Article Summary

THC is attempting to verify the tale of William Desmond as given in Cayce reading 996-1 in 1927. The story tells of a mutiny led by Desmond on board a schooner, his robbery of a shop-keeper in a settlement near Jamestown, Virginia, and his escape down the Atlantic coast to Bimini, all in March of 1839. Desmond and his crew were shipwrecked on the 22nd, and they erected a building on South Bimini in which they made a cache of considerable value (120,000 gold coins, silver, and specie). We present information on possible shipwrecked materials at the Bimini Inlet investigated in 1970 by Hutton. These materials may be from the ship stolen by Desmond. In any event, we wish to verify as much as possible of the Desmond story before making further investigations on the ground at Bimini. We propose, therefore, to provide a reward of one ounce of pure gold to anyone who can verify any aspect of the Desmond story as given in reading 996-1. Details of this contest are given at the end of the article.