Who financed and supplied pirate-linked voyages?
Trace merchants, creditors, ship chandlers, and investors who tied into New York.
Explore this question →
A public history & citizen research project
Tracing piracy’s hidden networks through colonial New York.
Examining New York’s role in piracy, smuggling, and maritime crime in the 1600s–1700s—and the people, places, and connections that reach across the Atlantic.
- 6
- Sources logged
- 4
- Pillars identified
- 1
- Lead under review
- Open
- Community research
Colonial New York⚓Atlantic connections⚓Primary sources⚓Community research
The mission
Build a research project serious enough to outlive the treasure stories.
This site is designed to publish facts, not to raise imagination. Its purpose is to turn scattered records into a documented, searchable picture of how piracy touched New York’s waterfront, government, trade, families, and wider Atlantic activity.
Every claim should lead back to a source. Every lead can be challenged. Only a trail of evidence will keep history useful, honest, and available to everyone who follows it.
Research agenda
Four questions to guide the first year.
These questions shape our priorities and help us focus our time, sources, and fieldwork.
Where did pirate families live and operate?
Identify homes, wharves, meetings, and places of work across New York and the colonies.
Explore this question →How did New York’s waterfront enable the network?
Examine port officials, customs, taverns, and trade routes that created opportunity.
Explore this question →Which stories survive only as legends?
Separate story from record by verifying events and weighing evidence across time.
Explore this question →Research agenda
Follow the evidence across land and sea.
Source Site Route Lead
Search the ledger
A searchable ledger of people, places, vessels, and documents.
RecordTypeCategoryDateConfidence
6 visible recordsEvidence-led archive · Version 1
No records match those filters.
Try a broader search or add a new research lead below.
Field notebook
Turn research into documented exploration.
The project moves from browsing to verifiable work through a repeatable method.
- 01Choose one question
Start with a question that can be answered through accessible New York records.
- 02Create a source log
Record repository, collection, box, folder, date, rights, transcription, and confidence.
- 03Map every clue
Store coordinates separately from interpretations and preserve uncertainty.
- 04Publish a finding
Release a documented essay, map layer, talk, or dataset—not merely a dramatic claim.
Contribute
Turn research into documented exploration.
- 01Create a new recordAdd a person, place, person, vessel, or event with details and citation.
- 02Upload a source fileAttach scans, transcriptions, or photos that support the record.
- 03Share your leadSubmit a new lead for review by the research team.
- 04Publish a public historyApproved records become part of the public archive.
Log a source
Log a source, site, person, vessel, or unresolved lead.
Help build the most complete record of the hidden networks of piracy and maritime crime in colonial New York.
Your research strengthens history.
Founding digital sources
Founding digital sources.
Law Library of CongressCaptain Kidd trial record↗
New York Public LibraryWilliam Kidd residence image↗
Library of CongressKidd in New York Harbor illustration↗
National ArchivesSarah Kidd research context↗
Library of CongressHistoric map collections↗
NYPL Digital CollectionsAdditional visual records↗