Note 33 — Chapter V

The colonists of North America had, for the last few years, been greatly addicted to piracy: a practice which it behoved the English government to put an immediate stop to, if possible. A person of the name of Kidd, the owner of a small sloop, and who had been early inured to a maritime life, proposed, that if a vessel of thirty guns, well manned, was placed under his command, he would agree to suppress the pirates, and effectually clear those seas from such dangerous frequenters. After some delay, a vessel was equipped by private subscription, and Kidd appointed to the command; but instead of proceeding upon his mission to the American seas, he sailed for the East Indies, where he engaged in the unlawful traffic himself, captured some traders, and, after burning his own vessel, sailed in the largest of his prize ships for the Leeward Islands. After remaining there for a short period, he proceeded in his piratical career to the coast of North America, where, in his search after wealth, he perpetrated those revolting cruelties which have rendered his name infamous, and long caused the inhabitants of those colonies to chat around their winter’s hearth of the deeds and fate of the redoubted Captain Kidd, the lawless rover of the seas.