13. Ruthless Pirate Was a Manhattan Socialite and Philanthropist
One of New York City’s most charismatic socialites and leading citizens, William Kidd (circa 1645 – 1701) was personal friends with at least three colonial governors of New York. A philanthropist, he played a leading role in building New York City’s now historic Trinity Church. There was little to indicate that he would end up swinging from the gallows, hanged as the notorious pirate, Captain Kidd.
His first sea command was as a privateer, commissioned in 1689 by the governor of Nevis to fight the French, with a letter of marque authorizing him to prey on French vessels for the duration of hostilities between Britain and France. His mission was expanded in 1695, when he received a roving commission to attack pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Things got off to a bad start: sailing out of London in a newly equipped ship, the 34 gun and 150 man crew Adventure Galley, Kidd offended a Royal Navy captain by failing to salute his warship. The captain retaliated by stopping the Adventure Galley, and seizing half of its crew to press them into the Royal Navy. Kidd crossed the Atlantic short-handed, and replenished his crew in New York with whatever unemployed seafarers he could find. Most them were hardened criminals and former pirates. Sailing into the Indian Ocean, a third of Kidd’s crew died of cholera by the time they reached the Comoros islands. To top it off, he was unable to find any of the pirates he had been sent to hunt down.
The enterprise seemed a failure, and the crew urged him to attack some passing vessels in order to make the voyage worth their time, and threatened to mutiny if he declined. Under pressure, Kidd reluctantly started attacking ships not covered by his privateering letters. He overcame his early scruples, and by 1698, Kidd had morphed into a full blown pirate. That year, he sealed his fate when he attacked a British East India Company ship. The powerful company exerted its influence in London, and Kidd was declared an outlaw.
By the time he returned to the American Colonies, Kidd’s public image had gone from charismatic socialite and philanthropist, to that of an infamous pirate. Worse for him, attitudes towards piracy had hardened during his absence, and changed from the leniency that had prevailed when he began his voyage. Now, crackdown was in the air, and the authorities were eager to make an example of somebody.
So Kidd was seriously unlucky to return when he did. He was arrested as soon as he docked in Boston, was clapped in chains, and shipped across the Atlantic for prosecution in London. There, his powerful contacts abandoned him in droves. He was swiftly tried and convicted, then hanged on May 23, 1701, with his corpse left to rot in a cage on the Thames for all to see.