Captain
William Kidd: Pirate hunter or pirate? While I tend to find the man maligned by
history and folktales, he is no doubt famous today for pirating the wrong ship at
the wrong time without the right connections. While his guilt or innocence
depends on which document you read, a great deal isn't known about his wife, Sarah
Bradley Cox Oort, but it must have been love.
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| The Kidd residence in New York. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. |
Kidd
was born in Scotland in 1645, and by the time he was 40, he'd pulled
himself out of obscurity up to the position of sea captain, sailing in the
Caribbean. Things didn't work out with his crew in the Indies, so he headed to New
York where he met Sarah Oort. Reports say she was beautiful, super rich, and
married.
Sarah
was married to the wealthy, John Oort, a man one presumes was older due to his
status and the fact his young wife was under thirty and already widowed. Sarah
was from England. Her first husband was a William Cox, who drowned in a clumsy
accident. Her second, John Oort, died within two years of her first spouse.
Oort's death was decided to be under, "mysterious circumstances."
What
mysterious circumstances those were, if any, no one seems to know. A cause of
death doesn't appear to be available. It doesn't help gossip that Kidd and
Sarah would apply for a marriage license just two days after Oort's untimely death.
There
isn't much information to be found about how, when, and where Kidd and Sarah
would have met or socialized in New York. Clearly, they were moving in the same
circles. It is supposed they met at a party. She was young, pretty, and rich;
he was rich, ambitious, and full of Scottish personality.
They both had a gift
for making connections. There were friends at the time; a bulletin from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art records the Kidds received four tin, four brass, and
four pewter candlesticks after they married.
After
the wedding, Kidd tried to put down some roots with his wife and two daughters whose
father was never proven. The Kidds lived in a well-decorated three story house
on Wall Street and went to church where they obtained their own special pew. Historians
believe from documented hearsay the couple loved each other very much.
It
was William and Sarah against the world. Their reputations were already
tarnished by their quick nuptials. During Kidd's years in New York with Sarah,
they got cozy with the governor, who was later caught making deals with um… ah…
pirates. Soon he was 50 years old, and Kidd could not ignore the call of the
sea even with a pretty, young wife. He returned to privateering which soon turned
sketchy.
Fast Fact: Captain Kidd's ship
was The Adventure, with 34 guns and
more than 100 men.
Nobody
then or now seems to be certain if Captain Kidd actually had permission to be
pulling ships over and raking in gold and silk. He was almost undone when he
accidentally killed a member of his crew by fracturing the man's skull with a
bucket. When later charged in his death with the rest of the trumped up piracy charges,
Kidd explained he had refused to attack a Dutch ship and some of the crew,
especially that man, had rebelled over the decision.
The
prize that eventually tore Kidd from his wife and family in New York was the Quedah Merchant. Kidd attacked (as a privateer) what he
thought was a French-owned ship in 1698, not knowing it was captained by an Englishman,
and worse, owned by the Indian Empire.
Because
England didn't want problems with India, they took the rumors swirling around
the headstrong Captain Kidd and charged him with piracy and murder. None of the
Kidds' connections or friends could or would defend Kidd in court. He could
have sailed away, but he returned to New York to try to clear his name. Instead,
he was jailed, then sent to England for trial. He was hung in 1701 as a pirate.
In
the end, Kidd sent Sarah his last gold coin. He had not seen her in almost two years.
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| Captain Kidd Arrested. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. |
Sarah
Kidd went on to live another 43 years in New York before she passed on. No love
letters have ever been found; she is believed to have been illiterate. But Sarah
stood by Kidd when he was accused of being a pirate. He did everything he could
to distance himself from the slur and protect his family. She waited for him
during the trial in New York. When she received news he had been hung, she was
turned out of her house while the "guilty pirate's" property was
seized.
Her
fate, when it came to matters of the heart, seems to have been star-crossed or
cruel. Sarah Kidd remarried two years after Captain Kidd's death. She fought
for the property she'd shared with Captain Kidd and received some of it back. Her
last husband would be Christopher Rouseby. He died in 1732 after giving her
three sons--one of whom she named William.
Sources
H. E. Winlock. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 9 (Sep., 1935), pp. 176-178 [Journal]
H. E. Winlock. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 9 (Sep., 1935), pp. 176-178 [Journal]
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