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Captain Kidd
A Profitable Venture
Kidd is undoubtedly the most famous of pirates, and yet in reality he could scarcely be called a pirate at all. The son of minister, tradition records he was born in Greenock around 1655 and having set of for a life at sea at a young age, he was given his first command in early his early thirties. In 1695, King William III, wrote to his "beloved friend, William Kidd", offering him the command of the Adventure, with orders to suppress pirates operating off the coast of America. Built at the Thames river shipyard in Deptford, the Adventure was a Privateer, a ship given legal authority to search out and destroy illegal pirates and enemies of the King. Like most such ships, the Adventure was financed by respectable, wealthy businessmen, who would take a share of any profits from the voyage, either through the capture of other ships or their treasure. It was a profitable business, and a popular venture among London’s elite and powerful. However, it seems that the offer to command the Adventure was a poisoned chalice.
Government Scandal
Having been legally granted a license to raid French ships by five senior ranking Whig lords, including the Lord of the Admiralty and the secretary of State, Kidd appeared to be  well protected. However things turned sour when Kidd mistakenly plundered the East India company vessel, the Quedagh Merchant, mistaking it for a French ship. The East India Company was a powerful institution with wealthy investors, who wrote to the Lord Justice in London accusing Kidd of piracy. Instead of backing him, Kidd’s well-placed backers now found him a liability. The scandal threatened to engulf the government and when opposition party the Tories found out about the pirates connections to the government, they used Kidd’s reputation to further smear the Whigs. Rumours spread that the Whigs had known that Kidd was a reckless, murdering villain, but they chose to employ him anyway. The gory stories of his nefarious deeds were hastily printed in cheap pamphlets and distributed all over London. Keen to avoid further controversy the Whigs did nothing to clear Kidd’s name. However, Kidd himself did not help matters by arriving at his trial drunk and near incapable. He refused to repent as he stood before the noose and instead delivered a bitter and blasphemous tirade against all those he felt had wronged him, almost everyone apparently, from his crew and their families all the way up to God himself. The trial itself was something of a sham. The admiralty granted Kidd £50 for his defence, but it arrived only the day before proceedings began. The guilty verdict was all but inevitable and on the 23rd May 1701, Kidd was hanged at the gallows at execution dock.
Buried Treasure
Transcripts of the trial and Kidd’s last words were quickly distributed as pamphlets. Also published on the day of his execution was “Captain Kidd’s Farewell to the Seas”, a song which – ironically – records Kidd’s regrets on the gallows as he lists his many crimes and asks forgiveness for them all. It started life as an almost religi ous penitential ballad, but has darkened down the years to become a more lusty celebration of his crimes. These pamphlets, legends and ballads found wider appeal through Daniel Defoe – author of Robinson Crusoe. Defoe embellished Kidd’s legend, combining fact with fiction and attributing crimes to him that had been committed by other pirates. While tales of Kidd’s violent exploits were popular, no legend was more enchanting than the mystery of his buried treasure. These stories were particularly popular in America, indeed, while living in New York, Kidd himself had encouraged rumours of his “hidden wealth”. It was thought that Kidd had stashed his booty somewhere between India and Boston. By 1750, hopeful treasure hunters had dug up almost every point of land and island along the New York coast. The most likely candidate was thought to be Oak Island, the famous “money pit”, believed to be riddled with secret mines and booby traps, treasure aficionados still dig there to this day. Kidd was the first pirate to be associated with “buried treasure”, and it was these popularised legends Robert Louis Stevenson had in mind when he came to write Treasure Island.
Pop Pirate
Stories of Kidd’s buried treasure were adapted into the new wave of American romantic literature in stories by Washington Irving, James Fenmore Cooper and later, Edgar Allan Poe. The work of Washington Irving was fundamental to bringing a sense of “mythology” to the new world of the Americas. “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” were among his most popular stories. Kidd – who had spent most of his life in America – became a part of this folk patchwork. For this reason, Kidd is better known in America than he is here, a legendary “bogeyman” who still finds his way into children’s stories. No surprise then, that Hollywood has plundered his legend before. Charles Laughton played the misguided Kidd in the 1945 film – recently re-released on DVD. A slew of sequels followed, “Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl”, “Captain Kidd Against All Flags” and the final indignity “Abbott and Costello meet Captain Kidd” – yes really.
Folk Hero?
 Kidd’s legacy lives on, a controversial character long after his death, Kidd’s Greenock lineage was recently called into question, and Dundee claimed the pirate as their own. A shrewd move on the part of Dundee city council’s tourist board! Yet most folk would maintain that Kidd’s birthplace is Jamaica Street in Greenock. We even have a direct descendant still living in the town. One local legend suggests that Kidd’s father was a covenanting minister, responsible for some of the baptisms at the Covenanters Well in Larkfield. Perhaps Kidd himself was baptised there. Today, at the site of execution dock you can find “The Captain Kidd”, a pub dedicated to his immortal memory. London folk legends talk of his ghost still wandering at the Wapping dockside. Treasure hunters sail around the Caribbean in search of his ill gotten gains and in Boston, schoolchildren are taken on “treasure tours” which use stories of Kidd’s journeys to teach history and geography. For too long Kidd has been Greenock’s very own buried treasure, appreciated far beyond the shores of his hometown. Perhaps now, we can start to celebrate our links with this legendary character.
“There’s a high ridge on which grow a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size.
Under one of those gigantic trees, according to old stories,
there was a great amount of treasure buried by Kidd the pirate...”
Washington Irving The Devil and Tom Walker
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