Newfoundland. See the second paragraph of doc. no. 76, Kidd's
statement.]
[Footnote 5: The reference is to Kidd's projected, but abandoned,
attack on the "Mocha fleet" at Babs Key, near the mouth of the Red
Sea.]
[Footnote 6: This ship I do not identify; the name is perhaps due to
misunderstanding of a passage in the trials.]
THE _FIDELIA_.
_90. Examination of William Sims. October 22, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Suffolk Court Files, Boston, no. 4682, paper 3. The case
is not precisely one of piracy, though piracy was at first suspected,
but rather of the receipt of piratical goods. Bellomont writes to the
Board of Trade, Oct. 24, 1699 (_Cal. St. P. Col._, 1699, p. 486), that
he had lately seized at Boston a ship and some East India goods; that
the officers of the custom house were not nimble enough or they had
got all the goods, worth above L2000; that that which first gave him a
"jealousy" of the ship was the fact that the master, William Sims, a
man formerly burnt in the hand for stealing, had gone forth a poor man
and come back master and half owner of a ship. The ship was seized,
condemned, and sold for the crown, and Sims committed to jail. He had
sailed as master of a sloop to Curacao, and thence to Crab Island
(Vieques, see doc. no. 72, note 5). _Ibid._, 499. Bellomont suspected
that what he found there in August had been derived from Kidd in May.]
Suffolk SS. BOSTON, October 22, 1699
nine a clock at night:
The Examination of William Syms of Boston, Marriner, Master of the
Ship _Fidelia_, as followeth, Vizt.
The Examinant saith That sometime in the month of August last past, he
being at Crabb Island in the West Indies, where was lying the sd Ship
_Fidelia_, one Tempest Rogers then Master of her,[2] of whome this
Examinant and John Brett of Antigua Merchant (then at the aforesd
Island) bought the sd Ship, and the Examinant was Ships' Master of
her, and after their buying of the sd Ship, the sd Rogers tooke out of
the sd Ship seaveral Bayles of Goods to the number of about twenty and
laded them upon the Sloop which he had of the Examin't in part payment
for the Ship, and left several bayles on board the Ship wch this
Examinant Supposeth the said Mr. Brett bought of him: said Rogers
declared that he came from the Coast of Guinea, saying also that he
had been at Madagascar, and the Examinant saw the sd Rogers Sell
several Bayles of Goods at Crabb Island to several Merchants that came
thither: which Bayles were opened and contained Silke Muslins and
other Muslins, Callico's and other East India Goods, and sd Rogers
said he had remitted home to his owners the value of Twenty seven
Thousand pounds in money by good bills of Exchange. and after the
Examin't left Crabb Island with his Ship he Stopt at Portreico,[3]
tooke in some Ballast and Provisions and came directly for New
England, Mr. Brett aforesd, his Merchant and part owner, being on
board, and when they came into the Massachusetts Bay as high as the
Gurnett[4] off Plymouth, they spoke to a Sloop that was then fishing
in the Bay to come onboard, and sd Brett treated with the sd Sloopmen,
and the Bayles then on board the sd Ship to the number of Fourteen or
Fifteen, containing (as the Examinant supposeth) East India Goods,
were put out of the Ship into the sd Sloop, and the Examinant and sd
Brett also went onboard of her leaving the Ship in charge with James
Williams the Mate, and came up to Boston in the Sloop bringing in her
the aforementioned Bayles, and arrived there on a Monday night about
the latter end of September last past about Eight aclock in the
Evening, at the Wharffe on the backside of the Queen's head Inn, and
the Examinant went with sd Brett into the aforesaid Inn to procure a
Lodging for him and then went directly home to his own house; Saith he
knows not when or where the sd Bayles were put on shore nor how
disposed of, he signed no Bills of Ladeing nor receipt for them: And
Saith he knows neither the Sloop nor men which brought them up;
Supposeth it to be a Sloop belonging to some Country Town lying on the
Sea Coast. Further the Examinant saith that the sd Brett was not
willing to have come with the sd Ship to New England but would have
gone to Carolina or East Jersey.
WILLIAM SIMS
Capt. Cor. ISA. ADDINGTON, J.Pc.
[Marginal note] the sd Bayles were about three foot and a
halfe long, about a foot and a halfe over and something more
than a foot deep, each of them.
[Footnote 2: She had cleared from London in November, 1697, for
Madagascar (testimony of Edward Davis, her boatswain, who on arrival
there in July, 1698, joined himself to Kidd, and came home with him,
_Commons Journal_, XIII. 28). After selling the _Fidelia_ and her
goods, alleged to be largely Kidd's, Capt. Tempest Rogers settled at
St. Thomas, where, says Richard Oglethorp (_Cal. St. P. Col._,
1706-1708, p. 24), "any piratt for a smale matter of money may bee
naterlized Deane"; there he became "a sworn Deane", removed to St.
Eustatius (Dutch), engaged in the contraband trade which these neutral
islands maintained during the war between Great Britain and France,
and finally died among the French--_ubi bene, ibi patria_.]
[Footnote 3: Puerto Rico.]
[Footnote 4: The Gurnet is the north point of the entrance to Plymouth
harbor.]
_LA PAIX._
_91. Orders of Governor Nicholson to County Officers. April 28,
1700._[1]
[Footnote 1: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson C. 933, fol. 8;
also in P.R.O., C.O. 5:1311, no. 16. The piracies of _La Paix_, inside
the capes of Virginia, show how bold the pirates had become, between
wars, and the story of her capture how real the danger. She was a
Dutch ship, which, seized by pirates, had run quite a career of
depredation in the West Indies before she and her consorts appeared in
Lynnhaven Bay. Her whole story is told in Bruce, _Institutional
History of Virginia_, II. 217-226, and there the history of her
capture may be followed consecutively, but the documents here
presented show vividly how the news of her villanies and of her fate
came to the authorities. The trial of the pirates is in C.O. 5:1411,
Public Record Office (transcript in the Library of Congress). Col.
Francis Nicholson was now governing Virginia for the second time,
1698-1705. Being himself in Elizabeth City County, he addresses these
orders to the commanders of the militia in York, the next county.
Gloucester, Middlesex, Lancaster, Northumberland, and Westmoreland,
named below, were, in succession, the maritime counties lying to the
northward.]
Virginia SS.
KIQUOTAN[2] Aprill 28th 1700 between
3 and 4 a Clock in the
afternoon.
[Footnote 2: Hampton.]
Capt. John Aldred, Commander of his Maj'tes Ship _Essex Prize_,[3]
hath just now given me an Account that there are 3 or 4 Ships or
vessels in Lynhaven-bay,[4] who are supposed to be pyrates. I doe
therefore in his Maj'tes Name command you that upon Sight hereof you
give Notice to the Commanders of the Ships and vessels in York River
that they take care of their Ships and vessels, and that you do
Imediately Order the Militia in your parts to be ready, and you must
fortwith dispatch an Express to the Colo. and Chief Officers of the
Militia of Gloster, whom I also hereby Command in his Maj'tes Name to
have their Militia ready, and they are forthwith to dispatch an
Express to the Colo. or chief officers of Middlesex, whom I doe also
in his Maj'tes Name Command to have their Militia ready, and they are
to give Notice to the Commanders of ships and vessells in
Rappahannock, that they may take care of their ships and vessels, and
the officers of Middlesex are imediatly to send an Express to the
Colo. and Chief officers of Lancaster, whom I do also in his Maj'tes
Name command to have their Militia ready, and if any Ship or vessel be
in their County, to give them Notice that they may take care of their
ships and vessels, and the oficers of Lancaster are forthwith to send
an Express to the Collo. or Chief officers of the Militia of
Northumberland, whom I do also in his Maj'tes Name Command to have
their Militia ready, and they are to give Notice to the Commanders of
ships or vessels in their County that they take care of their ships
and vessels, and the Colonel or Chief officers of Northumberland are
imediatly to send an Express to the Colo. or Chief Officers of the
Militia of Westmoreland, whom I doe also in his Maj'tes Name command
to have their Militia ready, and if any Ship or vessel be in their
County to give the Commanders Notice that they may take Care of their
Ships and vessels. The Colonel or Chief officers of Northumberland I
doe hereby Impower in his Maj'tes Name forthwith to press a good boat
and able men and send an account to any of his Maj'tes officers either
Military or Civill in his Maj'tes Province of Maryland, of these 3 or
4 ships or vessels being in Lynhaven bay, and that they are desired
imediately to Dispatch an Express to his Excell'y Nathaniel Blakiston,
Esqr., his Maj'tes Capt. Gen'll and Governor in Chief and Vice Admiral
of his Maj'tes Province of Maryland. And I do in his Maj'tes Name
Command all officers both Millitary and Civil to Obey and follow these
my Commands, and all his Maj'tes Loveing Subjects are hereby required
to pay all due Obedience to these my Commands and to be Aiding and
Assisting what in them lyes to their officers both millitary and
Civill, and I do further hereby command all officers both millitary
and Civill, and all other his Maj'tes Loveing Subjects, Strictly to
observe and put in Execution an Act Passed last Session of Assembly
against Pyrates and privateers.[5] And I doe hereby promise to any
person or persons who shall take or kill any Pyrate that shall belong
to Either of these 3 or 4 ships or vessells now in Lyn haven bay, a
reward of twenty pound sterling for Each pyrate that they shall either
take or kill, And lastly I do in his Maj'tes Name Command all officers
both Military and Civill and all his Maj'tes Loveing Subjects of this
his Maj'tes most ancient and great Colony and Dominion of virginia,
that they will give all Due Obedience and follow all these my Commands
as they will answer the Contrary at their utmost perills. Given under
my hand and lesser Seal at Arms the Day and year above written, in the
twelfth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord William the third, by
the grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland King,
Defender of the faith, etc.
[Footnote 3: A guardship of the royal navy was in these days kept in
Virginian waters. At the moment, it happened, there were two, the
_Essex Prize_, 16 guns, which had been there since the spring of 1698
and was now about to return to England, and the _Shoreham_, Capt.
William Passenger, a larger vessel which was to take her place, and
which had arrived Apr. 10, 1700. The _Essex Prize_ was careened at the
moment, and not available; Beverley, _History of Virginia_, p. 94.]
[Footnote 4: A roadstead on the south side of the Chesapeake, between
Cape Henry and Willoughby Spit.]
[Footnote 5: The act is in Hening, _Statutes at Large of Virginia_,
III. 176-179, passed in May, 1699. It had been superseded by the act
11 and 12 Will. III. c. 7, passed in the session of Parliament just
ended, that of Nov. 16, 1699-Apr. 11, 1700, but that fact would not
yet be known in Virginia. On Apr. 28, 1699, the Virginia council had
issued a proclamation against pirates, which is printed in the
_Virginia Magazine of History_, VIII. 191.]
To Lieut Collo. Thomas Ballard
or Majr. William Buckner at York Town
who are to take a Copy hereof, and Dispatch it as Directed and Each
Colonel or Chief officer is also to take a Copy hereof and dispatch it
as Directed. Lieut. Collo. Thomas Ballard and Major Wm. Buckner are
to send an Express to the Hon'ble Col. Edmd. Jenings, with a Copy of
this, and they are likewise to send a Copy of this to Collo. Philip
Ludwell, who is in his Maj'tes Name Commanded to have the Militia of
James City ready by this Order of
KIQUOTAN, Ap'll 28th 1700
Whereas this Day I have received Informacion that there is three or
four ships or vessels now riding at anchor in Lynhaven bay, suspected
to be Pyrates or Privateers,
These are therefore in his Maj'tes Name to will and require you on
Sight hereof to give Notice to all officers and Souldiers under your
Comand to be in readiness with their Armes and amunition at one houres
Warning as you Shall receive further Orders. given under my hand and
Lesser Seal at Armes the Day and Year above written.
To Lieut. Collo. Miles Cary,
Comander in Chief of his
Maj'tes Militia in Warwick County.[6]...
FR. NICHOLSON.
[Footnote 6: Warwick and James City lay westward, up the James River.
A series of directions like those sent northward was also sent
southward, to Norfolk, Princess Anne, Nansemond, and Isle of Wight.]
_92. Deposition of William Fletcher. May 2, 1700._[1]
[Footnote 1: Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson C. 933, f. 12. An
enclosure in no. 93.]
The Deposition of William Fletcher, Master of the ship _Barbadoes
merchant_ of Leverpoole, Sworne the Second Day of May 1700, Saith
That about 30 Leagues from the Capes upon the 23th Day of Aprill A
pink[2] of about 100 tons bound from Barbadoes to virginia, no great
guns, and between 50 or 60 men, most french and Dutch and some Irish
men[3] lately taken by Pyrates, Seized his ship, rifled her, and
barberously used him and a Merchant belonging to him, by whom they had
accot. that the Cheif Pirate[4] was about 24 Guns and about 140 Tons,
and another about the same burthen but what force he could not learn,
and a Sloope of Six Guns: in all 4 pirates. Designing to get some good
Ships and more Company as they Could, [they favored (?)] this Deponant
and used much kindness to his men and persuaded them to goe with them,
which when they refused the Pirates used them Cruelly, cut away all
his Masts, Sailes and Rigging and bolespritt,[5] and threw all over
Board, tooke all their Candles, broke their Compases, and Disabled
them soe as they Supposed the ship would perish and never give
Intelligence: and all 4 of the Pirates would pass by them and in a way
of Deriding ask why they Cut away their Masts, and soe left them,
Supposeing they had left them nothing to help themselves, for they
threw over Board a Spare topmast which lay upon the Deck, but by
providence their foremast and Sailes and Rigging thereof hung by their
Side unknown to the Pirates, wherewith they fitted Jewry Masts[6] and
found a Compass under some old Oakcum, with which on Sunday night the
28th Day of Aprill they got into the Capes and are now in Accomack:[7]
but took away all Letters, Papers, Bookes, Certificates and
Cocquits,[8] and would not leave any manner of writings, soe as they
have no thing to Shew, tooke away his Carpenter, and another man, and
took away his Long boat, and Complained for want of Powder and
tobacco, and beat this Depont. after they had Stript him, that if an
Irishmen had not Interceeded he beleves they would have kild him with
the flat of their Curtle-axes,[9] the Cruelty being used to them by
french men, and saw no Englishmen, all which and much more barbarity
this Depont. affirmeth to be truth
WM. FLETCHER.
Sworn the second Day
of May 1700 before
Cha. Scarburgh.
[Footnote 2: A pink was a vessel having a narrow stern, bulging sides,
and a flattish bottom.]
[Footnote 3: The crew of _La Paix_ is reported in the trial to
comprise three Dutchmen, one Swede, one Norwegian, one Englishman, the
rest French or from the French islands.]
[Footnote 4: _La Paix._]
[Footnote 5: Bowsprit.]
[Footnote 6: A jury-mast is a temporary mast set up as a substitute.]
[Footnote 7: On the Eastern Shore of Virginia, across the Chesapeake.]
[Footnote 8: A ship's cocket was a custom-house certificate that the
merchandise had been duly entered and had paid duty.]
[Footnote 9: A perversion of "cutlasses".]
_93. Charles Scarburgh to Governor Nicholson. May 3, 1700._[1]
[Footnote 1: Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson A. 271, f. 48. Col.
Charles Scarburgh or Scarborough was the chief magnate of the Eastern
Shore, and a member of the governor's council.]
_Excellent Sir_
I have Enclosed sent you the Deposition of Wm. Fletcher, which I
suppose may be a more particular accot. then any your Excell'y may
receive. he ad's that the Pirates boasted much of their great strength
by sea, and that there were sufficient of them to repell any force
that would be sent against them, and used many enticements to perswade
his men to goe with them: and I Doubt it will be impossible to secure
the Navigation to and from this Country, and stop their Piraticall
Invations, without a greater force. Capt. Fletcher haveing lost his
Certificate, Cocquetts, and Register, cannot be entered and suffered
to Load without your Excellys order. the ship hath used this Place
many Years: and this Master in her last Year produced his
Certificates, Cocquets, and Register, all which are in my booke of
Entryes:[2] he hath the same Owners and [as?] the ships here. his
Townsmen will refitt him and hath his Loading and Tobacco ready: and
it would be severe if his misfortune should Doubly injure him. besides
it would prejudice his Majestys revenue to forbid him to Load,
therefore suppose if he gives Security to unload in England he may be
permitted to trade: if your Excellency think fitt. I lay wind bound
and [at (?)] Mr. Mekennies at Elizabeth River, and on Sunday last
afternoon we saw a ship come in: and imediatly the _Shoreham_ loosed
and went to turn out of the River, when we Crossing over to Castle
point[3] Mr. Makennie spoke with Capt. Passenger, who told him a Pirat
had pursued that ship and taken others and desired we would not
adventure into the Bay but lye at the Poynt. next morning early we saw
Cap. Passenger on the back of the horshooe,[4] standing Down towards 3
ships in Lyn haven bay, who when he came up with them fired upon him,
and the Pyrate imediately gott to sail and stood directly with Capt.
Passenger, who got the weather gage, and Imediatly followed as sharp a
Dispute as (I thinke) could be betwixt two ships, of which we were
full spectators Dureing the whole engagement: and in my Judgment Capt.
Passenger behaved himself with much Courage and good Conduct, haveing
to Deal with an Enemy under a Desperate choice of killing or hanging,
and I believe few men in their circumstances but would elect the
first. the Conflict briskly maintained from soon after sunrise untill
about 4 afternoon. on thursday May the second Fletcher gott in here
and gave the inclosed accot.,[5] which I beleive much Imports his
Maj'tes service and Interest, least thinking the Pirate aforesaid
might be all, security would Endanger many ships. Fletcher further
saies these are not of them who tooke Burgis last Year but others, and
perhaps more may come upon the same accot. as these doe. I suppose
your Excelly will think fitt to lay on a Gen'll Embargoe untill some
Assureance that the Coast is Clear: and believe York River will be
more Convenient then James River, in Regard ships must goe to the Cape
to Clear the horshooe before they can gett into James River, and soe
may be Endangered. I wait your Excellys Order and Directions and
withall to favour me with a true relation of the success of the
Action betwixt Capt. Passenger and the Pirate:[6] I humbly take leave
to subscribe Right Excellent
Your Excellencies Faithful and
most Obliged servant
CHA. SCARBURGH.
May 3d
1700
[Footnote 2: Colonel Scarborough was also collector of customs in his
district.]
[Footnote 3: Old Point Comfort? It is just possible that "Mr.
Mekennie", p. 264, or "Mr. Makennie", here, may mean the celebrated
pioneer of Presbyterianism, Rev. Francis Makemie, who is sometimes
said to have lived in Lynnhaven parish before settling down in
Accomac, on the Eastern Shore.]
[Footnote 4: The Horseshoe is a sandy shoal running from the shore
north of Old Point Comfort eastwardly toward the channel between Cape
Charles and Cape Henry.]
[Footnote 5: Doc. no. 92.]
[Footnote 6: For Captain Passenger's own account, see _Cal. St. P.
Col._, 1700, p. 311. Governor Nicholson accompanied him in person,
aboard the _Shoreham_. During most of the fight the two ships were
within pistol-shot of each other. Finally the pirate, with all masts
and sails shattered, drifted aground. Then, having laid a train to
thirty barrels of gunpowder, he threatened to blow the ship up, and
the governor, to save the lives of the forty or fifty English
prisoners, gave quarter, promising to refer the pirates to the king's
mercy if they should surrender quietly. So 111 of them were sent to
England in the _Essex Prize_ and the fleet of merchantmen convoyed by
her, June 9. The trial was of three who were brought in without having
been included in the surrender. It was held, in accordance with the
Virginian act, by a commission of oyer and terminer, appointed by the
governor. All three of them were hanged, although "One of them,
Cornelius Frank, said, Must I be hanged that can speake all
Languages"? Another curious passage in the trial deserves to be
quoted: "_Mr. Atty. Gen._ Did the Pyrates talk of blowing their Shipp
up? _Ed. Ashfeild._ Yes, they did, and went to prayers upon it." Nor
less the picture, in the evidence of either this or an adjoining
trial, of the pirate captain "with a gold chain around his neck, and a
gold Tooth-picker hanging from it"--_nouveau riche_!]
_94. John and Adam Thorowgood to Captain Passenger. May 3, 1700._[1]
[Footnote 1: Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson A. 272, f. 89. An
enclosure in doc. no. 95. The Thorowgoods were substantial planters of
Princess Anne County, dwelling near Lynnhaven Bay.]
_Sir_
This Day 7 men which had been taken by a Pirate in a Pink without any
great Guns, only small Armes, and very litle Ammunition, came on shore
and informed us this News, which we thought convenient to Inform you,
that you may act according as the Necessity requires. Also Adam Hayes,
a man who lives on the Sea side, Informes us, he Yesterday saw a Pink
and Brigantine rideing at Anchor in sight of his house, 8 or 10 miles
to the soward of Cape Henry. the Brigantine he suppose came out of the
Capes. about 3 of the Clock in the afternoon he saw a boat goe from on
board the Brigantine, to the Pink. after that two boats were Passing
and repassing from one vessel to the other till near night, at which
time the Pink weighed and stood of to sea. the Brigantine remained
there till within Night, but this morning Neither of them to be seen.
The abovesaid 7 men informed us the Pink which took them hath but 16
men which belonged to the Pyrate and 9 Prisoners. they say she
belonged (before taken) to Biddeford[2] and is an Extraordinary good
sailer. they also tell us they were put into a Boat and turned a
Drift, they think because they were to many to be kept on board, being
then 16 men Prisoners, and now as abovesaid but 9. likewise on tuesday
last they tooke a Bristol man and Cut down their Masts and Boltspritte
and left them as a wreck in the sea, as also another they tooke and
Cut a hole in her bottom and let her sink in the sea, and that they
were Ordered by the Pyrate You took last munday[3] to Cruise in the
Lattitude of the Capes till they came out to them. Sir, this is all we
think materiall at present to be Informed you by
Your Humble servants
JNO. THOROWGOOD, sher.[4]
ADAM THORWGOOD
PRINCESS ANN COUNTY
the 3d of May being
Fryday, 1700.
[Footnote 2: In Devonshire, England.]
[Footnote 3: April 29. _La Paix_, Capt. Louis Guittar.]
[Footnote 4: Sheriff. Adam was sheriff the next year.]
_95. Benjamin Harrison, jr., to Governor Nicholson. May 4, 1700._[1]
[Footnote 1: Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson A. 272, f. 89 b. Benjamin
Harrison, jr. ("Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley") was the son of a
member of the council ("Benjamin Harrison of Surry") and was himself
attorney-general of the colony. He was great-grandfather of President
William Henry Harrison.]
_May it Please your Excell'y_,