Pickpocket, house-breaker, and a seaman on a man-of-war, who arrived in the Bahamas with the Woodes Rogers task force and almost immediately turned pirate,
Walter Kennedy was born in Wapping, London in 1695 and as a young lad became quite an accomplished pickpocket. Later he became an apprentice to his father who was an anchor smith, and Walter carried out house-breaking in his spare time. His apprenticeship however, came to an end with the death of his father, and he decided to go to sea.
After joining the up he served on a man-of-war during the War of Spanish Succession and was still a serving seaman when his ship sailed to the Bahamas as part of the Woodes Rogers force that was sent to deal with the pirates that were prevalent in the islands. Rogers arrived in New Providence on the 22nd of July 1718 and after a run in with Charles Vane, set about his task.
Kennedy however, had his own task in mind and that was to find some pirates and join them. After hooking up with a group consisting of Howell Davis, Denman Topping, Thomas Anstis and two others he joined with them in signing up as crewmen on the Buck, a sloop out of New Providence. When they were ready the group raised a mutiny, took over the vessel and elected Howell Davis as captain. Kennedy took to the life of a pirate with enthusiasm, was courageous in a fight but had a vicious temper and a cruel streak to go with it.
Under the captaincy of Davis, Kennedy proved his worth as they first attacked the Portuguese slave trading fort of St Jago, then the Gambia Castle where they took gold bars worth two thousand pounds, and followed this up by taking and plundering a fort at Sierra Leone.
Later when Howell Davis was killed by the Portuguese on the Island of Princes, it was Kennedy, in an act of retribution that led thirty pirates in the attack on, and the destruction of the Portuguese Island's fort. When Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) was elected as captain, Kennedy stayed with him and eventually was elected as his second in command.
While at Devils Island however, Kennedy showed his true colours, while Roberts was out chasing a ship, hoping to gain badly needed supplies, he stole the Royal Rover with the gold on board,
After stealing the ship the crew held a meeting, elected Kennedy as captain and also voted to share out the loot, then go their separate ways. To this end Kennedy steered for Ireland but due to his lack of navigational skills ended up wrecking the ship on the coast of Scotland. On getting ashore the pirates scattered and while most escaped; seventeen of them were arrested near Edinburgh, put on trial and nine of them were hanged.
Kennedy managed evade capture by slipping across to Dublin and from there he eventually made his way to London, where he set up a brothel in Deptford Road. Besides running the bawdy house he also went back to his old trade of house-breaking and would probably have ended his days in relative comfort if he hadn't fallen out with one of the prostitutes. The woman accused him of theft and he was arrested and taken to Birdwell Prison. While there he was recognised by a mate from one of the ships he had taken and denounced as a pirate. After being transferred to Marshalsea Prison he was put on trial and hanged at Execution Dock on the 21st of July 1721.
