_Kidd, and Stede Bonnet._
The Guilt of Kidd.--Rumors of Buried Treasure.--Mesmeric
Revelation.--Adventures of Bradish.--Strange Character of Major
Bonnet.--His Piracies.--Encounters.--Indications of Insanity.--No
Temptation to Turn Pirate.--Blackbeard.--Bonnet Deposed.
Mr. Charles Elliot, in his History of New England, writes: “It seems
to have been felt necessary by those who were charged, in England,
with complicity with Captain Kidd, that a vigorous prosecution should
be urged, and that an example should be made of him, to satisfy a
clamorous public opinion. He was brought to trial, and was convicted
and sentenced for the murder of William Moore, one of his own sailors,
whom he had struck in an altercation.
“This appears to have been the only blood laid against him; and the
charge of piracy could hardly have been proved. As was the custom of
that day, Kidd was not allowed counsel. He plead his commissions for
what he had done, but was roughly treated by the court; and Livingston,
who was one of his partners and sureties, had got possession of his
papers, and refused to give them up to him.
“Kidd probably had no idea of being charged with piracy, nor did he
consider himself a pirate; and if there had been no charge made against
his partners, he would not have died on the gallows. He was hanged at
Execution Dock, May 12, 1701; and all England was agog with the doings
of the pirate Kidd. It was a mere accident that Kidd was hanged as a
pirate instead of being feasted as a victor.”
These scenes occurred one hundred and seventy-five years ago. And
yet, for some inexplicable reason, while hundreds of other events of
vastly greater moment have passed into oblivion, the name of Captain
Kidd, from that hour to this, has been almost a household word in both
England and America.
Many believed that the Quedagh Merchant, instead of being burned at
sea, was brought into the Hudson River at night, and sunk near the
Highlands, with most of her treasure on board. Several circumstances
seemed to corroborate this assertion. At the base of the Dunderberg,
there could be seen sunk, deep in the bed of the river, and almost
buried in its sands, the wreck of some large ship. A pamphlet was
published, entitled:
“An Account of Some of the Traditions and Experiments Respecting
Captain Kidd’s Piratical Vessel.”
The traditions here referred to asserted that Kidd’s vessel, the
Quedagh Merchant, laden with the treasures of the East, was chased
up the North River by an English man-of-war. Kidd, finding escape
impossible, collected as much money as he could carry, and set fire to
the ship, having left by far the larger part of the gold and silver on
board. With a portion of the crew he ascended the river much farther,
in boats, and then crossed the country, through the wilderness, to
Boston.
These traditions are embellished with many romantic stories. It is said
that as he and his piratic comrades were journeying along, they came to
a log house in the woods. The man of the household was absent at his
work. The woman, thinking that they were savages, in terror fled at
their approach. In her fright she left one of her children behind. The
bloodthirsty pirate, Kidd, in pure wantoness thrust his sword through
the child.
An old Indian, who had wandered far away to Michigan, declared that he
was on the river-bank when the pirates set fire to the ship and took
to their boats. Very graphically he described the midnight scene as,
buried in the glooms of the forest, he witnessed it in the brilliant
illumination of the blazing vessel. He was induced to come all the way
from Michigan to the Hudson to point out the spot of the sunken vessel.
And deep in the water the charred timbers were to be seen. Another
pamphlet was published, entitled:
“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 strange mesmeric revelation came from a Mrs. Chester, the wife
of Charles Chester, of Lynn, Massachusetts. She declared that she had
never heard anything about the sunken vessel; that never had she been
upon the Hudson River; that she had never read or heard of the career
of Kidd; and that she had never even been spoken to upon the subject,
until, when placed in the magnetic state, the extraordinary revelation
had been made to her.
While in this mesmeric condition, she saw, with clearest vision, the
sunken vessel. Her eyes, with supernatural powers, pierced water,
timbers, sand, and chests. There she saw 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.
The bags had decayed, and the jewels were clustered in brilliant
heaps. She also saw “gold watches, like ducks’ eggs in a pond of
water,” and the wonderfully preserved remains of a very beautiful
woman, with a necklace of large and lustrous diamonds around her neck.
A man was seen just leaving the spot, who was preternaturally revealed
to Mrs. Chester as Captain Kidd. He was a large, stout man, not very
tall, with broad chest and shoulders, thick neck, aquiline nose,
piercing eyes, and a head indicative of great power and all destructive
qualities.
A very able writer in the Merchant’s Magazine, of 1846, writes
sarcastically of this mesmeric announcement:
“This most singular revelation, as it is corroborated by the
traditions, presents us with another triumph of animal magnetism, and
must serve not only to advance that science, but to demonstrate how
much safer it is to rely upon tradition, than upon record evidence
made in courts of justice held contemporaneously with the events, or
official documents preserved in the public archives.
“In the present case, mesmerism has taken a progressive step; for it
has not only disclosed what _is now_ to be found in the waters of
_Cocks-rack_, but also who _was there_ one hundred and forty-five
years ago. In this new application of the science we may hope not only
to see the earth disembowelled, but the very forms and features of the
ancient time brought up to our present view.
“What is more remarkable, if the traditions existed, as is pretended,
is, that no individual or company should have undertaken, when the
witnesses were living, to raise the vessel, especially as so many
persons were found, near the time of the transactions of Kidd,
credulous enough to ruin themselves in vain explorations after his
money. But that perhaps was not an age of enterprise like the present,
nor of humbug.”
There is usually some ground for a tradition. Its basis is generally
truth.
As we have mentioned, in the days of Captain Kidd the seas were
swarming with pirates. It would require volumes to relate their
adventures. Many of these lawless men performed deeds far more
extraordinary and infamous than any perpetrated by Kidd. There was,
however, at that time, a pirate by the name of Bradish, whose actions,
in the popular mind, were blended with those of Kidd.
He was boatswain of a ship, of the same name with that in which Kidd
sailed from New York, the Adventure. The ship was bound to Borneo,
the largest island in the world, if Australia is recognized as a
continent, and sailed from England in March, 1697. On the voyage
the vessel stopped at the Island of Polonais for water. Bradish, a
desperate man, had formed a conspiracy with several of the sailors
to watch their opportunity, seize the ship, and set out on a piratic
cruise.
At Polonais, the captain and several of his officers went on shore in
one of the boats. Bradish assumed the command, silently raised the
anchor, spread the sail, and ran out to sea. The wide world was before
them to go where they pleased. The commerce of the seas spread its
wealth for their plunder. There was the sum of about forty thousand
dollars in gold on board. This money Bradish divided equally with his
piratic crew. He then cleared his decks for action, placed a lookout
at the mast-head, and commenced his cruise in search of additional
treasure.
They directed their course toward the American coast. What vessels they
captured on the way is not known. Upon reaching Long Island, Bradish
went ashore and deposited with some confederate there a large amount of
money and jewels. If pursued by a man-of-war, he could easily run his
vessel ashore, and the crew could disperse through the woods. Much of
his treasure would still be safe.
He ran along to Block Island. Here they purchased two small vessels,
and, dividing into two parties, separated, each party taking its
share of the remaining treasure. It is said that there was enough to
load both of the small vessels. Many of the men landed on the Rhode
Island and Connecticut shore. They behaved very civilly; called at
the farm-houses, and bought horses and food, for which they paid
abundantly. The rumor of the landing and dispersion of the pirates
spread. A proclamation was issued for their arrest. The captain and
about eighteen of the men were apprehended, sent to England, tried, and
executed. What became of the large ship, the Adventure, is not known.
By many it was supposed that she ran into the North River, and was
scuttled and abandoned when near the Highlands.
We now bid adieu to Captain Kidd, leaving it with our readers to form
their own opinion, from the facts here given, of the degree of praise
or blame to be attached to his character.
About the same time when William Kidd was passing through his strange
adventures, there was another buccaneer appearing upon the stage,
whose character and career were still more astonishing. There was a
gentleman in Barbadoes, of wealth, position, and education, by the
name of Stede Bonnet. He had a large fortune, and was highly esteemed
for his intellectual culture and his honorable character. He seemed
to be exposed to no temptation whatever to enter upon the guilty and
perilous life of a pirate. His melancholy fate excited pity rather
than condemnation, as it was generally believed that he was the victim
of some strange mental hallucination, which, in some degree at least,
exonerated him from moral responsibility.
Some domestic griefs rendered him unhappy in his home. He fitted out,
entirely at his own expense, a sloop armed with ten guns, and manned
by seventy sailors, desperate men, ready for any deeds of violence and
crime. The sloop he named the Revenge. It was his avowed intention to
prey upon the Spanish commerce, which none of the English courts would
then punish as piracy.
But he immediately entered upon the career of a pirate, capturing and
plundering every vessel he came across, without any regard to the flag
under which she sailed. His first cruise was off the Capes of Virginia.
The first vessel he encountered was the Anne, from Glasgow. A few
cannon-balls thrown across her bows brought her to. His boats, filled
with demoniac men armed to the teeth, boarded the ill-fated prize,
and plundered her of everything the pirates desired, money, clothes,
provisions, and ammunition. The ship was then allowed to go on her way.
A day or two passed, and another sail was discerned in the distant
horizon. She was soon overtaken by the swift-sailing sloop, which
spread a wonderful cloud of canvas. It proved to be the Turbet, from
his own island, Barbadoes. Instead of treating her kindly on that
account, he plundered her mercilessly, put the crew in boats, to find
their way to the shore as they best could, and set the vessel on fire.
Scarcely had the smoke and flame of the burning vessel vanished from
their view, when another sail was descried. She proved to be the
Endeavor, from Bristol. She was robbed of everything valuable. Another
vessel soon underwent the same fate. It was the Young, from Leith.
Stede Bonnet was no sailor. He had no acquaintance with navigation. He,
however, employed a skilled seaman to manage the ship in obedience to
his commands as owner of the whole concern. After this short and very
successful cruise on the Virginia coast, he ordered the sloop to be
taken to the shores of New England. As they were passing the eastern
end of Long Island, they met a vessel bound from one of the New England
colonies to the West Indies. It was promptly plundered.
Stede Bonnet stood in for Gardiner’s Island, where he landed with a
portion of his crew. He behaved in a very gentlemanly way, addressing
all whom he met courteously, making many purchases and paying
liberally for all he took. He then directed his course to South
Carolina, and ran up and down before the harbor of Charleston. Two
vessels, entering the harbor, he seized almost at the same time. One
was a sloop from Barbadoes, laden with rum, sugar, and negroes. The
other was a brigantine from New England. The hold of the Revenge was
already packed full of plunder; and they had no room for the negroes.
Taking, therefore, such few articles as they needed, they landed the
crew and the negroes on an island, and wantonly ran the Barbadoes sloop
ashore and set her on fire. The New England brigantine they plundered
of all the money on board and such other articles of value as they
needed, and let her go.
While on this cruise they met, in rogues’ companionship, another
piratic ship, commanded by a desperado, an Englishman, by the name of
Edward Teach. From the mass of hair which covered his face he was known
by the name of Blackbeard. His beard came up to his eyes, was intensely
black, and so long that he was accustomed to braid it and twist it
with ribbons into cues, or tails, which he would hang over his ears.
It is said that in aspect he was a revolting monster. This villain had
captured a large and very strongly built East-Indian ship, upon which
he had mounted forty heavy guns. With this powerful armament he swept
the seas, bidding defiance to all assailants. Upon one occasion he
encountered a British man-of-war of thirty guns. After sustaining an
action of some hours, the man-of-war fled before him, and took shelter
in the harbor of Barbadoes, under protection of the guns of the fort.
As Teach continued his triumphant cruise, he came across Bonnet’s
piratic sloop. Finding that Bonnet understood nothing of maritime
affairs, he, without difficulty, got up a conspiracy among his men,
deposed him, and placed one of his own crew, a man by the name of
Richards, in command of the Revenge. Thus he had two vessels with which
to prosecute his lawless career. He took the deposed captain on board
his own ship, saying to him with a sarcastic smile:
“I perceive, my dear sir, that you are not used to the cares and
fatigues of commanding a vessel, and I will relieve you from them. It
will be much pleasanter for you to live at your ease in my cabin. There
you will have no duty to perform, and can follow your own inclinations.”
The career of this most ferocious of pirates was so strange that we
must leave Stede Bonnet for a time, and devote a chapter to that fiend
in human form, called Blackbeard.