Pirate William Kidd’s Items Discovered in a Piano

William Kidd was one of the last pirates of the golden age of Caribbean Pirates. He started his career as a privateer and pirate hunter. Eventually he turned to piracy himself and was hung three times in London and had his tarred body locked in a crows’s cage hanging over the River Thames as a warning to other would-be pirates. Now his old family bible was discovered hidden in a piano.

From the DailyMail here:

Lost treasure belonging to the pirate who inspired Johnny Depp’s famous character Jack Sparrow has been discovered hidden in a house under a grand piano. Carved with a skull and crossbones, the 17th-century wooden Bible box, King James Bible and mirror were possessions of Dundee-born scourge of the seas William Kidd.

There has long been speculation that Kidd buried treasure on an island and maps apparently showing where it is stashed have surfaced over the years.

The 17th-century treasure includes a wooden Bible box, King James Bible and mirror once belonging to the feared pirate William Kidd was found inside a piano formerly owned by Hubert Palmer, a collector of pirate memorabilia.

Kidd, who was born in Dundee, was initially hired by the government as a privateer to hunt down pirates, but became one himself.
He murdered one of his crew on board and captured many ships, robbing them of their treasure. He buried some of the plunder on an island off the US and it was dug up and sent back to England for use in the trial against him.

He was convicted of murder and piracy and hanged in 1701 in London. The rope broke on the first and second attempts and he had to be hanged a third time. His body was then tarred and suspended in an iron cage for three years over the River Thames at Tilbury Point as a warning to others.

Kidd was also one of the only pirates to actually bury treasure, and he did so when he was on the run from Royal Naval forces.