They knew who he was only too well, so he sailed for the Laccadives, whence news was soon received of his barbarous treatment of the natives, and that he had killed his quartermaster.[2] The letter is characteristic of Kidd's methods. From his first entrance into the Indian seas his conduct had aroused suspicion. Owing to the large amount of coasting trade and the frequent necessity of calling at many places for water, the news of the sea spread from port to port with great rapidity. At the moment of his writing this letter he had the master of the Mary a prisoner under hatches, and the factory chiefs of Carwar and Calicut were well aware of it; but to the end he believed that he could throw dust in the eyes of the Company's officials by making play with the royal commission.
While he was on the coast, Kidd was chased by two Portuguese armed vessels, a grab and a sloop. The grab was a poor sailer, and Kidd had no difficulty in eluding it; but the sloop, a better sailer, allowed itself to be drawn on in chase, till Kidd, shortening sail, was able to give it several broadsides, which reduced it to a total wreck; after which he showed a clean pair of heels. At Kidd's trial it was stated he had ten men wounded in this business.
In April (1698) the Sedgwick, arriving at Fort St. David, reported that on its way from Anjengo it had been chased for three days and nights by Kidd, but had been saved by a stiff breeze springing up. On its return voyage the Sedgwick was less fortunate, being captured off Cape Comorin by Chivers, a Dutchman, in the Soldado, otherwise known as the Algerine, of two hundred and fifty tons and carrying twenty-eight guns. The cargo of the Sedgwick not being to Chivers' liking, and being put into good humour with sundry bowls of punch, he let the Sedgwick go, taking out of her only sails and cordage.
The year 1698 saw the Company's trade almost extinguished owing to the depredations of the sea rovers and the hostility aroused against Europeans. Every letter brought accounts of the pirates and the losses occasioned by them. In small squadrons they swept the coast from Madras to the mouths of the Indus, and haunted the sea from Cape Comorin to the Straits of Malacca. In July, the Company's ship Dorrill, bound for China, was attacked in the Straits of Malacca by the Resolution, late Mocha, commanded by Culliford, and, after a hot engagement of three hours, made the pirate sheer off, with heavy losses on both sides. Bowen in the Speedy Return, for the taking of which Green was, with doubtful justice, hanged, Chivers in the Soldado, North in the Pelican, Halsey, Williams, White, and many others of less fame, were plundering and burning everywhere with impunity. Early in the year, Kidd captured the Quedah Merchant a country ship bound from Bengal to Surat, belonging to some Armenian merchants who were on board. The captain was an Englishman named Wright; the gunner was a Frenchman, and there were two Dutchmen. This was the best prize made by Kidd, and yielded some £10,000 or £12,000, which was at once divided among the crew of the Adventure, Kidd's forty shares being one-fourth of the whole. Able seamen got one share; landsmen and servants a half-share only. The Surat factory was filled with alarm, not without good reason. In vain Sir John Gayer wrote to the Governor, and sent an agent to the Emperor to disclaim responsibility. In August came an imperial order directing that the English, French, and Dutch should be held responsible for all losses, and that for the Quedah Merchant alone the English should pay two lakhs of rupees. Guards were placed on the factories; all communication with them was forbidden; their Mahommedan servants left them, and their creditors were made to give an account to the Governor of all debts owing by Europeans. The Dutch and French tried to exonerate themselves by laying all the blame on the English, but the Governor refused to make any distinction, and called on the three nations to pay fourteen lakhs of rupees as a compensation for the losses occasioned by piracy. Sir John Gayer was a man of action. Like Macrae, to be mentioned later in these pages, he had first brought himself into notice as a sea-captain, and as Governor of Bombay had upheld the Company's interests for four years, in circumstances of no ordinary difficulty. The time for some decided action had arrived if the Company's trade was to continue. On receiving intelligence of these occurrences, he appeared off Surat with three armed ships, and sent word to the Governor that he would neither pay any portion of the fourteen lakhs, nor give security. At the same time he intimated that he was ready to furnish convoys for the Mocha ships, as he had already done, and, in proof of good will in acting against the pirates, pointed out that, now the war in Europe was at an end, a royal squadron was on its way to the Indian seas to extirpate them. The European traders on the west coast had always been so submissive to the Emperor's authority that this unexpected display of vigour astonished the Governor: he moderated his tone. The Dutch declared they would abandon the Surat trade rather than pay; so the Governor consented to make no demand for past losses, if the English would engage to make good all future losses by piracy. This was also refused. Finally, the English, French, and Dutch agreed to act in concert to suppress piracy, and signed bonds by which they jointly engaged to make good all future losses.
Onerous as these terms were, the agreement came not a moment too soon. The news of it reached Aurungzeeb just in time to procure the reversal of an order he had issued, putting a final stop to all European trade in his dominions. He told the Surat Governor to settle the matter in his own way. In pursuance of the agreement, the Dutch convoyed the Mecca pilgrims and patrolled the entrance to the Red Sea, besides making a payment of Rs.70,000 to the Governor; the English paid Rs.30,000 and patrolled the South Indian seas; while the French made a similar payment and policed the Persian Gulf.
An experience of the Benjamin yacht at this time showed that pirates were not prone to wanton mischief, where there was no plunder to be gained. In November, the yacht lay at Honore, taking in a cargo of pepper, when the well-known pirate ships Pelican, Soldado, and Resolution came into harbour for provisions. Seeing the Bombay Governor's yacht, they naturally concluded that some attempt would be made to prevent the natives from supplying their wants. They at once sent word to the master of the Benjamin that they had no intention of molesting him, unless he hindered them in getting provisions, in which case they would sink him. The master of the yacht was only too glad to be left alone; the pirates got their provisions, and, in recognition of his behaviour, presented him with a recently captured Portuguese ship. Sir John Gayer, in much fear lest he should be accused of being in league with the pirates, quickly made it over to the Portuguese authorities.
When the intelligence of Kidd's piracies reached England, there was a storm of indignation in the country. Party feeling was running high and with unusual violence. The majority in the House of Commons desired the ruin of Somers and Orford while aiming at the King. The charge of abetment in Kidd's misdeeds was too useful a weapon to be neglected, so it was added to the list of accusations against them. It must be admitted that the circumstances of the Lord Chancellor, the head of the Admiralty, and other prominent men using their influence to forward a venture from which they were to profit, under fictitious names, and that had created such a scandal, demanded inquiry. It was hardly sufficient to say that they had lost their money. Such an answer would justify any illegal enterprise in the event of its failure.
The French war had come to an end, so in January, 1699, a royal squadron of four men-of-war, the Anglesea, Harwich, Hastings, and Lizard, sailed from Portsmouth for Madagascar under Warren.[3] They carried with them four royal commissioners and a proclamation offering a free pardon, from which Every and Kidd were excepted, to all pirates who voluntarily surrendered themselves before the end of April, 1699. The pardon related only to acts of piracy committed east of the Cape of Good Hope, between the African and Indian coasts. After calling at St. Augustine's bay, where several pirates made their submission, the squadron reached Tellicherry in November. As it came to its anchorage, Warren died, and was buried on shore the following day. He was succeeded in the command by Littleton. In the following May, Littleton was on the Madagascar coast, where he remained till the end of the year before returning home. During the whole time he was in communication with the pirates. His dealings with them brought him into disrepute in shipping circles. Hamilton tells us that "for some valuable reasons he let them go again; and because they found a difficulty in cleaning the bottoms of their large ships, he generously assisted them with large blocks and tackle falls for careening them." Possibly Hamilton's remark was due to the conduct of Captain White of the Hastings, whose behaviour excited such suspicion that Littleton placed him under arrest, fearing he would make his ship over to the pirates. Littleton remained on the Madagascar coast for eight months without firing a shot. When he first reached St. Mary's, the pirates greeted him with a salute of nine guns, to which he responded with five, and he was in close and daily communication with them. Whether any pirates made their submission to him does not appear; but it is probable that his presence strengthened the resolution to obtain pardon of those who had previously engaged themselves to Warren; among them Culliford and Chivers. The fact is that piracy was looked upon then more leniently than we should now regard it. Plundering and ill-treating Asiatics was a venial offence, and many a seaman after a cruise with the pirates returned to his calling on board an honest merchantman, without being thought much the worse for it.
Among all the naval officers sent to the Indian seas at that time, Warren appears to have been the only one who really tried to protect the Company's interests. Littleton quarrelled with Sir Nicholas Waite, and had questionable dealings with the Madagascar pirates. Richards and Harland quarrelled with Sir John Gayer, and crippled the Company's ships by forcibly pressing their sailors to fill up their own crews; while Matthews exceeded them all in outrageous behaviour, as will be recounted in its place.
After capturing the Quedah Merchant, Kidd shaped his course for Madagascar, where he found Culliford in the Resolution, who at first treated him with suspicion, hearing that he had a commission to capture pirates. But Kidd soon reassured him over sundry cups of bombo, protesting with many oaths that 'his soul should fry in hell' sooner than that he should hurt a hair of one of Culliford's crew; and, as a proof of good will, presented him with two guns and an anchor. Then, finding the Adventure had become unseaworthy, he abandoned her, and sailed for New England in the Quedah Merchant. In June, 1799, he reached Boston.