On the Trail of Captain Kidd

Long Island is the perfect place for pirates, plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in and it’s within easy sailing distance of a major port and trading center—New York City. Back in the colonial era, Governor Lord Bellomont made Captain William Kidd a privateer to protect English ships that sailed in New York waters.

Books have been written about Captain Kidd, so this article won’t be a biography but a brief travelogue of Captain Kidd’s excursion to Long Island.

The most famous tale of Captain Kidd is how he buried treasure on Gardiner’s island in June, 1699. He stopped on Gardiner’s on his way to Boston to clear his name of piracy. With the permission of Mrs. Gardiner he buried $30,000 worth of treasure in a ravine between Bostwick’s Point and the Manor house. In exchange, Kidd gave her a piece of gold cloth, which now hangs in the East Hampton library, as well as a bag of sugar. When Kidd was put on trial in Boston, the Gardiners were ordered to dig up the treasure as evidence. The booty included god dust, bars of silver, Spanish dollars, rubies, diamonds and candle sticks. (Kidd is also rumored to have buried treasure at Montauk Point.)

Kidd supposedly had a rendezvous in Port Jefferson harbor on his way to Gardiner’s.

Another story has him landing in Oyster Bay Harbor to meet up with a lawyer, James Emmot, in the hope of getting a pardon from Governor Bellomont.

One tale relates that Kidd wanted to throw the government off his trail and his treasure, so he sailed to several Long Island ports. First Oyser Bay, heading down the North Shore to Block Island, then coming south, then turning around and going back the way he came, stopping at Gull Island, Block Island and Plum Island, then back to Oyster Bay.

Sadly Captain Kidd met his end at the end of a rope on London, having been hung for piracy.