CHAPTER XVII

POND ISLAND

In the vicinity of Harpswell you will find a small island that became one of the most treasure explored islands in Casco Bay. Here we find, if we check our legends of the islands, the spot of land in our island studded bay that is said to be the location of the Boston Pirate Low's hidden treasure chest. To tell you a little about this I will go back to the year 1726. At this time Pirate Low was sailing in and around Casco Bay as he was preying on the northern shipping lanes.

A Spanish galleon named "Don Pedro Del Montclova" left South America with a treasure of gold and jewels bound for Spain. She sailed up from South America and reached the Florida Keys, then just as she started to cross the Atlantic, a British gunboat gave chase.

The galleon swung off her course and headed north along the Atlantic Coast until she finally outran the gunboat. She was now at the entrance of Casco Bay and her Captain thought that this would be a good location in which to hide among the many islands. What he did not know, however, was that Pirate Low was anchored in Casco Bay and saw the Spanish galleon coming around the point.

Low boarded the galleon, killing the crew and sinking the ship. He then knew from talking to the Spanish crew previous to their killing, that the British gunboat was on its way to the bay. Low decided to hide the treasure as fast as he could. He landed on Pond Island and threw the chest of gold and jewels into the fresh water pond that is there. He knew the location of the pond because he had been there before to fill his water casks.

After hiding the treasure he immediately left the vicinity ahead of the gunboat. He was later captured and hung, so he never came back to claim his hidden booty.

Many treasure hunters have gone over this island and land surrounding the old pond, but to my knowledge nobody has located this cache of gold and jewels. The pond itself is now dry, I understand. Maybe the treasure is deeper than average; instead of four or five feet deep, this one could be fifteen or twenty feet deep. It is a problem in geology, just how the wind and rain change the terrain in so long a time.

I would say that a pretty sensitive detector should be used in this area in order to reach real depth.

This preceding tale is mostly legend passed down through the years, but who knows whether or not it is all legend?

I would give this island a very careful examination with my instrument if I were you. There's just no telling what is there.