Walter Kennedy (pirate)

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Kennedy's flag

Walter Kennedy (died 19 July 1721) was an Irish pirate who served as a crew member under Howell Davis and Bartholomew Roberts. He was one of six men, including Howell Davis, who mutinied, seized the sloop Buck and took to piracy. Davis was elected captain. Kennedy was with Davis on the island of Principe when his party was ambushed by the Portuguese, and was one of only two members of the shore party to be able to escape back to the ship. With Davis dead, Bartholomew Roberts was elected as his successor. When Roberts and forty of the crew chased a possible prize in a captured sloop off the coast of Surinam, Kennedy was left in charge of Roberts' ship, the Rover, and a large part of its crew. He took advantage of this to abandon Roberts and proclaim himself captain.

Kennedy headed for Ireland, but having no skill in navigation landed on the north-west coast of Scotland instead. Seventeen of the crew were arrested near Edinburgh and put on trial for piracy, with nine of them being hanged. Kennedy himself was able to reach London where he is said to have kept a brothel in the Deptford Road. When one of his prostitutes accused him of theft, he was sent to the Bridewell prison, where he was denounced as a pirate by the mate of a ship he had taken. Kennedy was transferred to the Marshalsea prison and put on trial for piracy. He was hanged at Execution Dock on 19 July, 1721.