In a related ironic note with the notorious Captain Kidd at the helm, actually he was a well established business man in New York when he became interested in the privateer venture along with 'pirate' hunting. This was of course in effect a syndicated venture with key political figures and likely other investors who stood to realize notable profit from the potential prizes and captures.
It was when Kidd's voyages were not presenting such prizes that Kidd reluctantly and inadvertently became a 'pirate' himself.
While technically he thought he was acting within his legal parameters, and ultimately arrested and scapegoated by the governor to cover his complicity in the scheme, Kidd's use of alleged hidden treasure for leverage created the ever looming trope of 'pirate treasure' that has become iconic in popular culture.
One of the most noted examples of this has been the legendary Oak Island Money Pit, with its 'story' of presumed buried treasure, often purported to have been Kidd's in various versions. The details of this long heralded mystery are too complex to discuss here, however the most notable point is that this location has been the source for many syndicated treasure seeking efforts from the early 19th century. Obviously the vast amounts of capital invested have been profound and of course effectively fruitless. However, the relentless search continues and has provided seemingly endless subject matter for writers, film makers and adventure seekers ever since the early syndicates and other ventures to solve the mystery.
That was but one aspect of the 'Kidd treasure' syndrome, which influenced early treasure seekers (known as money diggers) which ironically became indirectly associated with the origins virtually of an entire religion, the Mormon Faith. The family of the founder Joseph Smith was at one time deeply involved in these activities which were prevalent in upper state New York in particular, where the family lived.
The point here is not to introduce controversy, but to note how entirely pervasive was Kidd's purported buried treasure in those times, and how it became almost a cultural phenomenon.
Early writers such as Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper who became literary icons brought the notions of Kidd's buried treasure into their scope. These later influenced Poe in his "The Gold Bug", which in turn became imbued into the quintessant pirate/buried treasure drama "Treasure Island" which immortalized Robert Louis Stevenson as the most important pirate author.
I wanted to illustrate in more detail what I meant regarding 'buried treasure' and adventure. In virtually all aspects of the centuries of searching for the jealously believed treasure of Captain Kidd, clearly nothing in the sense of precious materials has ever been found.....but the adventures that most of us from childhood forward have always treasured have remained sacrosanct in our memories.
And the search will continue.
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