ye Mystery of Captain Kidd

Down through the ages no pirate's name has been trumpeted louder, from Portsmouth to Hollywood, no pirate's exploits are more often recounted, no pirate's buried treasure is more eagerly sought after, than that of the terrible Captain Kidd.

William Kidd was born in Scotland in, or about the year 1655 the son of Reverend John Kidd. Of his early life we know little, but in 1689 Kidd arrived at St. Nevis already a Captain of privateers. In this career he was probably successful for the record shows that he was regularly commissioned by the government of New York and by privateer syndicates. As he neared the end of his working life, Kidd married well and prepared himself to lead a quiet secure life in New England society. Unfortunately for Kidd he was pressured into leading one last privateering expedition.

In January, 1696, King William III issued to his "beloved friend William Kidd," a commission to apprehend certain pirates, particularly Thomas Tew, William Maze, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, and "all other Pirates, Free-booters, and Sea Rovers of what Nature soever."

This privateering venture was financed by a syndicate headed by Lord Bellomont, new Colonial Governor of New York, and included Kidd himself. The articles of this syndicate were, in almost every detail, seemingly designed to force Kidd and his crew into piracy.

As usual, the expedition was supposed to pay for itself and to pay it's backers out of the plunder captured. But instead of the typical privateering share-out of 60% to the crew and 40% for the Captain and backers, the booty from this ill-starred venture was to be split three ways, 60% for the backers, 15% for Kidd and his partner Robert Livingston, and only 25% to divide amongst the crew. [Kidd was even under orders to attempt to persuade them to accept less !]

What was odder still was that Kidd and Livingston would be obligated to pay back every shilling of the investor's money should this unlikely venture fail. A sum that they could never reasonably hope to raise.

That an experienced privateer like Kidd would accept such impossible terms was either a sign of madness, or proof of the pressure he was under at court to undertake the commission. [To be fair to Kidd, there is evidence that he tried to wriggle out of this venture at every available opportunity. Unfortunately, he didn't try hard enough.]

A small three masted square rigger, appropriately christened, Adventure Galley was bought and fitted out for the cruise. Kidd was provided with a handpicked crew of sailors with wives and families. [It being reasoned that this sort of man would be less likely to turn pirate.] In the first of an incredible series of unlucky turns of fortune many of these men were taken off the Adventure Galley by the Royal Navy shortly after she left England.

This left Kidd with little choice but to sign on a new crew in New York, then a notorious pit of blackest pirate depravity. Having now shipped a crew of pirates Kidd set out to hunt down their shipmates lurking in the Red Sea.

'Determined to take only legal prizes , Kidd infuriated his crew by letting ships with English passes sail away unplundered. Following a fizzled out mutiny, a gunner named William Moore argued with Kidd. In the heat of debate Kidd threw an iron shod bucket at Moore. The bucket struck him in the head. Moore died of a fractured skull the next day. This did not improve the temper of his mutinous crew.

Eventually Kidd was able to settle his men by capturing several ships with French passes, which Kidd believed could be reasonably claimed as prizes. [The line between piracy and privateering was fuzzy at best and many ships had been legally condemned by the prize courts on slimmer pretexts than possession of French passes.] Among the ships taken was the Quedah Merchant out of which Kidd took at least £10,000.

Back in England nothing was known of Kidd's adventures, but in 1668 rather ugly rumors of Kidd's acts of piracy began to circulate. These tales of piracy sparked a political scandal when the identities of his powerful Whig backers came to light.

In December of the same year a general pardon was offered to pirates operating in the Indian Ocean who would surrender themselves. There were two notable exceptions- namely, the famous pirate Captain Henry "Long Ben" Avery and Captain William Kidd, who was now likewise branded an arch pirate.

Dews of his new status reached Kidd in April of 1699. Naturally Kidd was worried. He sailed at once for New England to lay his case before his patron, Lord Bellomont.

Unfortunately, even if he had wished to, the public scandal in England made it impossible for Bellomont to protect Kidd. So the much abused Kidd was put in prison to await transportation and trial while his treasure was quickly rounded up for benefit of the crown.

Kidd arrived in England after a long voyage locked in a steerage cabin, temporarily insane and generally unfit to stand before the Admiralty. He was taken to the 500 year old Newgate prison, to languish there in unspeakable filth, for nearly two years until his trial.

Once his trial began Kidd was not permitted to testify in his own defense. Nor would he be allowed council, or to call witnesses to speak in his defense. What's more the French passes on which his whole defense rested were withheld from him. [The passes turned up 219 years later at the public record office.] In light of damning testimony from two of his former crewmen, [who really were pirates and were pardoned as such after Kidd's trial] the Justices, not surprisingly convicted Kidd on all counts.

He may well have spoke the- truth when Kidd remarked in reply to the verdict; "My Lord, I am the innocentest person of all, only I have been sworn against by perjured people."

Kidd was executed on May 23rd, 1701, at Wapping. He went to his maker, on the second attempt, reeling drunk and thoroughly unrepentant. His body was left where the tidal waters of the Thames could flow over it three times as Admiralty law required. Then what was left of Kidd was bound in chains, painted with tar, and hung up to swing in the wind by the riverside, on Tilbury Point, as a warning to others considering a career of professional piracy. Kidd's grisly monument was visible for years afterward.

If we were to judge Kidd the pirate, by his achievements, we must put him amongst the second, or even the third rate practitioners of that craft. He took only two or three prizes, and those might well have been legally condemned.

More is known about Kidd than is known about any other famous pirate of the golden age. Most of his peers are known to history only through the few brief facts surrounding their achievement of celebrity at the end of an Admiralty rope. Yet for all these inconvenient facts, Captain Kidd still fascinates us to this very day.

ALAS, there were no romantic swashbuckling adventures, and worse luck no treasure either. The only mystery about the life of Captain Kidd, is that there was ever any mystery at all. After all is said and done, I think I preferred the fiction.

Oh, and in case you're interested, there is still a pew bearing William Kidd's name in Wall Street's famous Trinity Episcopal Church.

By DC SMITH


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