Captain Kidd is often assumed to be one of the more successful pirate figures in history. Although William Kidd was certainly an adequate sea captain who saw his share of successes, his final legacy was as a hunted pirate and political dupe. Born in 1645 in Scotland, William Kidd went to sea as a young man and achieved some successes against the French as a privateer for England. In 1691, he settled in New York City and married a wealthy twenty-year-old widow with whom he fathered two daughters. Kidd's wealth by marriage put him in the company of New York elite, and he became a respected merchant captain and businessman.

A Questionable Deal

In 1695, Kidd entered into a contract with the governor of New York and several other wealthy businessmen to assemble a privateering vessel and crew for the purpose of raiding French interests in the East Indies (present-day Southeast Asia). The details of the contract forced Kidd to invest thousands of dollars of his own money, and to guarantee the success of the privateering venture with his own capital. The financial risks he accepted as part of this endeavor were highly unusual for the time, and it appears that Kidd was coerced into the arrangement by political pressures and threats to his personal business interests.

The ship Kidd was to take into this venture was supposed to have been a privateering vessel built expressly for the purpose and manned by the most experienced and capable hands that he could assemble. The ship, the Adventure Galley, turned out to be a leaky and untrustworthy refitted merchant ship past its prime, and the crew of handpicked expert sailors was conscripted and pressed into service by the English Navy almost as soon as the Adventure Galley left port. Kidd was left with an ill-suited and untrustworthy crew of malcontents who would contribute greatly to his eventual undoing. During his cruise to the East Indies, he ran low on provisions and lost dozens of his crew to scurvy and cholera. The Adventure Galley's few run-ins with potentially lucrative vessels proved disastrous, and as a result, Kidd quarreled with his gunner, William Moore, who accused Kidd of cowardice in the face of conflict. In a rage, Kidd struck Moore in the head and killed him with the closest and unlikeliest weapon at hand — an iron-hooped wooden bucket.

The Privateer Turns Pirate

The only substantial prize Kidd and his crew took on their journey was a heavily laden Armenian ship commanded by an English captain. When news of the capture of this vessel reached British authorities, Kidd and his crew were branded as pirates. Upon his return to America, Kidd attempted to negotiate with the governor of New York, his original financial business investor, and agreed to come into the city of his own free will. Much to Kidd's dismay, he was immediately clapped into irons and sent to England in 1700 to stand trial for piracy and the murder of William Moore. Kidd was found guilty and hanged at Execution Dock in London on May 23, 1701. His body was displayed for two years as a warning to would-be pirates.