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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: Best of 2023: Captain Kidd: Pirate or Privateer?
Description: We’re back with new episodes on New Year’s Day, but, before we finally turn our backs on 2023 for good, here’s Olly’s choice for his favourite episode of the year - our story from 23rd May, the day in 1701 when sea captain William Kidd was executed for piracy and murder. From the gallows, Kidd proclaimed to the large assembled crowd that he was innocent of the crimes, as he was a licensed privateer. The vessel he’d captured, the Quedagh Merchant, was indeed sailing under a ‘French pass’ – though the documents that pro...