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What was William Kidd's treasure?
Underwater explorers in Madagascar say they have discovered treasure belonging to the notorious 17th-Century Scottish pirate William Kidd. A 50kg (7st 9lb) silver bar was brought to shore on Thursday on the island of Sainte Marie, from what is thought to be the wreck of the Adventure Galley. The bar was presented to Madagascar's president ...
Where was Captain Kidd's treasure found?
Pirate Captain Kidd's 'treasure' found in Madagascar. Underwater explorers in Madagascar say they have discovered treasure belonging to the notorious 17th-Century Scottish pirate William Kidd. A 50kg (7st 9lb) silver bar was brought to shore on Thursday on the island of Sainte Marie, from what is thought to be the wreck of the Adventure Galley.
What was Capt Kidd guilty of?
Capt Kidd was captured and brought back to London. He was found guilt of piracy and the murder of one of his crewmen during a row in 1697, and sentenced to death.
Why was Capt Kidd appointed?
Capt Kidd was first appointed by the British authorities to tackle piracy but later became a ruthless criminal and was executed in 1701.
What did Mr Clifford say about the wreck?
Mr Clifford said that while diving in the wreck, his metal detector picked up signals but it was too muddy for him to see anything.
Who inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island?
Legend had it that Capt Kidd hid much of his loot, which has prompted numerous treasure hunts around the world and inspired author Robert Louis Stevenson when writing Treasure Island.
What was the cargo of the Quedagh Merchant?
The Quedagh Merchant had been carrying satins, muslins, gold and silver. Unfortunately for Kidd, the captain of the ship was an Englishman, and it is thought that a large amount of the cargo belonged to the British East India Company. Capt Kidd was captured and brought back to London.
What is the treasure of Captain Kidd?
The buried treasure of Captain Kidd is one of the greatest myths of modern times. Kidd’s gold has been sought for 200 years. The waters of bays, rivers, and lagoons have been swept for the hulk of his sunken ship. Quest of the treasure of Capt. Kidd must always be in vain, for Kidd buried no treasure, says the Philadelphia Ledger.
Who recommended Captain Kidd?
Captain Kidd was missing two years. He cast about for a captain, and Robert Livingston, founder of the New York family by that name, who was then in London, recommended Capt. Kidd as the proper man.
What ship did Kidd take?
Ships brought stories that Kidd had turned pirate. One report was that he had taken a great ship, the Quedah Merchant, and had left his own ship to cruise as a pirate in her.
What did Kidd want Gardiner to bring to Boston?
Next morning, Kidd desired Gardiner to come on board immediately and bring six sheep with him for his voyage to Boston, which he did; then Kidd desired him to spare a barrel of cider, which he consented to do.
Why did they send warships to hunt Kidd?
Kidd was compromising them. He was not careful enough. He must be dropped. So they sent warships to hunt him as a pirate.
Where was the Adventure Galley burned?
The Adventure Galley, in which he began his cruises, was condemned as unseaworthy and burned at Madagascar. His other ship, the Quedah Merchant, was burned at Hispaniola (San Domingo) after Kidd’s arrest in Boston. The sloop San Antonio, in which Kidd came north, was seized in Boston.
How long was Kidd's body hanged?
Just or not, his punishment was cruel: He was hanged, and then Kidd’s corpse was left to hang in a metal cage ( gibbeted) over the River Thames in London for three years as a warning to others.
Where did Kidd find pirates?
Unfortunately, Kidd was, he later testified, left frustrated in his attempt to find pirates, although just about everyone knew that Saint Mary’s Island off the northeast coast of Madagascar was a den positively bristling with pirates. By the spring of 1697, and perhaps under pressure from his less-than-respectable crew, Kidd decided to turn pirate himself. He first recruited additional crew, including slaves, at Madagascar and on Johanna Island (aka Anjouan Island), now part of the Comoro Islands group. A good number of his original crew had by now succumbed to tropical diseases, and their replacements were an even more villainous group.
What was Captain Kidd's main target?
The easiest targets were pilgrim fleets sailing from India to Mecca. Some of the larger merchant vessels and convoys proved to have too much firepower for the Adventure Galley to take on and Kidd had to settle for small ships. Through August and September, Kidd roamed the western coast of India, attacked an English trader and then the Laccadive islands where a number of the locals were robbed, beaten, and raped. Captain Kidd now looked decidedly like the commander of a pirate crew and not a privateering ship of the British Crown. One agent in the port of Carwar (now Karwar), India gives the following description of Captain Kidd at this time:
What was the prize for the voyage of the Quedah Merchant?
Kidd captured the ship on 30 January 1698 off the coast of India near Cochin (now Kochi). A quantity of the cargo of silk, calico, sugar, iron, and opium was sold for 10,000 pounds (around $2.5 million today). Kidd even took over the vessel and renamed his new ship the Adventure Prize. Unbeknown to Kidd, the Nine Years’ War had ended the previous September and so technically, his attack on the Quedah Merchant was not an episode of privateering but one of piracy. However, to further muddy the legal issue, the Quedah Merchant was captained by an Englishman, was an Armenian ship, and its cargo belonged to the Indian noble Makhlis Khan of the Mughal court. Khan ensured the Indian authorities in Surat put pressure on the British East India Company to make up for the loss, occupying the Company’s premises and halting trading in the meantime. In addition, and as was the custom, the ship likely held several passes issued by several national bodies and had only produced the French passport because Kidd had himself been flying a French flag when he approached the vessel.
What was the purpose of the Adventure Galley?
Purpose-built in Deptford, London, the 287-ton three-masted ship could pursue a target in all conditions thanks to its mix of square-rigged sails, lateen sail, and banks of oars (46 in total). The Adventure Galley was crewed by over 150 men and was well-armed with 34 cannons. There was one significant downside to all this financial backing, and that was that Kidd had to sign a contract which gave him and his crew only a very small proportion of any plunder taken on the expedition. At least Kidd’s privateering expedition received the legitimacy of royal support, his commission being signed by King William III of England (r. 1689-1702) who was promised 10% of the profits. Actually, there were three commissions: one to privateer against French vessels; another to apprehend pirates wherever Kidd came across them, including, if possible, the notorious Henry Every; and a third, to keep all booty for sharing amongst the investors without going through any courts as was the usual practice.
What did Kidd set about?
Claiming to not find any pirates about, Kidd set about attacking legitimate merchant vessels of several nationalities.
Where did Captain Kidd sail?
Captain Kidd sailed across the Atlantic to Anguilla in the Caribbean in April 1699, where he learnt that although there was indeed a general pardon out for pirates, all British colonial governors had been issued with a demand to arrest Kidd on sight. Kidd tried to find refuge on the Danish-controlled island of Saint Thomas but was refused entry. His only chance now was to either return to a life of piracy or sail to Boston, where he hoped his associate, governor Coote, would issue a pardon for his acts of piracy. Kidd sold off some of his cargo and exchanged his ship for a sloop, the Saint Antonio, in a pirate haven on Hispaniola. He then set sail for North America. Kidd was to be sorely disappointed again when he landed on Long Island in June as Coote, responding to a request from Kidd’s backers in London to treat him as a pirate, fully intended to respect the official call for the pirate's arrest. The investors were shocked at Kidd’s turn to blatant piracy, but it was really the formal complaint sent by the British East India Company to the British government that Kidd should be detained that made it politically impossible for Coote and his investors to publicly support their renegade employee. Accordingly, Coote arrested Kidd in July 1699, and in April 1700, Captain Kidd was sent back to England for trial. The wily Coote had managed to clear his name from his association with Kidd, and he had acquired a good portion of the pirates’ treasure to boot.
Where was William Kidd born?
He was born c. 1645, the son of a Presbyterian minister. Traditionally, his birth town is given as Greenock in western Scotland. Kidd first began privateering in 1689 when he operated on the eastern coast of North America and the Caribbean. Privateering was the legitimate capture of ships and cargo from merchant vessels classed as enemies of a particular state. As captain of the Blessed William, Kidd attacked French ships, a legitimate target during the Nine Years’ War between France and England (and various allies). Kidd was part of the fleet that attacked Marie-Galante, one of the Guadeloupe islands, in December 1689. In February 1690, Kidd’s crew hijacked the Blessed William while their captain was ashore and sailed off for a life of piracy. Kidd, despite this setback, acquired the command of another ship, the Antigua, and he pursued the Blessed William to New York in 1691.
Where did Kidd go to jail?
Kidd arrived in Oyster Bay on June 9, 1699, and anchored offshore. Justice White and Doctor Cooper helped to transmit a message to Kidd’s wife in New York, without exposing Kidd and his location. This secrecy was in vain, however, for his location in Oyster Bay was revealed, and just over a month later he was imprisoned in Boston before Bellomont shipped him back to England for trial.
Who was William Kidd?
1645, at Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland and died on May 23, 1701 in London. He was a 17 th century British privateer and semi-legendary pirate who became celebrated in English literature as one of the most colorful outlaws of the time. Fortune seekers have hunted his buried treasure in vain throughout succeeding centuries.
Who was the Earl of Bellomont who turned against Kidd?
Although Richard Coote, the Earl of Bellomont, had been instrumental in securing Kidd’s commission as a privateer he later turned against Kidd and other pirates, writing that the inhabitants of Long Island were “a lawless and unruly people” protecting pirates who had “settled among them.”
Who was the Captain of the Adventure Galley?
In London in 1695, mainly on the recommendation of the prominent New Yorker, Robert Livingston, Captain William Kidd received a royal commission from the British King, William III, to apprehend pirates who molested the ships of the East India Company in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean. Kidd’s ship, the “Adventure Galley,” was fitted out at the expense of several notable Englishmen, including Richard Coote, earl of Bellomont.
Where was Lion Gardiner's treasure buried?
Some of his treasure of gold and gems which he buried on the island was recovered from Gardiners Island at a spot now marked by a bronze plaque. John Gardiner, Lion Gardiner’s grandson, cooperated with the British in surrendering the booty, which some accounts placed at 20,000 pounds sterling, which would be worth millions of dollars in the late 20 th century.
The Infamous Captain Kidd
The Great Voyage and The Adventure Galley
- On December 11, 1965, the 1st Earl of Bellomont, Richard Coote (governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York) came to Captain Kidd with a request. Captain Kidd was asked, as a privateer, to attack pirates, anyone who associated with pirates, and any French ship he came across. The job was supported by the Crown and wealthy men in England,...
from Privateer to Pirate
- Following Moore’s murder, Captain Kidd began to attack non-enemy ships and on January 30, 1698, he struck gold. Captain Kidd captured the Quedagh Merchant full of East Indiangoods like gold, silver, satins, and silks. Word of the theft of this amazing treasure reached England however, and Kidd was branded as a common pirate. The Quedagh Merchant was an Indian ship hired to t…
Trial and Treasure
- Captain Kidd stood trial in England upon his return. He was found guilty of five acts of piracy and the murder of William Moore. On May 23, 1701, Captain Kidd was hanged…twice. The noose broke and Kidd was still alive, the second attempt at hanging was successful. Captain William Kidd took the location of a rumored buried treasure with him to the grave. 1. Henry Every: What Happened …
False Treasure?
- The UNESCO organization studied the bar and through testing, determined it was over 90% lead. There was, in fact, zero silver detected at all, and they concluded that the bar was only a lead ballast from the building of a port on Sainte-Marie Island, near Madagascar. Clifford disagrees with the experts at UNESCO and is adamant that he found the treasure. There was nothing foun…
References
- Leopold, T. 2015. Capt. Kidd’s treasure found off Madagascar, report says. CNN. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/07/world/feat-captain-kidd-treasure-madagascar-barry-clifford/index.html Indiana University, 2007. Captain Kidd’s Shipwreck of 1699 Discovered. Indiana University. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071213162036.htm Liv…