And when an Irishman named Lord Bellomont came
out as Governor in 1696 he set about doing it. It was decided that
the best way to do it was to send a swift and well-armed frigate
under a captain who knew their haunts and ways, to catch these
sea-robbers. For this, Captain Kidd, a tried sailor, was chosen, and
he set sail with a somewhat ruffianly crew in the ship Adventure.
But Captain Kidd was unlucky. Though he roamed the seas and sought
the pirates in the haunts he knew so well he found never a one.
Nor could he find even enemy ships which, as a privateer, he might
have attacked. Dutch ships, ships of the Great Mogul he met. But
Britain was at peace with Holland and on most friendly terms with
the heathen potentate. Pirates and ships of France he could not
find.
Food and money were nearly gone, the crew grew mutinous. They had
come forth for adventure, and not to sail the seas thus tamely and
on short rations to boot. So there was angry talk between the crew
and captain. Plainly they told him that the next ship which came
in sight, be it friend or foe, should be their prey. Kidd grew
furious, and, seizing a hatchet, he hit one of the men on the head
so that he fell senseless on the deck and died. Alone he stood
against his mutinous crew. But in the end he gave way to them. He
turned pirate, and any ship which came his way was treated as a
lawful prize.
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