06/25/2025
Some more Captain Kidd history from our friend Shipwrecked with Captain Marrow - 2.0 👇🏻
- Kidd's Gold Blanket -
Stashed away within the Sylvester Manor of Shelter Island, adjacent to Gardiner's Island, New York, is a remnant of fabric gifted to the Gardiner family by Captain William Kidd during his interactions with the Gardiner family about burying treasure on the island. The inside of the small box contains a note stating:
“a piece of the ‘Gold Blanket.’ Presented by the Pirate Kidd to Madame Gardiner of Gardiners Island,” and later “…presented by Mrs. Kimball to Mrs. Horsford, descendants of [illegible] Gardiner.”
The scrap of fabric itself measures only 4 3/8 x 2 ½ inches and consists of green and yellow fabric and is made from silk, cotton, and gilded silver thread called "zari" meaning "gold." The fabric is thought to be Indian of origin, likely attained by the pirate Kidd via his assault on the Quedagh Merchant. This scrap of the original blanket exists because as the Gardiner family expanded and later intertwined with the Sylvester family of adjacent Shelter Island, the fabric was separated and gifted down through the family.
(pictured is the "Gold Blanket" scrap from Captain Kidd)
(Photography by Allison Donoghue
Source: Sequitur Volume 10, Issue 1; "A Piece of the “Gold Blanket”: Gardiner’s Island, Captain William Kidd, and the Gifting of Family History" by Allison Donoghue)
