On the Quedah Merchant, which he turned over to Bolton and twenty-two men for safe keeping at His- paniola (San Domingo), he left about 150 bales of goods, 70 or 80 tons of sugar, 10 tons of junk iron, 14 or 15 anchors, 40 tons of saltpeter, 20 guns in the hold and 30 guns mounted.Ĭaptain Kidd was prepared to swear to Bellomont that he was innocent of piracy that he had taken only ships which sailed under French papers, and that whatever acts of a piratical nature were charged against him were done by his crew, who had mutinied, and locked him in his cabin until the piracies were accomplished. Aboard her he put all his treasure and part of his goods. He bought from Bolton the sloop San Antonio, which was commanded by a Yankee named Samuel Wood, of Philadelphia. Kidd now decided to find Bellomont and set himself straight if he could. The part left him was worth less than $100,000. About one hundred men had deserted him at Madagascar, taking their shares of the plunder, which was worth in all about $300,000. Kidd had only a remnant of his crew left on the Quedah Merchant. By this time an English frigate, the Queensboro, was chasing him. At length he met, at Mona, Henry Bolton, a merchant of Antigua, through whom he obtained provisions at Curacoa. Though in distress he was denied stores at Anguilla and at St. While his backers were anxiously waiting to hear of his capture, Kidd appeared unexpectedly in the West Indies, where he touched at Anguilla, April 1, 1699, and heard that he was wanted as a pirate. His chief partner, Bellomont was there, and Kidd was under orders to report to Bellomont at the end of his cruise.
Meanwhile Kidd had not heard of the ugly stories about him, and had started for America. So they sent warships to hunt him as a pirate. It disturbed Kidd’s noble partners also, though for a different reason. This was hard news for Captain Kidd’s wife, faithful and anxious in their New York home, waiting with their two children for his return. One report was that he had taken a great ship, the Quedah Merchant, and had left his own ship to cruise as a pirate in her. Ships brought stories that Kidd had turned pirate. Kidd’s crew were as wild a lot as ever steered clear of hangman’s hemp - navy deserters, pirates out of a job, dissolute sailors, fugitives, brawlers and thieves, all attracted by promise of booty, which was offered, according to custom, in lieu of pay.įor two years little was heard from the Adventure Galley, either in New York or London, but that little was bad. In her Kidd sailed from Plymouth in April, 1696, proceeding to New York, where he recruited his crew from 70 to 154 men, and from which he sailed September 6, 1696, for a cruise to East Indian waters.
A vessel was purchased for him, the Adventure Galley, of 287 tons and 34 guns. Kidd was given two commissions, one to cruise against the French, the other (under the great seal of England) to cruise against pirates. They were to have a large share in the booty, and a tenth was to go to the king. Bellomont had formed a syndicate to finance the venture, which included several of the king’s ministers. Kidd was disinclined to take the position, but Bellomont intimated that Kidd’s own vessel would be detained in the Thames if he did not, and he yielded. He cast about for a captain, and Robert Livingston, founder of the New York family of that name, who was then in London, recommended Captain Kidd as the proper man. Before leaving England he asked that an English frigate be sent to suppress the pirates and, not getting it, he decided to fit out a privately owned ship. In 1695 Captain Kidd was in London, commanding the brigantine Antigoa, of New York, when the king appointed Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, Governor of New England and New York.īellomont was ambitious, and saw in the suppression of piracy, at which the colonial governors had been winking, a field for personal advancement and gain.
Thompson in The Rudder magazine of September 1909: Today, the New York State Quarter Coin remembers when Captain William Kidd sailed from New York on Septemwith his orders of privateering.Īn excerpt from the article In the Wake of Captain Kidd by Winfield M.
0 kommentar(er)
