Captain William Kidd has gone down in history as one of the most famous pirates of all time, a fact he totally denied right up until his execution.

Born in Greenock in 1645, he would go on to become a successful merchant and privateer, but was he a pirate? By today’s standards, his trial was anything but fair and vital evidence most definitely went astray.

Based in New York, Kidd had a small fleet of trading vessels by 1680. Beginning as a merchant he went on to become a privateer, hunting the French whilst protecting the local trade routes.

In 1691 his efforts were recognised by New York city and in 1695 he arrived in London where he was charged with hunting down pirates in the Indian Ocean.

On the 27th February 1696 he departed Deptford with a commission from William III, on his new ship, the Adventure Galley, which was a modified galley with 34 guns.

In 1697 he arrived at Madagascar. Instead of eradicating piracy he seems to have embraced it at this point, taking a liking to the easy spoils.

He would often fly the French flag to trick merchants of that land into coming near his vessel before launching an attack on them. Over the next year or two Kidd continued to plague French shipping, capturing the Quedah Merchant complete with it’s cargo of silks, sugar, muslin and opium.

Shortly afterwards Kidd decided to return to the West Indies, Upon his arrival he was shocked to discover that he had been declared a pirate.

After burning the Quedah Merchant, Kidd took a small boat to Boston in order to meet with the British Governor. He intended to convince him of his innocence where piracy was concerned. The meeting did not go to plan and Kidd found himself on his way back to London to stand trial.

Along with nine of his crew, Kidd stood trial at the Old Bailey on March 8th and 9th 1701. The nine crew members were found guilty of piracy and were sentenced to death. Kidd was additionally charged with murdering a crew member, William Moore, whom he had bludgeoned to death. William Kidd was also sentenced to death by hanging.

Posthumous research into the case shows that there were many grey areas and vital pieces of evidence were left out, unavailable or maybe just plain hidden from the trial judge.

Eight of the nine crewmen were reprieved but Kidd and Darby Mullins were executed on May 18th 1701. They were taken to Execution Dock in Wapping, a common spot for hanging pirates at the time. During the hanging, Kidd’s rope broke and he had to be strung up again - a difficult task since he was paraletic drunk at the time.

After his death, Kidd’s body was chained up at Tillbury Point for two years.

At the time of Kidd’s arrest it was widely believed that he had acquired around £30000 worth of jewels and other treasure. An official account of the items located on his ship places their value at around £6500.

This huge discrepancy (around £8m in today’s money) has led to many stories of buried treasure and hidden coves, caves and islands. Is Captain William Kidd’s fortune still out there, waiting to be found?

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