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William Kidd
1645 - 1701
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William
Kidd, the semi-legendary pirate and one of the most colourful of all
outlaws, is reputed to have been born in Greenock around 1645. Although
there are no local records confirming this fact, it is stated in the
'Newgate Calendar' by Andrew Knapp and William
Baldwin,
attorneys-at-law, London 1824.
This calendar is said to offer evidence
not brought out in Kidd’s trial in 1701: “Captain John (sic) Kidd
(called William at the trial) was born in Greenock and bred to
sea. Having quitted his native country, he resided at New York”. His
date of birth is estimated from the fact that he was approximately 56
years of age when he was executed. The authority of the
'Newgate
Calendar' is generally accepted by Kidd’s biographers, the
Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Dictionary of National Biography.
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Kidd’s
early career is obscure and little is known of him until
1689 when he was sailing as a legitimate privateer for Great
Britain against the French in the West Indies and off the
coast of North America.
In 1690 he was an
established sea captain and shipowner in New York City, where he owned
property. In London in 1695 he received a royal commission to apprehend
the “Indian Ocean”. Kidd’s failure to take a prize ship meant that
under the terms of the privateer’s contract no pay for the captain or
crew was provided. Kidd decided to turn to piracy. After an unsuccessful
start, Kidd took his most valuable prize, the Armenian ship “Quedagh
Merchant”, in January 1698 and scuttled his own unseaworthy “Adventure
Galley”. Kidd was denounced as a pirate and a murderer following an
earlier incident when he mortally wounded his gunner, William Moore by
hitting him violently over the head with a bucket. He left the “Quedagh
Merchant” at the island of Hispaniola (where the ship was possibly
scuttled and disappeared with its questionable booty) and sailed to New
York where he tried to persuade the Colonial governor of New York of his
innocence.
He was, however, sent to England for trial, and found guilty of the murder of Moore and five indictments of piracy. Important
evidence concerning two of the
piracy cases was suppressed at the trial, and some observers later
questioned whether the evidence was sufficient for a guilty verdict.
Kidd was sentenced to death
and his execution was carried out on May 23, 1701 on the gallows in
London.
The rope broke on
the first attempt, but his executioners were not put off, and the rope
held the second time, killing William Kidd.
Proceeds
from the effects and goods taken from
Kidd’s
last ship, the “Antonio” were given by
Queen
Anne to Greenwich Hospital in 1705. Some
of
his treasure was later recovered from Gardiners
Island
off Long Island.
One of the
main reasons that his notoriety has outlasted his life is that he is
believed to have buried much of his loot from the 'Adventure Prize' in
several places, much of which was found during his life or shortly after
his death. The largest deposit is thought to have been buried somewhere
up the Connecticut river, although to this day it has never been found.
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