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    Hidden History: A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities and Unknown Stories From True History
    Hidden History: A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities and Unknown Stories From True History
    Hidden History: A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities and Unknown Stories From True History
    Ebook166 pages2 hours

    Hidden History: A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities and Unknown Stories From True History

    By Lenny Flank

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    About this ebook

    A collection of stories from true history. Forgotten tales, unsolved mysteries, strange oddities, and little-remembered incidents from the past. Includes--Who Really Shot Down the Red Baron? Was The Pirate Captain Kidd Actually Innocent? The True Story of the "Escape From Alcatraz". Did The "WOW!" Signal Come From ETs? The Day the Cops Bombed Philadelphia. The Strange Journey of Einstein's Brain. The Story Behind the Kalashnikov AK-47. The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. The Strangest Wars in History. And more.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLenny Flank
    Release dateJun 13, 2014
    ISBN9781311769404
    Hidden History: A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities and Unknown Stories From True History
    Author

    Lenny Flank

    Longtime social activist, labor organizer, environmental organizer, antiwar.

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      Book preview

      Hidden History - Lenny Flank

      Hidden History

      A Collection of Forgotten Mysteries, Oddities, and Unknown Stories From True History

      by Lenny Flank

      Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida

      © copyright 2014 by Red and Black Publishers

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Contents

      Was the Pirate Captain Kidd Innocent?

      Who Really Shot Down the Red Baron?

      Escape From Alcatraz: The True Story

      The Workers Opposition: Defending Socialism Inside Stalinist Russia

      World War One and the Birth of Submarine Warfare

      The Surreal Life of Robert Lincoln

      The Pastry War: How a French Bakery Caused a War in Mexico

      Master Sgt Michael Arooth: The Forgotten Ace

      Presidential Pets

      The True Story of the Bounty Mutiny

      Pierre Le Gloan: Ace for Both Sides

      Rebellion in the Trenches: The French Army Mutiny of 1917

      Happy Accidents: Unintentional Technological Discoveries

      The Day the Cops Bombed Philadelphia

      How a Speech Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life

      The Strangest Wars in History

      The Aleutians Campaign: The Only US Territory to be Invaded in World War II

      Eritosthenes and the Size of the Earth

      Think You’re Tough? The Story of Hugh Glass

      The Vela Mystery

      Mathias Rust and his Flight to Moscow

      The American War With Korea (No, Not That One)

      William Z Foster and the Communist Party USA

      The Beast: A History of Presidential Limousines

      The Strange Journey of Einstein’s Brain

      Lucky Luciano: The Man Who Organized Organized Crime

      The Wow! Signal

      The Story of Miss Unsinkable Violet Jessop

      Khalkhin Gol: The Forgotten War Between Japan and the USSR

      Kalashnikov AK-47: A History of the Most Widespread Gun in the World

      Getting Naked: How Early Humans Lost Their Fur

      Sealand: The World’s Smallest Nation

      Voyage of the "SS Minnow": The Story of Gilligan’s Island

      Was the Pirate Captain Kidd Innocent?

      He is one of the most infamous and well-known pirates in history—but was William Captain Kidd actually innocent of piracy and murder? The surprising answer may be yes.

      Not much is known of Captain Kidd’s early life—most of his story comes from his own testimony at his piracy trial. He was born William Kyd in January 1654, the son of a merchant ship captain who later died at sea. Some sources say he was born in Greenock, Scotland, but his own testimony was that he was born in Dundee, and this is confirmed by birth records found by later historians.

      By 1689, Kidd had somehow made his way across the Atlantic to live in New York, and became a crew member on a pirate ship that was operating in the Caribbean. When the crew expelled the captain (pirate ships, unlike Royal Navy ships, were democratically run, with the captain being elected and with written agreements about how loot was to be divided), Kidd was elected by the crew to lead them, and sailed the ship to the nearby British island of Nevis. There, the British Governor Christopher Codrington allowed Kidd to keep the ship, which he named Blessed William, and issued him a letter of marque designating Kidd as a privateer.

      During this time, navies played a crucial role, and all three of the major world powers of the day—France, England and Spain, had large navies that spanned the entire world. In time of war, it was advantageous to attack the enemy’s commercial and cargo shipping, but this took a large number of ships and a lot of resources, which the regular navy could not spare. As a result, when war was declared, national governments would seek out privateers—these were ordinary citizens with their own ships who would be hired by a government under a contract (known as a letter of marque) that granted them the right to attack and seize the merchant ships of enemy nations and to keep them as prizes. Privateering was an entirely legal and accepted aspect of 17th century naval warfare. Pirates, on the other hand, were those who crossed the line, and who began indiscriminately attacking merchant ships of any nation even in times of peace. Pirates were considered the enemy of all nations.

      In 1689, the War of the Grand Alliance was on between England and France, and Kidd, in command of a small fleet, went into action against the French as a privateer. He attacked the small French Island of Mariegalante and seized over 2,000 pounds sterling worth of loot, and also captured a French privateer. He was rewarded for his actions with a 150-pound bonus by the English Governor of New York, and settled down in New York City as a respected merchant captain (while he was ashore in Antigua, Kidd was himself the victim of piracy, when the buccaneer Robert Culliford boarded Kidd’s ship and sailed away with it). In 1691 Kidd married a wealthy widow named Sarah Oort, and became a member of New York society, with a house on Wall Street and friends among the colonial government. Among other things, Kidd helped finance the construction of Trinity Church in New York City.

      In August 1695, while traveling in London, Kidd happened to run into a friend from New York, Robert Livingston, who offered Kidd a business deal; Livingston was friends with New York Governor Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, and proposed to ask Bellomont for a letter of marque, placing Kidd in command. Kidd agreed, and in December the Governor duly asked him to form a fleet to hunt down the pirate Thomas Tew, and to once again privateer against the French. But Bellomont had brought in his own partners, and they were in high places—Kidd’s letter of marque was issued personally by King William III, and the venture was quietly being financed by four prominent London noblemen in the King’s government, and perhaps, according to some sources, by the King himself. Under the terms of the letter of marque, Kidd was to keep a portion of any loot for himself and his crews, and turn the rest over to Bellomont, the other English nobles, and to the Crown. Kidd went to England and obtained a ship for the task, which he named Adventure Galley.

      When the Adventure Galley set sail from London, an odd incident occurred. While sailing past a Royal Navy ship on the Thames River, Kidd’s crew failed to give the customary salute, and when the Royal Navy ship fired a small deck gun as an admonition, the crew of the Adventure Galley reportedly pulled down their pants and mooned the Navy men instead of saluting them. Angered by the impudence, the ship sent Royal Marines to board Kidd’s ship and took most of his officers as prisoners, later impressing them into the Royal Navy. Kidd then sailed for America with a short-handed crew.

      While crossing the Atlantic, Kidd encountered and captured a French merchant vessel, then put in at New York to find crew members to replace some of those who had been arrested in England. He then set out across the Atlantic and around the southern tip of Africa for the Indian Ocean, where the pirate Tew was known to operate. What happened next became the basis for Kidd’s arrest, trial and execution for piracy and murder.

      Shortly after setting sail, Kidd encountered a squadron of Royal Navy ships, whose commander, in typical British navy practice, attempted to impress some of Kidd’s crew into service for his own ships. Kidd, already short-handed, instead pulled anchor and sailed away during the night, and the angered British commander reported the incident to London, opining that perhaps Kidd had refused to submit to the Navy’s authority because he had gone rogue and become a pirate. It was the start of a string of rumors that would flow back to London about Kidd.

      For the next twelve months, Kidd’s fleet criss-crossed the Indian Ocean looking for pirates or French ships to capture, but found none. The crew, whose pay depended entirely upon how many prizes they captured, began getting restless, and there was talk of mutiny. Some crew members deserted. Matters came to the boiling point in October 1697, when the Adventure Galley spotted a Dutch merchant ship on the horizon. According to Kidd, one of the crew, gunner William Moore, declared that they should attack the vessel so they could finally get some prize money. Kidd replied that he could only attack French ships. An argument broke out, and Kidd angrily picked up a heavy wooden bucket and hit Moore in the head with it, killing him.

      In January 1698, Kidd finally scored a rich prize, when he encountered the Quedagh Merchant, a ship flying an Armenian flag. After boarding the ship, Kidd found that the Captain was an Englishman named Wright, but was carrying passes from the King of France allowing him to sail for the French East Indies Company under the protection of France. Kidd, according to his testimony, wanted to release the ship on the grounds that it had a British captain, but the crew once again threatened to mutiny, and Kidd relented and took the ship, keeping the passes that showed her to be sailing under French protection, and renaming her the Adventure Prize. The Quedagh Merchant had been carrying a huge cargo of gold, silver, silk and spices. Kidd, happy at last with enough loot to make the venture profitable, set sail for Madagascar.

      When Kidd reached Madagascar in April, he found that the pirate Robert Culliford, the same one who had stolen Kidd’s own ship years before, was anchored there. According to Kidd, he ordered his ships to attack the pirate—instead, all but 12 of his men abandoned him and joined Culliford’s crew. According to accounts from some of the crew, Kidd and Culliford spent an afternoon drinking together and swapping stories, and the crew joined Culliford for a better chance at capturing rich prizes. In either case, with most of his crew now gone, Kidd scuttled the Adventure Galley, transferred his remaining crew (and his loot) to the Adventure Prize, and sailed to the Caribbean on the way home.

      When he got to the Caribbean, he was shocked to learn there that several ships of the Royal Navy had already been dispatched to find him, and that he was wanted for murder and piracy. During his time in the Indian Ocean, stories had filtered back to England about the killing of William Moore and the capture of Captain Wright’s ship, as well as stories accusing him of capturing a number of other ships. Kidd ditched the Adventure Prize, buried most of the treasure he had captured with her on a small island (the only known instance of a pirate actually burying treasure), transferred to a small sloop, and sailed to New York to clear his name. He was arrested shortly after his arrival.

      At trial, Kidd faced charges for the murder of his gunner Moore, for the capture of Captain Wright and the Quedagh Merchant, and for four other accused instances of piracy, including an unsuccessful attack on an Indian fleet being escorted by Royal Navy ships. Kidd seemed unconcerned—the killing of Moore had been unintentional but had been carried out under a captain’s legitimate legal authority to maintain discipline against mutiny, Kidd had papers showing that Captain Wright and his ship had been operating under the authority of the French King, and was therefore a legitimate target for a privateer, and there wasn’t any hard evidence that he had carried out any of the other attacks he was accused of. And, perhaps, Kidd thought that his high-ranking government friends, who had financed the mission, would back him up.

      Things didn’t turn out as Kidd hoped, however . . .

      Faced with the widespread rumors of Kidd’s piracy that were reaching London, his backers in the English government, who had issued Kidd’s letter of marque, now did their best to distance themselves from him. The King’s political opponents in Parliament, meanwhile, wanted to use the sensational Kidd story as a weapon against the Crown by tying him indirectly to pirates, and had Kidd brought all the way to London for questioning by Parliament. When Kidd had been arrested, the papers that he had in his possession, proving that the Quedagh Merchant had been operating under a French pass, were taken from him and never seen again. Also, neither he nor the court were ever given a copy of a deposition made by one of his crew members about the killing of William Moore, which supported Kidd’s story.

      In desperation, Kidd revealed the location of his buried

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