Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 12 March '86 j 19

r— Jersey Cape Historically I By )ohn Merrill |

No, they did not force people to "walk the plank" and yes, they were located sailing the waters of the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Pirates were plentiful in the'tfoastal waters of Cape May County during the 17th and 18th centuries. The infamous Blackbeard is said to have plied these waters, as did the notorious Captain Kidd. BOTH. BUT especially Captain William Kidd, reportedly deposited their ill-gained goods in the cedar hammocks along the Bay, along the banks of Dias Creek, as well as in the sandy soil of the barrier islands along the county's Atlantic Coast. Until relatively recently, a large cedar tree stood in Cape May Point known as 'Kidd's Tree' or 'The Treasure Tree'. It was under the boughs of this tree that Kidd was said to have deposited a fortune in gold, silver, and gems, and then returned to retrieve this prize. ALL THAT remained behind was a wooden pulley on a lower branch and an empty hole in the ground beside the tree. Pirates have been reported in Cape May County waters from the year 1699. From this area. * they seized unprotected cargo and passenger vessels bound to the larger eastern seaports. Some vessels were even hijacked on their way to other sections of the world, Fisherman's Cap This authentic Creek Fisherman's Cap is dashingly nautical. Of warm wool and nylon with classic braid trim. Country & Nautical Accents Village Shoppes Rio Grande, NJ. (609) 886-52 14 HAVE WE GOT ANEW LOOK FOR YOU! The woy you ve Otwoyi wonted your hok to look. . •onrosnc design, yet eosy to core tor. RIO GRANDE AREA! HAIRPORT 211 SCHOOL LANE RIO GRANDE 886-8021 CALL HA THY Oft JULIE OMEN TUES. THftU SAT.

including the Caribbean and Europe. A FEW OF the local pirates were nice enough to deposit passengers on the shores of the county, even though there were newspaper reports and county reports of men being killed and women being shot. / Those individuals for-^ tunate enough to land on our shores were often sent to their destination by the goodwill of the local inhabitants or by the wayfaring unfortunates' promises for repayment of costs. LOCAL ORAL and written history even recalls a black pirate who upon capture and court testament, settled in the Lower Township section of our county where he, too, was claimed to have buried a treasure near a cemetery Later, legend says, he retrieved his money and used it to help a newly developing church community. He passed away at the age of 105 after living an exciting life. EXACTLY HOW many ships were taken, how many people never made the total voyage, how many men became "bound", or agreed to service in the pirates' cause or face the punishment of death, or how much money was lost because of their presence will never.be known. Examples in earlier papers abound with written evidence of Cape May's pirates. August 17, 1712, a newspaper from Boston (Boston Newsletter) stated i that a sloop bound from I Jamaica to New York City I was attacked by pirates off I our coast and sacked of "...48 Hogsheads of Rum and 48 Negroes..." as well as four of her crew who were sent to the Caribbean. The rest of the sailors were put on our shore. ON JULY 26. 1722, a sloop with Capt. John Swain of Cape May, advised a Philadelphia official that a "pyrate" vessel was sitting in Delaware Bay for unwary customers for three weeks off the coast of Cape May and near Cape May shoals. For nearly one week. Philadelphia did not see a large cargo vessel. When a ship attempted to leave Philadelphia for St. Christopher's Island in the Caribbean, it was attacked and looted three times off Cape May and had to return to Philadelphia. MENTIONS ARE also made, in 1740, of a ". . .black sloop" thought to be a Spanish pirate vessel which had captured a ship heading to Philadelphia. The captain of the pirate fleet claimed to have caught 13 vessels in Cape May waters, sending four to his home port, and sending the remaining nine to Davy Jones' Locker. Also in the 1740's a French pirate ship was seen in our waters grounded on a shoal and in the process of removing some of her less important cargo in an effort to free herself. IN 1748, a Boston-bound vessel from South Carolina was chased by a pirate sloop towards Philadelphia after leaving the coastal area of Cape May County. With the pirate gaining on the cargo-passenger vessel, the captain of the

S.C. ship put ashore on the Delaware Bay coast of Cape May The pirate was reported to have been Don Joseph Hautenoan. WHAT IS certain is that Cape May County was a hideaway and resupplying stop for pirates, as well as ^ the more refined traveler. ^ So many pirates rested in Cape May that a special notice was sent to our county by the West Jersey Society (the governing body of the western division of New Jersey) informing county officials that they had heard of the rumors that pirates were being allowed to rest in Cape May County and that the society would not tolerate such behavior. NOT ALL pirates were from outside our shores. We even had brigands in our county that can be known as 'wreckers'. The wreckers would lure a ship's pilot at night to sail his vessel into the breakers and onto the beaches, where they would then 'wreck' the vessel and remove all valuable materials. (ED NOTE: Merrill teaches social studies at Lower Cape May Regional High School and has lived in the county since 1975. If you're interested in a particular historicql item, write him care of this newspaper. P.O. Box 430, Cape May Court House. NJ 08210)

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