Kidd was a privateer whose notoriety stems from an unusual double commission obtained from William III. Firstly to defend trade routes off the coast of North America from pirates and secondly, to seize any enemy ships that he might encounter. This came with the understanding of course that he would leave any allied ships unmolested. It's alleged that Kidd did not operate within the confines of his commission and was himself, decided in parliament, to have turned pirate. Worse still a royal proclamation had been released offering to acquit the crimes of other pirates up to a certain date if Kidd could be brought to justice.
One indication of William Kidd's potential guilt was that the ship he had been sailing was in fact a stolen allied ship but William maintained that any vessels seized were those of his enemies. He also offered perhaps what he thought was a cast iron defence- that any occasion the law was broken happened because the crew were acting without his consent. He even stated that the crew were mutinous and threatened to shoot him in his cabin. The poor captain's excuse was rendered somewhat futile, in part because some of his "mutinous" crew were at the trial to testify, albeit expecting to be exonerated by the aforementioned pardon. They attested to Kidd murdering one of the crew himself (whether intentionally or not) by hitting him on the head with a bucket, fracturing the man's skull and dispelling the captain's meek self-portrayal. Kidd's defence was that he had committed the act in an attempt the quash a rising mutiny and hadn't meant to kill the sailor. In addition to this were the various artefacts of gold, silver and valuable trinkets that Mrs Kidd had bought with her to London whilst her husband was on trial (whilst valuable these did not equate to a large haul hence rumours that Kidd stashed the booty). Kidd declared that those items were obtained legitimately in line with his commission but this was almost irrelevant; for the crown sought to use this opportunity to make a scapegoat of Kidd and had already determined his guilt before the trial began and possibly (conspiracy alert) before he'd even set sail for the west indies. Realising the impotence of further argument "It is hard that the life of one of the King’s subjects should be taken away upon the perjured oaths of such villains as these. Because I would not yield to their wishes, and turn pirate, they now endeavour to prove that I was one.” said he, the solicitor then asked if Kidd had any more questions to put to the witnesses he despairingly replied: “No! no. Bradingham is saving his life by taking away mine. I will not trouble the court any more, for it is a folly. So long as these men swear as they do, no oaths of mine will be of any avail.”From "Captain William Kidd and Others of the Buccaneers" by John S. C. Abbott.
Was Captain Kidd guilty?
William Kidd had always insisted on his innocence, as people facing the gallows often do. The fact of acquiring the spoils is not in doubt Kidd even wrote a letter which alluded to a hidden £100000. So the debate lies in Kidd's defence- Was he forced into freebooting by a mutinous crew?
In any account that describes how Kidd took a ship his MO suggests he was intentionally pushing the limits of his commissions remit in anticipation that his actions could eventually be bought to trial. If a ship's captain informed him that they were not French he would say they were lying and thus ratifying the privateer's actions if only to serve as a comfort with which to delude himself. One can see how the temptation for Kidd to turn pirate may have worked in his mind: the letters of commission could be seen as carte blanch to do as he pleased and make himself very rich then later exonerate himself by blaming it on the crew. If Kidd was indeed innocent he would surely have known how suspicious his circumstances were. Ultimately Kidd's guilt was possible but not proven and the trial was biased. This is reflected in the pardon of all of the other characters, not just pirates, implicit in the profit of plunder. Kidd provided a patsy, to bring an expedient end to the scandal.
Kidd was sentenced to hang from the neck until dead. Contrary to popular culture references Kidd did not offer to give out information about buried treasure in his final words I suspect that is alluded to based on these lines from a popular lullaby: Come all ye young and old, see me die; Come all ye young and old, you’re welcome to my gold, For by it I’ve lost my soul, and must die. He was hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping and then displayed in the gibbet for three years as a foreboding warning to other pirates.
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| An illustration depicting Captain Kidd's |
