Captain William Kidd was executed in 1701. He was hanged at Execution Dock in London after being convicted of piracy and the murder of his gunner, William Moore.
Kidd began as a privateer commissioned to hunt pirates and enemy ships. In 1696, the English government sent him into the Indian Ocean, but his voyage produced controversy. He captured the merchant vessel Quedagh Merchant, which had Indian ownership and French papers, and authorities treated the seizure as unlawful.
Kidd returned to New York hoping to defend himself, but he was arrested and sent to England for trial. His case became famous because he had once possessed legal authority as a privateer, yet the boundaries between privateering and piracy were often difficult to maintain.
Later stories exaggerated Kidd’s reputation as a buried-treasure pirate. Treasure supposedly hidden on Gardiners Island was recovered by authorities, but the romantic legend far outgrew the documented scale of his career.