• Turbulent waters in Indian
Ocean
• Avery’s exploits
–Angered the local leaders and
made them cautious of the British
–Upset the East India Company
•powerful voice in English politics
• At roughly same time Captain Kidd
–buoyed by powerful patrons
• Had commissions allowing him to
enter region and capture pirates
• “The rewards for success danced
before him; the dangers of failure
did not warrant dwelling upon”
• Kidd headed south to tip of Africa
• First incident of bad luck hit Kidd
– Reaction to it soured relations with him and British Navy
• December 12, 1696
• Adventure Galley spotted a ship on the
Horizon to their rear
• Worryingly ship to the rear added sail
– As though to pursue
• Soon joined by three additional ships
– proved to be ship of the British Navy
• A sight to bring joy to the hearts of all on
board the Adventure Galley
– After all they had commissions from Britain
– But this was not the case
• The naval convoy
– led by Commodore Thomas Warren
• due to bad luck and inept leadership
– short of 300 men
• British Naval law time allowed navy to “request”
half the sailors from any merchant ship they came
across
•
•
o
e
a
t
w
loss of this many crew
members would hurt Kidd’s
ability
Still Kidd had no option but
to accept the offer to sail
with the fleet
• Sailed together
–Kidd dining each evening with
Warren and the other officers
• December 19, 1696 Kidd once
again dining on fine wine and
the best food available
• However, this was the night
that things would change
• Returning to the Adventure Galley
–Kidd and the crew noticed that the
wind had died as they entered the
doldrums
• Quietly ordering his men to the
oars
–quickly pulled away under cover of dark
• Morning broke
– Warren notified of the midnight flight
• Distraught and angry at the loss of
replacement men
• Referred to Kidd as “skulking” away
• Message passed on to Dutch and
British merchants in the cape colony
• Kidd “an old eminent West India
privateer”
– was in the region looking for prey
• Fearful of retribution from
Warren
• Bypassed cape headed
straight for Madagascar
– arriving on Jan 21, 1697
• Joined by the Loyal Russell
– slaver out of Barbados who
had called at Cape Colony
• Brought news
– Warren spreading the word
that Kidd was a pirate
• Kidd headed to
Johanna for supplies
– no success – no money
• Headed out careen
the Adventure
Galley
• crew dying of
disease
• Kidd headed back to
Johanna
– hoping to find new crew
• Second visit to Johanna more
successful
• Finds crew members with money to
loan
• Sailors with money to spare
– pirates?!?
• Kidd heads out again
–Red Sea and Pilgrim fleet
• Kidd settled in to Perim
Island
• Location treasure fleet
sure to pass by
• Also sent a scout to port
of Mocha 50 miles to the
north
– 17 ships ready to leave
• Few days later watcher
spotted the fleet
approaching
• Waiting for nightfall Kidd floated out and
joined fleet
– Waiting for an opportunity to strike
• Unfortunately a ship of the East India Co
had joined the fleet
– Well armed and with a aggressive captain
• Over the next few hours Kidd remained out
of the reach of the vessel
– finally fled the scene
• Any hope of a quick hit and a faster
disappearance disappeared
• Kidd consulted with the Crew
– Who were getting more frustrated
• Decided to leapfrog the fleet
• On this journey Kidd finally took actions
that confirmed him a Pirate beyond doubt
– He may have acted as one before but due to
various reasons had not committed piracy
• Attacked a Bombay trader flying English
colors, under Captain parker
• While Kidd was interrogating Parker for
information
• Crew members grabbed a number of
captives
– Tied wrists behind back
– Hoisted up on ropes
– Shoulders slowly pulled out of their socket
• Pirates also beat them
– For info and for pleasure
– Releasing tension
• Kidd then headed for the port of Cawar
• Negotiated with local officials
• Claimed to have been at Madagascar and
Johanna looking for pirates
– Didn’t mention the capture of Parker’s ship
– Parker was at this time confined in the
Adventure Galley’s hold
• Kidd headed out again
• Looking for a rich pilgrim ship
– Or pirates attacking one
• Ran into another East Indian Co Ship
– Loyal Captain
– Under Captain How
• Crew were all for taking Loyal Captain
• Kidd through force of will deterred
them
• Hoping he could still defend his
position
– Crew new better
• Heat, illness, lack of supplies, and
frustration
–challenge to Kidd on October 30, 1697
• William Moore chatting with
fellow crewmen about
taking a near-by boat
• Walking past
• Kidd called him a
– “Lousie dog”
• Reply
– “If I am a Lousie dog, you have
made me so; you have bought
me to ruin”
• “Have I ruined you, ye dog?”
Kidd – Howard Pyle
• Kidd swung a
wooden bucket
with iron hoops
• struck Moore in
the temple
–fracturing the
gunner’s skull
• Moore died the
next day
• After Moore’s death, Adventure Galley
took the Rupparell
– A large Moorish Ship
– Carrying French papers
• January 30, 1698
• Kidd and the crew finally got what they
were looking for
• The Quedah Merchant and a large
booty
– Carrying French papers
• After capturing large
prize Kidd headed into
port at Saint Marie
– Pirate stronghold
• Pirates eventually let
•
Kidd in after he
announced that
“I would have my soul
fry in Hell-fire”
– Before he would harm those
present
• Crew at this point insisted on
dividing out the
• Kidd kept a large portion of the
booty
–For his investors?
• After six tense months on the Island
• Kidd headed out again this time for
New York
• Most of crew had
deserted to other ships
– Pirates
• Kidd had moved onto the
Quedah Merchant
– Now the Adventure Prize
• Hoped that in New York
– Bellomont was Governor
• He could buy, bribe, or
hide his way out of
trouble
• This was not to be
• Kidd had sailed out in one era
–With influential backers, relaxed
attitudes toward pirates, and an
inefficient legal system
• And returned back into an new
and tougher era
–Where all the rules had changed
Kidd returns home
• After leading Madagascar with a skeleton
Crew Kidd headed back to the West Indies
• His first stop was Anguilla
• Where he filled up with water and food
• After that he headed to St Thomas
– rebuffed
• Managed to meet with merchant - Bolton
• Off loaded goods and traded ships
• After leaving the West Indies Kidd
headed North
• Arriving in Long Island in June
–Reunited with Wife and Children
• Begins negotiations with
Bellomont
–Bellomont in awkward position
• Eventually had Kidd arrested
• Bellomont tried
to find Quedah
Adventure
• Ship captain
brought back
piece of burned
rope
–All that was left
• Quedah found in
2007
Graduate Students Nicole Wiegand and Fritz
Hanselmann
• Kidd was now lost
• If he had hidden in West Indies
or Mainland America
–he may have been able to
disappear
• Now he was to be the scapegoat
for all the acts of piracy
committed by a generation of
pirates in the Indian Ocean
• Back in England Kidd’s actions had
been brought to the forefront of British
politics
• The powerful Whigs were losing
ground to the Tories
– Vote of censure for the Whigs conduct
was proposed
• Defeated but a sign of what was to
come came from Secretary of State Sir
James Vernon
Parliaments are grown into the
habit of finding fault, and
some Jonah or other must be
thrown overboard if the storm
cannot otherwise be laid
• September 1699
• News arrives in London that Kidd has been
arrested
– Ship sent out to bring him to London for trial
• Ill and beaten after the voyage in the winter
•
storm Kidd arrive in London in early 1700
Aware of what lay ahead he asked for a knife
with which to kill himself
– Denied
• April 14, 1700 taken to the Admiralty building
•
•
in Whitehall
Questioned for seven hours then taken to
Newgate Prison
“a bottomless pit of violence”
• March 27, 1701 interviewed before
Parliament
– Only pirate ever to do so
• Pawn of higher politics than the crimes he
•
had committed
Eventually when the prosecution had
collected depositions from numerous witness
– Including two slaves
• And important witness have arrived
– Including Coji Babba – Merchant on board
Quedah Merchant
• Kidd was told he had two weeks to prepare
his case
• Kidd asked for all papers that had been
taken from him to prepare his case
– Documents brought to him
• missing were the two documents that he
had been basing his defense upon
• The French Passports or Passes
– Kidd only claimed to have taken two ships,
both of whom, including the Quedah
Merchant, had been carrying French passes
• Making them legitimate targets
• 219 years later 1910
• Ralph Paine
– American doing
treasure hunting
research
• Found the passes
• They had been
– “misfiled”
– By the Board of
Trade
• Charged firstly with the murder of
William Moore
– Claimed self defense – against mutiny
• Charged with Piracy against the
Quedah Merchant and four other
vessels
• Jury from the first trial came back
and the second trial was interrupted
• Guilty of Murder
• Soon followed by Guilty of Piracy
• “My Lord, it is a very harsh
sentence. For my part, I am the
Innocentest of them all, only I have
been sworn against by perjured
persons”
• Kidd’s parting words to the Judge
• Claim of innocence he would
maintain to the last
• Friday May 23, 1701
• Kidd was taken to Wapping for sentence
to be carried out
– A full circle, it was in Wapping he had lived
when he first arrived in London in 1695
• In his last speech Kidd continued to berate
those he saw as responsible for his down
fall
• The hangman pulled the lever and Kidd
fell
– But not to his death
• In a final moment of drama the
•
rope had broken
New rope was quickly found and
on the second attempt Kidd
–
–
–
–
–
the
the
the
the
the
hero
husband
father
privateer
pirate died
• Crowd dispersed two men came
•
•
forward took down the body
Painted it with tar and placed it in
the cage in which it would remain
Hanging by the side of the Thames
as a warning to others
• Kidd’s story revolves around a shift in British
attitudes
• Privateers/pirates had, like so many other
occasions, helped to build an Empire
• However, with Empire built British merchants
needed more secure and ordered sea lanes
• Profit was through trade not plunder
• In 1701, spurred by Kidd’s capture and
forthcoming trial
• An Act for the More Effectual Suppression of
Piracy
– passed by both houses of Parliament
Literature and Pirates a Preview
• Kidd and Literature
• Edgar Allan Poe
– The Gold Bug
• Story concerns
impoverished New
Orleans gentleman
William LeGrand
– fled to avoid shame
• Ended up on a small
island of the South
Carolina coast
• He lives in a shack on the island
– Only interest collecting bug’s
• One day he finds a heavy bug which is
gold in color
• Wraps it in parchment found near the bug
– When by accident heat is applied to the
parchment, images appear
• A code
– a deaths head, and a baby goat (Kid)
• After some strange behavior
• He eventually calls his friend (narrator)
• They head onto main
land and find the
Treasure of Captain
Kidd
• “All was gold of
antique date and
great variety –
French, Spanish, and
German Money with a
few English guineas”
• J.M. Barrie
– Peter Pan
• Gives us another of
the great childhood
pirate icons
• Captain Hook
• But did you know that
the action takes place
in Kidd bay?
• Barrie student a
Edinburgh University
• While there friends
with another well
known writer of the
era
• Arthur Conan Doyle
– Best known for
Sherlock Holmes
• But, also wrote tales
of the sea and piracy
– Captain Sharkey
• Obvious Conan Doyle had read the story
of Kidd
– And other pirate stories
• At one stage a crew member comes to
Sharkey, to bring word of a mutiny
• “and save for three beggarly scoops,
[we] have taken never a vessel since we
passed Bahama Bank. Also they [the
crew] know that you killed Black
Bartholomew, the carpenter, by beating
his head with a bucket”
• Another Edinburgh Student
– friend of both Doyle and Barrie was
• Robert Louis Stevenson
– He and Barrie worked together on the school
newspaper
• And of course Stevenson was the author
of Treasure Island
– Which we will be watching soon
• To get you in the mood here is a little
sample of another example of the
Muppets and Pirates