Pirates & Privateers
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Captain Kidd
Captain
William Kidd, a Scotsman who later lived and married in America,
was born in the mid-seventeenth century, went to sea in his youth, and was given a contract as a privateer to harry the French
in 1695. "It was William Kidd's misfortune to sail the seas as a privateer/pirate
just when the rules changed and the privateer/pirate became an outlaw..."
[Captain Kidd,
at the University of Massachusetts].
After many adventures that crossed the globe from the Americas to the Indian Ocean,
Kidd was hanged for piracy and
murder in London on May 23, 1701. Many believe he was framed. He is
remembered in the ballad that bears his name:
My name is Captain Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed
My name is Captain Kidd, as I sailed...
Pirate or Privateer?
William Kidd,
a brief biography of Scotland's most famous privateer, at
Tartans.com.
Pirate Hunter: Captain Kidd,
part of Chapter One of Richard Zacks' Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd.
Captain Kidd,
a biography at The Pirates' Realm.
Captain Kidd, another
biography at Magic Torch, Inverclyde, Scotland.
William Kidd,
at Swashbuckler's Cove.
The American Shore
"You may have heard of one Captain Kidd......the many stories current
- the thousand vague rumours afloat about money buried, somewhere upon
the Atlantic coast, by Kidd and his associates." -- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Gold Bug".
The Gold Bug by
Edgar Allen Poe, at the University of Virginia Electronic Text Center.
Captain Kidd:
Pirate's Treasure Buried in the Connecticut River, a biography of
Captain William Kidd and an exploration of legend of his treasure buried on
Clarke's Island.
Captain Kidd on the Raritan Bay.
The history of Captain Kidd, at New Jersey's History Mysteries.
"Many people today are unaware of the role New Jersey, and especially the Raritan Bayshore, played in the lives of many pirate legends in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The waters between Sandy Hook and New York City were infested with pirates and French privateers..."
Captain Kidd and the Mohegan Indians,
a Native American legend from Northeast Wigwam,
by Deborah Champlain.
The Ballad
My Name Is Captain Kidd at
Chanteys: Work Songs of the Sea
The Ballad of Captain Kidd with variations, at
Cantaria.
Captain Kidd with
score and lyrics, at the Digital Tradition mirror site.
The Ballad of Captain Kidd
at Folksongs of Various Countries, in Germany.
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14 March 2004