Had Kidd been fortunate enough on his first visit to Madagascar to find his pirates there, it is possible but not very probable that his crew might have done their best to kill or catch their fellow-countrymen, who were preying on the Indian commerce. On the other hand, had he not been so unfortunate as to find the pirates awaiting him there on his way back to Boston, he would probably have been able to bring his two prizes home safely within a reasonable time and have ended his voyage to the satisfaction of his employers and with credit to himself. Even as it was, had he been in command of a disciplined crew, as determined as their captain was, faithfully to discharge the painful duties they had undertaken, his[78] finding the pirates at St. Marie’s would have given him a fair chance of crowning his patient efforts with a success which might have been handed down to posterity as a proof of the fortitude by which a great Scotch sea captain had been able to surmount apparently insuperable difficulties. But it would be hard to find in history, sacred or profane, an unluckier man than Kidd. The Adventure Galley came back to Madagascar in a sinking condition, with her crew on the brink of mutiny, worn out with repeated mishaps, having lost a large number of their fellows by sickness, disgusted at the ill-luck and strait-laced proceedings of their conscientious commander, in possession, it is true, of a rich prize, but in some doubt, owing to his hesitation in retaining her, whether, when they got to Boston, questions as to the legality of the capture, to say nothing of their recent misconduct in rifling the Portuguese ship, might not be raised, ending in their getting no pay whatever for[79] between two and three years’ heavy and perilous work, and possibly in their being thrown into gaol by Bellamont for piracy. Probably they would have mutinied long before, if they could have found a capable leader with the necessary knowledge of navigation to take Kidd’s place. As it was, when they found their fellow-countrymen at St. Marie’s, living on the fat of the land on cargoes taken from the Moors, under an adventurous and successful commander, Culliford, who had stolen an East Indiaman from his employers, and was now reaping a rich harvest from his villainy, it was no wonder that the greater part of Kidd’s men at once decided to throw in their lot with him, rather than stand by Kidd in an internecine struggle with their fellow-countrymen, in which success was more than doubtful, and if attained would necessitate their carrying their conquered compatriots in chains to an English port, there to be handed over to the authorities with a view to their being hung[80] as pirates, for what was regarded by the majority of the seamen on both sides as the very venial offence of plundering the enemies of Christianity. The catastrophe which now befell was the inevitable sequence of what had gone before, and what Kidd found awaiting him on his arrival at Madagascar.
Let him tell the tale in his own simple words.[8]
“When the Narrator arrived at the said Port, there was a Pirate Ship, called the Moca Frigate, at an anchor, Robert Culliford Commander thereof, who with his men left the same at his coming and ran into the woods. And the Narrator proposed to his men to take the same, having sufficient power and authority so to do. But the mutinous crew told him, ‘If he offered the same, they would rather fire ten guns into him than one into the other,’ and thereupon ninety-seven men deserted, and went into[81] the Moca Frigate, and sent into the woods for the said pirates, and brought the said Culliford and his men on board again, and all the time he stayed in the said port the said deserters sometimes in great numbers came on board the said Galley and Adventure Prize, and carried away great guns, Powder, Shot, small arms, sails, Anchors, Cables, Surgeon’s chest, and what else they pleased; and threatened several times to murder the Narrator, as he was informed and advised to take care of himself, which they designed in the night to effect; but was [sic] prevented by his locking himself in his cabin at night, and securing himself by barricading the same with bales of goods and having about forty small arms besides pistols, ready charged to keep them out.”
“Their wickedness was so great that after they had plundered and ransacked sufficiently, they went five miles off to one Edward Welche’s house, where his, the Narrator’s chest was lodged, and broke it open[82] and took out ten ounces of gold, 40 pound of plate, 370 pieces of eight, the Narrator’s Journal, and a great many papers that belonged to him and the People of New York that fitted them out.”
“About the fifteenth of June, the Moca Frigate went away, being manned with about 130 men and forty guns bound out to take all nations. It was then that the Narrator was left only with 13 men, so that the Moors he had to pump and keep the Adventure Galley above water being carried away, she sank in the harbour, and the Narrator with the said thirteen men went on board the Adventure Prize.”
Let us try to put ourselves in Kidd’s place, when the bulk of his men went over to the enemy. Forcibly deprived of his command at the moment when he saw success within his grasp; deserted by nearly all his crew; plundered of the greater part of the spoil he was taking home to his employers; on board the sinking Adventure Galley;[83] confined to his stifling cabin with its barricaded approaches. What course can it be suggested that he could have taken and have been held blameless by an English court? What course ought any man to have taken in his place who sought to do his duty by his owners?
It would have been a mercy to him and to his memory, if the mutineers had then and there made an end of him. But to have done this, they must have stormed his cabin, and they dared not try it. They knew his fighting record. They had been with him in his encounter with the Portuguese man-of-war. None knew better than they that he would sell his life dearly. Let us hope, too, that some few of his crew stood by him in this emergency, with “the forty loaded small arms, besides pistols.” But although the pirates and mutineers could not make an end of him, it was equally impossible for him to take the offensive against them. If neither party could attack, the situation[84] could only be relieved by diplomacy. The ultimate solution has been handed down to us by the doubtful testimony of one or two of those who were there. We are left to conjecture the intermediate stages of the arrangement.
According to the evidence the Adventure Galley was brought into the port on the first of April, in company with its smaller prize. The Quedagh Merchant did not come in until some weeks afterwards. The Moca Frigate, as already stated, went away on the fifteenth of June, leaving Kidd and thirteen men behind. In the interval some kind of a compact seems to have been come to, by which Kidd undertook not to molest the pirates, and Culliford agreed to let Kidd keep the Quedagh Merchant and a certain quantity of the goods on board of her. It is difficult to see how Kidd in his then position could have made a better bargain than this for the great men who were employing him. Judging from the amount of specie[85] and goods which he succeeded after all in bringing to America, he appears to have done very well indeed for them. Possibly the canny Scot, notwithstanding the theft of his chest, had more gold and valuables concealed in his impenetrable cabin than the deserters dreamed of. Possibly some of his late crew had consciences and were willing to let him off cheaply. Whatever the details of the arrangement may have been, it is unlikely that he could in any case have saved himself from the charge brought against him at his trial, on which the judge laid great stress, and which has clung to him ever since, that having been sent out to catch the pirates, and bring them home with him, he had on the first occasion on which he had met them, promised not to molest them, an offence which it was alleged at his trial that he had aggravated by drinking deeply from a tub of “bomboo” with their Captain Culliford.
The word “bomboo” has a fine piratical[86] suggestiveness about it. It sounds as if it were some weird concoction of strong liquors, which carousing pirates in their unholy orgies were wont to consume by the bucketfull. As a matter of fact, it was a very innocent beverage made of water, limes, and sugar; and it was small blame to poor Kidd that on emerging from his beleaguered cabin in that hot climate, he was glad enough to take a long drink of it, when at length a truce had been arranged. According to the King’s evidence at his trial, he solemnly undertook over this draught of “bomboo” not to molest the pirates, and presumably they also undertook not to molest him. The alternative very possibly was his death from thirst in his stuffy cabin. Culliford’s men outnumbered his by ten to one. The only evidence besides his own that we have of this incident was that given at his trial by two of his crew, who had deserted him and gone over to the enemy. Kidd not unnaturally was very bitter against these[87] two men,—Bradenham the surgeon and Palmer, one of his seamen—as appears from the following quotations from the verbatim report of his trial.
Kidd (to Bradenham). “Did you not come aboard my ship and rob the surgeon’s chest?”
Bradenham. “No, I did not.”
Kidd. “Did I not come to you when you went away and met you on the deck, and said, ‘Why do you take the chest away?’”
Bradenham. “No, I did not do it.”
Kidd. “You are a rogue.”
Again:
Kidd. “Mr. Bradenham, are you not promised your life to take away mine?”
Mr. Justice Turton. “He is not bound to answer that question. He is very fit to be made an evidence of the King. Perhaps there can be no other in this case than such who are in his circumstances.”
In other words, those of the crew who had faithfully stood by their captain, and helped[88] him to bring his prize home to America in the interests of their employers, one of whom was the King himself, could not be relied on as witnesses. The only witnesses who could be trusted to swear through thick and thin against Kidd, were two men who by their own admission had deserted their colours and joined Culliford in open piracy against the ships of all nations.
To quote again from the verbatim report:
Kidd. “I hope the King’s counsel will not put him in the way. It is hard that a couple of rascals should take away the King’s subjects’ lives. They are a couple of rogues and rascals.”
Again, when one of them conveniently feigned ignorance, and an answer by the other had been suggested to him by one of the counsel for the prosecution:
Kidd. “It is a fine trade that you must take away so many of the King’s subjects’ lives, and know nothing at all of the matter.”
[89]
Again, speaking this time to the judge:
“It is a fine trade indeed that he must be instructed what to say. He knows no more of these things than you do. The fellow used to sleep five or six months together in the hold.”
Once more:
“He tells a thousand lies. The man contradicts himself a hundred times.”
Kidd (speaking this time to Palmer). “I would not go with such a roguish crew as you were. Was I not threatened to be shot in my cabin by such villains as you, if I would not go along with you? This was the reason I could not come home. Did you not with the others set fire to the boat to destroy my ship? My lord, they took what they please............