The history of this island, located just across the channel in a northerly direction from Peaks Island, dates back to the year 1635 when a lease was given to George Cleeves and Richard Tucker by Sir Fernando Gorges, the King of England’s Representative. Diamond Island is one of the earliest settled parts of our state. There is an old chart dated 1760 that shows farm buildings on the south side of the island. One can still see the remains of an old graveyard with unmarked stones. The deep water near Diamond Cove was believed to be the area in which Captain Christopher Levett, the first white man to explore Casco Bay, anchored his vessel in 1623.
Sir William Phips, the greatest treasure hunter of all time, also anchored at Great Diamond before going to the Louisburg campaign.
There is a particular area that should be examined carefully. This spot is almost directly across the channel from Trefethen’s Landing of Peaks Island. Here you will find an old abandoned ruin of a farmhouse cellar. This old cellar belonged to one of the oldest farms on the island. I most certainly would check this area very thoroughly, as articles of real interest may still be in the vicinity. Check the old brick walls then the inside area, after which proceed to go over the grounds surrounding the cellar. Some of the ancient tools and implements may be waiting for your metal detector to bring them to light.
At the beginning of this chapter I mentioned George Cleeves and Richard Tucker. They were the founders of Portland, Maine, so this section of Casco Bay is a hub of the wheel of history in this bay and the state itself. The south shore is the side towards Peaks Island and the metal detector should be used along the beaches and high ground on this side of the island. Don’t forget to check around any large trees that stand alone, as the Indians liked to bury their dead in these areas. Stone clubs, tomahawks and grain grinding tools might be in the immediate vicinity.
Looking back over the history of this island it wouldn’t be too far fetched to imagine the landing here of pirates, maybe to take on fresh water and lumber. Speaking of pirates, I would check the south-easterly end of the island, as this section is the closest to the open sea, a good landing spot for a longboat coming from the old galleon itself anchored a few hundred yards from shore. It could be a locality where a little pirate loot may be buried, who knows?
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.