Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 35

We taken was at last, and must die, etc., We taken was at last, and must die; We taken were at last, And into prison cast: Now, sentence being past, we must die.

Tho' we have reigned awhile we must die, etc., Tho' we have reigned awhile we must die; Tho' we have reigned awhile, While fortune seemed to smile, Now on the British Isle we must die.

Farewel the ocean main, we must die, etc., Farewel the ocean main, we must die; Farewel the ocean main: The coast of France or Spain We ne'er shall see again; we must die.

From Newgate now in carts we must go, etc., [From Newgate now in carts we must goe;]

From Newgate now in carts, With sad and heavy hearts, To have our due deserts we must go.

Some thousands they will flock when we die, Some thousands they will flock when we die, Some thousands they will flock To Execution Dock, Where we must stand the shock and must die.

[Footnote 2: See doc. no. 87, note 3. Captain Kidd, says the record of the trial (_State Trials_, V. 290), called Moore "a lousy dog". "Says William Moore, 'If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin, and many more'. Upon his saying this, says Captain Kid, 'Have I ruined you, ye dog?' and took a bucket bound with iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which he died next day."]

[Footnote 3: See doc.u.ment 76, note 9.]

[Footnote 4: _I.e._, a French fishing ship, bound to the banks of 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 pa.s.sage 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 2000; 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 sh.o.r.e 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, _Inst.i.tutional History of Virginia_, II. 217-226, and there the history of her capture may be followed consecutively, but the doc.u.ments 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, Middles.e.x, 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 _Ess.e.x 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 Middles.e.x, 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 Middles.e.x 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 a.s.sisting 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 Pa.s.sed last Session of a.s.sembly 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 G.o.d 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 _Ess.e.x Prize_, 16 guns, which had been there since the spring of 1698 and was now about to return to England, and the _Sh.o.r.eham_, Capt.

William Pa.s.senger, a larger vessel which was to take her place, and which had arrived Apr. 10, 1700. The _Ess.e.x 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, pa.s.sed in May, 1699. It had been superseded by the act 11 and 12 Will. III. c. 7, pa.s.sed 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]