Measures to suppress piracy--The _Adventure_ fitted out--Warren's squadron
meets with Kidd--His suspicious behaviour--He threatens the
_Sidney_--Waylays the Red Sea fleet--Captures the _Mary_--Visits Carwar
and Calicut--His letter to the factory--Chased by Portuguese
men-of-war--Chases the _Sedgwick_--Chivers--Action between _Dorrill_ and
_Resolution_--Kidd captures the _Quedah Merchant_--Dilemma of European
traders at Surat--Their agreements with the authorities--Experience of the
_Benjamin_--News of Kidd's piracies reaches England--Despatch of squadron
under Warren--Littleton at Madagascar--Kidd sails for New York--Arrested
and tried--His defence and execution--Justice of his sentence--His
character--Diminution of piracy--Lowth in the _Loyal Merchant_--Act for
suppression of piracy--Captain Millar.


War with France was being actively prosecuted by land and sea. In 1695
the nation was still smarting under reverses in the Low Countries and the
repulse of the Brest expedition. At sea the navy was holding its own,
though English commerce suffered terribly under the attacks of French
corsairs of Dunkirk and St. Malo. The Company applied for a ship to be
sent to the Indian seas to deal with the pirates; but Lord Orford, the
head of the Admiralty, refused to spare one. It was the fashion for
wealthy men to obtain letters of marque for privateering, and a syndicate
was formed, to which the Chancellor, Lord Somers, Lord Orford, Lord
Bellamont, and other Whig nobles were parties, to send out a privateer
against French commerce. For this purpose the _Adventure_ galley was
purchased and fitted out, and the command was given to William Kidd, who
was suggested to Lord Bellamont as a fit person for the task. Kidd was an
old privateers-man who had gained some reputation in the West Indies
during the war. Lord Bellamont had been appointed Governor of New York,
though he did not proceed there till two years later. The king had