Happy National Tartan Day!
In 1998, National Tartan Day (April 6th) was officially recognized by the US Senate when they passed Senate Resolution 155. The House would pass a companion resolution in March 9, 2005 (House Resolution 41). April 6th was chosen as the day to celebrate National Tartan Day because it commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, which declared Scotland's sovereignty over English territorial claims. This document would influence the American Declaration of Independence.
In honor of this Scottish day of celebration, we would like to honor a Scottish pirate. No not our own Moira Stewart or even her beautiful daughter Fia, but the infamous Captain William Kidd.
That name should ring a bell. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is based on the legend that Captain Kidd buried treasure on an island. In Stevenson's story Billy Bones' has the map that will lead to Kidd's treasure. Here is what I dug up on the legendary Captain William Kidd.
Born in 1645, in Greenock Scotland William Kidd did not hit the merchant scene until in his late 40s. Kidd gained popularity with the English monarchy for raiding French ships. King William III was so impressed with Kidd that he gave him a letter of marque, commissioned Kidd to capture pirates and helped finance Kidd's new ship the Adventure Galley. Once a ship was captured, any treasure from the vessel was to be divided by the crew with a percentage retained for the English crown.
Kidd did not sail with good fortune. Early in his quest to find pirates, Kidd was forced to replenish his crew in New York after a British navel officer pressed ganged a portion of Kidd's crew as punishment for not firing the customary salute. Kidd should have just settled and stayed in the United States, but in September of 1696 he set sail for the Cape of Good Hope in search of pirates. Kidd would fail to find pirates and would lose a third of his crew to cholera in the process.
Frustrated, Kidd turned pirate himself and attacked a convoy that was under the protection of the British East India Company. Kidd's attack was unsuccessful which let to an unhappy crew of pirates that started to entertain the idea of mutiny. This attack would also not make Kidd popular back in England.
January 30, 1698, Kidd's luck would change as he took a 400-ton Armenian ship called the Quedah Merchant. Kidd wanted to return the goods once he found out that the ship was captained by an Englishman, but his crew threatened mutiny if Kidd acted on his feelings of regret. In their eyes the Englishman was commanding an Armenian ship protected by the French-it was fair game. Kidd renamed the claimed ship the Adventure Prize and set sail for Madagascar.
April 1, 1698, Kidd reached Madagascar and met Robert Culliford, who had more fire power than Kidd. Culliford and Kidd made a truce allowing Kidd to keep the treasure and the ships. What Kidd had not planned on was the disgust of his men at him. All but 13 men deserted Kidd to sail on with Culliford. Kidd and his crew of 13 set sail for New York in the Adventure Prize but not before they had set fire to the leaky, worm-eaten Adventure Galley on the coast of Madagascar.
Before he reached New York, Kidd discovered that he was wanted for piracy. He deposited some of his treasure on Gardiners Island and exchanged the Adventure Prize for a sloop. Kidd sought out Bellomont, who was an investor. Bellomont was in Boston, Massachusetts at the time and was afraid that he would be arrested for piracy if caught in the presence of Captain Kidd. Bellomont lured Kidd to Boston and then had him arrested on July 6, 1699.
Kidd was in solitary confinement in Stone Prison for over a year before he was sent to England's Newgate Prison. While awaiting trial, Kidd wrote several letters to King William asking for clemency. Kidd was tried and found guilty of the murder of his gunner, William Moore, and five counts of piracy. Kidd was not even lucky at the point of death for he was hung "twice" at Execution dock. The first attempt at the execution, the rope broke. Once dead, Kidd's body was then placed in a gibbett that hung over the River Thames as a warning to all who thought of turning pirate.
Information on National Tartan Day can be found at http://www.tartanday.org/history.htm
Reference material on Captain Kidd can be found at http://scottish-ancestry.org/scottish-pirates.htm and http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/William_Kidd
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