A Pirate’s Life For He

11 Dec 1695: Scotland born Capt. William Kidd received a commission from Richard Coote, the 1st Earl of Bellomont to hunt down and capture pirate vessels and crew plus and any French flagged ships he may encounter.

His mission was bankrolled by British nobility including King William III. Kidd was now officially a privateer with his backers taking 10% of his plunder and doing so legally. As an agent of the crown, he departed on his mission in 1696 aboard the fearsome "Adventure Galley"...but by 1701 he'd be branded a pirate and swinging from the gallows at Executioner's Dock in London.