But as it is not our purpose to sketch its entire history, we will pursue it no further, having made these preliminary remarks for the purpose of introducing to the notice of the reader, Captain William Kidd, who was sent out to capture pirates, but who himself suffered the pirate's fate instead. Thus much however may be said, that the first part of the eighteenth century, constituting a period of twenty-five years after the extinction of the buccaneers, witnessed as daring robberies on the sea as any committed by them, and that many of them were projected in New York, and the New England Colonies, and the ships fitted out from thence for the purpose. Nor were these colonies alone implicated with them; Virginia and the Carolinas provided them a market for their goods, and even the Quakers of Pennsylvania tolerated occasional visits by those who spent their money freely among them.* Circumstances, apart from the crimes of Kidd, have combined to invest his name with interest from the time of his execution up to the present moment, especially in this meridian. His connection with the original enterprise with the government, and others of the colony of New York, and with the king, and other high functionaries of Great Britain-his return to our shores with a larger amount of treasure than was ever known to have been brought here, but still exaggerated in the public mind much beyond the truth-and the attempt made by political parties, both in England and America, one to heighten the enormity of his offences in order to affect its opponents, and the other to shield itself by the bold sacrifice of the man who had betrayed it, at least, into difficulty, served to make his name a terror at the time, and a choice theme for the balladmonger, to transmit to posterity.† He thus became the prince of pirates, and the nom de guerre of the race. If any such had landed on our shores he was at once associated with Kidd, and each piratical craft that entered our rivers, with his vessel. The mischief which this has produced is not inconsiderable. Many have diligently sought Kidd's stolen treasures, in lands on which he never trod, and in waters where, after he turned pirate, his vessels never sailed. Smith, the historian of New York, says, that at his day some credulous people had ruined themselves in searching for pirate's money. To dispel, if possible, this delusion, which still exists among us, and to collect together the facts connected with his piratical acts, and dispersed in a large number of manuscripts and printed notices, is the object of the following pages. William Kidd-in the ballad erroneously called "Robert Kidd"—was a trader from New York, where he had married, and his wife and children had their permanent residence. During the war between England and France, in the early part of the reign of William III., he commanded a privateer in the West Indies, and distinguished himself for his skill and Williamson's North Carolina, Chap. VIII., and Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, Vol. II., 216. +"Dr. G- -g, knows who the person was, who was with Kidd more than once some few days before his execution, and dealt so freely with him as to advise him to charge two lords by name, with somewhat that was material, which he said was the only way could save his life and the more to provoke the poor wretch, swore to him that those lords and their friends were restless in soliciting to have him hanged." This extract from a publication of the time, vindicating Lord Bellomont, entitled "A full account of the proceedings in relation to Captain Kidd, London, 1701," shows, in the language in which Kidd is referred to, and in the facts which it records, the temper at that time, of the two factions towards him. History of New York, page 93. bravery in two engagements with the French. As we have already observed, privateering was not at that time conducted on the strict principles by which it is at this day regulated, and was what has been often termed, very properly, as it then existed, legalized piracy. The ideas of right thus formed by Kidd, were doubtless very loose, and such as would not now be tolerated, but may be offered in extenuation of his subsequent conduct, as the legitimate fruit of the immoral pursuit in which he had been engaged. On the 14th May, 1691, the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, on the recommendation of the Governor and Council, directed one hundred and fifty pounds to be paid him for the good services done this province in his attending here with his vessels before his excellency's arrival.* It is said this service was as a privateer. In 1695, he sailed from New York to London, where he met Robert Livingston, the first of that name who had immigrated to America, and who had gone there to settle some matters with the government. Early in that year, Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, had been named by the king to be governor of New York, with a view, as he was considered a man of firmness and integrity, to suppress piracy and smuggling, both of which were encouraged in the colony, and it was said, even by Governor Fletcher, his predecessor, and by Mr. Nicoll, one of the governor's council. Previous to his departure, which did not take place, in consequence of delay in issuing his commission, until the latter part of the year 1697, he consulted Colonel Livingston, in regard to the complaints made against New York, who recommended Kidd as one who well knew the haunts of the pirates, and the principal persons connected with them, and as a proper person in other respects to be put in command of one of the king's ships to go against them. The proposal was made to the king by the earl, and by him referred to the Admiralty, who, objecting, it was abandoned. But the king gave his approval to the fitting out of a private armed ship, to be commanded by Kidd, for the same purpose. In pursuance of this arrangement, Bellomont induced Lord Chancellor Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Rumney, Oxford, Lord High Admiral of England, and Sir Edmund Harrison, a rich merchant, to unite with Livingston and Kidd, in sending out, at an expense of six thousand pounds, a ship called the Adventure Galley, one-fifth of the expense being defrayed by Kidd and Livingston. Kidd himself was averse to the enterprise, but Bellomont insisted that he should go, and told him that his own vessel would be stopped in the river by some great men if he did not go.† He however consented, and two commissions were issued to him, one from the Admiralty, dated 10th December, 1695, as a privateer against the French, and the other under the great seal, dated the 26th of January following, empow ering him to apprehend Thomas Tew, William Maze, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, and all other pirates whom he should meet on the coasts of America or elsewhere, and seize "such merchandise, money, goods and wares as should be found on board or with them." After the sailing of the ship, and on the 27th May, 1697, a grant under the great seal passed, that the ships and goods, and other things from the above-named and other pirates should be the sole property of the persons at whose charge the vessel was first fitted out, as far as the king might grant the same; while they, on their part, entered into a covenant to render an account under oath of the * Journal, (Ed. 1764,) Vol. I., pages 6 and 13. + Testimony of Colonel Hewson: State Trials, (Fol. Ed.,) Vol. V., page 326. seizures, and to yield the king a tenth part of all that they should be entitled to under the royal grant. Kidd and Livingston gave bonds to Bellomont for the faithful execution of the trust.* Thus it appears that the king and the Lord Chancellor of England, the governor of the colony of New York, and several of the nobility were interested in the speculation, at the head of which Kidd was now unwillingly placed; and that in addition to the letters of marque and reprisal against the enemies of England, he held an extraordinary commission, such as has seldom since been granted to a private armed ship, to capture pirates. By the law of nations, any person may take them wherever they may be found without any commission, but in this case it was issued apparently for the purpose of founding a grant of the property found in their possession. So unusual a course gave color to the charges which were afterwards made against the high functionaries interested in the enterprise, and produced articles of impeachment against them by the House of Commons.† It is not an unreasonable conclusion to arrive at, from the circumstances attending the setting forth of the expedition, in connection with the result, that Kidd belonged to that portion of subordinate officials who think it more laudable to show their zeal for their king than for their country or their God, rather than to the class of desperadoes whom it was the professed object of the expedition to disperse. Kidd sailed from Plymouth in April, 1696, in the Adventure Galley of thirty guns and eighty men, for New York, where he arrived in July following, with a French ship which he had captured on the passage. On his arrival he invited men to enter the service by offering them portions of the booty, after deducting forty shares for himself and the ship, and by that means increased the number of his crew to 155. He then sailed for Madeira, where he arrived on the 6th of February following-thence to Bonavista, where he took in salt-thence to St. Jago, where he bought provisions-thence to Madagascar, where he took in water and provisions thence to Malabar, about the first of June-thence to Joannathence to Mahala, and thence to Joanna again—and thence to the Red Sea, and in July, 1697, to Bab's-Key, a small island at the entrance of that sea. Here was, in the outset, by leaving our coasts immediately, a plain departure from the objects of the expedition, which was publicly announced to be the destruction of the pirates in the American seas, and especially at New York. Up to this time no vessel had been captured by him since he left New York, embracing a period of nearly a year. It is not unreasonable to suppose he felt disappointed. Before this time, too, no overt act appears to have been committed by him, and no disposition to transcend his powers to have been evinced. Now, however, he informed his men that he was lying in wait for the Mocha fleet, and that he would ballast his vessel with gold and silver. About the middle of August the fleet, fourteen in number, convoyed by a Dutch and an English ship, came down, and Kidd set out in pursuit of them, but on overtaking them he was compelled, after exchanging a few shots, to retire. We wish to follow the cruiser "as he sailed," in order that his whole route being distinctly followed, we may be able both to discover the real Broadhead's Final Report. London Documents. It was said that a similar grant and commission had been given to Sir Robert Holmes, in the reign of James II. motives which actuated him, and to ascertain the amount of property which came into his possession, and finally to see what became of his vessel and booty; and for that reason we will be more particular than otherwise would be necessary or interesting. The change, if it did not exist before he left New York, had now come over his purpose. Disappointed again in his designs upon the fleet, he sailed for Carawar, on the coast of Malabar, and in the way, about the 20th of September, fell in with, and took, a small Moorish vessel called "The Maiden," belonging to Aden, commanded by an Englishman of the name of Parker. Not realizing much from his capture, he ordered some of the men on board to be hoisted by their arms, and beaten with naked cutlasses, in order to disclose what money they had, but to little purpose. He obtained only a bale of coffee, sixty pounds of pepper, and thirty pounds of myrrh, some wearing apparel, and about twenty pieces of Arabian gold, which he divided among his men, giving two pieces to each mess. The myrrh was used in the place of pitch, and the pepper divided among the men. After remaining a short time at Carawar, he put to sea again, and, encountering a Portuguese man-of-war, engaged in a fight with her for seve ral hours, and then hauled off with ten of his men wounded. He then went to Porto-thence to the coast of Malabar again, where, on one of the islands, his cooper having been killed by the natives, he served them in pretty much the same way as the officers of our late South Sea Exploring Expedition served the Fejeeans; burning their houses and shooting one of the murderers. About this time he fell in with a ship called the Royal Captain, with the commander of which he exchanged civilities. They then parted; but the spirit of robbery, had, however, been excited among his men, and complaints were made by some of them, and especially by one William Moore, a gunner, that he had allowed the Royal Captain to escape. An altercation taking place in consequence between him and this man, in a fit of passion he struck him on the head with a bucket, inflicting a severe wound, of which he died the next day. This is the murder for which he was afterwards tried and convicted. As the ballad has it, "I murdered William Moore, This transaction occurred on the 30th day of October, 1697; and from it Kidd has obtained a character for barbarity which the circumstances of the case do not establish. His cruise was marked by no other act showing a disregard of life; and this one has some justification in the circumstance that it was caused by the piratical disposition of the deceased, and in consequence of an opposite spirit on the part of Kidd. The instrument used shows too that it was not a premeditated act, and gives color to his plea that he had no intention at the time to kill him. Being still on the coast of Malabar, on the 17th of November, he fell in with another Moorish vessel of 150 tons burthen, from Surat, commanded by a Dutchman of the name of Mitchell, and hoisting French colors, the Moors did the like. He then captured her, and ordered a Frenchman by the name of Le Roy, who was a passenger on board of the vessel, to act the captain, and to pretend to have a French pass. He then declared the ship, which he called "The November," because she was taken in that month, a prize to England, as if observing forms of legal authority, and intending to claim for his conduct, as he did on his trial, the protection of the commission authorizing him to take French ships. From this vessel he took two horses and some quilts, which he sold at Malabar, and the proceeds of which he divided among his men, and ten or twelve bales of cotton. The vessel itself he carried to Madagascar. In December he captured a Moorish ketch of fifty tons burthen, from which he obtained thirty tubs of sugar, tobacco and myrrh, and a bale of coffee, and then turned her adrift. The goods were divided among the men. In January, he met, near Callicut, a Portuguese ship from Bengal, and took from her two chests of opium, thirty jars of butter, a ton of wax, half a ton of iron, a hundred bags of rice, two chests of East India goods, and some powder, estimated in all to be worth four or five hundred pounds. The opium he sold on the coast, and the produce he divided among the men. The ship was sunk. In the same month he made his great prize in the capture of an Armenian vessel of 400 tons burthen, called the Quedagh Merchant, commanded by an Englishman named Wright. He disposed of a large portion of the goods taken from her, on the coast, to the value of £12,000, which he shared with his crew, reserving forty shares, as stipulated, for himself and owners. While thus disposing of these goods, he frequently plundered the Banian merchants, with whom he traded, and in that way added about five hundred pieces of eight to his booty. He then sailed with the captured ship to Madagascar, where he arrived in the beginning of May, 1798, and where he divided with his men the goods which remained, and which yielded three bales to a share. Each share from this vessel was calculated to have amounted to nearly two hundred pounds in money, and the same amount in goods, or £400 for each share, making the entire prize of about £64,000 value, or £32,000 in money, and the like amount in goods, and Kidd's portion in both of the value of £16,000, the whole number of shares being about 160. Thus, it will be observed, that of this rich prize, containing the great bulk of his spoil, the larger portion went to the men. When Kidd arrived at Madagascar with the Quedagh Merchant, he found there the Motha frigate, an East India Company's ship, turned pirate, and then called the Resolution, and commanded by an Englishman, one Culliford. Instead of apprehending this man and his crew, as it was his duty to have done, and as they themselves were fearful at first he would do, he immediately entered into friendly communication with them, furnished Culliford with four cannon, and received in return four or five hundred pounds in money. In justification of his seizure of the Quedagh Merchant, Kidd pretended on the trial, and there was some slight evidence in support of the allegation, that the vessel sailed under a French pass, and that he was, therefore, authorized by his first commission to seize her. The pass, however, was not produced, and he accounted for its absence by averring that it was with some other papers which had been taken from him when he was apprehended in America, and which were kept from him by Lord Bellomont. It appears, however, that he took no pains to have that or any other ship condemned, except the French vessel captured on his voyage to New York. His excuse, therefore, if true, was not sufficient to exculpate him from the crime of piracy so justly chargeable from this omission. Kidd burnt his ship, the Adventure Galley, at Madagascar, and went on |