In later years, a colorful legend grew up around the story of William Kidd, including reports of lost buried treasure that fortune seekers have pursued for centuries. Convicted on all counts, he was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701. The Tories used the trial as a political opportunity to embarrass his Whig sponsors, and the latter chose to give up Kidd as a scapegoat rather than back his possibly correct claims to legitimacy. In 1701, he was tried on five charges of piracy and one charge of murdering a crewman. Intending to clear his name, he sailed to New York and delivered himself to the colonial authorities, claiming that the vessels he had attacked were lawful prizes. From there, he traveled to the West Indies on the Quedagh Merchant, where he learned of the piracy charges against him. Mary’s, Madagascar, an infamous pirate haven. Suspicions that he had turned to piracy were apparently confirmed when he sailed to St. LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS: Captain Kidd and the Nazis Word of Kidd’s capture of the boat, which was loaded with gold, jewels, silk, sugar and guns, aroused significant controversy in Britain, as the ship had an English captain. The expedition met with little success and failed to capture a major prize until February 1698, when the Quedagh Merchant, an Indian vessel allegedly sailing under a French pass, was taken. Now, I know how life is in these parts, working a trade sunup to sundown. My name is Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, and Im here tonight to bring you news from across this great world of ours. Its good to be back with you all here in Wichita Falls. In 1696, Kidd sailed to New York aboard the Adventure Galley, enlisted men for the mission, and set sail for the Indian Ocean. Captain Kidd : Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. In 1695, while on a trip to London, the recently appointed governor of New York commissioned him to defend English ships from pirates in the Red Sea. At various times he was commissioned by New York and other American colonies to rid the coast of enemy privateers. That was the broad stretch of the river that curves around the desolate point.At London’s Execution Dock, British privateer William Kidd, popularly known as Captain Kidd, is hanged for piracy and murder.īorn in Strathclyde, Scotland, Kidd established himself as a sea captain before settling in New York in 1690, where he bought property and married. It would have been visible there for an hour or more as the ships navigated Sea Reach. The body of Captain Kidd was left suspended at Tilbury Point on the lower reaches of the Thames. It was the custom to display the corpses of the more notorious pirates at places along the river where they would be seen by the crews of all ships entering and leaving the port. The body's lasted this long because they were covered with tar to protect them from the elements and birds. After the symbolic triple drowning his body was taken to Tilbury Point where it was left to hang in chains for over two years. A new rope was hastily thrown around his neck and he was eventually hung. Still drunk, and now covered in mud, he had to be helped to his feet and man-handled back on to the gallows for a second time - the praying Chaplain in attendance. As the cart was drawn away from the scaffold, the rope around Kidd's neck broke, leaving him floundering in the Thames mud as the other condemned men hung. Kidd spoke from the gallows and warned all ship-masters to learn from his fate. William Kidd, or Kidd was born into a reputable family, probably in Greenock on the River Clyde (although some have made competing claims for Dundee as his. He was found guilty at the Old Bailey and was hung at the Execution Dock in Wapping before being drowned under 3 tides (usual for pirates). He died within 24 hours from his fractured skull, and on Kidd's return to London he and nine of his crew were arrested. This is where pirate Captain's Kidd's body was hung for 2 years.ĭescription: Captain William Kidd's body was hung here in a gibbet after death for more than 2 years.Ī Scottish merchant and privateer, Kidd (1645-1701) was undone when he landed in Madagascar and struck his gunner William Moore with an iron bucket.
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