ON THIS DAY … IN 1701: CAPTAIN KIDD WAS HANGED IN LONDON FOR CAPTURING ARMENIAN SHIP
The Evening Standard (London)
May 23, 2006 Tuesday
He was born in 1645 in Scotland and spent three decades as an honest,
hardworking ship captain.
Kidd married and settled in New York in 1691 and began working as a
privateer in the Caribbean, essentially attacking foreign ships on
behalf of the British government. In 1695 he was given a free reign
to attack pirate and French ships that endangered British colonial
holdings.
But he was given a crew that included many criminals, including
former pirates. Their voyage was beset by bad luck when their ship,
Adventure Galley, sprang several leaks and an outbreak of cholera
wiped out a third of the crew. The remainder of the ship’s complement
grew increasingly mutinous and Kidd became more violent.
In 1698, he took an Armenian ship loaded with booty, despite the
vessel being British-owned.
When word reached Britain, the British East India Company declared
Kidd a pirate. He was arrested on his return to New York and sent to
London to stand trial for piracy and murder. The belief that he left
behind a buried treasure contributed to his legend.