• 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 loss of this many crew e members would hurt Kidd’s a ability

• Still Kidd had no option but t to accept the offer to sail w 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 hero – the husband– the father – the privateer– the 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