Posted on May 29, 2017
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At London’s Execution Dock, British privateer William Kidd, popularly known as Captain Kidd, is hanged for piracy and murder.
Born in Strathclyde, Scotland, Kidd established himself as a sea captain before settling in New York in 1690, where he bought property and married. At various times he was commissioned by New York and other American colonies to rid the coast of enemy privateers. 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. In 1696, Kidd sailed to New York aboard the Adventure Galley, enlisted men for the mission, and set sail for the Indian Ocean. 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. 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.
Suspicions that he had turned to piracy were apparently confirmed when he sailed to St. Mary’s, Madagascar, an infamous pirate haven. From there, he traveled to the West Indies on the Quedagh Merchant, where he learned of the piracy charges against him. 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. He was arrested and taken to London.
In 1701, he was tried on five charges of piracy and one charge of murdering a crewman. 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. Convicted on all counts, he was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701. 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.
Born in Strathclyde, Scotland, Kidd established himself as a sea captain before settling in New York in 1690, where he bought property and married. At various times he was commissioned by New York and other American colonies to rid the coast of enemy privateers. 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. In 1696, Kidd sailed to New York aboard the Adventure Galley, enlisted men for the mission, and set sail for the Indian Ocean. 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. 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.
Suspicions that he had turned to piracy were apparently confirmed when he sailed to St. Mary’s, Madagascar, an infamous pirate haven. From there, he traveled to the West Indies on the Quedagh Merchant, where he learned of the piracy charges against him. 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. He was arrested and taken to London.
In 1701, he was tried on five charges of piracy and one charge of murdering a crewman. 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. Convicted on all counts, he was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701. 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.
Captain Kidd walks the plank - May 23, 1701 - HISTORY.com
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Thanks TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on May 23, 1701 British privateer William Kidd, popularly known as Captain Kidd, was hanged for piracy and murder.
Images: 1701-05-23 Execution of captain Kidd; Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, from a 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris; Captain Kidd sketch; Captain William Kidd 1645–1701 by Sir James Thornhill
"The story of William Kidd is complex, filled with adventure, intrigue, vast riches, and double-dealing politics. Kidd was born in Scotland about 1645 and by the 1680s, he had established himself in New York, operating a packet line between London and the colonies. He was recommend to the British government as the best man to take on the charge of ridding the seas of piracy, and bringing in enemy ships as prizes. He became captain of a new ship, Adventure Galley. As pay, he and his crew would share the value of the prizes taken.
In time, they captured six ships, the richest being Quedagh Merchant, an Armenian vessel flying the French flag, a legitimate prize for an English privateer. Unfortunately for Kidd, the ship was actually under the employ of the East India Company and was flying a false flag. A warrant was issued for his arrest and when he became aware of the action, Kidd paid off his crew and left the ship and the treasure in Hispaniola. He sailed to New York to talk with an admiralty lawyer. He was given a safe-conduct to Boston in June 1699 but his original supporter, Richard Coote, earl of Bellomont, broke his word. Kidd found himself a prisoner and was sent to England for trial.
Kidd’s capture presented an excellent opportunity for the opposition to discredit Bellomont, the Whig governor of New York and New England, and they lost no time developing ways to take advantage of it. A hardened seaman but a man of considerable moral fiber, Kidd was unwilling to testify against the lords who had originally contributed to his voyage and commission, even though he was told that this cooperation would set him free. Eventually he was brought to trial at Old Bailey, charged with piracy and the death of a mutinous gunner, and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was carried out on May 23, 1701. Two hundred years later it was found from papers discovered in the public records office that records that would have saved Kidd’s life had been deliberately suppressed (Lambert 351-60).
It is instructive to compare the text on Coverly’s broadsides with the original song that was probably written in 1701. The early song displays a swashbuckling captain accomplishing even more than he is historically credited with and dying because he disobeyed the law, a legitimate way for London printers to portray a condemned man. One hundred years later, the atmosphere and Kidd’s first name had changed. In early nineteenth-century New England, Robert Kidd explains that his doom came because he buried the Bible and ignored God. A new opening verse calls all ship captains to heed his story, the final verse reminding them to take his warning “lest you come to hell with me.” It is this “good night” version from “Robert” Kidd that has persisted in tradition. In both of these texts, the repetitions of phrases throughout the text are the distinguishing marks, and these repetitions are reflected in the music.
Whittier Perkins copied a tune entitled “Captain Kid” in his collection begun in 1790 in Massachusetts. That same tune persisted with the broadside text and title into the twentieth century in folk song. The earliest printed text of the broadside song with the “Captain Kid” music is in The Western Minstrel (1831).[1] In religious shape note songbooks the tune also carried on, still called “Captain Kidd,” but with a new text beginning “Through all the world below, God is seen, all around, all around” (Roud; Walker [1987] 50; Bronson, Ballad 18-36). Another familiar setting to this unusual tune structure is the hymn beginning “What wondrous love is this, oh my soul.”
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/97
LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC Margaret Higgins PO3 Steven Sherrill PO1 John Miller
Images: 1701-05-23 Execution of captain Kidd; Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, from a 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris; Captain Kidd sketch; Captain William Kidd 1645–1701 by Sir James Thornhill
"The story of William Kidd is complex, filled with adventure, intrigue, vast riches, and double-dealing politics. Kidd was born in Scotland about 1645 and by the 1680s, he had established himself in New York, operating a packet line between London and the colonies. He was recommend to the British government as the best man to take on the charge of ridding the seas of piracy, and bringing in enemy ships as prizes. He became captain of a new ship, Adventure Galley. As pay, he and his crew would share the value of the prizes taken.
In time, they captured six ships, the richest being Quedagh Merchant, an Armenian vessel flying the French flag, a legitimate prize for an English privateer. Unfortunately for Kidd, the ship was actually under the employ of the East India Company and was flying a false flag. A warrant was issued for his arrest and when he became aware of the action, Kidd paid off his crew and left the ship and the treasure in Hispaniola. He sailed to New York to talk with an admiralty lawyer. He was given a safe-conduct to Boston in June 1699 but his original supporter, Richard Coote, earl of Bellomont, broke his word. Kidd found himself a prisoner and was sent to England for trial.
Kidd’s capture presented an excellent opportunity for the opposition to discredit Bellomont, the Whig governor of New York and New England, and they lost no time developing ways to take advantage of it. A hardened seaman but a man of considerable moral fiber, Kidd was unwilling to testify against the lords who had originally contributed to his voyage and commission, even though he was told that this cooperation would set him free. Eventually he was brought to trial at Old Bailey, charged with piracy and the death of a mutinous gunner, and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was carried out on May 23, 1701. Two hundred years later it was found from papers discovered in the public records office that records that would have saved Kidd’s life had been deliberately suppressed (Lambert 351-60).
It is instructive to compare the text on Coverly’s broadsides with the original song that was probably written in 1701. The early song displays a swashbuckling captain accomplishing even more than he is historically credited with and dying because he disobeyed the law, a legitimate way for London printers to portray a condemned man. One hundred years later, the atmosphere and Kidd’s first name had changed. In early nineteenth-century New England, Robert Kidd explains that his doom came because he buried the Bible and ignored God. A new opening verse calls all ship captains to heed his story, the final verse reminding them to take his warning “lest you come to hell with me.” It is this “good night” version from “Robert” Kidd that has persisted in tradition. In both of these texts, the repetitions of phrases throughout the text are the distinguishing marks, and these repetitions are reflected in the music.
Whittier Perkins copied a tune entitled “Captain Kid” in his collection begun in 1790 in Massachusetts. That same tune persisted with the broadside text and title into the twentieth century in folk song. The earliest printed text of the broadside song with the “Captain Kid” music is in The Western Minstrel (1831).[1] In religious shape note songbooks the tune also carried on, still called “Captain Kidd,” but with a new text beginning “Through all the world below, God is seen, all around, all around” (Roud; Walker [1987] 50; Bronson, Ballad 18-36). Another familiar setting to this unusual tune structure is the hymn beginning “What wondrous love is this, oh my soul.”
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/97
LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC Margaret Higgins PO3 Steven Sherrill PO1 John Miller
The dying words of Captain Robert Kidd, a noted pirate, who was hanged at Execution-Dock, in...
The story of William Kidd is complex, filled with adventure, intrigue, vast riches, and double-dealing politics. Kidd was born in Scotland about 1645 and by the 1680s, he had established himself in New York, operating a packet line between London and the colonies. He was recommend to the British government as the best man to take on the charge of ridding the seas of piracy, and bringing in enemy ships as prizes. He became captain of a new...
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