The Trial of Captain Kidd: Pirate or Corsair?

Captain William Kidd was born in Dundee, Scotland, sometime around 1654, however he resided in Massachusetts where he owned a large home and began his career as a privateer. Privateers were not pirates, but licensed fortune hunters hired by various countries and dominions, including the American colonies. William Kidd initially went to sea and soon made a name for himself as a skilled and hard-working sailor. It was during 1689, when he was employed as a privateer, to capture French ships, that he took the first prize from him. The ship was later renamed Blessed William and placed under the command of the Governor of Nevis. He then arrived in New York just in time to save the governor from a conspiracy. While in New York, he married a wealthy widow. Not long after, visiting England, he befriended the Lord de Bellomont, who would be the new governor of New York. Such friendships allowed him to be well connected and as wealthy as any skilled sailor during the 17th century. In fact, it seemed like the sky was the limit for the young captain. Therefore, Lord Bellomont and some of his friends were influential in suggesting that Kidd be given a contract with a privateer that would allow him to attack pirates and French ships. It was during a time when England was at war with France and due to the dangers on the open sea, piracy was common. The suggestion was not accepted by the government, but Bellomont and his friends decided to finance the venture themselves and thus establish Captain Kidd as a privileged privateer to attack French or pirate ships on the condition that he share his treasure with investors. For this adventure he was given the 34-gun Adventure Galley and first sailed as a privateer in May 1696.

After some 18 months on the high seas, Kidd and his crew, unable to capture a French ship, were distraught. He was talked of mutiny, but finally, in August 1697, he attacked a convoy of Indian treasure ships, but was driven off by an East India Company warship. This was an act of piracy and is clearly not in William Kidd’s letter. Also, around this time, Kidd killed a mutinous gunner named William Moore by hitting him over the head with a heavy wooden bucket.

On January 30, 1698, Captain Kidd’s luck finally changed. He captured the Queddah Merchant, a treasure ship headed home from the Far East. It really wasn’t fair game as a prize because the ship was an Armenian-owned Moorish cargo ship, captained by an Englishman named Wright. Supposedly, he sailed with French documents: this was enough for Kidd, who sold the cargo and divided the booty with his men. The holds of the merchant ship were brimming with valuable cargo, and the prize for Kidd and his pirates was 5,000 pounds, or more than two million dollars in today’s currency. Kidd and his pirates were rich men by those standards. Setting out for Madagascar and the Indian Ocean, an island known to be inhabited by pirates, he and his crew found very few French ships to take. About a third of his crew fell ill and died of disease, while the rest grew sullen from lack of prizes. More than two years had expired and the treasure had not been released to Massachusetts investors.

Not long after, Kidd stumbled upon a pirate ship captained by a famous pirate named Culliford. It is unknown what happened between the two men. According to Captain Charles Johnson, a contemporary historian, Kidd and Culliford greeted each other warmly and exchanged supplies and news. But during this exchange, many of his crew deserted him, fleeing with his share of the treasure while others joined the pirate Culliford. At his trial, Kidd claimed that he was not strong enough to fight Culliford and that most of his men had left him to join the pirates. He said that he was allowed to keep the ships, but only after all the weapons and supplies were taken. Regardless, Kidd traded the leaky Adventure Galley for the good Queddah Merchant and sailed for the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, news that Captain Kidd had taken up piracy reached England. Bellomont and his wealthy friends, who were very important members of the Government, quickly distanced themselves from the company. Robert Livingston, a friend and fellow Scot who knew the King personally, was deeply involved in Kidd’s affair. Meanwhile, Livingston turned on Kidd, desperately trying to keep the promoters’ names secret. Bellomont managed to publish a proclamation of amnesty for pirates, but Kidd and Henry Avery were specifically excluded from it. For this, some members of the old crew would later accept a pardon in exchange for testifying against Captain Kidd. When Kidd arrived in the Caribbean, he learned that the authorities considered him a pirate and decided to go to New York, where his friend, Lord Bellomont, could protect him until he could clear his name. For this reason, he abandoned his ship and instead captained a smaller ship to New York. But as he neared the colonies, as a precaution, he buried his treasure on Gardiner Island, a site off Long Island in New York City. Arriving in New York, he was promptly arrested and Lord Bellomont refused to believe his stories of what had happened. To save his reputation, he revealed the location of his treasure on Gardiner’s Island and retrieved it.

After spending a year in prison, Kidd was sent to England to stand trial. Meanwhile, certain members of his crew gave testimony in Charleston, South Carolina, in the form of statements. In 1701, John Dove (or defoe), a sailor, swore that he was a passenger on the Adventure Galley ship under the command of Captain Kidd when they were in Madagascar and the Saint Thomas Islands of the West Indies. Sam Bradley, brother-in-law of Captain William Kidd, made an affidavit in Charleston, stating that he was opposed to becoming a pirate and that, although he was ill, he had been put ashore on the island of St. Thomas and left to die. . . Therefore, a year later, Bradley was pardoned by Governor James Moore of Charleston.

The sensational trial took place on May 8, 1701. Kidd swore that he had never actually become a pirate. But the investors and other parties involved managed to exonerate themselves and the weak evidence in the affidavits, as well as the death of Mr. Moore, a rebel gunner, was mounted against him and he was found guilty. Kidd now attempted to bargain for his life in exchange for most of the treasure mined from the Queddah Merchant. The authorities refused. Kidd was hanged on May 23, 1701, and his body was placed in an iron cage hung along the River Thames, where it would serve as a warning to other pirates. The site of the real treasure of gold and silver was never revealed, although Kidd insisted until the end of his life that he had buried another treasure somewhere in the Indies.