Captain Kidd's Treasure
Kidd buried treasure on Gardiners Island before his arrest. They found some—but he swore there was more.
- Category
- buried
- Status
- lost
- Year lost
- 1699
- Region
- Long Island Sound / Indian Ocean
- Country
- United States
The dossier
Captain William Kidd was not born a pirate. He was a respected Scottish sea captain, hired by the English crown in 1696 to hunt pirates and French vessels in the Indian Ocean. But somewhere along the journey, things went wrong. Facing a restless crew and slim pickings, Kidd began seizing ships himself—including the Quedagh Merchant, an Armenian-owned vessel carrying gold, silk, and spices worth a fortune. When Kidd returned to New York in 1699, he learned he had been declared a pirate. Before sailing to Boston to negotiate his fate, he buried a cache of treasure on Gardiners Island, off the eastern tip of Long Island. When Kidd was arrested, British authorities recovered about £14,000 worth of gold, silver, and gemstones from Gardiners Island. This treasure was used as evidence at his trial. Kidd was hanged in London in 1701. On the gallows, he reportedly insisted there was far more treasure hidden elsewhere—enough to buy his pardon ten times over. He offered to reveal the locations in exchange for his life. The offer was refused. Since his death, treasure hunters have searched across the Caribbean, along the New England coast, and on islands throughout the Indian Ocean. In 2015, a team working off the coast of Madagascar claimed to have found silver bars from one of Kidd's ships, though this claim was later disputed by UNESCO investigators. The bulk of Kidd's accumulated plunder—years of Indian Ocean piracy—has never been accounted for.
Cargo and value
Gold, silver, precious stones, silk, spices from Indian Ocean piracy
Legal status
Gardiners Island is privately owned. Any discoveries in US waters or soil subject to state and federal antiquities laws. Madagascar has asserted interest in any finds in its territorial waters.