Captain Kidds Treasure 'silver' (?) ingot

Jim McDougall · 13th February 2025, 03:52 PM

Thanks so much for the input Rick, I always appreciate your insights here in these maritime subjects as I know your hands on awareness on these things and being situated in these New England areas.

Very well noted point on these vessels being burned for iron fittings etc. basically they were being scrapped but with key components being removed for maintenance on other vessels. In some of the reading I have found that often the saving of components went as far as masts etc.

I think these dynamics are an interesting aspect that applies to maritime archaeology as well as our understanding of the history of piracy and privateers. With pirates it seems that as vessels changed hands, they were often (perhaps more often than not) renamed, thus records and accounts of vessels by name might be hard to follow. This seems apparent as historic records of vessels often reflect ships of the same name, so then sometimes period and context come into play.

Thanks as well for this great illustration! As noted it sure gives interesting context. It seems Kidd was one of the most unfortunate individuals in the web of 'piracy' as he was entirely scapegoated to hide high end complicency in privateering scheme gone bad. Kidd was having crew trouble constantly and the 'bucket' incident was purely an accident in a heated moment and not evidence of maltreatment or despotism toward the crews.
They were against Kidd ironically because of his resistance to resort to piracy.

Actually the taking of the Quedah Merchant, the vessel that brought his prosecution for piracy, was done only after Kidd saw that it was under FRENCH passes. This then was in compliance with his letter of marque permitting his taking of French prizes.
Those documents were conveniently 'lost' until discovered in 1911 !

Thank you again Rick, its good having you with me on this thread.

all the best
Jim

13th February 2025, 03:52 PM	#12
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,189	Thanks so much for the input Rick, I always appreciate your insights here in these maritime subjects as I know your hands on awareness on these things and being situated in these New England areas. Very well noted point on these vessels being burned for iron fittings etc. basically they were being scrapped but with key components being removed for maintenance on other vessels. In some of the reading I have found that often the saving of components went as far as masts etc. I think these dynamics are an interesting aspect that applies to maritime archaeology as well as our understanding of the history of piracy and privateers. With pirates it seems that as vessels changed hands, they were often (perhaps more often than not) renamed, thus records and accounts of vessels by name might be hard to follow. This seems apparent as historic records of vessels often reflect ships of the same name, so then sometimes period and context come into play. Thanks as well for this great illustration! As noted it sure gives interesting context. It seems Kidd was one of the most unfortunate individuals in the web of 'piracy' as he was entirely scapegoated to hide high end complicency in privateering scheme gone bad. Kidd was having crew trouble constantly and the 'bucket' incident was purely an accident in a heated moment and not evidence of maltreatment or despotism toward the crews. They were against Kidd ironically because of his resistance to resort to piracy. Actually the taking of the Quedah Merchant, the vessel that brought his prosecution for piracy, was done only after Kidd saw that it was under FRENCH passes. This then was in compliance with his letter of marque permitting his taking of French prizes. Those documents were conveniently 'lost' until discovered in 1911 ! Thank you again Rick, its good having you with me on this thread. all the best Jim