Capt. ---- Carry t'ontvanghen, en daer uyt ten volle verstaen het
gheen uw Excell. aengaende den Zeeroover Will Kidd heeft gelieven te
schryven, waerop uw Excell. met naervolgende Antwoort dienen Sall.
voorschryven Will Kidd is voor deesen Haeven met zyn voerende Schip
onder Engelse Vlagge buyten Schoot Van't Kooninghs Fortress ten Anker
gekoomen, en heeft daerop zyn Chaloupe met een Brief aen My aen Lant
gesonden, waerin hy Protectie van my was begehrende, Vaerder
pretenderende onschuldigh te weesen in't Rooven van de Subjecten van
den Mogol in Oostjndien. Zyn Bedryf my toenmaels nogh Onbekent Zynde,
Schreef hem Wederom, by aldien hy een Eerlyk man was, dat ick hem
protegeren woude, maer hy heeft Verzekeringh willen hebben, dat ick
hem aen gheen Oorloghs schepen van syn Majestat van Groot Britannien,
die hem souden Koomen Opeyschen Overleveren soude, 't welck hem
geweygert hebbe, waerop by Verstaen hebbende, dat ick alle Habitanten
verbooden hadde, gheen Provisie aen hem te vercoopen, wederom onder
Zeyl is gegaen; zedert die Tyt hebbe hooren seggen, dat hy omtrent het
Eylant Moone ten Anker lagh, en dat een Bolton van Antigua by hem
geweest hadde, om met hem te negotieren. Naederhant quam in deesen
Haven eenen Bergantin, toebehoorende aen Barbades, waerop eenen Will
Burcke Coopman was, van welcke ick gheen suspitie hadde nogh minder de
gedachten, dat hy hem soude onderstaen doerfen eenighe Zeerover
goederen hier intevoeren; Nochtans hebbe des Andern Daeghs verstaen,
dat hy by Nacht een Party Goet aen Lant hadde gebrocht, dewelcke hy
volghens seggen aen de Heer Pedro van Bellen, General Directeur voor
de Ceurvorsth. Brandenborgse Privilegeerde soude vercocht hebben,
dewelcke ook in't Brandenborgse Magazyn zyn Opgeleght. ick hebbe aen
voorschryven goederen niet koennen koomen dewyl voorschryven
Brandenborgse Privilegeerde hier ter Plaetse haer eyghen Recht en
Privilegien hebben, maer voorschryven Will Burcke hebbe laeten
arresteren, en naerdien hy Borghtocht heeft gestelt, hebbe hem laeten
vertrecken met de Bergantin, dogh met de Conditie, dat hy syn
verantwoordinghe aen Barbades (dewyl hy een Subject van Syn Majestaet
van Engelant en aldaer woonachtigh was) soude doen. Naederhant is hy
van Barbades wederom hier gekoomen, medebrengende een Recommendatie
van de Heer Gouverneur Grey aen my, en ophoudt sigh hier nu nogh in't
Brandenborgse Loge, maer alle voorschryven Goederen zyn (soo geseght
word) naer aendere Plaetse getransporteert. Deeses is all het gheen,
daervan Uw. Excell. aengaende deese Saeke onderrechten kan, daerby
verzekerende dat gheen Subjecten of inwoonders van Syn Cooninglyke
Majestaet van Denemarck myn Souverain Heer met voor[schryven] Kidd
gehandelt hebben, dewyl daerin Goede ordre hebbe beschickt.
Ondertuschen hebbe aenstonts een Persoon uyt den Raet naer Denemarck
gesonden, om aen Syn Cooninglyke Majestaet myn allergenadigste Kooning
ende Heer van all het gheen, soo als het passeert is, alleronderdaenigst
Rapport te geven. Hiermede Sluytende recommenderende Uwe Excell. alle
Goede Vrientschap en Vaerdere goede Correspondentie t'Onderhouden,
Waermede verblyve
Uwe Excell.
Ootmoedigen Dienaer
J. LORENTS.
[Addressed:] To Milord Bellomont Earl,
Gouvernor of New England, Yorck and other
places, In Boston
_Translation._
ST. THOMAS, September 1, 1699.
_To His Excellency Bellomont:_
_My Lord:_
I have had the honor to receive by way of Captain ---- Carry[2] Your
Excellency's agreeable letter of July 26, and to understand fully from
it what Your Excellency has been pleased to write as to the pirate
Will Kidd, upon which I shall serve Your Excellency with the following
reply. The aforesaid Will Kidd, with his freight-ship under the
English flag, came to anchor off this harbor, out of range of the
King's fortress, and then sent his shallop to land with a letter to
me, in which he asked me for protection, further declaring that he was
innocent as to robbing the subjects of the Mogul in the East Indies.
His course of conduct being at that time still unknown to me, I wrote
him in reply that, in case he was an honorable man, I would protect
him, but he wished to have assurance that I would not give him up to
any war-ship of His Majesty of Great Britain that should come to
demand him. This I declined to give, whereupon he, understanding that
I had forbidden all inhabitants to sell him any provisions, set sail
again.[3] Since that time I have heard that he lay at anchor near the
island of Mona, and that one Bolton of Antigua had been with him, to
transact business. Afterward there came into this harbor a brigantine
belonging to Barbados, on which one Will Burcke[4] was merchant,
concerning whom I had no suspicion, still less the thought that he
would dare to undertake bringing in here any pirate goods; yet I
learned the other day that he by night had brought a quantity of goods
to land, which, according to reports, he had sold to Mr. Pedro van
Bellen, general director for the Electoral Brandenburg Privileged
Company, and which are also stored in the Brandenburg warehouse.[5] I
have not been able to get at the aforesaid goods, because the said
Brandenburg patentees have here their own law and privileges, but I
have caused the said Will Burcke to be arrested, and on his giving
bail have let him return with the brigantine, yet on condition that he
should discharge his responsibility to Barbadoes, he being a subject
of His Majesty of England and resident there. Since that time he has
come here again from Barbados, bringing with him a recommendation from
Governor Grey[6] to me, and is living here still at the Brandenburg
Lodge, but all the aforesaid goods have, it is said, been transported
to other places. This is all the information that I can give Your
Excellency respecting this matter, at the same time assuring you that
no subjects of his Royal Majesty of Denmark, my sovereign Lord, or
inhabitants here, have traded with the aforesaid Kidd, for in that
matter I have enforced good order. Meanwhile I have forthwith sent a
member of the council to Denmark, to report most submissively to His
Royal Majesty, my most gracious King and Lord, all these matters just
as they have occurred. Herewith closing, and commending myself to Your
Excellency, to maintain all good friendship and further good
correspondence, I remain
Your Excellency's
Humble Servant
J. LORENTS.
[Footnote 2: Nathaniel Cary of Charlestown. His very interesting
account of his wife's prosecution for witchcraft in 1692 is in Calef's
_More Wonders of the Invisible World_, and is reprinted in G.L. Burr,
_Narratives of the Witchcraft Trials_, pp. 349-352.]
[Footnote 3: The episode is related more fully in Westergaard, _The
Danish West Indies_, pp. 113-118, Professor Westergaard having found
Lorentz's carefully kept diary in the Danish archives at Copenhagen.
Lorentz "answered that if he could produce proof in writing that he
was an honest man, he might enter". From his request for protection
from English royal ships, the governor "saw that he was a pirate", and
"his request was flatly refused him, and he was forbidden to send his
men ashore again unless they came into the harbor with the ship".]
[Footnote 4: See doc. no. 76, note 20.]
[Footnote 5: By a treaty between the Great Elector and the King of
Denmark, in 1685, Brandenburg secured for thirty years the privilege
of maintaining on St. Thomas an establishment, chiefly useful in
connection with the work of the Brandenburg company for the African
slave-trade. The story is related in Westergaard, ch. III., and in
Schueck; see doc. no. 43, note 1, and no. 48, note 1. The episode of
Burke and Van Belle is more fully related in Westergaard, pp. 115-118.
Burke escaped and most of the goods went across the Atlantic to
Brandenburg, but Lorentz seems to have been honest.]
[Footnote 6: Hon. Ralph Grey, governor of Barbados 1697-1699.]
_84. Declaration of William Kidd. September 4, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 65 XIX. Enclosed in
a letter of Bellomont to the Board of Trade, Aug. 28. There is a
photographic facsimile of the original in R.D. Paine, _The Book of
Buried Treasure_, at p. 85. Though this chest is mentioned in several
of the Kidd documents, no account of its contents appears in the chief
printed inventories, indeed I find no evidence that it was brought to
Boston. The statement may have interest as showing kinds of goods then
highly valued.]
BOSTON September 4, 1699
Captain William Kidd declareth and saith That in his chest which he
left at Gardiners Island there was three small baggs or more of Jasper
Antonio or stone of Goa,[2] severall pieces of Silk stript with silver
and gold, Cloth of Silver, about a Bushell of Cloves and Nutmegs mixed
together and strawed up and down, severall books of fine white
callicoes, severall pieces of fine Muzlins, severall pieces more of
flowred silk, he does not well remmember what further was in it. he
had an Invoyce thereof in his other chest. all that was contained in
the said Chest was bought by him and some given him at Madagascar,
nothing thereof was taken in the ship _Quedah Merchant_. he esteemed
it to be of greater value than all else that he left at Gardiners
Island except the gold and silver. there was neither gold or silver in
the chest. It was fastned with a Padlock and nailed and corded about.
[Footnote 2: A fever medicine, consisting of various drugs made up
into a hard ball, lately invented in India by Gaspar Antonio, a lay
brother of the Society of Jesus.]
Further saith That he left at said Gardiners Island a bundle of nine
or tenn fine India Quilts, some of them Silk with fringes and
Tassells.
WM. KIDD.
_85. Lord Bellomont to the Board of Trade. November 29, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:861, no. 4. Endorsed as
received Jan. 19, 1700, and read at the Board Feb. 9.]
BOSTON the 29 November 99.
_My Lords_
I gave your Lordships an account in my Letter of the 24th of last
moneth[2] by the last ship that went hence for England, of my taking
Joseph Bradish and Tee Wetherley, the two Pyrates that had escaped
from the Goal of this town;[3] and I then also writ that I hoped in a
little time to be able to send your Lordships the news of my taking
James Gill[am] the Pyrat that killed Captain Edgecomb, Commander of
the _Mocha_ frigat for the East India Company,[4] and that with his
own hand while the Captain was asleep, and Gillam is supposed to be
the man that Incouraged the Ship's Company to turn Pyrats, and that
ship has ever since been robbing in the Red Sea and Seas of India, and
taken an Incredible deal of wealth; if one may believe the reports of
men that are lately come from Madagascar, and that saw the _Mocha_
frigat there, she has taken above two millions sterling. I have been
so lucky as to take James Gillam, and he is now in Irons in the Goal
of this town, and at the same time with him was sie[ze]d one Francis
Dole,[5] in whose house he was harboured, who proves to be one of
Hore's Crew, H[ore] one of Colonel Fletcher's Pyrates commissioned by
him from New York; Dole is also committed to Goal. My taking of Gillam
was so very accidentall that I cannot forbear giving your Lordships a
narrative of it, and one would believe there was a strange fatality in
that m[an's] Starrs. On Saturday the 11th Instant late in the evening
I had a letter from Colonel Sanford,[6] Judge [of] the Admiralty Court
in Rhode-Island, giving me an account that Gillam had been there, but
was come towards Boston a fortnight before, in order to ship himselfe
for some of the Islands, Jamaica or Barbados, that he was troubled he
knew it not sooner, and was affraid his Intelligence would come too
late to me; that the Messenger he sent knew the Mare Gillam rode on
[to] this town. I was in despair of finding the man, because Colonel
Sanford writ to me that he was g[one] to this town so long a time as a
fortnight before that; however I sent for an honest Constable I had
made use of in the apprehending of Kidd and his men, and sent him with
Colonel Sanford's Messenger to examine and search all the Inns in Town
for the mare, and at the first Inn they went to, they found her tied
up in the yard; the people of the Inn reported that the man that
brought her thither, had lighted off her about a quarter of an hour
before, had there tied her, but went away without saying anything to
anybody. Upon notice of this I gave order to the Master of the Inn
that if any body came to look after the mare, he should be sure to
seize and secure him, but no body came for her. The next morning which
was Sunday I summoned [a] Council, and we published a Proclamation,
wherein I promised a reward of 200[l.] for the seizing and securing
Gillam, whereupon there was the strictest search [all that] day, and
the next, that was ever made in this part of the world, but we had
missed him, if I had not been Informed of one Captain Knot, as an old
Pyrate and therefore likely [to k]now where Gillam was concealed.[7] I
sent for Knot and examined him, promising h[im if h]e would make an
Ingenious Confession, I would not molest or prosecute him; he seemed
[mu]ch disturbed, but would not confesse anything to purpose. I then
sent for his wife and examined her on oath apart from her husband, and
she confessed that one who went by the [name] of James Kelly had
lodged severall nights in her house, but for some nights past [lo]dged
as she believed in Charlestown Crosse the River. I knew he went by the
name of Kelly, [the]n I examined Captain Knot again, telling him his
wife had been more free and ingenious [tha]n him, which made him
believe she had told all; and then he told me of Francis Dole in
Charlestown, and that he believed Gillam would be found there. I sent
half a dousin men immediately over the water to Charlestown and Knot
with them, they beset the house, and searched it but found not the
man, Dole affirming with many protestations he was not there, neither
knew [of] any such man. Two of the men went through a field behind
Dole's house, and passing [thr]ough a second field they met a man in
the dark (for it was ten a clock at night) whom they [seize]d at all
adventures, and it happened as oddly as luckily to be Gillam, he had
been treating [some] young women some few miles off in the Country,
and was returning at night to his Landlord Dole's house, and so was
met with. I examined him, but he denied everything, even that he came
with Kidd from Madagascar, or ever saw him in his life; but Captain
Davies,[8] who also came thence with Kidd, and all Kidd's men, are
positive he is the man and that he went by his true name viz. Gillam,
all the while he was on the voyage with them, and Mr. Campbel the
Postmaster of this town (whom I sent to treat with Kidd) offers to
swear this is the man he saw on [bo]ard Kidd's sloop under the name of
James Gillam. He is the most impudent hardened V[illai]n I ever saw
in my whole life. That which led me to an Inquiry and search after
this man [was t]he Information of William Cuthbert on oath, which I
sent your Lordships with my packet of the 26th of this last July,[9]
wherein Cuthbert Informs that being lately in the East India Company's
service [it w]as commonly reported there that Gillam had killed
Captain Edgecomb with his own hand, that he had [s]erved the Mogul,
turned Mahometan and was Circumcised. I had him searched by a
[su]rgeon and also by a Jew in this Town, to know if he were
Circumcised, and they have both declared on oath that he is. Mr.
Cutler the surgeon's[10] deposition goes (No. 1) and Mr. Frazon the
Jew's (No. 2).[11] The rest of the Evidences about Gillam and some
other Pyrates go numbered from 3 to 23 inclusive, which I recommend to
your Lordships perusall, as what will inform you of the strange
Countenance given to Pyrats by the Government and people of
[Rhode]-Island. I have numbered the papers in order of time and
according to their dates: most have reference to Gillam, some to Kidd.
In searching the forementioned Captain Knot's house [a smal]l trunk
was found with some remnants of East India goods, and a Letter from
Kidd's wife to Captain Thomas Pain an old Pyrat living on Canonicot
Island in Rhode Island Governm[ent.][12] The affidavit he made when I
was at Rhode-Island goes numbered among the other evide[nce.] He then
made oath that he had received nothing from Kidd's sloop when she lay
at anchor by [_torn_] Island, yet by Knot's deposition your Lordships
will find, he was sent with Mrs. Kidd's letter to Pa[in for] 24 ounces
of gold, which Knot accordingly brought; and Mrs. Kidd's Injunction to
Pain to keep a[ll the] rest that was left with him till further order,
was a plain Indication that there was a good deal of [trea]sure still
behind in Pain's Custody, therefore I posted away a messenger to
Governor Crans[ton][13] and Colonel Sanford to make a strict search of
Pain's house before he could have notice; it see[ms] nothing was then
found, but Pain has since produced 18 ounces and odd weight of gold,
as appears by Cranston's Letter of the 25th Instant and pretends it
was bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may p[rove (?)] a salvo for
the oath he made when I was in Rhode-Island, but I think it is plain
he forswore himselfe then, and I am of opinion he has a great deal
more of Kidd's gold still in his hands. [But] he is out of my power,
and being in that Government I cannot compell him to deliver up th....
[Footnote 2: The letter in which no. 83 was enclosed; its substance is
given in _Cal. St. P. Col._, 1699, pp. 486-490.]
[Footnote 3: See doc. no. 77, note 8.]
[Footnote 4: See doc. no. 65, note 18, and no. 74, note 2.]
[Footnote 5: Francis Dowell, of Wapping Street, Charlestown, mariner.
T.B. Wyman, _Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown_, I. 301.]
[Footnote 6: Peleg Sandford, governor of Rhode Island 1680-1683.]
[Footnote 7: Andrew Knott's examination shows that he and Gillam had
known each other in Virginia years before, and had sailed together
under a privateer captain, making many prizes in the South Sea,
possibly in the expedition narrated in docs. no. 44 and no. 45. See
also doc. no. 68, paragraph 16 and note 18.]
[Footnote 8: Edward Davis of London, originally boatswain of the
_Fidelia_ (see doc. no. 90), whose deposition is in _Commons Journal_,
XIII. 28.]
[Footnote 9: _Commons Journal_, XIII. 26; narrative of William
Cuthbert, late gunner of the ship _Charles the Second_.]
[Footnote 10: John Cutler was a Dutch surgeon named De Messenmaker,
who on settling in New England translated his name into Cutler. His
marriage record in the town records of Hingham begins, "Johannes
Demesmaker, a Dutchman (who say his name in English is John Cutler)",
etc.]
[Footnote 11: Joseph Frazon, died 1704, buried in the Jewish cemetery
at Newport. The anonymous author of the anti-Mather pamphlet, _A
Modest Enquiry_ (London, 1707, reprinted in Mass. Hist. Soc., _Coll._,
fifth ser., VI.), p. 80*, accuses Cotton Mather of having "attempted a
Pretended Vision, to have converted Mr. Frasier a Jew, who had before
conceiv'd some good Notions of Christianity: The Consequence was, that
the Forgery was so plainly detected that Mr. C.M. confest it; after
which Mr. Frasier would never be perswaded to hear any more of
Christianity".]
[Footnote 12: Doc. no. 80.]
[Footnote 13: Samuel Cranston, governor of Rhode Island 1698-1728.]
Your Lordships will find in Captain Coddington's narrative number
35[14] and sent with my Report dated the 27th Instant an Inventory of
gold and Jew[els] in Governor Cranston's hands which he took from a
Pyrat. I see no reason why he should keep them ... so far from that,
that he (with submission) ought to be called to an account for
Conniving at the Py[rats] making that Island their Sanctuary, and
suffering some to escape from Justice. If there be an order sent to
him to deliver what gold and jewels is contained in the said
Inventory, and also the formentio[ned] parcel of gold which he
received from Pain, with all other goods and treasure which he has at
any time rec[eived] from Privateers or Pyrates, into my hands for the
use of his Majesty, and that upon oath, I will [see] the order
executed, and will give a faithfull account thereof according to the
order I shall re[ceive].
[Footnote 14: Nathaniel Coddington of Newport, register of the court
of admiralty in Rhode Island.]
Four pound weight of the gold brought from Gardiner's Island which I
formerly acquainted your Lordships of, and all the Jewels, belonged
to Gillam, as Mr. Gardiner's Letter to Mr. Dummer,[15] a Marchand in
t[he] town and one of the Committee appointed by me and the Council to
receive all the treasure and goods which [were] brought in Kidd's
sloop, will prove; and there is some proof of it in Captain
Coddington's b[efore men]tioned narrative, and in Captain Knot's
deposition of the 14th Instant. I am told that as Vice A[dmiral] of
these provinces I am entitled to 1/3 part of Gillam's said gold and
Jewels; I know not whe[ther I] am or no, but if it be my right I hope
your Lordships will please to represent to the King the ext[reme]
pains and vigilance I have used in taking these severall Pyrates, and
that I may have my [por]tion of the said gold and Jewels, if there be
any due to me. It is a great prejudice to the King's s[ervice] that
here is no Revenue or other fund to answer any occasion or service of
Majestys. I have [been] forced to disburse the 200 pieces of 8/8 for
the taking of Gillam out of my own little stock and also to [de]fray
my journey and other expences in going to Rhode-Island to execute the
King's Commission [and] Instructions. Both accounts I now send, and
beg your Lordships favour in promoting and Countenancing the payment
of that mony to Sir John Stanley for my use. Captain Gullock[16] tells
[me] that 15 or 16 of the ship's Company that would not be concerned
with Gillam and his accomplices in murdering Captain Edgecomb, and
afterwards turning Pyrates, went home to England in [the] Ship
_America_ belonging to the East India Company, Captain Laycock
Commander. I should thi[nk an] advertisement in the Gazette requiring
some of those men to appear before one of the Sec[retaries] of State
to give their evidence of what they know of that matter, would be
proper.
[Footnote 15: Jeremiah Dummer the elder, father of the publicist.]
[Footnote 16: Thomas Gullock was the captain of the ship which Bradish
had run away with. Sir John Stanley was an official of the lord
chamberlain's office.]
[Your] Lordships will meet with a passe among the other papers, number
5, to Sion Arnold, one of the [pirat]es brought from Madagascar by
Shelley of New York, the said passe signed by Mr. Basse,[17]
[Go]vernor of East and West Jerzies, which is a bold step in Basse
after such positive orders as he received from [Govern]or[18] Vernon,
but I perceive plainly the meaning of it, he took severall Pirats at
Burlington [in West] Jerzey, and a good store of mony with them as it
is said, and I daresay he would be glad they [should] escape, for when
they are gone, who can witnesse what money he seized with them? I know
[the] man so well, that I verily believe that is his plot. John Carr
mentioned in some of the [papers to (?)] be in Rhode Island, No. 6,
was one of Hore's Crew. There are abundance of other Pyrats in that
[Is]land at this time, but they are out of my power. Mr. Brinley,[19]
Colonel Sanford, and Captain Coddington are honest men, and of the
best estates in the Island, and because they are heartily [wea]ry of
the male administrations of that Government, and because too I
commissioned them (by [virt]ue of the authority and power given me by
his Majesty's Commission and Instructions so to do) to [make] Inquiry
into the Irregularities of those people, they are become strangely
odious to them and [are o]ften affronted by them, neither will they
make them Justices of the peace; so that when they [w]ould commit
Pyrates to Goal, they are forced to go to the Governor for his
Warrant, and very ... ly the Pyrates get notice, and avoid the Warrant
for that time. You may please to o[bser]ve too that Gardiner the
Deputy Collector[20] is accused to have been once a Pyrat, in one of
the [paper]s. I doubt he will forswear himselfe rather than part with
Gillam's gold which is in his hands. [It is] impossible for me to
transmit to the Lords of the Treasury these proofs against Gardiner.
[I am] so jaded with writing, that I cannot write to them by this
Conveyance, but I could wish [your Lordships might be (?)] made
acquainted with Gardiner's Character, and that they would send over
honest In----t men to be Collectors of Rhode Island, Conecticut, and
New Hampshire; and that they [would h]asten Mr. Brenton[21] hither to
his post, or send some other Collector in his room. I could [wish]
that Mr. Weaver were ordered to hasten to New York. Your Lordships may
please to observe that [Knott] in one of his depositions accuses
Gillam to have pyrated four years together in the [Sou]th sea against
the Spaniards.
[Footnote 17: On Shelley, see doc. no. 73, note 6. Jeremiah Basse was
deputy-governor of East and West New Jersey from 1697 to 1699. In a
letter of June 9 to Secretary Popple, _N.J. Archives_, first ser., II.
286-287, he describes his activity in manning a sloop and in person
capturing four of Shelley's men at Cape May, and committing them to
Burlington jail. "In their Chestes are about seaven thousand eight
hundred Rix dollars and Venetians, about thirty pound of melted
silver, a parcell of Arabian and Christian Gold, some necklases of
Amber and Corrall, sundry peaces of India silkes."]
[Footnote 18: If the word is Governor, it should be Secretary.]
[Footnote 19: Francis Brinley, one of the chief Newport merchants; he
had been a member of Andros's council.]
[Footnote 20: Robert Gardiner of Newport.]
[Footnote 21: Jahleel Brenton, for many years, beginning in 1691,
collector and surveyor of the customs for New England (and thus
Gardiner's superior officer) had gone to England as agent of Rhode
Island in her boundary dispute with Connecticut. Thomas Weaver, who
had been appointed collector for New York, was in London as agent for
that province.]
We have advice that Burk an Irishman and Pyrat that committed severall
robberies on th[e] [coast] of Newfoundland, is drowned with all his
ship's Company, except 7 or 8 persons somewh[ere to the] southward. It
is said he perished in the hurrican that was in those Seas about the
end of [July and] beginning of August last. It is good news, he was
very strong if we may believe report, [and is s]aid to have had a good
ship with a 140 men, and 24 guns.
[Bra]dish and Wetherley have a slight extraordinary in attempting to
escape, they [made] two attempts since they were last committed, once
they broke the floor of the prison and thought to escape that way, but
that failing them, within a night or two they filed off their fetters,
upon which I ordered them to be manicled, and chained to one another.
I believe this new Goaler I have got is honest, otherwise I should be
very uneasy for fear these Pyrats should escape....[22]
[Footnote 22: The rest of the letter has nothing to do with Kidd or
other pirates.]