This is as desirable a copy as one might hope for with a distinguished provenance. William Kidd (c.1645-1701) remains one of the most notorious and fascinating pirates from the Golden Age. Few men “caused more fear, speculation and gold-digging, than Captain William Kidd. Along the shores of New England and Long Island, from his day to this, men have dug in the dead of night … to find his buried Gold” (Elliott).
William Kidd’s early years remain a mystery and his first appearance in the historical record is in 1689 when the governor of the Leeward Islands, Christopher Codrington, employed him as a privateer to assist in fighting the French in the Caribbean. He was appointed captain fo the Blessed William and was active on the islands of Marie Galante and St Martin. His own crew mutinied and Kidd, on another ship, followed them to New York.
“When Lord Bellomont came to America to succeed Fletcher as Governor of the colony of New York, the neighborhood of New York City was a sort of rendezvous for pirates, and he early began to take measures to suppress their ravages. Colonel Robert Livingston formulated a plan of employing Captain Kidd, who then had a good reputation and a knowledge of the sea. A ship was accordingly fitted out, Livingston and Kidd bearing one fifth of the expense, and Kidd was sent out in 1697 to capture pirates. Instead he turned pirate himself, and while he was never convicted of this charge, he was hanged at Execution Dock for the murder of one of his sailors. Some eminent noblemen, among whom was Lord Bellomont himself, had furnished funds for his fitting out, and they were accused of complicity in his piratical scheme … Whatever may have been Kidd’s crimes, it is clear that he did not have a fair trial, and was found guilty on insufficient evidence” (Church).
Having previously belonged to Thomas Streeter, this is an important copy of a notable trial.
Church, 797; Howes, M677; Sabin, 37703; Streeter, 860; Elliott, C.W., The New England History … Vol. 2. (New York, Scribner, 1857) p.57.
