Epilogue: About Captain Kidd
HERE’S something from J. Allan Dunn about his pirate story in this issue, and with it the copy of an old document concerning that quite famous old rascal, Captain Kidd. Mr. Dunn did give me a look at the quaint and ancient volume he had found in the attic of the old house he has taken in Massachusetts and very interesting it was.
Its main bases are absolutely authentic, which may or may not add value. But the names of the governors. King’s captains and the pirates generally are real, as are the dates, the issuance of the pardon at Old Providence, the escape of one determined pirate as described. I have tried not to make them have any bearing on the story—as a story—save to help assurance that the color of the yarn is correct.
I note that you once ran an article on Ann Bonny. As that energetic lady was the paramour of “Calico-Jack Rackham” in events later than I have chronicled, you will notice that I have gone through my manuscript and changed Rackham’s name, although the shot that went through his throat did not necessarily kill him. The dope about Kidd is authentic. For the Camp-Fire I am enclosing an actual copy of Kidd’s commission from the king, taken from this old book I told you I discovered in the attic of this house. When I come up to town I’ll bring the little volume with me.
What I tried to do in “On the account” was to make an action yarn that would give a the picture of pirate life around 1650-1750. While there were many turtlers who were used by, of use to, abused by and abusing the pirates, Todd is, of course, pure fiction.
CAPTAIN ROBERT KIDD was recommended by Lord Bellamont, Governor of Barbados, and by other persons in touch with the Government of King William the Third, as a person very fit to be entrusted with the command of a Government ship to be employed in cruising upon the pirates, “as knowing those seas perfectly well, and being acquainted with all their lurking places,” but, this first proposal meeting with no encouragement the Lord Bellamont and some others who knew what great captures had been made by the pirates and what a prodigious wealth must be in their possession, were tempted to fit out a ship at their own private charge. To give the thing a better reputation, as well as to keep their seamen under the better command, they procured the King’s commission for the said Captain Kidd, of which the following is an exact copy;
“WILLIAM THE THIRD, by the grace of
“God, King of England, Scotland, France and
“Ireland, defender of the faith &c. To our
“trusty and well beloved Capt. ROBERT
“KIDD, commander of the ship the Adventure
“galley, or to any other commander of the same
“for the time being,
“GREETING: Whereas we are informed,
“that Capt. Thomas Too*, John Ireland, Capt.
“Thomas Wake, and Capt. William Maze, or
“Mace, and other subjects, natives or inhabi-
“tants of New York, and elsewhere, in our
“plantations in America, have associated them-
“selves, with divers others, wicked and ill-dis-
“posed 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 all others, navigating the seas upon their
“lawful occasions.
“NOW KNOW YE, that we being desirous to
“prevent the aforesaid mischiefs, and as much
“as in us lies, to bring the said pirates, free-
“booters and sea-rovers to justice, have thought
“fit and do hereby give and grant to the said
“ROBERT KIDD (to whom our commission-
“ers for exercising the office of Lord High Ad-
“miral of England, have granted a commission
“as a private man of war, bearing date the 11th
“day of December, 1695) and unto the com-
“mander 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 Capt.
“Thomas Too*, John Ireland, Capt. Thomas
“Wake, and Capt. William Maze, or Mace, as
“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 will-
“ingly yield themselves; but if they will not
“yield without fighting, then you are by force
“to compel them 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 other our loving
“subjects whatsoever, to be aiding and assisting
“you in the premises. And we do hereby en-
“join you to keep an exact journal of your pro-
“ceedings in the 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 by virtue of
“these presents take and seize, and the quanti-
“ties of arms, ammunition, provision 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 you, as you will
“answer the contrary at your peril, you do not,
“in any manner, offend or molest our friends
“and allies, their ships, or subjects, by color or
“pretense of these presents, or the authority
“thereby granted. In witness thereof we have
“caused our great seal of England to be affixed
“to these presents. Given at our court of
“Kensington, the 26th day of January, 1695,
“in the seventh year of our reign.”*Probably Captain Tew.
KIDD also held a “commission of reprisals,” it being then a time of war, to justify him in the taking of French merchant ships.
He sailed out of Plymouth in May, 1696, in the Adventure galley of 30 guns and 80 men, apparently intending to act in good faith. His own share was in the proportion of forty to one, for each man and he soon increased his complement to 155 men, sailing to Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands and to Madagascar. In the Red Sea he first expressed his change of heart and spoke to his ship’s company concerning the Mocha fleet in these terms.
"We have been unsuccessful hitherto; but courage, my boys, we’ll make our fortunes out of this fleet!” He had a penitential fit concerning the taking of a Dutch ship and found a mutiny on his hands, during which he quarreled with his gunner, Moor, and, calling him “dog,” broke his skull with a bucket, killing him. The Adventure was adjudged too old and leaky and they changed to a prize, the Queda Marchant. At Amboy he was informed that he had been declared a pirate.
BUT he went back to New York. He had found a French pass or two on some of the ships he took and perhaps he thought these would bear him out or that he could purchase new friends with his booty. At New York, on the warrant of his patron, Lord Bellamont, he was arrested. Many of his crew had left him at Madagascar but later surrendered themselves, hoping for amnesty under the King’s proclamation of pardon to pirates. They were admitted at first to bail but finally taken to England with Kidd.
An admiralty sessions at the Old Baily in May, 1701, Captain Kidd, Nicholas Churchill, James How, Robert Lumley, William Jenkins, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Richard Barlicorn, Abel Owens and Darby Mullins were arraigned for piracy and murder on the high seas and found guilty, except Lumley, Jenkins and Barlicorn, who were acquitted upon producing their indentures as apprentices to some of the officers of the pirate ship.
THERE seems little question concerning Kidd’s bravery in action. One Colonel Hewson gave him an extraordinary character and declared that he had served under his command and been in two engagements with him against the French, in which Kidd had fought “as well as any man he ever saw” in a fight where there were only Kidd’s ship and Hewson’s against a squadron of six sail under Monsieur de Cass, whom they worsted. All this was before the period mention in the indictment, however, and did Kidd no good.
Kidd protested in his own innocence and swore that he had no occasion to go a-pirating for gain, that his men often mutinied and did as they pleased, that he was threatened to be shot in his cabin, that ninety-five left him at one time and set fire to his boat, preventing him from bringing home either his ship or the prizes. And, at the last, he answered:
“I have nothing to say, but that I have been sworn against by perjured, wicked people.” When sentence was pronounced he said. "My Lord, it is a very hard sentence. For my part, I am the most innocent of them all, only I have been sworn against by perjured persons.”
And, as the chronicler says,
“Wherefore, about a week after. Captain Kidd, Nicholas Churchill, James How, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Abel Owen, and Darby Mullins were executed at Execution Dock, and afterward hung up in chains, at some distance from each other, down the river, where their bodies hung exposed for many years.
KIDD, as pirate, reigned five years. His trial and execution render him a popular subject for the ballad chanters and sellers of those days and many of the adventures credited to him, including much of the stories of buried treasure, were, no doubt, born of the imagination of the versifiers. He first acquired his reputation in the beginning of King William’s war as commander of a privateer in the West Indies and by several adventurous actions acquired the reputation of a brave man and experienced seaman. By his own confession he was a man of means when he accepted the King’s commission and doubtless much of his estate was acquired from booty. He was the Diamond Dick of those days when fame was sung and pictured in the penny ballads, headed by a crude woodcut, that took the place of the modern dime novel for the youth, as well as the grown-ups, of that generation.
I DO not think the full text of any letters of marque, such as Kidd’s royal commission, has before been published. I discovered them in a small volume, yellow and brown spotted with age, bound in leather with the mystic word Pirates on the back, in the attic of the old Colonial house that I am leasing. It is an English publication and the front pages are missing.
On the first blank back of the cover is written.
F. Francis Begley, his handwrite dated this 22th (sic) day of January 1823.
The Grass is green the leaves are red this will Be Here when I am Dead. When I am Dead and in my Grave and all my Bones are Rotten Perchance this Book will Still be Read when I am Fair Forgotten.
Now I wonder what good scout of an uncle gave Francis Begley this ungodly example of a book and what visions the reading of it conjured up to Francis, smuggling it to bed with a candle’s end in 1823? Two hundred and eighty-eight pages of piracy are in it with a corroboration of certain parts from Brooke’s London Gazetteer of 1812.—J. Allan Dunn.