for the Owners accompt, and after he had given Directions to the said
Bolton to be careful of the Ship and Ladeing and persuaded him to stay
three months till he returned, and then made the best of his way to
New-York, where he heard the Earl of Bellomont was, who was
principally concerned in the _Adventure Gally_, and hearing his
Lordship was at Boston, came thither and has now been 45 Dayes from
the said Ship.
WM. KIDD.
Boston, 7th July 1699.
Further the Narrator saith, That the said Ship was left at St.
Katharina on the Southeast part of Hispaniola, about three Leagues to
Leward of the Westerly end of Savano.[19] Whilst he lay at Hispaniola
he traded with Mr. Henry Bolton of Antigua, and Mr. William Burt of
Curracao,[20] Merchants, to the value of Eleven thousand two hundred
Pieces of Eight, whereof he received the Sloop _Antonio_ at 3000
Pieces of 8/8, and four thousand two hundred Pieces of 8/8 by Bills of
Exchange, drawn by Bolton and Burt upon Messieurs Gabril and
Lemont,[21] Merchants in Curracao, made payable to Mr. Burt, who went
himself to Curracao, and the Value of four thousand Pieces of 8/8 more
in Dust and barr-gold, which Gold, with some more traded for at
Madagascar, being Fifty Pound Weight or upwards in Quantity, the
Narrator left in Custody of Mr. ---- Gardner of Gardner's-Island,[22]
near the Eastern end of Long-Island, fearing to bring it about by
Sea. It is made up in a bagg put into a little box, lockt and nailed,
corded about, and sealed. Saith, He took no receipt for it of Mr.
Gardner.
[Footnote 19: Savona, or Saona, a small island off the
southeasternmost part of Santo Domingo. Santa Catalina is a still
smaller island, a little farther to the west.]
[Footnote 20: Burt or Burke, an Irish trader, was of Dutch Curacao to
Kidd, of French St. Kitts to Governor Codrington, but a British
subject to the Danish governor of St. Thomas. See doc. no. 83.]
[Footnote 21: Walter Gribble (see doc. no. 86, note 7) and William
Lamont.]
[Footnote 22: See doc. no. 79.]
The Gold that was seized at Mr. Campbel's the Narrator traded for at
Madagascar, with what came out of the Gally.
Saith, That he carried in the _Adventure Gally_ from New-York, 154
Men; Seventy whereof came out of England with him. Some of his Sloop's
Company put two Bailes of Goods on shore at Gardner's-Island, being
their own proper. The Narrator delivered a Chest of Goods, _viz._
Muslins, Latches, Romals[23] and flowered Silke, unto Mr. Gardner of
Gardner's-Island aforesaid, to be kept there for the Narrator. put no
Goods on shore any-where else. Several of his Company landed their
Chests and other Goods at several places.
[Footnote 23: Handkerchiefs.]
Further saith, He delivered a small Bayle of course Callicoes unto a
Sloop-Man of Rhode-Island that he had emploied there. The Gold seized
at Mr. Campbell's the Narrator intended for Presents to some that he
expected to do him Kindness. Some of his Company put their Chests and
Bailes on board a New Yorke Sloop lying at Gardner's-Island.
WM. KIDD.
Presented and taken, die praedict.[24] before his
Excellency and Council.
ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary.
[Footnote 24: _Die praedicta_, on the day aforesaid.]
_77. Lord Bellomont to the Board of Trade. July 8, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 62; _Commons
Journal_, XIII, 18-19. Endorsed as received and read Aug. 31. Richard
Coote (1636-1701), earl of Bellomont in the peerage of Ireland, was
designated as governor of Massachusetts in June, 1695, and as governor
of New York in July, three months before his agreement with Livingston
and Kidd, but was not commissioned till June 18, 1697. He arrived in
New York Apr. 2, 1698, and first came to Boston May 26, 1699. The part
he had taken in sending out Kidd to capture pirates made Kidd's piracy
a matter of special indignation and embarrassment to him, particularly
when the affair was used in Parliament, in the session of 1700, as a
means of attack on the Lord Chancellor Somers (see doc. no. 71, note
1). The agreement with Kidd was an unwise arrangement, but there is no
doubt that Bellomont was an honest and zealous official.]
BOSTON, 8th July, 99.
_My Lords_,
I have the Misfortune to be ill of the Gout at a time when I have a
great deal of business to exercise both my head and my hand.
It will not be unwellcome News to your Lordships to tell you that I
secured Captain Kidd last Thursday in the Gaol of this Town with five
or six of his men. He had been hovering on the Coast towards New-York
for more than a fortnight, and sent to one Mr. Emot to come from
New-York to him at a place called Oyster-Bay in Nassau Island[2] not
far from New-York. He brought Emot from thence to Rhoad Island and
there landed him, sending him hither to me with an Offer of his
comeing into this port provided I would pardon him. I was a litle
pussiled how to manage a treaty of that kind with Emot, a cunning
Jacobite, a fast Friend of Fletcher's and my avowed enimie. When he
proposed my pardoning Kid, I told him It was true the King had allowed
me a power to pardon Pyrates; But that I was so tender of useing it
(because I would bring no Staine on my Reputation), that I had set
myselfe a Rule never to pardon Pyracy without the King's expresse
leave and Command. Emot told me that Kid had left the great Moorish
Ship he took in India (which Ship I have since found went by the Name
of the _Quidah-Marchant_), in a Creek on the Coast of Hispaniola, with
Goods to the Value of thirty Thousand pounds: That he had bought a
Sloop, in which he was come before to make his termes: that he had
brought in the Sloop with him severall Bailes of East India goods,
threescore pound weight of gold in Dust and in Ingotts, about a
hundred weight of Silver and several other things which he beleived
would sell for about Ten Thousand pounds. Emot also told me that Kid
was very innocent and would make it appear that his men forced him,
locking him up in the Cabin of the _Adventure Galley_ while they
robbed two or three Ships, and he could prove this by many witnesses.
I answered Emot that if Kid could make that appear he might safely
come into this Port and I would undertake to get him the King's
Pardon. I writ a Letter to Captain Kid inviteing him to come in,[3]
and that I would procure a pardon for him, provided he were as
innocent as Mr. Emot said he was. I sent my letter to him by one Mr.
Campbell of this Town, and a Scotch as well as Kid, and his
Acquaintance: within three or four days Campbell returned to me with a
Letter from Kid, full of protestations of his Innocence, and informing
me of his Design of coming with his Sloop into this Port. I must not
forget to tell your Lordships that Campbell brought three or four
small Jewells to my Wife, which I was to know nothing of; but she came
quickly and discovered them to me and asked me whither she should keep
them, which I advised her to do for the present. For I reflected that
my shewing an over-nicety might do hurt, before I had made a full
discovery what goods and treasure were in the Sloop. All this whole
matter, even to my writing my Letter to Kid, was transacted with the
privity and advice of the Councill.
[Footnote 2: Long Island.]
[Footnote 3: The letter, June 19, and Kidd's reply, June 24, are in
_Commons Journal_, XIII. 22.]
Kid landed here this day Seven night; and I would not so much as speak
with him but before Witnesses: I thought he looked very guilty, and to
make me believe so he and his friend Livingston[4] (who posted hither
from Albany, upon newes of Captain Kid's designe of comeing hither),
and Campbell aforesaid began to juggle together and Imbezle some of
the Cargo; besides, Kid did strangely trifle with me and the Councill
three or four times that we had him under Examination. Mr. Livingston
also came to me in a peremptory manner and demanded up his Bond and
the articles which he sealed to me upon Kid's Expedition, and told me
that Kid swore all the Oaths in the World that unless I did
immediately indemnifie Mr. Livingston by giving up his Securities he
would never bring in that great Ship and Cargo, but that he would
take care to satisfie Mr. Livingston himself out of that Cargo. I
thought this was such an Impertinence, in both Kid and Livingston,
that it was time for me to look about me, and to secure Kid. I had
notice that he designed my wife a Thousand Pound in Gold Dust and
Ingotts last Thursday, but I spoyled his Complement by ordering him to
be arrested and committed that Day, showing the Councill my orders
from Court for that purpose. Two Gentlemen of the Councill, Two
Merchants, and the Collector, have the Charge of all the Cargo, and
they are preparing Inventories of every thing, which shall be sent to
your Lordships by the next Ship.[5] I delivered up to those five
persons the Jewells that I have formerly told you Kid sent by Campbell
to my Wife, and that at the Councill Board.
[Footnote 4: Robert Livingston (1654-1725), first proprietor of
Livingston Manor, a Scot like Kidd and Campbell, was a member of the
council of New York, and secretary for Indian affairs.]
[Footnote 5: This inventory is printed in _Commons Journal_, XIII. 29,
and, from a copy preserved by the Gardiner family at Gardiner's
Island, in C.C. Gardiner, _Lion Gardiner and his Descendants_ (St.
Louis, 1890), pp. 84-85. Judge Samuel Sewall headed the commission,
and supervised the shipping of part of the treasure to London;
_Diary_, Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, XLVI. 7. The total of what
was secured by the authorities--obtained from Kidd's box and chest,
from the _Antonio_, from Campbell, and from Gardiner--was 1111 troy
ounces of gold, 2353 ounces of silver, 17-3/8 ounces of jewels or
precious stones, 57 bags of sugar, 41 bales of merchandise, and 17
pieces of canvas. How much leaked away in sloops from Long Island
Sound to New York and elsewhere, or in the West Indies, or was
destroyed in the burning of the _Quedah Merchant_ in Hispaniola, is
matter for conjecture. The total capture, listed above, was thought to
be worth L14,000.--Since writing the above, I have come upon Mr. Ralph
D. Paine's _The Book of Buried Treasure_ (London, 1911), which
presents, at p. 82, a photograph of the inventory mentioned above. Mr.
Paine prints our docs. nos. 72, 76, 79, 82, 84, and part of 85.]
If I had kept Mr. Secretary Vernon's Orders for seizing and securing
Kid and his associates with all their Effects with less Secrecy, I had
never got him to come in: for his Country men, Mr. Graham[6] and
Livingston, would have been sure to caution him to shift for him selfe
and would have been well paid for their pains. I received the Lords
Justices[7] Orders about Kid, and likewise Mr. Secretary Vernon's,
about three moneths before my leaveing New-York, but I never
discovered them to any body, and when I heard people say, that the
neighbouring Governors had Orders from Court to seize him, I laughed,
as if I believed noe such thing. I wish they may not let him escape
here, as they have Bradish, a notorious Pyrate. About a fortnight ago,
Bradish and another Pyrate got out of the Gaol of this Town and
escaped with the Consent of the Gaoler as there is great reason to
beleive.[8]
[Footnote 6: James Graham, another Scot, was attorney-general of New
York and a member of the council.]
[Footnote 7: Acting as chief executive, in the absence of King
William.]
[Footnote 8: Joseph Bradish and others of the crew of the ship
_Adventure_ of London, on a voyage from London to Borneo in 1698,
piratically seized the ship and ran away with it to Block Island. John
Higginson of Salem, in a letter of Oct. 3, 1699, after mention of
Kidd, adds, "And there was one Bradish, a Cambridge man, who sailed in
an interloper bound for India, who, in some part of the East Indies,
took an opportunity, when the captain and some of the officers were on
shore, to run away with the ship, and came upon our coast, and sunk
their ship at Block Island, and brought much wealth ashore with them;
but Bradish, and many of his company, and what of his wealth could be
found, were seized and secured. But Bradish, and one of his men, broke
prison and run away amongst the Indians; but it is supposed that he
will be taken again." Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, XXVII. 210.
Judge Sewall reports him as recaptured Oct. 26, 1699, and sent to
England with Kidd Feb. 16, 1700. _Ibid._, XLV. 503; XLVI. 6.]
As the Law stands in this Country a Pyrate cannot be punished with
Death; therefore I desire to receive orders what to do with Bradish's
Crew, and also with Kid, and those Men of his I have taken.[9]
[Footnote 9: A Massachusetts act of 1692 punishing piracy with death
had been disallowed by the crown. Judge Sewall, in the debate in the
council as to the matter, declared that he knew of no power they had
to send men out of the province to be tried. _Ibid._, XLVI. 4. He was
probably right.]
Since my leaving New-York one of the four Ships has come in that went
from thence to Madagascar last Summer and of which I informed your
Lordships, and has brought Sixty Pyrates and a vast deall of Treasure.
I hear that every one of the Pyrates paid 150 l. for his passage, and
the owners, I am told, have cleared thirty Thousand pounds by this
Voyage. It is observable that Mr. Hackshaw, one of the Merchants that
petitioned against me to your Lordships, and Stephen Delancy, a hot
headed saucy Frenchman and Mr. Hackshaw's Correspondent, are the
cheife owners of this Ship. I hear there were 200 Pyrates at
Madagascar when this Ship came away, who intended to take their
passage in Frederick Phillips Ship and the other Two belonging to New
York.
A great Ship has been seen off this Coast any time this Week; it is
supposed to be one Maise, a Pyrate who has brought a vast deale of
wealth from the red Seas.[10] There is a Sloop also at Rhoad Island,
which is said to be a Pyrate. I hear the men goe a shoar there in the
day time and return to the Sloop at night and spend their gold very
liberally. We can do nothing towards the taking those Ships, for want
of a man of War. I am manning out a Ship to go in Quest of the
_Quidah-Marchant_ left by Kid on the Coast of Hispaniola: by some
papers which we seized with Kid, and by his own Confession, wee have
found out where the Ship lyes;[11] and according to his account of the
Cargo we compute her to be worth seventy thousand pounds. The Ship
that carries this is just upon Sailing, and will not be persuaded to
stay any longer; so that I cannot send your Lordships the Inventories
of the Goods brought in by Kid, nor the Informations we have taken
about him from his own men, till next opportunity. I am, with Respect,
My Lords
Your Lordships most humble
and obedient Servant
BELLOMONT.
[Footnote 10: William Maze or Mace was one of the pirates specifically
named, along with Tew and Wake, in Kidd's commissions.]
[Footnote 11: For the benefit of treasure-hunters, one might wish one
could be precise. But while the master of the _Antonio_ says at Sta.
Catalina (_Commons Journal_, XIII. 27) and other sailors (_ibid._, 24)
say in the Rio Romana, which would mean much the same, Henry Bolton
(doc. no. 86) says in the Rio Higuey, which is 30 miles farther east,
and Capt. Nicholas Evertse, a worthy New York skipper, says (_C.J._,
XIII. 24) that on June 29 he saw the _Quedah Merchant_, on fire and
burnt down almost to the water's edge, in a salt lagoon on "the Island
St. Helena, nigh Hispaniola," meaning, apparently, Sta. Catalina.]
_78. Petition of Sarah Kidd. July 16 (?), 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Mass. Archives, vol. 62, no. 316. On May 16, 1691, Kidd
received license to marry at New York Sarah Oort, widow of John Oort,
merchant of New York. She was a daughter of Samuel Bradley. Kidd was
her third husband. In 1703 she married a fourth. She died in New
Jersey in 1744, leaving five children, one of whom was apparently a
daughter of Kidd. Frederic de Peyster, in his _Bellomont_, p. 29, says
that she "is said to have been a lovely and accomplished woman."
Lovely she may have been, and evidently she was attractive, since she
had four husbands, but she could not write her own name. To this
document and to nos. 80 and 81 she affixes her mark, S.K., rudely
printed; facsimile in _Memorial History of Boston_, II. 179.--Since
this book was prepared, this petition has been printed in the
_Proceedings_ of the American Antiquarian Society, XXXI. 50-51.]
To his Excellency the Earle of Bellomont, Captn. Gen. and Govr. in
Chief of his Maj'tys provinces of the Massachusetts Bay, New Yorke,
etca. in America, and of the Territorys thereon depending, and Vice
Admiral of the same,
The petition of Sarah Kidd the wife of Captn. Wm. Kidd,
Humbly Sheweth
That on the sixth day of July Inst. some of the Magistrates and
officers of this place came into your Pet'rs lodgings at the house of
Duncan Campbell and did there Seize and take out of a Trunck a Silver
Tankard, a Silver Mugg, Silver Porringer, spoons, forcks and other
pieces of Plate, and two hundred and sixty pieces of Eight, your
Pet'rs sole and proper Plate and mony, brought with her from New
Yorke, whereof she has had the possession for several years last past,
as she can truely make oath; out of which sd Trunck was also took
Twenty five English Crowns which belonged to your Pet'rs Maid.[2]
[Footnote 2: The maid was most likely Elizabeth Morris, whose
indenture of apprenticeship to Capt. William Kidd, Aug. 19, 1695, is
printed in N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Coll._, 1885, pp. 571-572. She had then
just come out from England in Kidd's old barkentine the _Antigua_,
which Governor Codrington of the Leeward Islands had given him in 1690
to reward his services and replace the ship then stolen from him (see
doc. no. 71, note 1, and _Portland MSS._, VIII. 78) and which had
apparently been his ship ever since. She was indentured to him as a
maidservant for four years, from July 14, 1695, to July 14, 1699. The
council ordered Sarah Kidd's plate to be returned to her.]
The premisses and most deplorable Condition of your Pet'r considered,
She humbly intreats your hon'rs Justice That Returne be made of the
said Plate and mony.
SARAH S K KIDD.
_In Council July 18, 1699._
Advised that Mrs. Kidd makeing oath that she brought the Plate and
money above mentioned from New York with her, It was restored unto
her. As also that Capn. Kidd and Companys wearing Apparel under
Seizure be returned to them.
_79. Narrative of John Gardiner. July [17], 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 64 XXI; _Commons
Journal_, XIII. 30-31. John Gardiner (1661-1738), grandson of Lion
Gardiner, was the third manorial proprietor of Gardiner's Island, an
island lying three miles northward from Long Island, toward its
eastern extremity and near the entrance to the Sound. The narrative
was sent to the Board of Trade by Bellomont as an enclosure in no.
82.]
The Narrative of John Gardner of Gardners-Island, alias Isle of Wight,
relating to Captain William Kidd.
That about twenty dayes agoe, Mr. Emot of New Yorke came to the
Narrators House, and desired a boat to go for New Yorke, telling the
Narrator he came from my Lord at Boston. Whereupon the Narrator
furnished the said Emot with a boat, and he went for New Yorke, and
that Evening the Narrator saw a Sloop with Six Guns rideing at an
Anchor off Gardners Island. and two days afterwards in the Evening the
Narrator went aboard said Sloop to enquire what she was, and so soon
as he came on board Captain Kidd (then unknown to the Narrator) asked
him how himselfe and Family did, telling him that he the said Kidd was
going to my Lord at Boston, and desired the Narrator to carry three
Negroes, two boys and a girle, ashore, to keep till he the said Kidd
or his Order should call for them, which the Narrator accordingly did.
That about two hours after the Narrator had got the said Negroes
ashore, Captain Kidd sent his boat ashore with two bailes of Goods and
a Negro Boy, and the morning after, said Kidd desired the Narrator to
come immediately on board and bring Six Sheep with him for his the
said Kidds Voyage for Boston, which the Narrator did, when Kidd asked
him to spare a barrel of Cyder, which the Narrator with great
importunity consented to, and sent two of his men for it, who brought
the Cyder on board said Sloop, but whilst the men were gone for the
Cyder, Captain Kidd offered the Narrator several Pieces of
damnified[2] Muslin and Bengalls as a Present to his Wife, which the
said Kidd put in a bagg, and gave the Narrator, and about a Quarter of
an Hour afterwards the said Kidd tooke up two or three pieces of
damnified Muslin and gave the Narrator for his proper Use. And the
Narrators men then coming on board with the said Barrel of Cyder as
aforesaid, the said Kidd gave them four pieces of Arabian Gold for
their trouble and also for bringing him Wood. Then the said Kidd,
ready to saile, told this Narrator he would pay him for the Cyder, to
which the Narrator answered That he was already satisfied for it by
the Present made to his Wife. And this Narrator observed that some of
Kidds men gave to the Narrators men some inconsiderable things of
small value, which this Narrator believes were Muslins for Neckcloths.
And then the Narrator took leave of the said Kidd and went ashore, and
at parting the said Kidd fired four Guns and stood for Block-Island.
[Footnote 2: Damaged. Bengals were striped goods, partly silk. Kidd
gave Mrs. Gardiner more than this. A pitcher and fragments of a piece
of cloth of gold are still in the hands of different descendants of
two of John Gardiner's wives. See article by John R. Totten in _N.Y.
Biog. Rec._, L. 17-25. The story is told in Thompson's Long Island, p.
203, from a letter of a descendant writing more than a hundred years
ago. "He [Kidd] wanted Mrs. Gardiner to roast him a pig; she being
afraid to refuse him, roasted it very nice, and he was much pleased
with it. He then made her a present of this cloth."]
About three Dayes afterwards the said Kidd sent the Master of the
Sloop and one Clarke in his boat for the Narrator, who went on board
with them, And the said Kidd desired this Narrator to take on shore
with him and keep for him, the said Kidd, and Order, a Chest, and a
box of gold and a bundle of Quilts and Four Bayles of Goods, which box
of gold the said Kidd told the Narrator was intended for my Lord; and
the Narrator complied with the said Kidds request and took on shore
the said Chest, box of gold, Quilts, and bayles of Goods.
And the Narrator further saith That two of Kidds Crew, who went by the
Names of Cooke and Parrat,[3] delivered to him, the Narrator, two
baggs of Silver, which they told the Narrator weighed thirty pound
weight, for which he gave receipt. And That another of Kidd's men
delivered to the Narrator a small bundle of gold, and gold dust of
about a pound weight, to keep for him, and did also present the
Narrator with a Sash and a pair of worsted Stockins. And just before
the Sloop sayled Captain Kidd presented the Narrator with a bagg of
Sugar, and then tooke leave and sayled for Boston.
[Footnote 3: Neither of these sailors was of the original crew. Hugh
Parrott, of Plymouth, England, joined Kidd at Johanna, and was tried
and condemned with him. His examination at Boston is in _Commons
Journal_, XIII. 29.]
And the Narrator further saith, he knew nothing of Kidds being
proclaimed a Pyrate, and if he had, he durst not have acted otherwise
than he has done, having no force to oppose them, and for that he hath
formerly been threatned to be killed by Privateers, if he should carry
unkindly to them.
JOHN GARDINER.