attic. I lay my hands on- The Fireside Book of Boxing,edited by W.C.Heinz. Simon and Shuster. New York 1961. Page 57.

Tale of James Carabine. Fiction by Donn Byrne.

Carabine is the servant to Aunt Jenefer. He meets with a humiliating defeat in the prize ring to a Canadian. A disgrace for old Ireland.

For the return match, old Shadrach Kennedy, trains Carabine. Ah the cruelty of his trainer...... Well, perhaps you have read it. Old Ireland's honour satisfied.

Capt. Kidd has often been linked to the Oak Island money pit treasure.

Stories had been in existence since the 1600’s that Captain William Kidd had buried a hoard of treasure to be found on an island “east of Boston”. Legend told of a dying sailor in the New England Colonies who confessed to being a part of Kidd’s notorious crew, but he never named an exact location for the hidden booty.

The three individuals who initially suspected treasure on Oak Island must have considered that they could have been on the verge of discovering Kidd’s lost bounty.

Skeptics claim that Kidd spent little time near Nova Scotia, suggesting that he could not have devoted enough time to construct the money pit. An original chart of Kidd’s was dated 1699, a time when he would have only been 20 years old.

It seems unlikely that Kidd would have accumulated a large bounty at such a young age. However, it is known that Kidd did bury an amount of treasure on Gardener’s Island near the eastern end of Long Island Sound, but the Governor of New York quickly seized this.

Rich New Jersey businessman, Gilbert Hedden made a link between the money pit and pirates when exploring the island in 1936. He discovered a large triangle of beach stones laid out in shape of a rough sextant, which pointed in the direction of the pit.

Fascinated by his find, Hedden researched pirates’ activities in the Nova Scotia area. Using charts printed in a book by Harold Wilkins entitled ‘Captain Kidd and his Skeleton Island’ Hedden learned of Kidd’s exploits. He even consulted the English born author who was unable to help, having only seen Kidd’s original charts just once and since had drawn them from memory.

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