Welcome to the Pieces of 8 Challenge!
Some of the world’s most famous pirates have visited the North Country and left behind a large treasure chest of their richest valuables. Each of the notorious pirates then left behind a separate cache with a hint for you to find the motherload. There are 8 caches for each of the 8 pirates, plus the motherload. The pirates left a part of the coordinates for the motherload in each of their caches. They don’t need to be found in order, but they all need to be found to get the final coordinates for the motherload.
William Kidd was born in Scotland in 1654 and by 1689 he was the captain of his own ship, being appointed captain by the governor of Nevis. Kidd’s crew’s job was to protect the island of Nevis from the French, but the governor didn’t pay them, telling them to take their money from the French ships they plundered, making him a privateer. In September 1696, Kidd, his crew, and brand new flagship, the Adventure Galley, set off for the Cape of Good Hope, but disease killed more than a third of the crew before reaching Madagascar and the brand new ship was constantly leaking. Kidd was losing money and wasn’t able to plunder ships to cover the costs, and some of the crew deserted, while those that stayed often threatened mutiny. On January 30, 1698, Kidd and his crew took control of the Quedagh Merchant, a ship from the East India Company that was under the protection of the French crown. However, the captain of the Quedagh Merchant was an Englishman and even though Kidd tried to get his crew to relinquish control of the ship, they refused seeing it as legal prey. When news reached England of this, it cemented Kidd’s reputation as a pirate and when Kidd returned to the Caribbean he realized he was a wanted man with numerous ships after him. He ditched the Adventure Galley and headed towards New York on a smaller ship, depositing treasure along the way up the coast. Kidd was lured to Boston under the pretence of being offered clemency in July 1699 and was arrested instead. He was thrown in jail and for nearly two years was questioned about the wherabouts of other pirates that had assimilated into normal society. Kidd was eventually charged with murder and piracy and sentenced to death. He was hung in a public execution on May 23, 1701 in London and his body was hung over the Thames River as a warning to other pirates for nearly three years.