The Pirates Part IV

Captain Kidd's crew voted 100 to 15 to mutiny and to give loyalty to the Mocha Frigate under the command of pirate Captain Robert Culliford.

They unloaded all the cargo from the Adventure Prize and transferred it to the Mocha Frigate. They then stripped all three of Captain Kidd's ship's of all equipment, anchors, rigging, rope, sails and anything else of value.

History is not clear on how this happened but Captain Culliford agreed to return Captain Kidd's portion of the treasure and the shares to his limited crew of 13 sailors.

If this is reported correctly it would mean that 40% of the treasure would have been returned to Captain Kidd and the shares to his crew.

Captain Culliford then proceeded to sink the November, leaving Captain Kidd with two stripped down ships and a very limited crew.

In 1698 the King of England awarded a general pardon to all of the known pirates and privateers, however Captain Kidd was not part of that action. There was now an all out search for Captain Kidd.

Captain Kidd was able to savage enough gear left on board the Adventure Galley, he transferred it to the Adventure Prize.

The Adventure Prize traveled south along the coast of Madagascar stopping at two ports. They stopped at Port Dolphin to acquire provisions and Tulear to recruit sailors for the journey.

From Madagascar they traveled up the coast of Africa avoiding Port's and shipping lanes fetching Annoban Africa off the coast of Guinea and Cameroon.

After provisioning they set a course directly for the Virgin Islands to the small Island of Mona off the coast of Puerto Rico. They reached Mona ten months after the Mutiny at Madagascar.

Prior to arriving at Mona they stopped at Antigua for provisions and gossip. The ship Adventure Prize was leaking badly and in need of major repairs.

Captain Kidd was able to sell enough cargo/treasure to aquire a sloop rigged ship which was faster and less cumbersome than a cargo vessels.

Captain Kidd established a friendship with Captain Henry Bolton who he bought the sloop St. Antonio from. He then arranged for Captain Bolton to watch the Adventure Galley with the bulk of the treasure aboard.

At Captain Bolton s suggestion they moved the Adventure Prize to Santa Catalina Island 1.5 miles off the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic.

They moved the large cargo vessel into a lagoon in the middle of the island. He Authorized Captain Bolton to sell the cargo if he received a good price.

Although history reports that he had just met Captain Bolton on this trip I feel that he knew him previously. You wouldn't leave all your possessions with a stranger least of all a major quantity of treasure, nice guy or not!

Captain Kidd then departed for New York intending to return in ninety days. His intention was to approach Governor Bellomont the Governor of New York with the intention of getting the charges of piracy dropped.

Captain Kidd had many influential friends in New York. He was politically active and his wife was very prominent.

He wanted to present what he had done on the Indian Ocean campaign all within the bounds of his agreement with the Governor and King.

When he arrived in New York he was immediately arrested but he wouldn't reveal the location of the Adventure Prize.

He felt he could use the treasure to barter for his freedom. The Governor was trying to get two ships together, one of which was the St. Antonio which he had confiscated.

The Governor was trying to sponsor a mission going to the Caribbean to recover the treasure.

While the mission was still being planed a vessel arrived from the Caribbean reporting that the crew left on the Adventure Prize, I assume this means Captain Bolton, sold the cargo, had burnt the ship and had departed for Holland.

With this bit of knowledge, Governor Bellomont authorized Captain Nathaniel Cary to go to the island and verify that the ship had been burnt and to try to recover the treasure. This included trying to recover any treasure the Governments in the area and as far away as the Dutch Island of Curacao, which may have come in to possession of the treasure.

Meantime Governor Bellomont looked else wear for Captain Kids Treasure, he sent teams to the Bay of Fundy, Mahone Bay, he searched Grand Manan Island and the hundreds of islands of Mahone Bay, and the peninsula of Nova Scotia.

He searched Cape Cod and Maratha’s Vineyard, Block Island and Cherry Tree field on Gardeners Island off the north shore of Long Island.

On Gardeners Island satisfaction was achieved. Captain Kidd was invited to Boston to meet with Governor Bellomont who conveyed that clemency would be extended with the delivery of the treasure.

The offer of clemency however was a trick to draw Captain Kidd out into the open.

Governor Bellomont was afraid that he would be charged as a co-conspirator in piracy along with Captain kidd. The Governor was a financial backer, and a partner in the profit sharing of the proceeds of the treasure.

Also the Earl of Oxford, the Baron of Romney, the Duke of Sherosburry, Sir John Somers and King William III of England were also profit sharing partners in this venture.

A letter of Marque was issued based on this partnership. The King or crown was to receive 10% of the proceeds. This would come out of the 40% of the treasure that Captain Kidd would receive.

It is unclear if the 10% was solely for the crown or if it was split with the investor group.

When Captain Kidd landed on the Island, which was owned by the Gardener Family of Nantucket Island, the only resident of the island was living in the Manor house. Captain Kidd was said to have a treasure worth 30,000 colonial dollars.

It consisted of gold dust, bars of silver, Spanish dollars, rubies, diamonds, candle sticks and small bowels used for porridge, in colonial times, called porringers.

Captain Kidd compensated Mrs. Gardner a length of gold cloth, (which is in the East Hampton Library today) and a bag of brown sugar. He also told her the treasure better be here when he returns!

Captain Kidd wanted to hide the treasure, which he did, in a ravine in between Bostwick Point and the manor house.

He wanted to hide it because he thought and rightly so, that he may need it for bartering for his release.

When he arrived in Boston on the 6^th of June, 1699, he was immediately arrested and his wife was arrested shortly afterwords.

Captain Kidd was held at Stone Prison in solitary confinement for over a year. He was transferred to London where the Tory party had just taken control of parliament and they were going after the Whigg party which were the investors in the Captain Kidd privateering Marque.

Captain Kidd woudn't name any of the people that he was doing business with, they didn't receive any information at all out of him.

Captain Kidd didn't realize that they also were prosecuting him for the murder of the Chief Gunners mate while on the Indian Ocean Campaign.

They had a ton of evidence including eye witness accounts. Several crew members were also convicted along with the Captain for piracy, but they executed Captain Kidd for murder, they wanted to make an example out of him.

The crew was given clemency the day before the execution. Captain Kidd was held in Newport Prison. He was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701.

He was then gibbeted and hung over the Thames River at Tilbury Point where he hung for three years, as a warning to any other sailors who wanted to cross the line and go for a life of piracy.