They stole silk, gold, silver, sugar and rum worth about 70,000 pounds at the time. The legend of Captain Kidd. William Kidd was a notorious pirate hunter turned notorious pirate, and legend has it that he left treasure behind. Indeed, Captain Kidd’s buried treasures have become as famous as the man himself, and have spurred numerous searches for them over the centuries by both professionals and amateurs, all further fueled when some of this gold was found at Gardiner’s Island, New York. It is only recently, when key evidence such as the French passes emerged, that the true story has begun to come to light, and perhaps now the tale of Captain William Kidd can forever leave the shadowy darkness. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris With his wife’s fortune, Kidd acquired a vessel named Blessed William and became a successful privateer who was authorized by the English government to take charge of an expedition against pirates in … Kidd the notorious pirate and murderer died and the legend lived on. Captain Kidd can be said to be the most unfortunate pirate ever to sail the high seas! The Scottish city of Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dè or Dùn Dèagh) stands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay (Scottish Gaelic: Linne Tatha) which feeds into the North Sea on Scotland’s eastern coast. And they got it, albeit second time around. Captain William Kidd Stories had been in existence since the 1600’s that Captain William Kidd had buried a hoard of treasure to be found on an island “east of Boston”. Kidd’s crew threatened to mutiny unless Kidd became a pirate. There are many notable people who were born or associated with Dundee, but there are few who have so much myth and legend surrounding them than Captain William Kidd. Victoria Weldon Captain William Kidd was born in Dundee in 1654. The legend of Captain Kidd’s treasure lives on today in the form of the Milford’s Pirate Day, held in June, where Captain Kid (sic) sails into the harbor and takes over the town. Legend told of a dying sailor in the New England Colonies who confessed to being a part of Kidd’s notorious crew, but he never named an exact location for the hidden booty. During his two years away from England, piracy laws were tightened and Kidd was now a wanted man. In the late summer of 1698, according to Brigantine legend, the Barkentine which served as the flagship for the notorious Captain William Kidd…anchored near the mouth of Brigantine Inlet. For it was his bad luck to sail as a privateer/pirate just when the rules changed and the privateer/pirate became an outlaw. Captain Kidd and his crew attacked an Armenian ship, the Quedagh Merchant, in 1698. Captain Kidd hanging from a gibbet over the River Thames ( Wikimedia Commons ) “The son of a Presbyterian minister, Kidd was a buccaneer and a captain for a private British ship in the Caribbean for some years, but it is claimed he decided that he found piracy more rewarding after he was commissioned to sail to Madagascar on the Adventure Galley,” reports The Guardian. Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, ca. William Kidd was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1654, the son of John Kidd … In the late summer of 1698 – according to tradition and scattered evidence available – the barkentine that served as flagship for the notorious Captain William Kidd of Greenock, Scotland, anchored near the mouth of Brigantine Inlet.