CAPTAIN KIDD IN FACT AND FICTION
Doomed to an infamy undeserved, his name reddened with crimes he never
committed, and made wildly romantic by tales of treasure which he did
not bury, Captain William Kidd is fairly entitled to the sympathy of
posterity and the apologies of all the ballad-makers and alleged
historians who have obscured the facts in a cloud of fable. For two
centuries his grisly phantom has stalked through the legends and
literature of the black flag as the king of pirates and the most
industrious depositor of ill-gotten gold and jewels that ever wielded
pick and shovel. His reputation is simply prodigious, his name has
frightened children wherever English is spoken, and the Kidd tradition,
or myth, is still potent to send treasure-seekers exploring and
excavating almost every beach, cove, and headland between Nova Scotia
and the Gulf of Mexico.
Fate has played the strangest tricks imaginable with the memory of this
seventeenth century seafarer who never cut a throat or made a victim
walk the plank, who was no more than a third or fourth rate pirate in
an era when this interesting profession was in its heyday, and who was
hanged at Execution Dock for the excessively unromantic crime of
cracking the skull of his gunner with a wooden bucket.
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[Illustration: Captain Kidd burying his Bible.]
Carousing at Old Calabar River. (From _The Pirates' Own Book_.)
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As for the riches of Captain Kidd, the original documents in his case,
preserved among the state papers of the Public Record Office in London,
relate with much detail what booty he had and what he did with it.
Alas, they reveal the futility of the searches after the stout
sea-chest buried above high water mark. The only authentic Kidd
treasure was dug up and inventoried more than two hundred years ago,
nor has the slightest clue to any other been found since then.
These curious documents, faded and sometimes tattered, invite the
reader to thresh out his own conclusions as to how great a scoundrel
Kidd really was, and how far he was a scapegoat who had to be hanged to
clear the fair names of those noble lords in high places who were
partners and promoters of that most unlucky sea venture in which Kidd,
sent out to catch pirates, was said to have turned amateur pirate
himself rather than sail home empty-handed. Certain it is that these
words of the immortal ballad are cruelly, grotesquely unjust:
I made a solemn vow, when I sail'd, when I sail'd,
I made a solemn vow when I sail'd.
I made a solemn vow, to God I would not bow,
Nor myself a prayer allow, as I sail'd.
I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sail'd, when I sail'd,
I'd a Bible in my hand when I sail'd.
I'd a Bible in my hand, by my father's great command,
And I sunk it in the sand when I sail'd.
In English fiction there are three treasure stories of surpassing merit
for ingenious contrivance and convincing illusion. These are
Stevenson's "Treasure Island"; Poe's "Gold Bug"; and Washington
Irving's "Wolfert Webber." Differing widely in plot and literary
treatment, each peculiar to the genius of its author, they are blood
kin, sprung from a common ancestor, namely, the Kidd legend. Why this
half-hearted pirate who was neither red-handed nor of heroic dimensions
even in his badness, should have inspired more romantic fiction than
any other character in American history is past all explaining.
Strangely enough, no more than a generation or two after Kidd's sorry
remnants were swinging in chains for the birds to pick at, there began
to cluster around his memory the folk-lore and superstitions colored by
the supernatural which had been long current in many lands in respect
of buried treasure. It was a kind of diabolism which still survives in
many a corner of the Atlantic coast where tales of Kidd are told.
Irving took these legends as he heard them from the long-winded
ancients of his own acquaintance and wove them into delightfully
entertaining fiction with a proper seasoning of the ghostly and the
uncanny. His formidable hero is an old pirate with a sea chest,
aforetime one of Kidd's rogues, who appears at the Dutch tavern near
Corlear's Hook, and there awaits tidings of his shipmates and the
hidden treasure. It is well known that Stevenson employed a strikingly
similar character and setting to get "Treasure Island" under way in the
opening chapter. As a literary coincidence, a comparison of these
pieces of fiction is of curious interest. The similarity is to be
explained on the ground that both authors made use of the same material
whose ground-work was the Kidd legend in its various forms as it has
been commonly circulated.
Stevenson confessed in his preface:
"It is my debt to Washington Irving that exercises my conscience, and
justly so, for I believe plagiarism was rarely carried farther. I
chanced to pick up the 'Tales of a Traveler' some years ago, with a
view to an anthology of prose narrative, and the book flew up and
struck me: Billy Bones, his chest, the company in the parlor, the whole
inner spirit and a good deal of the material detail of my first
chapters--all were there, all were the property of Washington Irving.
But I had no guess of it then as I sat writing by the fireside, in what
seemed the springtides of a somewhat pedestrian fancy; nor yet day by
day, after lunch, as I read aloud my morning's work to the family. It
seemed to me original as sin; it seemed to belong to me like my right
eye."
After the opening scenes the two stories veer off on diverging tacks,
the plot of Stevenson moving briskly along to the treasure voyage with
no inclusion of the supernatural features of the Kidd tradition.
Irving, however, narrates at a leisurely pace all the gossip and legend
that were rife concerning Kidd in the Manhattan of the worthy
Knickerbockers. And he could stock a treasure chest as cleverly as
Stevenson, for when Wolfert Webber dreamed that he had discovered an
immense treasure in the center of his garden, "at every stroke of the
spade he laid bare a golden ingot; diamond crosses sparkled out of the
dust; bags of money turned up their bellies, corpulent with pieces of
eight, or venerable doubloons; and chests, wedged close with moidores,
ducats, and pistareens, yawned before his ravished eyes and vomited
forth their glittering contents."
The warp and woof of "Wolfert Webber" is the still persistent legend
that Kidd buried treasure near the Highlands of the lower Hudson, or
that his ship, the _Quedah Merchant_, was fetched from San Domingo by
his men after he left her and they sailed her into the Hudson and there
scuttled the vessel, scattering ashore and dividing a vast amount of
plunder, some of which was hidden nearby. Many years ago a pamphlet
was published, purporting to be true, which was entitled, "An Account
of Some of the Traditions and Experiments Respecting Captain Kidd's
Piratical Vessel." In this it was soberly asserted that Kidd in the
_Quedah Merchant_ was chased into the North River by an English
man-of-war, and finding himself cornered he and his crew took to the
boats with what treasure they could carry, after setting fire to the
ship, and fled up the Hudson, thence footing it through the wilderness
to Boston.
The sunken ship was searched for from time to time, and the explorers
were no doubt assisted by another pamphlet published early in the
nineteenth century which proclaimed itself as:
"A Wonderful Mesmeric Revelation, giving an Account of the Discovery
and Description of a Sunken Vessel, near Caldwell's Landing, supposed
to be that of the Pirate Kidd; including an Account of his Character
and Death, at a distance of nearly three hundred miles from the place."
This psychic information came from a woman by the name of Chester
living in Lynn, Mass., who swore she had never heard of the sunken
treasure ship until while in a trance she beheld its shattered timbers
covered with sand, and "bars of massive gold, heaps of silver coin, and
precious jewels including many large and brilliant diamonds. The
jewels had been enclosed in shot bags of stout canvas. There were also
gold watches, like duck's eggs in a pond of water, and the wonderfully
preserved remains of a very beautiful woman, with a necklace of
diamonds around her neck."
As Irving takes pains to indicate, the basis of the legend of the
sunken pirate ship came not from Kidd but from another freebooter who
flourished at the same time. Says Peechy Prauw, daring to hold
converse with the old buccaneer in the tavern, "Kidd never did bury
money up the Hudson, nor indeed in any of those parts, though many
affirmed such to be the fact. It was Bradish and others of the
buccaneers who had buried money; some said in Turtle Bay, others on
Long Island, others in the neighborhood of Hell-gate."
This Bradish was caught by Governor Bellomont and sent to England where
he was hanged at Execution Dock. He had begun his career of crime
afloat as boatswain of a ship called the _Adventure_ (not Kidd's
vessel). While on a voyage from London to Borneo he helped other
mutineers to take the vessel from her skipper and go a-cruising as
gentlemen of fortune. They split up forty thousand dollars of specie
found on board, snapped up a few merchantmen to fatten their dividends,
and at length came to the American coast and touched at Long Island.
The _Adventure_ ship was abandoned, and there is reason to think that
she was taken possession of by the crew of the purchased sloop, who
worked her around to New York and beached and sunk her after stripping
her of fittings and gear. Bradish and his crew also cruised along the
Sound for some time in their small craft, landing and buying supplies
at several places, until nineteen of them were caught and taken to
Boston. That there should have been some confusion of facts relating
to Kidd and Bradish is not at all improbable.
Among the Dutch of New Amsterdam was to be found that world-wide
superstition of the ghostly guardians of buried treasure, and Irving
interpolates the distressful experience of Cobus Quackenbos "who dug
for a whole night and met with incredible difficulty, for as fast as he
threw one shovelful of earth out of the hole, two were thrown in by
invisible hands. He succeeded so far, however, as to uncover an iron
chest, when there was a terrible roaring, ramping, and raging of
uncouth figures about the hole, and at length a shower of blows, dealt
by invisible cudgels, fairly belabored him off of the forbidden ground.
This Cobus Quackenbos had declared on his death bed, so that there
could not be any doubt of it. He was a man that had devoted many years
of his life to money-digging, and it was thought would have ultimately
succeeded, had he not died recently of a brain fever in the almshouse."
A story built around the Kidd tradition but of a wholly different kind
is that masterpiece of curious deductive analysis, "The Gold Bug," with
its cryptogram and elaborate mystification. In making use of an
historical character to serve the ends of fiction it is customary to
make him move among the episodes of the story with some regard for the
probabilities. For example, it would hardly do to have Napoleon win
the Battle of Waterloo as the hero of a novel. What really happened
and what the author imagines might have happened must be dovetailed
with an eye to avoid contradicting the known facts. Like almost
everyone else, however, Poe took the most reckless liberties with the
career of poor Captain Kidd and his buried treasure and cared not a rap
for historical evidence to the contrary. Although Stevenson is ready
to admit that his "skeleton is conveyed from Poe," the author of
"Treasure Island" is not wholly fair to himself. The tradition that
secretive pirates were wont to knock a shipmate or two on the head as a
feature of the program of burying treasure is as old as the hills. The
purpose was either to get rid of the witnesses who had helped dig the
hole, or to cause the spot to be properly haunted by ghosts as an
additional precaution against the discovery of the hoard.
What Stevenson "conveyed" from Poe was the employment of a skeleton to
indicate the bearings and location of the treasure, although, to be
accurate, it was a skull that figured in "The Gold Bug." Otherwise, in
the discovery of the remains of slain pirates, both were using a stock
incident of buried treasure lore most generally fastened upon the
unfortunate Captain Kidd.
Most of the treasure legends of the Atlantic coast are fable and
moonshine, with no more foundation than what somebody heard from his
grandfather who may have dreamed that Captain Kidd or Blackbeard once
landed in a nearby cove. The treasure seeker needs no evidence,
however, and with him "faith is the substance of things hoped for."
There is a marsh of the Penobscot river, a few miles inland from the
bay of that name, which has been indefatigably explored for more than a
century. A native of a statistical turn of mind not long ago expressed
himself in this common-sense manner:
"Thousands of tons of soil have been shovelled over time and again. I
figure that these treasure hunters have handled enough earth in turning
up Codlead Marsh to build embankments and fill cuts for a railroad
grade twenty miles long. In other words, if these lunatics that have
tried to find Kidd's money had hired out with railroad contractors,
they could have earned thirty thousand dollars at regular day wages
instead of the few battered old coins discovered in 1798 which started
all this terrible waste of energy."
The most convincing evidence of the existence of a pirates' rendezvous
and hoard has been found on Oak Island, Nova Scotia. In fact, this is
the true treasure story, _par excellence_, of the whole Atlantic coast,
with sufficient mystery to give it precisely the proper flavor. Local
tradition has long credited Captain Kidd with having been responsible
for the indubitable remains of piratical activity, but it has been
proved that Kidd went nowhere near Nova Scotia after he came sailing
home from the East Indies, and the industrious visitors to Oak Island
are therefore unknown to history.
The island has a sheltered haven called Mahone Bay, snugly secluded
from the Atlantic, with deep water, and a century ago the region was
wild and unsettled. Near the head of the bay is a small cove which was
visited in the year of 1795 by three young men named Smith, MacGinnis,
and Vaughan who drew their canoes ashore and explored at random the
noble groves of oaks. Soon they came to a spot whose peculiar
appearance aroused their curiosity. The ground had been cleared many
years before; this was indicated by the second growth of trees and the
kind of vegetation which is foreign to the primeval condition of the
soil. In the center of the little clearing was a huge oak whose bark
was gashed with markings made by an axe. One of the stout lower
branches had been sawn off at some distance from the trunk and to this
natural derrick-arm had been attached a heavy block and tackle as shown
by the furrowed scar in the bark. Directly beneath this was a
perceptible circular depression of the turf, perhaps a dozen feet in
diameter.
The three young men were curious, and made further investigation. The
tide chanced to be uncommonly low, and while ranging along the beach of
the cove they discovered a huge iron ring-bolt fastened to a rock which
was invisible at ordinary low water. They reasonably surmised that
this had been a mooring place in days gone by. Not far distant a
boatswain's whistle of an ancient pattern and a copper coin bearing the
date of 1713 were picked up.
The trio scented pirates' treasure and shortly returned to the cove to
dig in the clearing hard by the great oak. It was soon found that they
were excavating in a clearly defined shaft, the walls of which were of
the solid, undisturbed earth in which the cleavage of other picks and
shovels could be distinguished. The soil within the shaft was much
looser and easily removed. Ten feet below the surface they came to a
covering of heavy oak plank which was ripped out with much difficulty.
At a depth of twenty feet another layer of planking was uncovered, and
digging ten feet deeper, a third horizontal bulkhead of timber was laid
bare. The excavation was now thirty feet down, and the three men had
done all they could without a larger force, hoisting machinery, and
other equipment. The natives of Mahone Bay, however, were singularly
reluctant to aid the enterprise. Hair-raising stories were afloat of
ghostly guardians, of strange cries, of unearthly fires that flickered
along the cove, and all that sort of thing. Superstition effectually
fortified the place, and those bold spirits, Smith, MacGinnis, and
Vaughan were forced to abandon their task for lack of reinforcements.
Half a dozen years later a young physician of Truro, Dr. Lynds, visited
Oak Island, having got wind of the treasure story, and talked with the
three men aforesaid. He took their report seriously, made an
investigation of his own, and straightway organized a company backed by
considerable capital. Prominent persons of Truro and the neighborhood
were among the investors, including Colonel Robert Archibald, Captain
David Archibald, and Sheriff Harris. A gang of laborers was mustered
at the cove, and the dirt began to fly. The shaft was opened to a
depth of ninety-five feet, and, as before, some kind of covering, or
significant traces thereof, was disclosed every ten feet or so. One
layer was of charcoal spread over a matting of a substance resembling
cocoa fibre, while another was of putty, some of which was used in
glazing the windows of a house then building on the nearby coast.
Ninety feet below the surface, the laborers found a large flat stone or
quarried slab, three feet long and sixteen inches wide, upon which was
chiselled the traces of an inscription. This stone was used in the
jamb of a fireplace of a new house belonging to Smith, and was later
taken to Halifax in the hope of having the mysterious inscription
deciphered. One wise man declared that the letters read, "Ten feet
below two million pounds lie buried," but this verdict was mostly
guess-work. The stone is still in Halifax, where it was used for
beating leather in a book-binder's shop until the inscription had been
worn away.
When the workmen were down ninety-five feet, they came to a wooden
platform covering the shaft. Until then the hole had been clear of
water, but overnight it filled within twenty-five feet of the top.
Persistent efforts were made to bail out the flood but with such poor
success that the shaft was abandoned and another sunk nearby, the plan
being to tunnel into the first pit and thereby drain it and get at the
treasure. The second shaft was driven to a depth of a hundred and ten
feet, but while the tunnel was in progress the water broke through and
made the laborers flee for their lives. The company had spent all its
money, and the results were so discouraging that the work was abandoned.
It was not until 1849 that another attempt was made to fathom the
meaning of the extraordinary mystery of Oak Island. Dr. Lynds and
Vaughan were still alive and their narratives inspired the organization
of another treasure-seeking company. Vaughan easily found the old
"Money Pit" as it was called, and the original shaft was opened and
cleared to a depth of eighty-six feet when an inrush of water stopped
the undertaking. Again the work ceased for lack of adequate pumping
machinery, and it was decided to use a boring apparatus such as was
employed in prospecting for coal. A platform was rigged in the old
shaft, and the large auger bit its way in a manner described by the
manager of the enterprise as follows:
"The platform was struck at ninety-eight feet, just as the old diggers
found it. After going through this platform, which was five inches
thick and proved to be of spruce, the auger dropped twelve inches and
then went through four inches of oak; then it went through twenty-two
inches of metal in pieces, but the auger failed to take any of it
except three links resembling an ancient watch-chain. It then went
through eight inches of oak, which was thought to be the bottom of the
first box and the top of the next; then through twenty-two inches of
metal the same as before; then four inches of oak and six inches of
spruce, then into clay seven feet without striking anything. In the
next boring, the platform was struck as before at ninety-eight feet;
passing through this, the auger fell about eighteen inches, and came in
contact with, as supposed, the side of a cask. The flat chisel
revolving close to the side of the cask gave it a jerk and irregular
motion. On withdrawing the auger several splinters of oak, such as
might come from the side of an oak stave, and a small quantity of a
brown fibrous substance resembling the husk of a cocoa-nut, were
brought up. The distance between the upper and lower platforms was
found to be six feet."
In the summer of 1850 a third shaft was sunk just to the west of the
Money Pit, but this also filled with water which was discovered to be
salt and effected by the rise and fall of the tide in the cove. It was
reasoned that if a natural inlet existed, those who had buried the
treasure must have encountered the inflow which would have made their
undertaking impossible. Therefore the pirates must have driven some
kind of a tunnel or passage from the cove with the object of flooding
out any subsequent intruders. Search was made along the beach, and
near where the ring-bolt was fastened in the rock a bed of the brown,
fibrous material was uncovered and beneath it a mass of small rock
unlike the surrounding sand and gravel.
It was decided to build a coffer-dam around this place which appeared
to be a concealed entrance to a tunnel connecting the cove with the
Money Pit. In removing the rock, a series of well-constructed drains
was found, extending from a common center, and fashioned of carefully
laid stone. Before the coffer-dam was finished, it was overflowed by a
very high tide and collapsed under pressure. The explorers did not
rebuild it but set to work sinking a shaft which was intended to cut
into this tunnel and dam the inlet from the cove. One failure,
however, followed on the heels of another, and shaft after shaft was
dug only to be caved in or filled by salt water. In one of these was
found an oak plank, several pieces of timber bearing the marks of
tools, and many hewn chips. A powerful pumping engine was installed,
timber cribbing put into the bottom of the shafts, and a vast amount of
clay dumped on the beach in an effort to block up the inlet of the
sea-water tunnel. Baffled in spite of all this exertion, the
treasure-seekers spent their money and had to quit empty-handed.
Forty years passed, and the crumbling earth almost filled the numerous
and costly excavations and the grass grew green under the sentinel
oaks. Then, in 1896, the cove was once more astir with boats and the
shore populous with toilers. The old records had been overhauled and
their evidence was so alluring that fresh capital was subscribed and
many shares eagerly snapped up in Truro, Halifax and elsewhere. The
promoters became convinced that former attempts had failed because of
crude appliances and insufficient engineering skill, and this time the
treasure was sought in up-to-date fashion.
Almost twenty deep shafts were dug, one after the other, in a ring
about the Money Pit, and tunnels driven in a net-work. It was the
purpose of the engineers to intercept the underground channel and also
to drain the pirates' excavation. Hundreds of pounds of dynamite were
used and thousands of feet of heavy timber. Further traces of the work
of the ancient contrivers of this elaborate hiding-place were
discovered, but the funds of the company were exhausted before the
secret of the Money Pit could be revealed.
Considerable boring was done under the direction of the manager,
Captain Welling. The results confirmed the previous disclosures
achieved by the auger. At a depth of one hundred and twenty-six feet,
Captain Welling's crew drilled through oak wood, and struck a piece of
iron past which they could not drive the encasing pipe. A smaller
auger was then used and at one hundred and fifty-three feet cement was
found of a thickness of seven inches, covering another layer of oak.
Beyond was some soft metal, and the drill brought to the surface a
small fragment of sheepskin parchment upon which was written in ink the
syllable, "vi" or "wi." Other curious samples, wood and iron, were
fished up, but the "soft metal," presumed to be gold or silver, refused
to cling to the auger. It was of course taken for granted that the
various layers of oak planking and spruce were chests containing the
treasure.
During the various borings, seven different chests or casks, or
whatever they may be, have been encountered. It seems incredible that
any pirates or buccaneers known to the American coast should have been
at such prodigious pains to conceal their plunder as to dig a hole a
good deal more than a hundred feet deep, connect it with the sea by an
underground passage, and safeguard it by many layers of timber, cement,
and other material. Possibly some of the famous freebooters of the
Spanish Main in Henry Morgan's time might have achieved such a task,
but Nova Scotia was a coast unknown to them and thousands of miles from
their track. Poor Kidd had neither the men, the treasure, nor the
opportunity to make such a memorial of his career as this.
Quite recently a new company was formed to grapple with the secret of
Oak Island which has already swallowed at least a hundred thousand
dollars in labor and machinery. For more than a century, sane,
hard-headed Nova Scotians have tried to reach the bottom of the "Money
Pit," and as an attractive speculation it has no rival in the field of
treasure-seeking. There may be documents somewhere in existence, a
chart or memorandum mouldering in a sea chest in some attic or cellar
of France, England, or Spain, that will furnish the key to this rarely
picturesque and tantalizing puzzle. The unbeliever has only to go to
Nova Scotia in the summer time and seek out Oak Island, which is
reached by way of the town of Chester, to find the deeply pitted area
of the treasure hunt, and very probably engines and workmen busy at the
fine old game of digging for pirates' gold.
Let us now give the real Captain Kidd his due, painting him no blacker
than the facts warrant, and at the same time uncover the true story of
his treasure, which is the plum in the pudding. He had been a merchant
shipmaster of brave and honorable repute in an age when every
deep-water voyage was a hazard of privateers and freebooters of all
flags, or none at all. In one stout square-rigger after another, well
armed and heavily manned, he had sailed out of the port of New York, in
which he dwelt as early as 1689. He had a comfortable, even prosperous
home in Liberty Street, was married to a widow of good family, and was
highly thought of by the Dutch and English merchants of the town. A
shrewd trader who made money for his owners, he was also a fighting
seaman of such proven mettle that he was given command of privateers
which cruised along the coasts of the Colonies and harried the French
in the West Indies. His excellent reputation and character are
attested by official documents. In the records of the Proceedings of
the Provincial Assembly of New York is the following entry under date
of April 18, 1691:
"Gabriel Monville, Esq. and Thomas Willet, Esq. are appointed to attend
the House of Representatives and acquaint them of the many good
services done to this Province by Captain William Kidd in his attending
here with his Vessels before His Excellency's[1] arrival, and that it
would be acceptable to His Excellency and this Board that they consider
of some suitable reward to him for his good services."
This indicates that Captain Kidd had been in command of a small
squadron engaged in protecting the commerce of the colony. On May 14,
the following was adopted by the House of Representatives:
"Ordered, that His Excellency be addressed unto, to order the Receiver
General to pay to Captain William Kidd, One Hundred and Fifty Pounds
current money of this Province, as a suitable reward for the many good
services done to this Province."
In June, only a month after this, Captain Kidd was asked by the Colony
of Massachusetts to punish the pirates who were pestering the shipping
of Boston and Salem. The negotiations were conducted in this wise:
_By the Governor and Council._
Proposals offered to Captain Kidd and Captain Walkington to encourage
their going forth in their Majesties' Service to suppress an Enemy
Privateer now upon this Coast.
That they have liberty to beat up drums for forty men apiece to go
forth on this present Expedition, not taking any Children or Servants
without their Parents' or Masters' Consent. A list of the names of
such as go in the said Vessels to be presented to the Governor before
their departure.
That they cruise upon the Coast for the space of ten or fifteen days in
search of the said Privateer, and then come in again and land the men
supplied them from hence.
That what Provisions shall be expended within the said time, for so
many men as are in both the said Vessels, be made good to them on their
return, in case they take no purchase;[2] but if they shall take the
Privateer, or any other Vessels, then only a proportion of Provisions
for so many men as they take in here.
If any of our men happen to be wounded in the engagement with the
Privateer, that they be cured at the public charge.
That the men supplied from hence be proportionable sharers with the
other men belonging to said Vessels, of all purchase that shall be
taken.
Besides the promise of a Gratuity to the Captains, Twenty Pounds apiece
in money.
Boston, June 8th, 1691.
To this thrifty set of terms, Captain Kidd made reply:
"_Imprimis_, To have forty men, with their arms, provisions, and
ammunition.
"_2dly_. All the men that shall be wounded, which have been put in by
the Country, shall be put on shore, and the Country to take care of
them. And if so fortunate as to take the Pirate and her prizes, then
to bring them to Boston.
"_3rdly_. For myself, to have One Hundred Pounds in money; Thirty
Pounds thereof to be paid down, the rest upon my return to Boston; and
if we bring in said Ship and her Prizes, then the same to be divided
amongst our men.
"_4thly_. The Provisions put on board must be ten barrels Pork and
Beef, ten barrels of Flour, two hogsheads of Peas, and one barrel of
Gunpowder for the great guns.
"_5thly_. That I will cruise on the coast for ten days' time; and if
so that he is gone off the coast, that I cannot hear of him, I will
then, at my return, take care and set what men on shore that I have
had, and are willing to leave me or the Ship."
These records serve to show in what esteem Captain Kidd was held by the
highest officials of the Colonies. Such men as he were sailing out of
Boston, New York, and Salem to trade in uncharted seas on remote coasts
and fight their way home again with rich cargoes. They hammered out
the beginnings of a mighty commerce for the New World and created, by
the stern stress of circumstances, as fine a race of seamen as ever
filled cabin and forecastle.
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[Illustration: The Idle Apprentice goes to sea. (From Hogarth's
series, "Industry and Idleness.")]
On the shore of this reach of the Thames, at Tilbury, is shown a
gibbeted pirate hanging in chains, just as it befell Captain William
Kidd.
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In the year 1695, Captain Kidd chanced to be anchored in London port in
his brigantine _Antigoa_, busy with loading merchandise and shipping a
crew for the return voyage across the Atlantic. Now, Richard Coote,
Earl of Bellomont, an ambitious and energetic Irishman, had just then
been appointed royal governor of the Colonies of New York and
Massachusetts, and he was particularly bent on suppressing the swarm of
pirates who infested the American coast and waxed rich on the English
commerce of the Indian Ocean. Their booty was carried to Rhode Island,
New York, and Boston, even from far-away Madagascar, and many a
colonial merchant, outwardly the pattern of respectability, was
secretly trafficking in this plunder.
"I send you, my Lord, to New York," said King William III to Bellomont,
"because an honest and intrepid man is wanted to put these abuses down,
and because I believe you to be such a man."
Thereupon Bellomont asked for a frigate to send in chase of the bold
sea rogues, but the king referred him to the Lords of the Admiralty who
discovered sundry obstacles bound in red tape, the fact being that
official England was at all times singularly indifferent, or covertly
hostile, toward the maritime commerce of her American colonies. Being
denied a man-of-war, Bellomont conceived the plan of privately
equipping an armed ship as a syndicate enterprise without cost to the
government. The promoters were to divide the swag captured from
pirates as dividends on their investment.
The enterprise was an alluring one, and six thousand pounds sterling
were subscribed by Bellomont and his friends, including such
illustrious personages as Somers, the Lord Chancellor and leader of the
Whig party; the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Orford, First Lord of
the Admiralty; the Earl of Romney, and Sir Richard Harrison, a wealthy
merchant. According to Bishop Burnet, it was the king who "proposed
managing it by a private enterprise, and said he would lay down three
thousand pounds himself, and recommended it to his Ministers to find
out the refit. In compliance with this, the Lord Somers, the Earl of
Orford, Romney, Bellomont and others, contributed the whole expense,
for the King excused himself by reason of other accidents, and did not
advance the sum he had promised."
Macauley, discussing in his "History of England" the famous scandal
which later involved these partners of Kidd, defends them in this
spirited fashion:
"The worst that could be imputed even to Bellomont, who had drawn in
all the rest, was that he had been led into a fault by his ardent zeal
for the public service, and by the generosity of a nature as little
prone to suspect as to devise villainies. His friends in England might
surely be pardoned for giving credit to his recommendations. It is
highly probable that the motive which induced some of them to aid his
designs was a genuine public spirit. But if we suppose them to have
had a view to gain, it would be legitimate gain. Their conduct was the
very opposite of corrupt. Not only had they taken no money. They had
disbursed money largely, and had disbursed it with the certainty that
they should never be reimbursed unless the outlay proved beneficial to
the public."
It would be easy to pick flaws in this argument. Bellomont's partners,
no matter how public spirited, hoped to reimburse themselves, and
something over, as receivers of stolen goods. It was a dashing
speculation, characteristic of its century, and neither better nor
worse than the privateering of that time. What raised the subsequent
row in Parliament and made of Kidd a political issue and a party
scapegoat, was the fact that his commission was given under the Great
Seal of England, thus stamping a private business with the public
sanction of His Majesty's Government. For this Somers, as Lord
Chancellor, was responsible, and it later became a difficult
transaction for his partisans to defend.
There was in London, at that time, one Robert Livingston, founder of a
family long notable in the Colony and State of New York, a man of large
property and solid station. He was asked to recommend a shipmaster
fitted for the task in hand and named Captain Kidd, who was reluctant
to accept. His circumstances were prosperous, he had a home and family
in New York, and he was by no means anxious to go roving after pirates
who were pretty certain to fight for their necks. His consent was won
by the promise of a share of the profits (Kidd was a canny Scot by
birth) and by the offer of Livingston to be his security and his
partner in the venture.
An elaborate contract was drawn up with the title of "Articles of
Agreement made this Tenth day of October in the year of Our Lord, 1695,
between the Right Honorable Richard, Earl of Bellomont, of the one
part, and Robert Livingston Esq., and Captain William Kidd of the other
part."
In the first article, "the said Earl of Bellomont doth covenant and
agree at his proper charge to procure from the King's Majesty or from
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, as the case may require, one
or more Commissions impowering him, the said Captain Kidd, to act
against the King's enemies, and to take prizes from them as a private
man-of-war, in the usual manner, and also to fight with, conquer and
subdue pyrates, and to take them and their goods, _with such large and
beneficial powers and clauses in such commissions as may be most proper
and effectual in such cases_."
Bellomont agreed to pay four-fifths of the cost of the ship, with its
furnishings and provisions, Kidd and Livingston to contribute the
remainder, "in pursuance of which Bellomont was to pay down 1600 pounds
on or before the 6th of November, in order to the speedy buying of said
ship." The Earl agreed to pay such further sums as should "complete and
make up the said four parts of five of the charge of the said ship's
apparel, furniture, and victualling, within seven weeks after date of
the agreement," and Kidd and Livingston bound themselves to do likewise
in respect of their fifth part of the expense. Other articles of the
agreement read:
"7. The said Captain Kidd doth covenant and agree to procure and take
with him on board of the said ship, one hundred mariners, or seamen, or
thereabout, and to make what reasonable and convenient speed he can to
set out to sea with the said ship, and to sail to such parts and places
where he may meet with the said Pyrates, and to use his utmost endeavor
to meet with, subdue, and conquer the said Pyrates, and to take from
them their goods, merchandise, and treasures; also to take what prizes
he can from the King's enemies, and forthwith to make the best of his
way to Boston in New England, and that without touching at any other
port or harbor whatsoever, or without breaking bulk, or diminishing any
part of what he shall so take or obtain; (of which he shall make oath
in case the same is desired by the said Earl of Bellomont), and there
to deliver the same into the hands or possession of the said Earl.
"8. The said Captain Kidd doth agree that the contract and bargain
which he will make with the said ship's crew shall be no purchase,[3]
no pay, and not otherwise; and that the share and proportion which his
said crew shall, by such contract, have of such prizes, goods,
merchandise and treasure, as he shall take as prize, or from any
Pyrates, shall not at the most exceed a fourth part of the same, and
shall be less than a fourth part, in case the same may reasonably and
conveniently be agreed upon.
"9. Robert Livingston Esq. and Captain William Kidd agree that if they
catch no Pyrates, they will refund to the said Earl of Bellomont all
the money advanced by him on or before March 25th, 1697, and they will
keep the said ship."
Article 10 allotted the captured goods and treasures, after deducting
no more than one-fourth for the crew. The remainder was to be divided
into five equal parts, of which Bellomont was to receive four parts,
leaving a fifth to be shared between Kidd and Livingston. The stake of
Captain Kidd was therefore to be three one-fortieths of the whole, or
seven and one-half per cent. of the booty.
It is apparent from these singular articles of agreement that Robert
Livingston, in the role of Kidd's financial backer, was willing to run
boldly speculative chances of success, and was also confident that a
rich crop of "pyrates" could be caught for the seeking. If Kidd should
sail home empty-handed, then these two partners stood to lose a large
amount, by virtue of the contract which provided that Bellomont and his
partners must be reimbursed for their outlay, less the value of the
ship itself. Livingston also gave bonds in the sum of ten thousand
pounds that Kidd would be faithful to his trust and obedient to his
orders, which in itself is sufficient to show that this shipmaster was
a man of the best intentions, and of thoroughly proven worth.
Captain Kidd's privateering commission was issued by the High Court of
Admiralty on December 11, 1695, and licensed and authorized him to "set
forth in war-like manner in the said ship called the _Adventure
Galley_, under his own command, and therewith, by force of arms, to
apprehend, seize, and take the ships, vessels, and goods belonging to
the French King and his subjects, or inhabitants within the dominion of
the said French King, and such other ships, vessels, and goods as are
or shall be liable to confiscation," etc.
This document was of the usual tenor, but in addition, Captain Kidd was
granted a special royal commission, under the Great Seal, which is
given herewith because it so intimately concerned the later fortunes of
his noble partners:
WILLIAM REX.
WILLIAM THE THIRD, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. To our trusty and
well beloved Captain William Kidd, Commander of the ship _Adventure
Galley_, or to any other, the commander of the same for the time being,
GREETING:
Whereas, we are informed that Captain Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Capt.
Thomas Wake, and Capt. William Maze, and other subjects, natives, or
inhabitants of New York and elsewhere, in our plantations in America,
have associated themselves with divers other wicked and ill-disposed
persons, and do, against the law of nations, commit many and great
piracies, robberies, and depredations on the seas upon the parts of
America and in other parts, to the great hindrance and discouragement
of trade and navigation, and to the great danger and hurt of our loving
subjects, our allies, and of all others navigating the seas upon their
lawful occasions,
NOW, KNOW YE, that we being desirous to prevent the aforesaid mischief,
and as much as in us lies, to bring the said pirates, freebooters, and
sea rovers to justice, have thought fit, and do hereby give and grant
to the said Robert Kidd (to whom our Commissioners for exercising the
office of Lord High Admiral of England have granted a commission as a
private man-of-war, bearing date of the 11th day of December, 1695),
and unto the Commander of the said ship for the time being, and unto
the Officers, Mariners, and others which shall be under your command,
full power and authority to apprehend, seize, and take into your
custody, as well the said Captain Tew, John Ireland, Capt. Thomas Wake,
and Capt. William Maze, or Mace, and all such pirates, freebooters, and
sea rovers, being either our subjects or of other nations associated
with them, which you shall meet with upon the seas or coasts of
America, or upon any other seas or coasts, with all their ships and
vessels, and all such merchandizes, money, goods, and wares as shall be
found on board, or with them, in case they shall willingly yield
themselves up, but if they will not yield without fighting, then you
are by force to compel to yield.
And we also require you to bring, or cause to be brought, such pirates,
freebooters, or sea rovers as you shall seize, to a legal trial to the
end that they may be proceeded against according to the law in such
cases. And we do hereby command all our Officers, Ministers, and
others our loving subjects whatsoever to be aiding and assisting you in
the premises, and we do hereby enjoin you to keep an exact journal of
your proceedings in execution of the premises, and set down the names
of such pirates and of their officers and company, and the names of
such ships and vessels as you shall by virtue of these presents take
and seize, and the quantity of arms, ammunition, provisions, and lading
of such ships, and the true value of the same, as near as you judge.
And we do hereby strictly charge and command, and you will answer the
contrary to your peril, that you do not, in any manner, offend or
molest our friends and allies, their ships or subjects, by colour or
pretense of these presents, or the authority thereof granted. _In
witness_ whereof, we have caused our Great Seal of England to be
affixed to these presents. Given at our Court in Kensington, the 26th
day of January, 1696, in the seventh Year of our Reign.
It was privately understood that the King was to receive one-tenth of
the proceeds of the voyage, although this stipulation does not appear
in the articles of agreement. By a subsequent grant from the Crown,
this understanding was publicly ratified and all money and property
taken from pirates, except the King's tenth, was to be made over to the
owners of the _Adventure Galley_, to wit, Bellomont and his partners,
and Kidd and Livingston, as they had agreed among themselves.
The _Adventure Galley_, the ship selected for the cruise, was of 287
tons and thirty-four guns, a powerful privateer for her day, which Kidd
fitted out at Plymouth, England. Finding difficulty in recruiting a
full crew of mettlesome lads, he sailed from that port for New York in
April of 1696, with only seventy hands. While anchored in the Hudson,
he increased his company to 155 men, many of them the riff-raff of the
water-front, deserters, wastrels, brawlers, and broken seamen who may
have sailed under the black flag aforetime. It was a desperate
venture, the pay was to be in shares of the booty taken, "no prizes, no
money," and sober, respectable sailors looked askance at it. Kidd was
impatient to make an offing. Livingston and Bellomont were chafing at
the delay, and he had to ship what men he could find at short notice.
The _Adventure Galley_ cruised first among the West Indies, honestly in
quest of "pirates, freebooters and sea rovers," and not falling in with
any of these gentry, Kidd took his departure for the Cape of Good Hope
and the Indian Ocean. This was in accordance with his instructions,
for in the preamble of the articles of agreement it was stated that
"certain persons did some time since depart from New England, Rhode
Island, New York, and other parts in America and elsewhere with an
intention to pyrate and to commit spoyles and depredations in the Red
Sea and elsewhere, and to return with such riches and goods as they
should get to certain places by them agreed upon, of which said persons
and places the said Captain Kidd hath notice."
This long voyage was soundly planned. Madagascar was the most
notorious haunt of pirates in the world. Their palm-thatched villages
fringed its beaches and the blue harbors sheltered many sail which
sallied forth to play havoc with the precious argosies of the English,
French, and Dutch East India Companies. Kidd hoped to win both favor
and fortune by ridding these populous trade routes of the perils that
menaced every honest skipper.
When, at length, Madagascar was sighted, the _Adventure Galley_ was
nine months from home, and not a prize had been taken. Kidd was short
of provisions and of money with which to purchase supplies. His crew
was in a grumbling, mutinous temper, as they rammed their tarry fists
into their empty pockets and stared into the empty hold. The captain
quieted them with promises of dazzling spoil, and the _Adventure
Galley_ vainly skirted the coast, only to find that some of the pirates
had got wind of her coming while others were gone a-cruising. From the
crew of a wrecked French ship, Kidd took enough gold to buy provisions
in a Malabar port. This deed was hardly generous, but by virtue of his
letters of marque Kidd was authorized to despoil a Frenchman wherever
he caught him.
After more futile cruising to and fro, Kidd fell from grace and crossed
the very tenuous line that divided privateering from piracy in his
century. His first unlawful capture was a small native vessel owned by
Aden merchants and commanded by one Parker, an Englishman, the mate
being a Portuguese. The plunder was no more than a bale or two of
pepper and coffee, and a few gold pieces. It was petty larceny
committed to quiet a turbulent crew and to pay operating expenses.
Parker made loud outcry ashore and a little later Kidd was overtaken by
a vengeful Portuguese man-of-war off the port of Carawar. The two
ships hammered each other with broad-sides and bow-chasers six hours on
end, when Kidd went his way with several men wounded.
Sundry other small craft were made to stand and deliver after this
without harm to their crews, but no treasure was lifted until Kidd
ventured to molest the shipping of the Great Mogul. That fabled
potentate of Asia whose empire had been found by Genghis Khan and
extended by Tamerlane, and whose gorgeous palaces were at Samarcand,
had a mighty commerce between the Red Sea and China, and his rich
freights also swelled the business of the English East India Company.
His ships were often convoyed by the English and the Dutch. It was
from two of these vessels that Kidd took his treasure and thus achieved
the brief career which rove the halter around his neck.
The first of these ships of the Great Mogul he looted and burned, and
to the second, the _Quedah Merchant_, he transferred his flag after
forsaking the leaky, unseaworthy _Adventure Galley_ on the Madagascar
coast. Out of this capture he took almost a half million dollars'
worth of gold, jewels, plate, silks, and other precious merchandise of
which his crew ran away with by far the greater share, leaving Kidd
with about one hundred thousand dollars in booty.
It was charged that while on this coast Kidd amicably consorted with a
very notorious pirate named Culliford, instead of blowing him out of
the water as he properly deserved. This was the most damning feature
of his indictment, and there is no doubt that he sold Culliford cannon
and munitions and received him in his cabin. On the other hand, Kidd
declared that he would have attacked the pirate but he was overpowered
by his mutinous crew who caroused with Culliford's rogues and were
wholly out of hand. And Kidd's story is lent the color of truth by the
fact that ninety-five of his men deserted to join the _Mocha Frigate_
of Culliford and sail with him under the Jolly Roger. It is fair to
assume that if William Kidd had been the successful pirate he is
portrayed, his own rascals would have stayed with him in the _Quedah
Merchant_ which was a large and splendidly armed and equipped ship of
between four and five hundred tons.
Abandoned by two-thirds of his crew, and unable to find trustworthy men
to fill their places, Kidd was in sore straits and decided to sail for
home and square accounts with Bellomont, trusting to his powerful
friends to keep him out of trouble. In the meantime, the Great Mogul
and the English East India Company had made vigorous complaint and Kidd
was proclaimed a pirate. The royal pardon was offered all pirates that
should repent of their sins, barring Kidd who was particularly excepted
by name. Many a villain whose hands were red with the slaughter of
ships' crews was thus officially forgiven, while Kidd who had killed no
man barring that mutineer, the gunner, William Moore, was hunted in
every sea, with a price on his head.
On April 1, 1699, after an absence of almost two years, Kidd arrived at
Anguilla,[4] his first port of call in the West Indies, and went ashore
to buy provisions. There he learned, to his consternation, that he had
been officially declared a pirate and stood in peril of his life. The
people refused to have any dealings with him, and he sailed to St.
Thomas, and thence to Curacoa where he was able to get supplies through
the friendship of an English merchant of Antigua, Henry Bolton by name,
who was not hampered by scruples or fear of the authorities. Under
date of February 3, the Governor of Barbadoes had written to Mr.
Vernon, Secretary of the Lords of the Council of Trade and Plantations
in London:
"I received Yours of the 23rd. of November in relation to the
apprehending your notorious Pyrat Kidd. He has not been heard of in
these Seas of late, nor do I believe he will think it safe to venture
himself here, where his Villainies are so well known; but if he does,
all the dilligence and application to find him out and seize him shall
be used on my part that can be, with the assistance of a heavy, crazy
Vessell, miscalled a Cruizer, that is ordered to attend upon me."
The first news of Kidd was received from the officials of the island of
Nevis who wrote Secretary Vernon on May 18, 1699, as follows:
Your letter of 23rd, November last in relation to that notorious Pirate
Capt. Kidd came safe to our hands ... have sent copies thereof to the
Lieut, or Deputy Governor of each respective island under this
Government: since which we have had this following acct. of the said
Kidd:
That he lately came from Mallagascoe,[5] in a large Gennowese vessell
of about foure hundred Tons; Thirty Guns mounted and eighty men. And
in his way from those partes his men mutiny 'd and thirty of them lost
their lives: That his Vessell is very leaky; and that several of his
men have deserted him soe that he has not above five and twenty or
thirty hands on board. About twenty days since he landed at Anguilla
... where he tarry'd about foure hours; but being refused Succour
sailed thence for the Island of St. Thomas ... and anchored off that
harbour three dayes, in which time he treated with them alsoe for
relief; but the Governor absolutely Denying him, he bore away further
to Leeward (as tis believ'd) for Porto Rico or Crabb Island. Upon
which advice We forthwith ordered his Majestie's Ship _Queensborough_,
now attending this Government, Capt. Rupert Billingsly, Commander, to
make the best of his way after him. And in case he met with his men,
vessell and effects, to bring them upp hither.
That no Imbezzlem't may be made, but that they may be secured until we
have given you advice thereof, and his Majestie's pleasure relating
thereto can be knowne, we shall by the first conveyance transmitt ye
like account of him to the Governor of Jamaica. So that if he goes
farther to Leeward due care may be taken to secure him there. As for
those men who have deserted him, we have taken all possible care to
apprehend them, especially if they come within the districts of this
Government, and hope on return of his Majestie's frigate we shall be
able to give you a more ample acct. hereof.
We are with all due Respect:
Rt. Hon'ble,
YOUR MOST OBEDT. HUMBLE SERVANTS.
Kidd dodged all this hue and cry and was mightily anxious to get in
touch with Bellomont without loss of time. He bought at Curacoa,
through the accommodating Henry Bolton, a Yankee sloop called the _San
Antonio_ and transferred his treasure and part of his crew to her. The
_Quedah Merchant_ he convoyed as far as Hispaniola, now San Domingo,
and hid her in a small harbor with considerable cargo, in charge of a
handful of his men under direction of Bolton.
Then warily and of an uneasy mind, Captain Kidd steered his sloop for
the American coast and first touched at the fishing hamlet of Lewes at
the mouth of Delaware Bay. All legend to the contrary, he made no
calls along the Carolinas and Virginia to bury treasure. The testimony
of Kidd's crew and passengers cannot be demolished on this score,
besides which he expected to come to terms with Bellomont and adjust
his affairs within the law, so there was no sane reason for his
stopping to hide his valuables.
The first episode that smacks in the least of buried treasure occurred
while the sloop was anchored off Lewes. There had come from the East
Indies as a passenger one James Gillam, pirate by profession, and he
wished no dealings with the authorities. He therefore sent ashore in
Delaware Bay his sea chest which we may presume contained his private
store of stolen gold. Gillam and his chest bob up in the letters of
Bellomont, but for the present let this reference suffice, as covered
by the statement of Edward Davis of London, mariner, made during the
proceedings against Kidd in Boston:
That in or about the month of November, 1697, the Examinant came
Boatswain of the ship _Fidelia_, Tempest Rogers, Commander, bound on a
trading voyage for India, and in the month of July following arrived at
the Island of Madagascar and after having been there about five weeks
the Ship sailed thence and left this Examinant in the Island, and being
desirous to get off, enter'd himself on board the Ship whereof Capt.
Kidd was Commander to worke for his passage, and accordingly came with
him in the sd. Ship to Hispaniola, and from thence in the Sloop
_Antonio_ to this place.
And that upon their arrival at the Hoor Kills, in Delaware Bay, there
was a chest belonging to one James Gillam put ashore there and at
Gard'ner's Island, there was several chests and packages put out of
Capt. Kidd's Sloop into a Sloop belonging to New Yorke. He knows not
the quantity, nor anything sent on Shore at the sd. Island nor doth he
know that anything was put on Shore at any Island or place in this
Country, only two Guns of ... weight apeace or thereabout at Block
Island.
Signed, (his mark)
EDWARD (E* D.) DAVIS.
In Delaware Bay Kidd bought stores, and five of the people of Lewes
were thrown into jail by the Pennsylvania authorities for having traded
with him. Thence he sailed for Long Island Sound, entered it from the
eastward end, and made for New York, cautiously anchoring in Oyster
Bay, nowadays sedulously avoided by malefactors of great wealth. It
was his purpose to open negotiations with Bellomont at long range,
holding his treasure as an inducement for a pardon. From Oyster Bay he
sent a letter to a lawyer in New York, James Emmot who had before then
defended pirates, and also a message to his wife. Emmot was asked to
serve as a go-between, and he hastened to join Kidd on the sloop,
explaining that Bellomont was in Boston. Thereupon the _Antonio_
weighed anchor and sailed westward as far as Narragansett Bay where
Emmot landed and went overland to find Bellomont.
[1] Governor Henry Sloughter.
[2] Prizes.
[3] Prizes.
[4] Anguilla, or Snake Island, is a small island of the Leeward Group
of the West Indies, considerably east of Porto Rico, and near St.
Martin. It belongs to England.
[5] Madagascar.