William Kidd

 William Kidd was born in Scotland in 1645.  His early history is unclear, but he seems to have immigrated to the Colony of New York as a young man.  In 1689, he was a crewmember on a pirate vessel in the Caribbean.  The crew mutinied and sailed to the British island of Nevis, where they offered their services to the British Governor, Lord Codrington.  The Governor authorized the vessel, renamed Blessed William, and its crew to engage in privateering against French vessels.  William Kidd was elected captain.  Their efforts were successful, as Nevis was defended and the Blessed William was credited with capturing approximately 2,000 pounds Sterling from the French.  Captain Kidd returned to New York, married a wealthy widow, and became friends with the new Governor, the Earl of Bellomont.  The Earl arranged with Captain Kidd to travel to London, where a group of wealthy and high-ranking Whigs arranged for King William III to issue him a letter of marque to attack pirates and French vessels in the Indian Ocean (then, as now, the hotbed of piracy).  For his pirate-hunting expedition, Captain Kidd acquired the unique Adventure Galley, a 284-ton three-masted vessel equipped not only with 34 cannons, but also with oars and ports cut in its side, for use during periods of calm.  As the vessel, with its experienced and hand-picked crew was departing down the River Thames, it was stopped by a Royal Navy warship and many of its best crewmembers were pressed in naval service.  Captain Kidd was thereby required to sail to New York to acquire replacements – ending up with a scurvy lot.  The Adventure Galley departed New York in September 1696, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and entered the Indian Ocean in search of pirates.  A number of crewmembers died of cholera, leaving Captain Kidd again short-handed.  Pirates proved hard to locate and the undermanned ship was unsuccessful in attacking vessels that put up a vigorous defense.  Captain Kidd got into a fight with his gunner, who wanted to attack a Dutch ship (which would be a clear act of piracy), hitting him in the head with an ironbound bucket, fracturing his skull, and killing the gunner.  Captain Kidd, possibly in an act of desperation, attacked and captured an Armenian merchant vessel off the coast of India on January 30, 1698.  The Quedagh Merchant turned out to be a rich prize, carrying gold, silver, and valuable silks.  Captain Kidd transferred operations to the merchant vessel, renaming it the Adventure Prize, and abandoned the Adventure Gallery.  He sailed to the Caribbean, where he allegedly buried some of his ill-gotten gains and cached his ship.  He then took passage toward New York.  He is alleged to have buried more treasure on Gardiners Island.  Captain Kidd then arranged a meeting with Governor Bellomont, who had Kidd arrested in an effort to save himself from accusations of piracy.  Bellomont had Captain Kidd shipped in chains to London for trial.  By that time, Kidd’s original backers were out of favor.  The Parliament called Captain Kidd to testify, trying to persuade him to identify his backers.  When Kidd refused to name names, he was sent to stand trial in the High Court of Admiralty on charges of piracy and murder of his gunner.  Evidence that Kidd hoped might acquit him disappeared (only to be found 200 years later misfiled in government records).  Captain Kidd was convicted of five counts of piracy and one count of murder.  He was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701 on Execution Dock at Wapping.  His body was gibbeted – placed in an iron cage and exhibited for twenty years at Tilbury Point on the River Thames as a warning to would-be pirates.   In 2007, the wreck of the submerged Quedagh Merchant/Adventure Prize was located off the coast of the Dominican Republic.  If anyone has found his allegedly buried treasure, they are not talking.  The trial and gibbeting of Captain Kidd garnered him long-lasting infamy as a quintessential pirate.  Ironically, he was one of the most reluctant and unsuccessful pirates of the era.