Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period / Illustrative Documents

by Unknown

[1] Mass. Archives, vol. 62, no. 317.

[2] Gaol, jail.

82. Lord Bellomont to the Board of Trade. July 26, 1699.[1]

Boston, 26th July 99.

My Lords,

I gave your Lordships a short Account of my taking Capt. Kidd, in my Letter of the 8th Instant:[2] I shall in this Letter confine myselfe wholly to an Account of my Proceeding with him.

On the 13th of last Month Mr. Emot, a Lawyer of New-York, came late at Night to me and told me he came from Captain Kidd, who was on the Coast with a Sloop, but would not tell me where: That Kidd had brought 60 Pound Weight of gold, about a 100 Weight of Silver, and 17 Bales of East-India goods, (which was less by 24 Bales than we have since got in the Sloop), That Kidd had left behind him a great Ship near the Coast of Hispaniola that nobody but himselfe could find out, on board whereof there were in bale goods, Saltpetre, and other things to the Value of at least 30,000 L.: That if I would give him a pardon, he would bring in the Sloop and goods hither, and would go and fetch the great Ship and goods afterwards. Mr. Emot delivered me that Night Two French Passes, which Kidd took on board the Two Moors Ships which were taken by him in the seas of India (or, as he alleges, by his Men against his Will). One of the Passes wants a date in the original, as in the Copy I send your Lordships; and they go No. I. and No. II.[3]

On Thursday, the 15 of June, I sent Mr. Campbel, the Post-Master of this town, Kidd's Countryman and acquaintance, along with Mr. Emot, to invite Kidd to come into this Port. Mr. Campbel returned hither on the 19 of June, and gave in a Memorial to my selfe and the Councel, containing what had passed between him and Kidd: The said Memorial goes No. 3.[4] On the said 19 June, as I sate in Councel, I wrote a Letter to Captain Kidd, and shewed it to the Councel, and they approving of it, I dispatched Mr. Campbel again to Kidd with my said Letter, a Copy whereof goes No. 4. Your Lordships may observe That the promise I make Captain Kidd, in my said Letter, of a kind reception, and promising the King's pardon for him, is conditionall; that is, provided he were as innocent as he pretended to be. But I quickly found sufficient Cause to suspect him very guilty, by the many lyes and Contradictions he told me. I was so much upon my guard with Kidd that, he arriving here on Saturday the [first] of this moneth, I would not see him but before witnesses; nor have I ever seen him since, but in Councel twice or thrice that we examined him; and the day he was taken up by the Constable, it happened to be by the door of my Lodging,[5] and he rushed in and came running to me, the Constable after him. I had him not seized till Thursday the 6th instant, for I had a mind to discover where he had left the great Ship, and I thought my selfe secure enough from his running away, because I took care not to give him the least umbrage of my Design of seizing him, Nor had I till that day that I produced my orders from Court for apprehending of Kidd, communicated them to anybody. And I found it necessary to shew my orders to the Councel, to animate them to join heartily with me in securing Kidd, and examining his Affair nicely, to discover what we could of his behaviour in his whole Voyage. Another reason why I took him not up sooner was that he had brought his wife and Children hither in the Sloop with him, who I believed he would not easily forsake. He being examined twice or thrice by me and the Councel, and also some of his men, I observed he seemed much disturbed, And the last time we examined him I fancied he looked as if he were upon the wing, and resolved to run away, and the Gentlemen of the Councel had some of them the same thought with mine, so that I took their Consent in seizing and committing him.[6] But the officers appointed to seize his men were so careless as to let 3 or 4 of his men escape, which troubled me the more because they were old New-York Pyrates. The next thing the Councel and I did, was to appoint a Committee of trusty persons to search for the goods and Treasure brought by Kidd and to secure what they should find till the King's pleasure should be known as to the Disposition thereof, as my orders from Mr. Secretary Vernon import. The said Committee were made up of Two Gentlemen of the Councel, Two Merchants, and the Deputy Collector, whose names are to the inclosed Inventory of the goods and Treasure. They searched Kidd's Lodging, and found hid and made up in Two sea-beds, a bag of gold dust and Ingots of the value of about 1000 L. and a bag of silver, part money and part pieces and piggs of silver, value as set down in the said Inventory. In the above bag of gold were several litle bags of gold; all particulars are, I believe, very justly and exactly set down in the Inventory. For my part, I have medled with no manner of thing, but put every thing under the management of the Councel, and into the Custody of the before mentioned Committee, that I might be free from the Suspicion and Censure of the World. The enameled box mentioned in the beginning of the Inventory is that which Kidd made a present of to my wife by Mr. Campbel, which I delivered in Councel to the said Committee to keep with the rest of the Treasure. There was in it a stone ring, which we take to be a Bristoll Stone;[7] if it were true, it would be worth about 40 L. And there was a small stone unset which we believe is also counterfeit, and a sort of a Locket, with four Sparks which seem to be right diamonds; for there is nobody here that understands Jewels. If the Box and all that is in it were right, they cannot be worth above 60 L.

Your Lordships will see in the middle of the Inventory a parcel of Treasure and Jewels delivered up by Mr. Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, in the Province of New-York, and at the East End of Nassau-Island, the Recovering and saving of which Treasure is owing to my Own Care and quickness. I heard by the greatest accident in the world, the day that Captain Kidd was committed, That a Man had offered 30 L. for a Sloop to carry him to Gardiner's Island, and Kidd having owned he had buried some Gold on that Island, (though he never mentioned to us any Jewels, nor, I believe, would he have owned the gold there but that he thought he should himselfe be sent for it), I presently reflected that that man (whom I have since discovered to be one of Kidd's Men) was to defeat us of that Treasure; I privately posted away a Messenger by Land with a peremptory order to Mr. Gardiner in the King's name to come forthwith, and deliver up such Treasure as Kidd or any of his Crew had lodged with him; acquainting him That I had committed Kidd to Goal, as I was ordered to do by the King. My Messenger made great haste, and was with Gardiner before anybody, and Gardiner, who is a very substantial man, brought away the Treasure without delay, and by my direction delivered it into the Hands of the Committee. If the Jewels be right, as it is supposed they are, but I never saw them, nor the gold and silver brought by Gardiner, then we guesse that the parcel brought by him may be worth (Gold, Silver and Jewels) 4500 L. And besides Kidd had left Six bales of goods with him, one of which was twice as big as any of the rest; and Kidd gave him a particular Charge of that bale, and told him it was worth 2000 L. The six bales Gardiner could not bring, but I have ordered him to send them by a Sloop that is since gone from hence to New York, and which is to return speedily. We are not able to set an exact value on the goods and Treasure we have got, because we have not opened the bales we took on board the Sloop; But we hope when the six bales are sent in by Gardiner, what will be then in the hands of the Gentlemen appointed to that Trust, will amount to about 14000 L. I have sent strict orders to my Lieutenant Governor at New York,[8] to make dilligent Search for the Goods and Treasure sent by Kidd to New York in Three Sloops mentioned in Gardiner's affidavit,[9] which I send with the other affidavits and Informations to your Lordships; and I believe I have directed him where to find a Purchase in a house at New York, which by a hint I have had I am apt to believe will be found out in that house. I have sent to search elsewhere a certain place, strongly suspected to have received another depositum of gold from Kidd. I am also upon the hunt after Two or Three Arch Pyrates, which I hope to give your Lordships a good Account of by next Conveyance. If I could have but a good able Judge and Attorney General at York, a Man of war there and another here, and the Companies recruited and well paid, I will rout Pirates and Piracy entirely out of all this north part of America, but as I have but too often told your Lordships, it is impossible for me to do all this alone in my single person.

I wrot your Lordships word in my last letter of the 8 Instant That Bradish the Pyrate and one of his Crew were escaped out of the goal of this Town. We have since found that the Goaler was Bradish's kinsman, and the Goaler confessed they went out at the prison door, and that he found it wide open; we had all the reason in the world to believe the Goaler was consenting to the escape: by much ado I could get the Counsel to resent the Goaler's behaviour, but by meer Importunity I had the fellow before us; we examined him, and, by his own Story and accounts given us of his suffering other prisoners formerly to escape, I prevailed to have him turned out and a prosecution ordered against him to the Attorney Generall. I have also, with some difficulty, this late Session of Assembly here, got a bill to pass, That the Goal be committed to the Care of the High Sheriffe of the County, as in England, with a Salary of 30 L. per Annum, to the said Sheriffe: I would have had it 50 L. per Annum, for the Sheriff's Incouragement to be honest and carefull, but I could not prevail. I am forced to allow the Sheriff 40 s. per Week for keeping Kidd safe; otherwise I should be in some doubt about him. He has without doubt a great deal of gold, which is apt to tempt men that have not principles of honour; I have therefore, to try the power of dull Iron against gold, put him into Irons that Weigh 16 Pound. I thought it moderate enough, for I remember poor Doctor Oates[10] had a 100 weight of Iron on him when he was a prisoner in the late Raign. There never was a greater Lyar or Thief in the World than this Kidd; notwithstanding he assured the Councel and me every time we examined him That the great Ship and her Cargo waited his return to bring her hither, and now your Lordships will see by Two severall Informations of Masters of Ships from Curacao, that the Cargo has been sold there, and in one of them it is said they have burnt that noble Ship, and without doubt, it was by Kidd's order, that the Ship might not be an evidence against him, for he would not own to us her Name was the Quidah-Marchand, though his men did. Andries Henlyne, and Two more, brought the first news to York of the sale of that Cargo at Curacao; and never such pennyworths heard of for Cheapness; Captain Evertz is he who has brought the news of the Ship's being burnt. She was of about 500 Ton, and Kidd told us at the Councel, there never was a stronger or stancher Ship seen. His Lying had like to have involved me in a Contract that would have been very chargeable and to no manner of purpose, as he has ordered Matters. I was advised by Counsel to dispatch a Ship of good Countenance to go and fetch away that Ship and Cargo. I had agreed for a Ship of 300 tons, 22 Guns, and I was to man her with 60 men, to force (if there had been need of it) the Men to yield who were left with the Ship. I was just going to seal the writing, when I bethought myself it were best to presse Kidd once more to tell me Truth: I therefore sent to him Two Gentlemen of the Councel to the Goal, and he at last owned That he had left a power with one Mr. Henry Bolton, a Marchand of Antegoa whom he had Committed the Care of the Ship to, to sell and dispose of all the Cargo: upon which Confession of Kidds I held my hand from hireing that great Ship, which would have cost 1700 L. by Computation. And now to-morrow I send the Sloop Captain Kidd came in, with Letters to the Lieutenant Governor of Antegoa, Colonel Yeomans, to the Governors of St. Thomas's Island and Curacao, to seize and secure what effects they can, that was late in the possession of Kidd, and on board the Quidah-Marchand. There is one Burk, an Englishman, that lives at St. Thomas, who has got a great Store of the goods and mony for Kidd's account. St. Thomas belongs to the Danes, but I hope to retrieve what Burt has in his Hands.[11] The sending this Sloop will cost but about 300 L. if she be out Three moneths. I hope your Lordships will take care, that immediate orders be sent to Antegoa to secure Bolton, who must have plaid the Knave egregiously; for he could not but know that Kidd came knavishly by that Ship and Goods. It is reported That the Dutch of Curacao have loaded Three Sloops with those Goods, and sent them to Holland; perhaps it were not amiss to send and watch their Arrivall in Holland, if it be practicable to lay Claim to them there.