On This Day In History - 22nd January
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 22nd JANUARY On This Day, the 22nd of January 1645, William Kidd was born. That's Captain William Kidd. Not to be confused with Billy The Kid, who was a cowboy. Captain William Kidd was a famous 17th century pirate. Although, in reality, Captain William Kidd's level of piracy is very much disputed. Kidd was employed by the Governor of the Island of Nevis to sail his ship, Blessed William, with a small fleet of likeminded Captains, to protect the English settlement against the French. They were given permission and the authority to pillage the French ships of whatever plunder they wanted. Kidd was later tasked with hunting enemy pirates and capturing or destroying their ships. So, far from being a pirate himself, he was actually hunting them down. He did this for a number of years and soon had a reputation for being a cruel Captain who didn't think twice about killing his crew or...