At which London execution site was pirate William Kidd hanged in 1701?

Pirate William Kidd was hanged at Execution Dock in London in 1701.

Execution Dock stood beside the River Thames at Wapping and was used for maritime criminals, including pirates convicted by the High Court of Admiralty. Kidd was convicted of murdering his gunner, William Moore, and of piracy after his capture in 1699.

Kidd’s execution followed a heavily publicized trial. His body was covered in tar and displayed in an iron cage over the Thames as a warning to sailors. This punishment is sometimes confused with executions at Tyburn, London’s better-known site for ordinary criminals, but pirate executions were associated with Execution Dock.

Kidd’s reputation has also been shaped by legends about buried treasure. Historians agree that he was a privateer who later crossed into piracy, but the treasure stories became far more famous than the legal and political disputes surrounding his voyage.