Captain Kidd
Captain William Kidd (c. 1645-1701) was a Scottish privateer turned pirate who, despite only ever capturing one significant prize ship, has become legendary thanks to the persistent rumour he buried a fantastic treasure that nobody has yet found. Kidd was arrested, sent to England, and hanged in Wapping Old Stairs in 1701.
Captain Kidd was a most unlikely pirate given that he had received a royal commission for a privateering expedition in the Indian Ocean. Although Kidd did attack some small vessels which were not legitimate targets given the terms of his commission, his fate ultimately hung on his capture of the Quedah Merchant. A show trial in London deemed that Kidd was guilty of piracy since this ship, although perhaps sailing under a French flag, was no longer an enemy of England’s following the termination of the Nine Year’s War (Sep 1688 - Sep 1697) a few months previously. Ill luck, poor timing, and his abandonment by the publicity-shy English authorities who had backed his original mission, all ensured that Kidd was found guilty of piracy and murder. Not only was he hanged, but Kidd’s body was left to rot in public for years as a conspicuous warning to others.
Privateering in the Caribbean
Few details of William Kidd’s early life are known with any certainty. He was born c. 1645, the son of a Presbyterian minister. Traditionally, his birth town is given as Greenock in western Scotland. Kidd first began privateering in 1689 when he operated on the eastern coast of North America and the Caribbean. Privateering was the legitimate capture of ships and cargo from merchant vessels classed as enemies of a particular state. As captain of the Blessed William, Kidd attacked French ships, a legitimate target during the Nine Years’ War between France and England (and various allies). Kidd was part of the fleet that attacked Marie-Galante, one of the Guadeloupe islands, in December 1689. In February 1690, Kidd’s crew hijacked the Blessed William while their captain was ashore and sailed off for a life of piracy. Kidd, despite this setback, acquired the command of another ship, the Antigua, and he pursued the Blessed William to New York in 1691.
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