Week Two - The Case of Captain Kidd Flashcards
When was Captain Kidd executed?
1701
Why did Kidd hope for reprieve?
Kidd had hoped for a reprieve right up to the day of his execution as most others with him were pardoned
What happened on the day of Captain Kidd’s execution?
He was hanged with three others..but Kidd’s rope snapped and he fell to the ground with the noose round his neck, still alive and dazed. The pestering chaplain prayed over him once more and he was hoisted up again, and that was that. His body was taken to be hanged in chains at Tilbury Point
The line between piracy and government-sponsored privateering…?
The line between piracy and government-sponsored privateering was narrow and he does not seem to have been the typical swashbuckling pirate of popular fiction. He did not maroon anyone or make people walk the plank
However, he did make (at least) one fatal error
He was sent to pillage French settlements in the West Indies by the British Government
En route he decided to capture a ship called The Quedagh Merchant which was carrying expensive cargo. The ship sailed under a French pass, but was owned by Indians, carried a Persian cargo, and had an English Captain. Kidd decided it was a legitimate prize. The pass was the key to the answer, and upon which hinged the outcome of his eventual trial
He left the stolen ship at the island of Hispaniola, where it was unloaded and subsequently burned, bought a small ship called the Antonio and sailed to Boston. The British governor there, the Earl of Bellomont had Kidd arrested and sent back to England
Whether the evidence was convincing and the trial fair has been debated ever since
