It has been suggested the island's name is related to the sea shanty "Dead man's chest", probably first written by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island.
Stevenson found the name "Dead Man's Chest" in a book by Charles Kingsley and said "Treasure Island came out of Kingsley's At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871); where I got the 'Dead Man's Chest' - that was the seed".
Islands
Links: en.wikipedia.org
By: kjfitz