Wherever we get a glimpse of his character it shows nothing but mean, calculating cunning; and to the end he posed as the simple, innocent man who was shamefully misjudged.

His crew were always discontented and ready to desert.

He had none of the lavish open-handedness that made the fraternity welcome in so many ports.
Every, Teach, England, and a dozen others in his place, would have thrown the commission to the winds, and sailed the seas under the red flag.

Kidd's ruling idea appears to have been that he could hoodwink the world as to his doings under cover of his commission: so that when he heard of the charges against him he believed he could disarm his accusers by sheer impudence.

At his trial he attempted to lay all the blame on his crew, and vowed he was 'the innocentest person of them all,' and all the witnesses were perjured.