Captain William Kidd was a Scotsman who in 1690 accepted a commission from an Englishman named Richard Coote, earl of Bellamont, to protect the earl’s ships against pirates. However he himself became a pirate, probably because he was unable to resist the temptation of seizing the immense wealth of the ships off the east coast of Africa. When there was a warrant for his arrest, he traveled to Oyster Bay, Long Island and then to Boston in order to justify his acts to his benefactor. Bellamont however would hear none of his excuses and sent him back to England where he was tried and hung for piracy. Some of his treasure was found on Gardiner’s Island at the end of Long Island. Legend has it that after his death some of his crew members who were originally from the Highlands, got a ship and began the trip up the Hudson. The ship reportedly was run aground in a gale and the crew fled into the hills with some of the treasure. It was said that their ship was lost just off Dunderberg Mountain.
At one time a vessel set anchor off of Dunderberg Mountain and found that the anchor was lodged on something. It turned out to be a small cannon. Rather than assuming it was from a British vessel left over from the war, the sailors speculated that this was a part of Captain Kidd’s sunken treasure. From this slim evidence over $22,000 was raised and a company formed to recover the supposed treasure. None was ever found and all who invested their money lost everything.
Part of the legend of the treasure of Captain Kidd is that he went up a mountain somewhere in the Highlands with his great mastiff dog. He buried the treasure and then killed his dog and buried him on top of the treasure so that any who came upon it would dig no farther.