William Kidd: "The Unlucky Captain"

Captain Kidd's story serves as a cautionary tale, warning of the dangers of privateeringand of the blurry line between that occupation and outright piracy. In December, 1695, a privateering vessel named the Adventure Galley was launched at Deptford, England, on the Thames River. The ship was to sail around Africa and destroy pirates operating in the Red Sea and to harass French shipping there. She was commanded by William Kidd, an experienced captain and privateer. The Galley's maiden voyage was beset by ill luck and delay. Upon departure Kidd promptly lost almost half of his crew to the English navy's press gangs and was forced to make up the missing men by recruiting the dregs and scum of New York harbor. It took five long months for Kidd to make the voyage around Africa, and on arrival he immediately lost another fifty men to a tropical disease. By the time he reached the Red Sea the surviving crewmen were almost in open mutiny and Kidd was ready to resort to almost any means to keep them in line. Unfortunately, most of the French shipping had been driven out of the area, and all Kidd encountered were neutral vessels. But Kidd was desperate, probably fearing for his life, and he attacked and captured a number of neutrals, believing (or hoping) that ambiguities in their ownership and papers made them legitimate prizes. On January 30th of 1698, Kidd encountered the Quedah Merchant. Owned by Armenians and flying under false French colors, the Merchant was one of the richest prizes ever taken at sea. Kidd was enormously pleased with his good fortune - until he discovered that the Merchant had an English captain, which made his attack an act of outright piracy. In horror, Kidd ordered that the ship be freed, but his crew angrily refused. Instead, they sailed the ships to the African island of Madagascar and divided the plunder (surprisingly, they gave Kidd a full privateer captain's portion of 40 shares). Then all but a handful of men deserted Kidd for another pirate in the area. Convinced that he was an innocent victim of the actions of his mutinous crew, Kidd took the remainder of his men back to New England, where he hid some of his treasure before reporting to the local authorities. The authorities made Kidd reveal where he had hidden the treasure, then shipped him back to England in irons. After rotting in prison for a year, Kidd was put on trial. He was quickly found guilty of piracy and sentenced to be hanged. Even then his bad luck didn't desert him: the rope broke and it took his executioners two tries to kill him. (Incidentally, this is the only known instance of a pirate burying any substantial amount of treasure. Most everybody else spent their loot as quickly as they got it.)