Around the turn of the 18th century, Captain William Kidd went to trial on accusations of piracy and murder, was found guilty, hanged and gibbeted as a warning to other pirates. On the outside, this event appears to be a simple trial of a proven pirate, but in reality, there was a great deal more going on than originally appears.
Captain Kidd and the Earl of Bellomont
What is not so well known about William Kidd is that his life as a pirate came after a long and successful career as a legitimate sailor and privateer. He was instrumental in defending the English town of Nevis from a French attack, and he captured several enemy ships legally as a privateer before the famed voyage that turned him pirate. He was well connected in New York, even helping to build Trinity Church. He was well liked and became friends with the Governor of New York, Richard Coote, the Earl of Bellomont. It was Bellomont, and several other wealthy lords who paid for Kidd's anti-piracy expedition that went so wrong.
Captain Kidd's Voyage to Madagascar
Kidd's voyage was ostensibly a pirate hunt, looking for famed pirate and one time ally of Captain Avery, Thomas Tew, as well as some of his associates. Unfortunately, Kidd's voyage went badly, encountering first cholera, then a series of leaks in the Adventure Galley, and then failing to find the pirates he had come halfway across the world to find. Tensions were high and the crew was restless, and Kidd was forced to take prizes that were of dubious legality, first attacking and being driven off from a Mughal convoy protected by a British East Indiaman, and then capturing an Armenian ship crewed by an English captain flying the French flag. Taking this final ship, the Quedagh Merchant, may not have been an act of piracy at all, as Kidd was comissioned to take French prizes, but in the eyes of his backers and the public at large, it sealed his fate. During this time, Kidd also killed his gunner in a fit of rage, something that undoubtedly lead to his downfall.
Kidd's Return to New York
When Kidd returned to New York, it is not clear what his intentions were. There is some evidence to suggest that he thought his connections and wealthy friends would help him avoid any legal repurcussions for his actions, even the murder of his gunner William Moore. In truth, Kidd may not have been entirely wrong to think this - in the decade before Kidd's trial, pirate trade was a important, if not significant, part of the New England economy. Even legitimate businessmen would buy goods from unsavory characters, choosing not to look to closely at whether or not the goods were pirated. Rhode Island had received a reputation as a pirate haven for its loose laws and frequent dealings with known pirates. So Kidd may have expected that the authorities in New York would look the other way in favor of letting the goods from the east boost the local economy. But public opinion was changing.
Kidd's Kangaroo Court
Bellomont and the other authorities in New York, as well as the public at large, had apparently decided that it was time to put a stop to illicit pirate trade. This initiative was no doubt supported by the crown, which had just finished a series of firings and replacements related to involvement in the pirate trade. So while Kidd was undoubtedly guilty of murder and possibly piracy, he might have, in an earlier time, gotten away with little or no repurcussions. But not only had he been largely unsuccesful in his voyage, the public nature of his indiscretions had embarassed his backers politically, so he was singled out to made an example of. The case was rushed through the court, and Kidd was given little or no chance to defend himself. He was tried without representation and found guilty on five counts of piracy and one of murder. Because Bellomont and the other backers were so eager to be rid of the association, Kidd, once a respectable privateer, was forced into the mold of piracy to achieve a political and economic catharsis.
References:
Defoe, Daniel. Manuel Schonhorn, ed. A General History of the Pyrates,
Dover Publications: Minneola, 1999
Joel H. Baer, ed. British Piracy in the Golden Age, vol. 4
Pickering and Chatto: London, 2007
Robert Guthrie - Robert is an itinerant writer, reader and academic with a broad range of interests. In addition to writing for Suite 101, he writes for ...
