I read a very detailed book about Kidd. He was done wrong by the politicians and the King that commissioned him because of their own greed. Members of his crew who promised to testify own his behalf in his trial for alleged killing of a crew member turned on him at the last minute and lied and framed him which resulted in his being found guilty and being hanged. And when he presented his Letter of marquethe signed by the King showing that he had permission to hunt pirates and French ships on behalf of the King, they hid it away while he was imprisoned awaiting trial and acted like it never existed when he brought it up in his defense in court (it was found many years later stored away). The British even violated their own laws that a prisoner should only be hung once and if he didn't die then was to be set free. Kidd's neck was strong and the rope broke when they tried to hang him the first time but instead of honoring his right to be set free they gathered him up and hanged him again. We think politicians and leaders are corrupt today, but they are nothing compared to the kings and governors of that time.
Sorry, let me try to clarify the details.. The book, "Pirate Hunter :The true story of Captain Kidd" by Richard Zacks (2002) Tells the 'very' detailed story of Captain Kidd. It also has a full transcript of his trial. The book includes a photograph of the actual Letter of marque that was signed by King William lll authorizing Kidd in 1696 to sail and attack any Pirate ships or French ships on behalf of the English Crown and confiscate any cargos of valuables.. (The image of the actual letter is found on page 34 in Chapter Two of the book.) Several Lords of London and wealthy merchants and Governors in the American Colonies also backed Kidd in this mission. The spoils would be divided up among the investors and the king himself would get 10%. The issue that arose for Kidd was that after months of no action, Captain Kidd captured a vessel called the Quedaugh Merchant. This ship had all sorts of valuables onboard. However, it turns out that the ship was an Indian vessel that belonged to a wealthy Khoja merchant from Surat. So, as a result, in order to cover their asses and keep from getting in hot water over this, the British Crown and all the Investors branded Captain Kidd a pirate, saying that he did not have authority to capture the ship under the authority of the Letter of marque he was given. They then put out the word to have him captured and brought to London to be tried for piracy. However, what they didn't know was that when Captain Kidd boarded the captured the ship, he found a French pass written by French authorities that had given the Indian ship protected passage by the French. (You can view a photo of that document on Captain Kidd's Wikipedia page). So, because the French were the enemy of Britain, and the fact that it was sailing under the protection of the French, that technically made Kidd's capture of the ship legitimate. So, when Kidd got word while in the Caribbean that he was being hunted down as a pirate for capturing the Indian ship, he decided to dock the captured Quedaugh Merchant which by then he had renamed "Adventure Prize" in the Caribbean and then sold some of the cargo to buy another ship and sail to New York to convince Governor Bellomont who was one of the investors that he had acted honorably according to the Letter of marque and to present to him the French Pass that he had found on board the Quedaugh Merchant as evidence in the hopes that Governor Bellomont would defend him against the piracy charges. But before he headed to New York, he first secretly buried some treasure he had acquired to use as a bargaining chip with the Governor in return helping him get the the Piracy charges dismissed. The governor agreed but demanded that Kidd disclose where the ship was located. When Kidd refused to tell him the governor imprisoned him, then dispatched two ships to go look for the Adventure Prize. But eventually they got word that the crew that Kidd had left behind in the Caribbean to guard the ship had sold off the cargo and valuables and then burned the ship and disappeared. Angered over this, the governor decided to send Kidd back to London to stand trial for Piracy. Once he arrived in London Kidd was put in solitary confinement in the horrible nasty New Gate Prison for almost two years before his trial was scheduled. When he finally was brought to trial the court demanded that he make a plea of guilty or not guilty so that the trial could either end or proceed. But he steadfastly refused make a plea unless he was first allowed to be given access to the French pass that he had found on the ship so that his lawyers could use it as evidence to prepare for his defense. The court refused and kept pressing him to make a plea. They finally told him that if he would make a plea of guilty the case would be concluded or if he pleaded not guilty, then they would look into providing the document to him and his lawyers for defense. So, he pleaded not guilty. But instead of giving him the document, they pulled a switch on him and brought up a new charge of murder against him for the death of a crew member on his ship that happened years before. He was totally caught off guard by this new charge of murder and neither he nor his defense lawyers were prepared to make a defense. What had happened in the years before he was brought back to London, was that Kidd had gotten into an altercation with an insubordinate crew member on his ship and hit him over the head with a bucket that had metal banding and the man died from the injury. Kidd tried to argue in court that it was done I'm a moment of anger and was not premeditated murder. But the court brought in two of Kidds former crew members that were paid off by the Crown to testify against him and stated that they witnessed it and it was premeditated murder. (Turns out the witnesses had testified previously that they were not even on board the ship and didn't see the incident when it happened.) The jury returned a guilty verdict of premeditated murder and he was sentenced to hang. So, basically the Court knew the Piracy charge wouldn't hold up because of the French Pass that Kidd had found on the ship, so instead, they got him on a trumped up charge of murder based on the testimony of two witnesses that lied and he was convicted and hanged on May 23, 1701. However, as was mentioned, the rope around his neck broke and he actually fell to the ground alive. But instead of freeing him as was required by the English law that said you can't hang a man twice, they ignored that right and hanged him a second time anyway until he was dead and then gibbeted his body and hung it at seaside for months to serve as an example. The French pass that the prosecutors kept from Kidd during the trial was found 200 years later. And the ship wreck of the Quedaugh Merchant (Advenuture Prize") was found 300 years later near Catalina Island (Isla Catalina) off the coast of the Dominican Republic in 2007.
Just love the combination of Galley and Frigate because you can get the advantage of rowing against the wind. I still like the depiction of her in that book I once read.
"Kinda like the flextape of the 1600's" Damn, now I want to see a really badly done flextape commercial where pirates use flextape to haphazardly fix their ships.
frigates were developed by the Dutch in a sense that their inventors spoke Dutch, but not in the Dutch republic, rather in the spanish netherlands, nowadays belgium. fast threemasters with a single gun deck that the Spaniards refered to as fregatas, after an Iberian type of small one masted merchant vessel. after the Royal Navy captured two Flemish privateers (Nicodemus and Swaen) they built navy ships based on them, these could be considered the very first naval frigates (1629). the Flemish vessels themselves had their origins in "vlieboten", "hulken" (in the 16th century sense) and "jachten" (ships of the likes of "Duyfken", "Halve Maen" and "Kalmar Nyckel") I'm loving this channel!
I would love to see something about the mark of death, usual a black spot on paper. This was prominent in Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean, among other media. Was the black mark historically accurate or was it just a vehicle to drive sorry forward?
Man, if only they had some builders that didn't skimp on the finer details. I'd love to see a video about Pirates Native American allies or there pets. You are so well informed in the area
I would like to know if there were any cuban pirates. I mean, there were obviously pirates from any possible nation. I meant their names and stuff. Here we have the legend of Diego Grillo, who was a mulatto who sailed with Drake. Please if one day you read this comment (i know its not likely to happen😅), make a video about pirates from other nations, like spaniards or Dutch.
Whether or not the ship was burned there would be the same amount of cultural material as the word deteriorated anyway leaving a ballast pile and iron remnants etc
It was possible on lighter ships, but I've never heard of any examples where it's been done on larger ones, though the prospect is certainly interesting
Esas "fragatas no podían enfrentarse a un galeón español con 70 cañones y 200 infantes de marina españoles. Durante 350 años prácticamente nunca pudieron con los galeones españoles.
I left a comment on your debunking pirate myth video. I feel I should put it on your newer video, to get more eyes. It was pointing a another channel, walk the plank. It Spades misinformation that your debunked. You sight your sources. That channel does and deletes comments calling'em out.
@@GoldandGunpowder To be clear I'm not bothering with them, or even that mad. I just wanted to highlight cowards who won't take feed back. You keep up the great work and keep sighting your sources.
