Chapter XII: Part 12

[Footnote 2: Nathaniel Cary of Charlestown. His very interesting account of his wife's prosecution for witchcraft in 1692 is in Calef's _More Wonders of the Invisible World_, and is reprinted in G.L. Burr, _Narratives of the Witchcraft Trials_, pp. 349-352.]

[Footnote 3: The episode is related more fully in Westergaard, _The Danish West Indies_, pp. 113-118, Professor Westergaard having found Lorentz's carefully kept diary in the Danish archives at Copenhagen. Lorentz "answered that if he could produce proof in writing that he was an honest man, he might enter". From his request for protection from English royal ships, the governor "saw that he was a pirate", and "his request was flatly refused him, and he was forbidden to send his men ashore again unless they came into the harbor with the ship".]

[Footnote 4: See doc. no. 76, note 20.]

[Footnote 5: By a treaty between the Great Elector and the King of Denmark, in 1685, Brandenburg secured for thirty years the privilege of maintaining on St. Thomas an establishment, chiefly useful in connection with the work of the Brandenburg company for the African slave-trade. The story is related in Westergaard, ch. III., and in Schueck; see doc. no. 43, note 1, and no. 48, note 1. The episode of Burke and Van Belle is more fully related in Westergaard, pp. 115-118. Burke escaped and most of the goods went across the Atlantic to Brandenburg, but Lorentz seems to have been honest.]

[Footnote 6: Hon. Ralph Grey, governor of Barbados 1697-1699.]

_84. Declaration of William Kidd. September 4, 1699._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 65 XIX. Enclosed in a letter of Bellomont to the Board of Trade, Aug. 28. There is a photographic facsimile of the original in R.D. Paine, _The Book of Buried Treasure_, at p. 85. Though this chest is mentioned in several of the Kidd documents, no account of its contents appears in the chief printed inventories, indeed I find no evidence that it was brought to Boston. The statement may have interest as showing kinds of goods then highly valued.]

BOSTON September 4, 1699

Captain William Kidd declareth and saith That in his chest which he left at Gardiners Island there was three small baggs or more of Jasper Antonio or stone of Goa,[2] severall pieces of Silk stript with silver and gold, Cloth of Silver, about a Bushell of Cloves and Nutmegs mixed together and strawed up and down, severall books of fine white callicoes, severall pieces of fine Muzlins, severall pieces more of flowred silk, he does not well remmember what further was in it. he had an Invoyce thereof in his other chest. all that was contained in the said Chest was bought by him and some given him at Madagascar, nothing thereof was taken in the ship _Quedah Merchant_. he esteemed it to be of greater value than all else that he left at Gardiners Island except the gold and silver. there was neither gold or silver in the chest. It was fastned with a Padlock and nailed and corded about.

[Footnote 2: A fever medicine, consisting of various drugs made up into a hard ball, lately invented in India by Gaspar Antonio, a lay brother of the Society of Jesus.]

Further saith That he left at said Gardiners Island a bundle of nine or tenn fine India Quilts, some of them Silk with fringes and Tassells.

WM. KIDD.

_85. Lord Bellomont to the Board of Trade. November 29, 1699._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:861, no. 4. Endorsed as received Jan. 19, 1700, and read at the Board Feb. 9.]

BOSTON the 29 November 99.

_My Lords_

I gave your Lordships an account in my Letter of the 24th of last moneth[2] by the last ship that went hence for England, of my taking Joseph Bradish and Tee Wetherley, the two Pyrates that had escaped from the Goal of this town;[3] and I then also writ that I hoped in a little time to be able to send your Lordships the news of my taking James Gill[am] the Pyrat that killed Captain Edgecomb, Commander of the _Mocha_ frigat for the East India Company,[4] and that with his own hand while the Captain was asleep, and Gillam is supposed to be the man that Incouraged the Ship's Company to turn Pyrats, and that ship has ever since been robbing in the Red Sea and Seas of India, and taken an Incredible deal of wealth; if one may believe the reports of men that are lately come from Madagascar, and that saw the _Mocha_ frigat there, she has taken above two millions sterling. I have been so lucky as to take James Gillam, and he is now in Irons in the Goal of this town, and at the same time with him was sie[ze]d one Francis Dole,[5] in whose house he was harboured, who proves to be one of Hore's Crew, H[ore] one of Colonel Fletcher's Pyrates commissioned by him from New York; Dole is also committed to Goal. My taking of Gillam was so very accidentall that I cannot forbear giving your Lordships a narrative of it, and one would believe there was a strange fatality in that m[an's] Starrs. On Saturday the 11th Instant late in the evening I had a letter from Colonel Sanford,[6] Judge [of] the Admiralty Court in Rhode-Island, giving me an account that Gillam had been there, but was come towards Boston a fortnight before, in order to ship himselfe for some of the Islands, Jamaica or Barbados, that he was troubled he knew it not sooner, and was affraid his Intelligence would come too late to me; that the Messenger he sent knew the Mare Gillam rode on [to] this town. I was in despair of finding the man, because Colonel Sanford writ to me that he was g[one] to this town so long a time as a fortnight before that; however I sent for an honest Constable I had made use of in the apprehending of Kidd and his men, and sent him with Colonel Sanford's Messenger to examine and search all the Inns in Town for the mare, and at the first Inn they went to, they found her tied up in the yard; the people of the Inn reported that the man that brought her thither, had lighted off her about a quarter of an hour before, had there tied her, but went away without saying anything to anybody. Upon notice of this I gave order to the Master of the Inn that if any body came to look after the mare, he should be sure to seize and secure him, but no body came for her. The next morning which was Sunday I summoned [a] Council, and we published a Proclamation, wherein I promised a reward of 200[l.] for the seizing and securing Gillam, whereupon there was the strictest search [all that] day, and the next, that was ever made in this part of the world, but we had missed him, if I had not been Informed of one Captain Knot, as an old Pyrate and therefore likely [to k]now where Gillam was concealed.[7] I sent for Knot and examined him, promising h[im if h]e would make an Ingenious Confession, I would not molest or prosecute him; he seemed [mu]ch disturbed, but would not confesse anything to purpose. I then sent for his wife and examined her on oath apart from her husband, and she confessed that one who went by the [name] of James Kelly had lodged severall nights in her house, but for some nights past [lo]dged as she believed in Charlestown Crosse the River. I knew he went by the name of Kelly, [the]n I examined Captain Knot again, telling him his wife had been more free and ingenious [tha]n him, which made him believe she had told all; and then he told me of Francis Dole in Charlestown, and that he believed Gillam would be found there. I sent half a dousin men immediately over the water to Charlestown and Knot with them, they beset the house, and searched it but found not the man, Dole affirming with many protestations he was not there, neither knew [of] any such man. Two of the men went through a field behind Dole's house, and passing [thr]ough a second field they met a man in the dark (for it was ten a clock at night) whom they [seize]d at all adventures, and it happened as oddly as luckily to be Gillam, he had been treating [some] young women some few miles off in the Country, and was returning at night to his Landlord Dole's house, and so was met with. I examined him, but he denied everything, even that he came with Kidd from Madagascar, or ever saw him in his life; but Captain Davies,[8] who also came thence with Kidd, and all Kidd's men, are positive he is the man and that he went by his true name viz. Gillam, all the while he was on the voyage with them, and Mr. Campbel the Postmaster of this town (whom I sent to treat with Kidd) offers to swear this is the man he saw on [bo]ard Kidd's sloop under the name of James Gillam. He is the most impudent hardened V[illai]n I ever saw in my whole life. That which led me to an Inquiry and search after this man [was t]he Information of William Cuthbert on oath, which I sent your Lordships with my packet of the 26th of this last July,[9] wherein Cuthbert Informs that being lately in the East India Company's service [it w]as commonly reported there that Gillam had killed Captain Edgecomb with his own hand, that he had [s]erved the Mogul, turned Mahometan and was Circumcised. I had him searched by a [su]rgeon and also by a Jew in this Town, to know if he were Circumcised, and they have both declared on oath that he is. Mr. Cutler the surgeon's[10] deposition goes (No. 1) and Mr. Frazon the Jew's (No. 2).[11] The rest of the Evidences about Gillam and some other Pyrates go numbered from 3 to 23 inclusive, which I recommend to your Lordships perusall, as what will inform you of the strange Countenance given to Pyrats by the Government and people of [Rhode]-Island. I have numbered the papers in order of time and according to their dates: most have reference to Gillam, some to Kidd. In searching the forementioned Captain Knot's house [a smal]l trunk was found with some remnants of East India goods, and a Letter from Kidd's wife to Captain Thomas Pain an old Pyrat living on Canonicot Island in Rhode Island Governm[ent.][12] The affidavit he made when I was at Rhode-Island goes numbered among the other evide[nce.] He then made oath that he had received nothing from Kidd's sloop when she lay at anchor by [_torn_] Island, yet by Knot's deposition your Lordships will find, he was sent with Mrs. Kidd's letter to Pa[in for] 24 ounces of gold, which Knot accordingly brought; and Mrs. Kidd's Injunction to Pain to keep a[ll the] rest that was left with him till further order, was a plain Indication that there was a good deal of [trea]sure still behind in Pain's Custody, therefore I posted away a messenger to Governor Crans[ton][13] and Colonel Sanford to make a strict search of Pain's house before he could have notice; it see[ms] nothing was then found, but Pain has since produced 18 ounces and odd weight of gold, as appears by Cranston's Letter of the 25th Instant and pretends it was bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may p[rove (?)] a salvo for the oath he made when I was in Rhode-Island, but I think it is plain he forswore himselfe then, and I am of opinion he has a great deal more of Kidd's gold still in his hands. [But] he is out of my power, and being in that Government I cannot compell him to deliver up th....

[Footnote 2: The letter in which no. 83 was enclosed; its substance is given in _Cal. St. P. Col._, 1699, pp. 486-490.]

[Footnote 3: See doc. no. 77, note 8.]

[Footnote 4: See doc. no. 65, note 18, and no. 74, note 2.]

[Footnote 5: Francis Dowell, of Wapping Street, Charlestown, mariner. T.B. Wyman, _Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown_, I. 301.]

[Footnote 6: Peleg Sandford, governor of Rhode Island 1680-1683.]

[Footnote 7: Andrew Knott's examination shows that he and Gillam had known each other in Virginia years before, and had sailed together under a privateer captain, making many prizes in the South Sea, possibly in the expedition narrated in docs. no. 44 and no. 45. See also doc. no. 68, paragraph 16 and note 18.]

[Footnote 8: Edward Davis of London, originally boatswain of the _Fidelia_ (see doc. no. 90), whose deposition is in _Commons Journal_, XIII. 28.]

[Footnote 9: _Commons Journal_, XIII. 26; narrative of William Cuthbert, late gunner of the ship _Charles the Second_.]

[Footnote 10: John Cutler was a Dutch surgeon named De Messenmaker, who on settling in New England translated his name into Cutler. His marriage record in the town records of Hingham begins, "Johannes Demesmaker, a Dutchman (who say his name in English is John Cutler)", etc.]

[Footnote 11: Joseph Frazon, died 1704, buried in the Jewish cemetery at Newport. The anonymous author of the anti-Mather pamphlet, _A Modest Enquiry_ (London, 1707, reprinted in Mass. Hist. Soc., _Coll._, fifth ser., VI.), p. 80*, accuses Cotton Mather of having "attempted a Pretended Vision, to have converted Mr. Frasier a Jew, who had before conceiv'd some good Notions of Christianity: The Consequence was, that the Forgery was so plainly detected that Mr. C.M. confest it; after which Mr. Frasier would never be perswaded to hear any more of Christianity".]

[Footnote 12: Doc. no. 80.]

[Footnote 13: Samuel Cranston, governor of Rhode Island 1698-1728.]

Your Lordships will find in Captain Coddington's narrative number 35[14] and sent with my Report dated the 27th Instant an Inventory of gold and Jew[els] in Governor Cranston's hands which he took from a Pyrat. I see no reason why he should keep them ... so far from that, that he (with submission) ought to be called to an account for Conniving at the Py[rats] making that Island their Sanctuary, and suffering some to escape from Justice. If there be an order sent to him to deliver what gold and jewels is contained in the said Inventory, and also the formentio[ned] parcel of gold which he received from Pain, with all other goods and treasure which he has at any time rec[eived] from Privateers or Pyrates, into my hands for the use of his Majesty, and that upon oath, I will [see] the order executed, and will give a faithfull account thereof according to the order I shall re[ceive].

[Footnote 14: Nathaniel Coddington of Newport, register of the court of admiralty in Rhode Island.]

Four pound weight of the gold brought from Gardiner's Island which I formerly acquainted your Lordships of, and all the Jewels, belonged to Gillam, as Mr. Gardiner's Letter to Mr. Dummer,[15] a Marchand in t[he] town and one of the Committee appointed by me and the Council to receive all the treasure and goods which [were] brought in Kidd's sloop, will prove; and there is some proof of it in Captain Coddington's b[efore men]tioned narrative, and in Captain Knot's deposition of the 14th Instant. I am told that as Vice A[dmiral] of these provinces I am entitled to 1/3 part of Gillam's said gold and Jewels; I know not whe[ther I] am or no, but if it be my right I hope your Lordships will please to represent to the King the ext[reme] pains and vigilance I have used in taking these severall Pyrates, and that I may have my [por]tion of the said gold and Jewels, if there be any due to me. It is a great prejudice to the King's s[ervice] that here is no Revenue or other fund to answer any occasion or service of Majestys. I have [been] forced to disburse the 200 pieces of 8/8 for the taking of Gillam out of my own little stock and also to [de]fray my journey and other expences in going to Rhode-Island to execute the King's Commission [and] Instructions. Both accounts I now send, and beg your Lordships favour in promoting and Countenancing the payment of that mony to Sir John Stanley for my use. Captain Gullock[16] tells [me] that 15 or 16 of the ship's Company that would not be concerned with Gillam and his accomplices in murdering Captain Edgecomb, and afterwards turning Pyrates, went home to England in [the] Ship _America_ belonging to the East India Company, Captain Laycock Commander. I should thi[nk an] advertisement in the Gazette requiring some of those men to appear before one of the Sec[retaries] of State to give their evidence of what they know of that matter, would be proper.

[Footnote 15: Jeremiah Dummer the elder, father of the publicist.]

[Footnote 16: Thomas Gullock was the captain of the ship which Bradish had run away with. Sir John Stanley was an official of the lord chamberlain's office.]

[Your] Lordships will meet with a passe among the other papers, number 5, to Sion Arnold, one of the [pirat]es brought from Madagascar by Shelley of New York, the said passe signed by Mr. Basse,[17] [Go]vernor of East and West Jerzies, which is a bold step in Basse after such positive orders as he received from [Govern]or[18] Vernon, but I perceive plainly the meaning of it, he took severall Pirats at Burlington [in West] Jerzey, and a good store of mony with them as it is said, and I daresay he would be glad they [should] escape, for when they are gone, who can witnesse what money he seized with them? I know [the] man so well, that I verily believe that is his plot. John Carr mentioned in some of the [papers to (?)] be in Rhode Island, No. 6, was one of Hore's Crew. There are abundance of other Pyrats in that [Is]land at this time, but they are out of my power. Mr. Brinley,[19] Colonel Sanford, and Captain Coddington are honest men, and of the best estates in the Island, and because they are heartily [wea]ry of the male administrations of that Government, and because too I commissioned them (by [virt]ue of the authority and power given me by his Majesty's Commission and Instructions so to do) to [make] Inquiry into the Irregularities of those people, they are become strangely odious to them and [are o]ften affronted by them, neither will they make them Justices of the peace; so that when they [w]ould commit Pyrates to Goal, they are forced to go to the Governor for his Warrant, and very ... ly the Pyrates get notice, and avoid the Warrant for that time. You may please to o[bser]ve too that Gardiner the Deputy Collector[20] is accused to have been once a Pyrat, in one of the [paper]s. I doubt he will forswear himselfe rather than part with Gillam's gold which is in his hands. [It is] impossible for me to transmit to the Lords of the Treasury these proofs against Gardiner. [I am] so jaded with writing, that I cannot write to them by this Conveyance, but I could wish [your Lordships might be (?)] made acquainted with Gardiner's Character, and that they would send over honest In----t men to be Collectors of Rhode Island, Conecticut, and New Hampshire; and that they [would h]asten Mr. Brenton[21] hither to his post, or send some other Collector in his room. I could [wish] that Mr. Weaver were ordered to hasten to New York. Your Lordships may please to observe that [Knott] in one of his depositions accuses Gillam to have pyrated four years together in the [Sou]th sea against the Spaniards.

[Footnote 17: On Shelley, see doc. no. 73, note 6. Jeremiah Basse was deputy-governor of East and West New Jersey from 1697 to 1699. In a letter of June 9 to Secretary Popple, _N.J. Archives_, first ser., II. 286-287, he describes his activity in manning a sloop and in person capturing four of Shelley's men at Cape May, and committing them to Burlington jail. "In their Chestes are about seaven thousand eight hundred Rix dollars and Venetians, about thirty pound of melted silver, a parcell of Arabian and Christian Gold, some necklases of Amber and Corrall, sundry peaces of India silkes."]

[Footnote 18: If the word is Governor, it should be Secretary.]

[Footnote 19: Francis Brinley, one of the chief Newport merchants; he had been a member of Andros's council.]

[Footnote 20: Robert Gardiner of Newport.]

[Footnote 21: Jahleel Brenton, for many years, beginning in 1691, collector and surveyor of the customs for New England (and thus Gardiner's superior officer) had gone to England as agent of Rhode Island in her boundary dispute with Connecticut. Thomas Weaver, who had been appointed collector for New York, was in London as agent for that province.]

We have advice that Burk an Irishman and Pyrat that committed severall robberies on th[e] [coast] of Newfoundland, is drowned with all his ship's Company, except 7 or 8 persons somewh[ere to the] southward. It is said he perished in the hurrican that was in those Seas about the end of [July and] beginning of August last. It is good news, he was very strong if we may believe report, [and is s]aid to have had a good ship with a 140 men, and 24 guns.

[Bra]dish and Wetherley have a slight extraordinary in attempting to escape, they [made] two attempts since they were last committed, once they broke the floor of the prison and thought to escape that way, but that failing them, within a night or two they filed off their fetters, upon which I ordered them to be manicled, and chained to one another. I believe this new Goaler I have got is honest, otherwise I should be very uneasy for fear these Pyrats should escape....[22]

[Footnote 22: The rest of the letter has nothing to do with Kidd or other pirates.]

I conclude with all respect

My Lords

Your Lordships most humble and obedient Servant

BELLOMONT.

_86. Information of Henry Bolton. February 4, 1701._[1]

[Footnote 1: From the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, a copy having been kindly furnished by the Rev. Richard W. Goulding, librarian to the duke. The date Feb. 4, 1700, means Feb. 4, 1701, new style. Bolton's previous history and his relations with Kidd are sufficiently shown by this and preceding documents. In 1700 he had been shipped to England from Jamaica, and he was now, or at any rate on Dec. 22, 1700, in Newgate prison under charges of piracy. _Cal. St. P. Col._, 1700, p. 760.]

Information of Henry Bolton.

4th of February 1700

Being required by the Right hono'ble the Commission'rs for Executing the office of High Admiral of England, Ireland etc. to informe their Lord'ps of the place of my nativity, manner of Living for some time in the West Indies, and particularly of my meeting and Transactions with Capt. Kidd, I presume to make the following Answer, being the best and fullest I can make at present having neither my Books or papers in this Kingdome.

That I was born in Worcestershire about the yeare 1672 and in the year 1697 was Deputed by the Commissioners of his Maj'ties Customes for the Leeward Islands to be Collector for the Island of Antigua.

That in the year 1698 following I quitted that Imployment[2] and followed Merchandizing about the said Leeward Islands.

[Footnote 2: He was removed, and at the time of his removal he owed the crown about L500. _Ibid._, p. 603.]

That in February 1698/9 I sailed from Antigua in the Sloop _St. Antonie_, Samuel Wood Master, on a Trading Voyage amongst the Dutch and Spaniards. The Markett at Curacoa (a Dutch Island) not answering my Ends I went to Rio De la Hacha,[3] and there sold my Cargoe, and Loaded my Sloope with Stock Fish [and] Wood on Freight for Curacoa aforesaid, which I there Landed and departed for the Island of Porto Rico with intention to Trade with the Inhabitants of that Island, having a Cargo on Board for that purpose.

[Footnote 3: On the Spanish Main, or north coast of South America, about 300 miles west of Curacao.]

That in that Voyage in the Moneth of Aprill 1699 being becalmed to the N.N.E. of the Island Mona the Men belonging to the Sloop discovered a Sail E. and B.S.[4] from Mona which the Pilote of the Sloope supposed to be a Guarda Costa, a small vessell fitted out by the Spanish Governors to clear the Coast of Foreign Traders. A few houres after Wee discovered a Cannoa, which drawing near the Sloope, Wee hailed the said Cannoa. They answered from Whitehall. Wee demanded who Commanded their Shipp. They Replyed Capt. Kidd. Then he that stired[5] the Cannoa was desired to come on Board. After he came he told me his name was John Ware, and that he was Master of Capt. Kidd's Ship, requesting that I would goe on Board in the Cannoa to see Capt. Kidd which accordingly I did. When I came there Captain Kidd askt me to sell him my Sloope in regard his Ship was disabled and could not well proceed the voyage he intended for New Yorke, and finding me unwilling he then askt if I could not procure him a Vessell. I answered possibly I might at Curacao, upon which he desired me to use my Endeavors there to get him a Sloope, and procure him some Buyers or Chapmen[6] for his Calicos and Muslings, And that he would consider me for my paynes.

[Footnote 4: East and by south, _i.e._, midway between east and eastsoutheast.]

[Footnote 5: Steered.]

[Footnote 6: _I.e._, Some customers or some selling agents.]

That thereupon I departed from Capt. Kidd and went for Curacao where I applyed my selfe to Mr John Stonehouse and Mr Walter Gribble[7] (Acquaintance of Captain Kidd) who promised to send A Sloope to him. I also Endeavored to procure him some Buyers for the Muslings and Callicos.

[Footnote 7: See doc. no. 76, note 21.]

That after doing my Errand and business at Curacao I ordered the Master of the Sloope to shape his Course for the West End of Porto Rico, But the Wind proving Northerly Wee fell in with the East end of Savona and plyed to Winward for Mona in order to meet Captain Kidd, which I there did according to Appointm't and with him a Dutch Sloope, Jean Vander Bist Master, and a French Turtler, the Master's name I have forgot; Captain Kidd waited at Mona for the Curacao vessells But the Wind being about No. and from thence to NNE they could not possibly Fetch Mona, So Captain Kidd's patience being tyred gott his ship under Saile and intended to Weather point Esperdo,[8] the Eastermost part of Hispaniola, but the Deficiencies of his Ship being so great he bore away for the West end of Savona, and there Anchored. a Day or two afterwards came into Our Company the Brigandin _Mary Gold_, George Lorriston Master, and the _Elenora_, John Duncan Master. Then Cap't Kidd weighed Anchor with the sloop _Spey_, John Vander Bist Master, and Brigandine _Mary Gold_, sailed for the River Higuey in the Island Hispaniola where Arriving he moored his ship across the River to the Stumps of Trees or Rocks on shoar.

[Footnote 8: Punta Espada.]

That there Capt. Kidd disposed of wine, part of his Cargoe, to severall that came on Board to him And that at the same time I sold him the Sloope _St. Antonio_.

That Capt. Kidd tooke severall Goods out of his ship, and put them on Board the Sloope I sould him and left his owne ship in the River Higuey and desired me to doe him all the service I could in selling and disposeing of the Goods left on Board of the said ship for Account of the Owners of the _Adventure Galley_.

That Captain Kidd told me that my Lord Bellomont and my Lord of Orford[9] and himselfe were some of the _Adventure Galleys_ owners and to the best of my Remembrance Sir John Somers.

[Footnote 9: The Sir Edward Russell of doc. no. 71, note 1. He had been created earl of Orford in 1697.]

That Capt. Kidd shewed me a Commission under the Great Seale signed at the Topp William Rex and another Commission signed by the Lords of the Admiralty, the purport of neither of which I can remember, onely Capt. Kidd sayd his Commissions impowred him to take pirates and the subjects of the French King.

That Capt. Kidd at his going to New Yorke promised to return himselfe or send some other persons in two Moneths time to bring Necessaryes for refitting his said ship the _Adventure Prize_ and also a Condemnation for the said ship and Goods and to indempnifye all persons that should purchase any of the said Goods, alledging that the said ship was a lawfull prize being taken with a French passe which Captain Kidd shewed me, and actually in the time of War with France.[10]

[Footnote 10: See doc. no. 76, note 9.]

That after the Departure of Capt. Kidd the Seamen shiped by him in the said ship did plunder and convert to their owne uses the best and most choicest of the goods of the said ships Cargoe, which did not come to my Knowledge till they had been near Five Weeks on board the said ship, and indeed it was out of my power to prevent them had I discovered it sooner being only myselfe and Negro Boy, And they were Eighteen in numbers.

That the said Seamen belonging to the said ship as afores'd when they found I was not ignorant of their villanies openly declared they would not stay longer on board the said ship, but being terrified with the thoughts of Capt Kidds returning, they Joyned all (saving the Boatswaine) and came on the Quarter Deck and said I might remain in the ship and be damned for they would stay no longer. The Man that thus affronted me I shoved on the main Deck[11] and ordered the rest to go on the Main Deck likewise and told them they had engaged themselves to Capt. Kidd to stay on board the ship as long as I should be there, And that I was resolved to stay till the two Months in which Capt. Kidd promised to return were expired unless some Extraordinary Accident intervened: I also charged them with stealing out of the Ships Hould severall Bales of Goods And that if they went from the Ship before Capt. Kidd's Arrivall I was oblidged as his Friend and in my owne Justification to write to all Governm'ts in those parts to have them secured; this calmed them for two or three dayes.

[Footnote 11: _I.e._, shoved down from the quarter-deck onto the main deck.]

That the said Seamen did again Joyne and draw up a Paper directed to me setting forth their Resolution of leaving the Ship and signed with their names within a Circle commonly called a Round Robin, so gott on board A Sloope and went for the Island Curacao leaving the Ship to me and three more.

That after the departure of the said Seamen I stayd about a Week in the ship and would have stayed longer had not a Friend of myne sent a Sloope Express from Curacao to informe me the Spaniards of the Citty of St. Domingo[12] were arming out a Brigandine to come and take us, which induced me to leave the said ship _Adventure Prize_ in the said River Higuey and went to the Island Curacao in order to protest ag't the Seamen as aforesaid and to get what satisfaction the Law would allow, For at that time they had most of them three or Four hundred pounds a Man. But the said Seamen had gained their Ends so farr in the Governm't that the Governor would not admitt me to stay in Curacao tho' at the same time John Ware Master of Capt. Kidd's ship and the said seamen were there openly protected; I do not charge this on the Govern'r[13] (who is since dead) For I should be very sorry to disturbe the Ashes of so good a Gentleman as I believe he was, but on some of his Councill that did not desire I should face them.

[Footnote 12: Not a hundred miles away.]

[Footnote 13: Bastiaen (Sebastian) Bernage.]

That I have not received of the produce of the Goods Capt. Kidd left upwards of three hundred and Eighty peices of Eight, all the rest is in Debts outstanding which is much less than my Charges.[14]

[Footnote 14: But John Ruggles, master's mate of the _Primrose_ of Boston, testified that, drinking in a public house at Charles Town, Nevis, with William Cheesers and William Daniel, he heard the former say that Bolton had got L16,000 by Captain Kidd. _Cal. St. P. Col._, 1699, p. 416.]

This is the full that presents to my Memory in Answer to their Lord'ps Demands February 4th, 1700.

HEN. BOLTON.

_87. William Kidd to the Speaker of the House of Commons (Robert Harley). April (?), 1701._[1]

[Footnote 1: From the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. The Historical Manuscripts Commission's calendar of those archives, IV. 16, wrongly gives this petition the same date as the next document, May 12, 1701. This petition was written before the trials, which occurred on May 8 and 9, but after Kidd's appearances before the House of Commons, which occurred on Mar. 27 and 31; _Commons Journal_, XIII. 441, 463. Kidd, Gillam, Bradish, Witherley, and 28 other pirates, mostly members of Kidd's crew, were shipped from Boston soon after March 6, 1700 (eight months after his arrest), on the _Advice_ frigate, and arrived in the Downs Apr. 11, the day on which King William brought to an end, by prorogation, the session of Parliament. In that session, chiefly as a means of attacking Somers, the lord chancellor, a party in the House of Commons had assailed the grant of letters patent under which Kidd's enterprise had been undertaken (Dec. 6, 1699). They were outvoted, but on Mar. 16, 1700, a vote was passed for addressing the king that Kidd should not be tried, discharged, or pardoned till the next session of Parliament. The Admiralty concurred, May 2. The new Parliament came together Feb. 6, 1701; Harley was chosen speaker Feb. 11; the impeachment of Somers and Orford, in which the contract with Kidd was made the basis of one article, was voted Apr. 14.]

_May it please Y'r Hon'r_

The long Imprisonment I have undergone, or the tryall I am to undergoe, are not soe great an affliction to me, as my not being able to give your Hon'ble House of Commons such satisfaction as was Expected from me. I hope I have not offended against the Law, but if I have, It was the fault of others who knew better, and made me the Tool of their Ambition and Avarice, and who now perhaps think it their Interest that I should be removed out of the world.

I did not seek the Commission I undertook, but was partly Cajold, and partly menac'd into it by the Lord Bellomont, and one Robert Livingston of New York, who was the projector, promoter, and Chief Manager of that designe, and who only can give your House a satisfactory account of all the Transactions of my Owners. He was the man admitted into their Closets, and received their private Instructions, which he kept in his own hands, and who encouraged me in their names to doe more than I ever did, and to act without regard to my Commission. I would not Exceed my Authority, and took noe other ships than such as had French passes, which I brought with me to New England, and relyed upon for my Justification. But my Lord Bellomont seized upon them together with my Cargoe, and tho he promised to send them into England, yet has he detained part of the effects, kept these passes wholly from me, and has stript me of all the Defence I have to make, which is such Barbarous, as well as dishonorable usage, as I hope Your Hon'ble House will not let an Englishman suffer, how unfortunate soever his Circumstances are; but will intercede with his Maj'ty to defer my tryall till I can have those passes, and that Livingston may be brought under Your Examination, and Confronted by me.[2]

[Footnote 2: Whether the presence of the French passes at the trial for piracy would have brought about Kidd's acquittal may be doubted, courts of justice being what they were; at all events Kidd, though he clamored for them from the day of his arrival in the Downs (_Portland MSS._, VIII. 78) till the day he was sentenced, was never able to recover them. The admiralty court refused to consider them. "Where are they?" said the Lord Chief Baron Ward. Kidd's counsel could only reply, "We cannot yet tell whether they are in the Admiralty-Office, or whether Mr. Jodrell [clerk of the House of Commons] hath them". _State Trials_, V. 290. In point of fact the House of Commons, which had had all the papers before it for examination, had on Apr. 16, on information that Kidd desired the use of his papers at his trial, ordered the clerk to deliver them to the secretary of the Admiralty. _Commons Journal_, XIII. 379, 380, 496.--A photographic facsimile of the pass of the _Cara_ (_Quedah_) _Merchant_ is in Paine, _Book of Buried Treasure_, at p. 104.]

I cannot be so unjust to my selfe, as to plead to an Indictment till the French passes are restored to me, unlesse I would be accessary to my own destruction,[3] for though I can make proof that the ships I took had such passes, I am advised by Council, that It will little avail me without producing the passes themselves. I was in great Consternation when I was before that great Assembly, Your Hon'ble House, which with the disadvantages of a mean Capacity, want of Education, and a Spirit Cramped by Long Confinem't, made me Uncapable of representing my Case; and I have therefore presumed to send your Honor a short and true state of It, which I humbly beg Your Honors perusall, and Communication of to the House, if you think it worthy their Notice.[4]

[Footnote 3: So when first arraigned, he tried to avoid pleading (_ibid._, 287), but he was tried first for the murder of William Moore, on which the passes had no bearing. William Moore was an insubordinate gunner; after an altercation, Kidd hit him on the head with a bucket, and he died. It was probably manslaughter, but the jury sustained the indictment for murder. After being condemned for murder, Kidd was tried (unfairly in several particulars) and condemned for piracy.]

[Footnote 4: Not doc. no. 88, I judge, but more probably the "Protest" printed in _Portland MSS._, VIII. 78-80, a statement of Kidd's case which he had drawn up at Boston and on arrival in the Downs had sent to Orford.]

I humbly crave leave to acquaint Your Honor that I was not privy to my being sent for up to Your House the second time, nor to the paper lately printed in my name[5] (both which may justly give Offence to the House) but I owe the first to a Coffeeman in the Court of Wards who designed to make a shew of me, for his profit; and the latter was done by one Newy a prisoner in Newgate to get money for his support, at the hazard of my safety.

[Footnote 5: I cannot identify this paper (probably a broadside), but the ingenious Newy was doubtless the author of _Captain Charles Newy's Case, impartially laid open: or a ... Narrative of the Clandestine Proceedings aginst_ (sic) _him, as it was hatched ... and ... carried on by Mrs. M. Newey, widdow_ (London, 1700), a pamphlet which I have not seen, but of which there is a copy in the British Museum.]

I humbly beg the Compassion and protection of the Hon'ble House of Commons, and Your Honors intercession with them on behalfe of

Your Honors

Most Dutifull and Distressed Serv't

WM. KIDD.

_88. William Kidd to Robert Harley [?]. May 12, 1701._[1]

[Footnote 1: From the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. See doc. no. 87, and notes. The trials had taken place on May 8 and 9, and Kidd was now under sentence. He was hanged at Wapping on the shore of the Thames, May 23, 1701. The precept, or order for his execution, at Wapping "infra fluxum et refluxum maris" (_i.e._, between high-water and low-water mark, according to admiralty custom), is quoted in Marsden, _Law and Custom of the Sea_ (Navy Records Society), II. 263.]

_S'r_

The Sence of my present Condition (being under Condemnation) and the thoughts of haveing bene imposed on by such as seek't my destruction therby to fulfill their ambitious desieres makes me uncapable of Expressing my selfe in those terms as I ought, therefore doe most humbly pray that you will be pleased to represent to the Hon'bl. house of Commons that in my late proceedings in the Indies I have Lodged goods and Tresure to the value of one hundred thousand pounds[2] which I desiere the Government may have the benefitt of, in order thereto I shall desiere no manner of liberty but to be kept prisonner on board such shipp as may be appointed for that purpose, and only give the necessary directions, and in case I faile therein I desiere no favour but to be forthwith Executed acording to my Sentance. if y'r honbl. house will please to order a Committee to come to me I doubt not but to give such satisfaction as may obtaine mercy, most Humbly submitting to the wisdom of your great assembly I am

S'r Y'r Unfortunate humble servant

WM. KIDD

NEW GATE
12th May 1701

[Footnote 2: His first figure, as quoted by Bellomont in doc. no. 77, was L30,000.]

_89. Captain Kid's Farewel to the Seas; or, the Famous Pirate's Lament. 1701._[1]

[Footnote 1: Of this ballad, contemporary with Kidd's execution, there is a unique copy in the famous collection of pamphlets belonging to the Earl of Crawford, from which it is reprinted in Professor Firth's _Naval Songs and Ballads_, pp. 134-37, published by the Navy Records Society. By oral transmission it had wide currency in New England. There are bits of it in Palfrey, _New England_, IV. 185, and in Watson's _Annals of Philadelphia_, ed. 1830, p. 464; and the editor remembers hearing his Salem grandmother sing parts of it. Professor George L. Kittredge says that the Harvard College Library has a broadside of this American version, printed in Boston about 1810-1820, which, with some differences in the order of stanzas, is printed in Dr. E.E. Hale's _New England History in Ballads_, pp. 40-46. The original version, which we print, purports to be written between sentence and execution, May 9-23, 1701, and follows closely the chief incidents brought out in the trials, and in the documents which precede.]

To the Tune of _Coming down_.

My name is Captain Kid, who has sail' [who has sail'd],
My name is Captain Kid, who has sail'd;
My name is Captain Kid.
What the laws did still forbid
Unluckily I did while I sail'd [while I sailed, etc.].

Upon the ocean wide, when I sail'd, etc.,
Upon the ocean wide, when I sail'd,
Upon the ocean wide
I robbed on every side,
With most ambitious pride, when I sail'd.

My faults I will display while I sail'd, etc.,
My faults I will display while I sail'd;
My faults I will display,
Committed day by day
[_A line lost._]

Many long leagues from shore when I sail'd, etc.,
Many long leagues from shore when I sail'd,
Many long leagues from shore
I murdered William More,
And laid him in his gore, when I sail'd,

Because a word he spoke when I sail'd, etc.,
Because a word he spoke when I sail'd,
Because a word he spoke,
I with a bucket broke
His scull at one sad stroke, while I sail'd.[2]

I struck with a good will when I sail'd, etc.,
I struck with a good will when I sail'd;
I struck with a good will,
And did a gunner kill
As being cruel still when I sail'd.

A Quida merchant[3] then while I sail'd, etc.,
A Quida merchant then while I sail'd,
A Quida merchant then
I robbed of hundreds ten,
Assisted by my men, while I sailed.

A banker's ship of France,[4] while I sailed, etc.,
A banker's ship of France, while I sailed,
A banker's ship of France
Before us did advance:
I seized her by chance, while I sailed.

Full fourteen ships I see when I sailed, etc.,
Full fourteen ships I see when I sailed;
Full fourteen ships I see,
Merchants of high degree;
They were too hard for me when I sailed.[5]

We steered from sound to sound while we sailed,
We steered from sound to sound while we sailed;
We steered from sound to sound,
A Moorish ship we found;
Her men we stript and bound while we sailed.

Upon the ocean seas while we sailed, etc.,
Upon the ocean seas while we sailed,
Upon the ocean seas
A warlike Portuguese
In sport did us displease, while we sailed.

At famous Malabar when we sailed, etc.,
At famous Malabar when we sailed,
At famous Malabar
We went ashore, each tar,
And robbed the natives there, when we sailed.

Then after this we chased, while we sailed,
Then after this we chased, while we sailed,
Then after this we chased
A rich Armenian, graced
With wealth, which we embraced, while we sailed.

Many Moorish ships we took while we sailed,
Many Moorish ships we took while we sailed,
Many Moorish ships we took;
We did still for plunder look;
All conscience we forsook while we sailed.

I, Captain Cullifoord, while I sailed, etc.,
I, Captain Cullifoord, while I sailed,
I, Captain Cullifoord,
Did many merchants board,
Which did much wealth afford, while we sailed.

Two hundred bars of gold, while we sail'd, etc.,
Two hundred bars of gold, while we sailed,
Two hundred bars of gold
And rix dollars manifold
We seized uncontrolled, while we sailed.

_St. John_, a ship of fame,[6] when we sailed, etc.,
_St. John_, a ship of fame, when we sailed,
_St. John_, a ship of fame,
We plundered when she came,
With more that I could name, when we sailed.

We taken was at last, and must die, etc.,
We taken was at last, and must die;
We taken were at last,
And into prison cast:
Now, sentence being past, we must die.

Tho' we have reigned awhile we must die, etc.,
Tho' we have reigned awhile we must die;
Tho' we have reigned awhile,
While fortune seemed to smile,
Now on the British Isle we must die.

Farewel the ocean main, we must die, etc.,
Farewel the ocean main, we must die;
Farewel the ocean main:
The coast of France or Spain
We ne'er shall see again; we must die.

From Newgate now in carts we must go, etc.,
[From Newgate now in carts we must goe;]
From Newgate now in carts,
With sad and heavy hearts,
To have our due deserts we must go.

Some thousands they will flock when we die,
Some thousands they will flock when we die,
Some thousands they will flock
To Execution Dock,
Where we must stand the shock and must die.

[Footnote 2: See doc. no. 87, note 3. Captain Kidd, says the record of the trial (_State Trials_, V. 290), called Moore "a lousy dog". "Says William Moore, 'If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin, and many more'. Upon his saying this, says Captain Kid, 'Have I ruined you, ye dog?' and took a bucket bound with iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which he died next day."]

[Footnote 3: See document 76, note 9.]

[Footnote 4: _I.e._, a French fishing ship, bound to the banks of Newfoundland. See the second paragraph of doc. no. 76, Kidd's statement.]

[Footnote 5: The reference is to Kidd's projected, but abandoned, attack on the "Mocha fleet" at Babs Key, near the mouth of the Red Sea.]

[Footnote 6: This ship I do not identify; the name is perhaps due to misunderstanding of a passage in the trials.]

THE _FIDELIA_.

_90. Examination of William Sims. October 22, 1699._[1]

[Footnote 1: Suffolk Court Files, Boston, no. 4682, paper 3. The case is not precisely one of piracy, though piracy was at first suspected, but rather of the receipt of piratical goods. Bellomont writes to the Board of Trade, Oct. 24, 1699 (_Cal. St. P. Col._, 1699, p. 486), that he had lately seized at Boston a ship and some East India goods; that the officers of the custom house were not nimble enough or they had got all the goods, worth above L2000; that that which first gave him a "jealousy" of the ship was the fact that the master, William Sims, a man formerly burnt in the hand for stealing, had gone forth a poor man and come back master and half owner of a ship. The ship was seized, condemned, and sold for the crown, and Sims committed to jail. He had sailed as master of a sloop to Curacao, and thence to Crab Island (Vieques, see doc. no. 72, note 5). _Ibid._, 499. Bellomont suspected that what he found there in August had been derived from Kidd in May.]

Suffolk SS. BOSTON, October 22, 1699
nine a clock at night:

The Examination of William Syms of Boston, Marriner, Master of the Ship _Fidelia_, as followeth, Vizt.

The Examinant saith That sometime in the month of August last past, he being at Crabb Island in the West Indies, where was lying the sd Ship _Fidelia_, one Tempest Rogers then Master of her,[2] of whome this Examinant and John Brett of Antigua Merchant (then at the aforesd Island) bought the sd Ship, and the Examinant was Ships' Master of her, and after their buying of the sd Ship, the sd Rogers tooke out of the sd Ship seaveral Bayles of Goods to the number of about twenty and laded them upon the Sloop which he had of the Examin't in part payment for the Ship, and left several bayles on board the Ship wch this Examinant Supposeth the said Mr. Brett bought of him: said Rogers declared that he came from the Coast of Guinea, saying also that he had been at Madagascar, and the Examinant saw the sd Rogers Sell several Bayles of Goods at Crabb Island to several Merchants that came thither: which Bayles were opened and contained Silke Muslins and other Muslins, Callico's and other East India Goods, and sd Rogers said he had remitted home to his owners the value of Twenty seven Thousand pounds in money by good bills of Exchange. and after the Examin't left Crabb Island with his Ship he Stopt at Portreico,[3] tooke in some Ballast and Provisions and came directly for New England, Mr. Brett aforesd, his Merchant and part owner, being on board, and when they came into the Massachusetts Bay as high as the Gurnett[4] off Plymouth, they spoke to a Sloop that was then fishing in the Bay to come onboard, and sd Brett treated with the sd Sloopmen, and the Bayles then on board the sd Ship to the number of Fourteen or Fifteen, containing (as the Examinant supposeth) East India Goods, were put out of the Ship into the sd Sloop, and the Examinant and sd Brett also went onboard of her leaving the Ship in charge with James Williams the Mate, and came up to Boston in the Sloop bringing in her the aforementioned Bayles, and arrived there on a Monday night about the latter end of September last past about Eight aclock in the Evening, at the Wharffe on the backside of the Queen's head Inn, and the Examinant went with sd Brett into the aforesaid Inn to procure a Lodging for him and then went directly home to his own house; Saith he knows not when or where the sd Bayles were put on shore nor how disposed of, he signed no Bills of Ladeing nor receipt for them: And Saith he knows neither the Sloop nor men which brought them up; Supposeth it to be a Sloop belonging to some Country Town lying on the Sea Coast. Further the Examinant saith that the sd Brett was not willing to have come with the sd Ship to New England but would have gone to Carolina or East Jersey.

WILLIAM SIMS

Capt. Cor. ISA. ADDINGTON, J.Pc.

[Marginal note] the sd Bayles were about three foot and a
halfe long, about a foot and a halfe over and something more
than a foot deep, each of them.