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SEPTEMBER, 1926 )
NOTES ON PIRACY IN EASTERN WATERS
113
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Person of Quality). Some few details of Kidd's previous career are available. The Dict. Nat. Biog. says that he was born at Greenock 87 in Scotland (The Full Account only says in Scotland) and that he settled at Boston, Massachusetts. At Kidd's trial Colonel Thomas Hewson or Hewetson deposed that Kidd had fought bravely against the French under his command in the West Indies and that, so far from his being the sort of man who was likely to turn pirate, his refusal to do so had cost him his ship, which the discontented part of his crew had run away with. The fight mentioned by Colonel Hewetson took place on the 16th January 1690 off St. Martin's. For & whole day Colonel Hewetson with only his ship and Kidd's fought six Frenchmen under Jean Baptiste Ducas, Governor of St. Domingo. (Letter from General Codrington, Antigua, 1st March 1690. Cal. S. P. Col.). The French on this occasion flew bloody colours (Harleian Miscellany, IX, 523, 569), which shows how desperate was the fight, but were forced to retire. Kidd's ship was the Blessed William, (of 18 gung. Portland MSS., VIII, 78). She had been a French privateer which Kidd had captured and for which he had hoped to obtain Letters of Marque against the French (Culliford's Deposition, H. C. A. 1-16). On the 2nd February 1690 at Antigua, whilst Kidd weg ashore, some of the crew, most of whom were old pirates and thought piracy more paying than privateering, ran off with the ship. Amongst these were Robert Culliford and Samuel Burgess, a rather curious fact, because Kidd's alleged friendly intercourse with Culliford in Madagascar told heavily against him in his trial. Apparently Kidd soon got another command88, for on the 24th March 1691 the local Government ordered the release of certain of his men who had been pressed. On the 14th May 1691 the Government of New York presented him with £150 for good service. On the 8th June 1691 the Government of Massachusetts asked him and Captain Walkington to hunt down a French privateer with £10,000 on board, and though on the 18th they complained very bitterly of their failure to do so and of their high. handed treatment of certain merchantmen and coasters, yet Kidd's explanations must have been satisfactory, for on the 17th August the Council of New York exempted Kidd's ship from paying Customs. Apparently Kidd now settled at New York, for at the time of his arrest his wife89 and child were living in that town. He was there in May 1696 and on the 28th August deposed that he and other Captains in the harbour had been requested to send their men ashore to vote in the elections (Cal. S. P., Col.) Later in the year he came to London in a sloop of his own, just at the time that Colonel Levingston was looking out for a suitable man for his new enterprise. From his own account Kidd had no wish for the job. His friend Colonel Hewetson says that he dissuaded him from accepting it as his fortune was already sufficient, but Kidd told him that Lord Bellamont had threatened to put an end to his trading if he refused and so he did not dare to do so. Bellamont indeed had made enquiries on two points, viz., his loyalty and his knowledge of the men he was to run down. As regards the first, Colonel Levingston had told him to have no fear of Kidd's turning traitor " for he had acted such things against the French since the war that he durst never trust himself to them." As regards the second, the Colonel said that Kidd knew most of the Rovers "and likewise had some knowledge of the places where they usually made their rendezvous” (Person of Quality). This statement Lord Bellamont seems to have exaggerated into the assertion that Kidd told him that "he knew the pirates' haunts so well he could sail directly to "em" (Cal. 8. P., Col., 6th December 1700, No. 983), and Macaulay into a thorough acquaintance " with all the haunts of the pirates who prowled between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Malacca " (History of England, Cap. XXV), whereas it probably meant only a knowledge of the pirates' rendezvous in the West Indies. However this may be; Kidd did accept . 87 See The Malefactor's Register. Printed for A. Hogg. 1723. Nabal Chronicle, XXXVIII, 269.
88 The Antegoa, given him by General Codrington in reward for his services (Hist. MSS. Com mission. Portland MSS. VIII. 78).
19 Sarah Kidd (See Felt's Annals of Salem, p. 332).
