Captain Kidd buried treasure on Gardiners Island to bargain for a pardon, and the governor who had backed his voyage dug it up

William Kidd was a New York sea captain and shipowner. In 1695 in London he received a royal commission to hunt pirates in the Indian Ocean, financed by a syndicate that included Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, the new governor of New York. Having taken no prize, Kidd turned pirate. In January 1698 he took the Armenian ship Quedagh Merchant. At Anguilla in April 1699 he learned he had been declared a pirate. He sailed north and wrote to Bellomont, who had promised him a pardon. Within days of landing in Boston in July 1699 he was arrested. Before landing he had hidden part of his loot on Gardiners Island, off Long Island. On 25 July 1699 Bellomont drew up an inventory of that cache: one chest held more than 200 bars of silver and a diamond ring, another 67 rubies. From jail Kidd offered to fetch a treasure worth 50,000 or 60,000 pounds from the Caribbean if allowed to sail as a prisoner. Bellomont refused. Kidd was tried in London and convicted of murdering his gunner and of five piracies. He was hanged at Execution Dock on 23 May 1701; the rope broke on the first attempt. His body was tarred and hung in chains at Tilbury. About 14,000 pounds was recovered from his ship and the island, and the proceeds of his goods went to charity. He left a wife and child in New York. Treasure hunters have searched for the rest ever since.