Kidd, William

Kidd, William (about 1645-1701), pirate, b. Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

Captain Kidd went to sea at the age of thirteen and at length settled in New York. By this time, he owned a fleet of merchant ships.

In 1689, England was at war with France and Captain Kidd led ships of his fleet against French ships off the coast of America. Afterwards, the city of New York awarded him £150.

In 1695, at the age of fifty, Kidd visited England. While there he was given a ship of thirty guns and a licence from King William III to attack French ships and pirates in the Indian Ocean.

After a long voyage, he returned to Boston in the United States in 1699. At once he was arrested for piracy.

He had stopped and robbed many ships in the Indian Ocean and at his trial he said they were ships he was allowed to attack under his licence from the King. But he was found guilty and hanged at Execution Dock, London.

It was said that Kidd collected treasure worth £100,000 on his voyage. People asked what became of it. Half a century later, a dying sailor said it was buried on Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, and many people have tried to find it since then.

See Richard Zacks The Pirate Hunter