The supposed 'death' of James Drummond 6th Earl of Perth as he fled to France seemed to go unnoticed by any historians at the time, in fact it was some years later that accounts of his supposed death at sea were first printed, when, there would seem reason to believe, such report was promulgated by interested persons, to serve a particular purpose. The only 2 works in which this 'death' was reported were Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, and Dr Malcolms Genealogical Memoir of the House of Drummond. The wording of both accounts bear a striking similarity except for the supposed date of death, leading one to assume that perhaps one of them was just a reworded copy of the other. Douglas dates this death as 11 May 1746, while Malcolm gives the date as 13 May 1746. Douglas makes his claims without any evidence, proof or authority whatsoever and does not even say where his information came from. Dr Malcolm on the other hand goes into more detail, and with that detail shows up the story for the lie that it is. He asserts that after the death of the Earl aboard ship, his body was kept for some days as his shipmates attempted to turn back towards Britain to bury him, but with the winds against them they finally decided to bury him at sea. With this statement he expects the reader to believe that a ship full of rebels fleeing for their lives, having been lucky enough to escape the search parties scouring the ports for them, would hold the Earl in so much respect that they would gladly sail back into danger just to bury him !.

As strange as it may seem the person who most sheds the doubt on this absurd story is Malcolm himself. As evidence for the claim of Thomas Drummond he states that he penned his account of the Earl's death from information given to him while writing the Drummond history for Lady Clementina Drummond, and that these facts were not in accordance with the general reports from Perth that he had heard, namely that James Drummond had survived and that he was known to visit his forfeited castle of Drummond and the estates in Strathern, disguised as an old beggar. He also stated that he distinctly remembered being told by Mrs Sommers, the daughter-in-law of Patrick Drummond of Drummondernoch, a close friend of the 6th Earl, that the Duke had been seen skulking around the castle after Culloden and lived for a time in the neighbourhood in concealment. Malcolm also gave evidence that it was local knowledge that the Earl from time to time visited the area and spent some time with his tenantry. He said "That this fact is notorious in the district of Strathern" but that after such a long time it would be hard to get anyone to swear that they heard their parents say so out of fear of insulting Lord and Lady Gwydyr,( then in possession of the estates), who were well liked. Malcolm also stated that he contemplated re-publishing his work with the view to correct all former mis-statements concerning the death of the Earl. His admittance that he published an account of the death of the Earl knowing full well that it was a falsehood and his attempt to redress that wrong by giving evidence for Thomas Drummond surely de-bunks the myth that the Earl had died aboard ship. A final point is that the story had been given to him by the Lady Clementina who was also Lady Gwydyr and the daughter of the false heir to the estates, it would appear that subterfuge and dishonesty was hereditary in that family.