William Kidd (22 January 1645-23 May 1701) was a pirate hunter and privateer from Scotland who himself was accused of piracy. Kidd operated in the Indian Ocean, and he was executed for piracy in 1701.
Biography[]
Privateering[]
William Kidd was born on 22 January 1645 in Dundee, Scotland, and he was a seaman's apprentice on a pirate ship. By 1689, he was a member of a pirate crew in the Caribbean, and he took over the ship Blessed William in a mutiny, destroying the town of Marie-Galante and looting the treasure there. Kidd worked as a privateer for England during the War of the Grand Alliance, capturing an enemy privateer, and he built Trinity Church in New York City with his friend, Governor Benjamin Fletcher. In 1695, he was ordered to attack French ships and track down pirates such as Thomas Tew, and King William III of England himself issued him letters of marque for this quest. He captained Adventure Galley as a privateer, but he made forays as a pirate himself due to failing to locate any pirates.
Failed piracy and execution[]
Kidd's attack on a Mughal Empire convoy in the Red Sea was repelled by an East Indiaman, and he was faced with constant threats of mutiny due to his repeated failures. On 30 January 1698 he raised French colors and captured the 400-ton Quedagh Merchant from Armenia, and his crew forced him to keep the ship even after he protested due to the ship being captained by an Englishman. Robert Culliford went on to recruit many of Kidd's pirates, and he had only 13 crewmen left on his ship at the end of his career. He burnt the worm-eaten and damaged Adventure Galley after scavenging the metal, and he deposited some of his treasure on Gardiners Island in the Caribbean after finding out that England was seeking to capture him. On 6 July 1699, he was arrested in Boston under false promises of clemency, and he was hanged in Wapping, England in 1701 and his body displayed in a gibbet.