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Adventure Galley

Purpose-built privateering vessel commanded by William Kidd.

Launched1695To1698

The Adventure Galley was the ship built for William Kidd's privateering venture and the vessel he commanded on the voyage of 1696 to 1698. She was launched at Deptford about 4 December 1695. Kidd is named as her commander in his own Narrative and in the printed 1701 trial account.1,2

She was financed as a syndicate. Robert Livingston arranged the undertaking in London with Lord Bellomont and others, and the sharetakers named in the record include Sir Edward Russell (later Earl of Orford), Sir John Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Romney, with the Crown reserved one-tenth of the profits and Kidd himself a part-owner. A formal articles of agreement between Kidd and his quartermaster John Walker, dated 10 September 1696, survives in the National Archives.3,4

Kidd killed his gunner, William Moore, aboard the galley on 30 October 1697, striking him on the head with an iron-hooped bucket during a dispute over whether to take a passing English ship; Moore died the next day. This is the one documented killing aboard the ship.5

The galley failed through the voyage. She was careened at Mehila (Moheli) about March 1697, where about fifty of the company died within a week from a cause the sources do not state. On the passage to Ile Sainte-Marie she became so leaky that eight men were needed every two glasses to keep her free, and she was woolded round with cables to hold her together. At Ile Sainte-Marie about 97 men deserted to Robert Culliford, carrying off her guns and stores.6,7

Evidence

The surviving figures for the ship are few and they disagree. She is rated at 287 tons burthen in her letter-of-marque declaration of 11 December 1695 (HCA 26/3/58) and in Jameson's edition. Her armament is given as 34 guns in that declaration and as 30 guns in the contemporary 1701 trial account; the two counts are carried side by side. She left England with about 70 to 80 men and rebuilt her company at New York, through articles publicly set up there, to about 150 to 155, given as 152 in one account and 155 on a colonial crew list. No contemporary survey, builder's certificate or fitting account of the ship has been found.8,9

How the galley was lost at Ile Sainte-Marie about June 1698 is told two ways by the men who were there. Two crew examinations, William Jenkins of Bow and Hugh Parrott of Plymouth, say the leaky hull was run ashore, stripped of her furniture and set on fire to recover her ironwork. Kidd's own Narrative and Edward Buckmaster's examination say she sank in the harbour once too few hands were left to keep her pumped. The Archive's record of the Madagascar episode adds two more readings from the same witnesses: Campbell's report of Kidd's oral account, that she was burnt at sea before she reached the island, and Bradinham's evidence at the bar that she was simply left because she was not fit to go to sea again. Kidd then went on in the prize, the Adventure Prize, formerly the Quedagh Merchant.10,11

No confirmed wreck of the Adventure Galley has been found. A 2015 announcement of the wreck and a fifty-kilogramme silver ingot off Ile Sainte-Marie was assessed by a UNESCO scientific mission, which found the ingot to be about 95 per cent lead with no silver and the site to be rubble from old port construction. The one located hull associated with Kidd is the Adventure Prize, the former Quedagh Merchant, off the Dominican Republic, which is a prize hull and not the flagship.12

What the sources cannot yet give is the ship herself. No contemporary survey, builder's certificate or fitting account of her has been found, and nothing from the yard that built her has been located to settle her build, her rig or her dimensions.

What the evidence does not settle

Specifications

  • Her design as an oared galley-frigate rests on later tradition
  • Tonnage is given as 287 tons; the figure is contestedDisputed

Launch date

Fate at Ile Sainte-Marie

  • She was burned at Ile Sainte-Marie in 1698Unverified
  • She was run aground and stripped, not burnedVery likely

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. William Kidd commanded the Adventure Galley on the voyage of 1696 to 1698 and is named as her commander in his own Narrative of the Voyage and in the printed 1701 account of his trial. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. State paper and trial pamphlet: Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76; The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (London, 1701)
  2. The Adventure Galley was launched at Deptford about 4 December 1695. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. State paper and secondary monograph: Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76; C. N. Dalton, The Real Captain Kidd (1911)
  3. The venture was privately financed and state-authorised, owned by a syndicate that included Robert Livingston, Lord Bellomont, Sir Edward Russell (later Earl of Orford), Sir John Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Romney, with the Crown reserving one-tenth of the profits and Kidd himself a part-owner. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Edition of state papers: Editorial headnote to the Case of William Kidd in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), which names the owners, and a deposition printed there in which Kidd names Bellomont, Orford and Somers as owners
  4. Articles of agreement between Kidd and his quartermaster John Walker, dated 10 September 1696 and accompanied by a list of the ship's company, survive in The National Archives. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Archive catalogue: The National Archives, Kew, catalogue entry for CO 5/931, articles of agreement between Captain William Kidd and John Walker, quartermaster, 10 September 1696, with a list of the company; known here from the catalogue entry, the document itself not yet consulted
  5. Kidd killed his gunner William Moore aboard the Adventure Galley on 30 October 1697, striking him on the head with an iron-hooped bucket during a dispute over the Loyal Captain, an English ship met at sea which most of the company had wanted to take and Kidd had refused to attack; Moore died the next day. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and state paper: The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (London, 1701); Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76
  6. The galley was careened at Mehila (Moheli) about 22 to 23 March 1697, where about fifty of the company died within a week from a cause no contemporary source states, and on the passage to St Mary's she became so leaky that eight men were needed every two glasses to pump her and she was woolded round with cables to hold her together. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. State paper: Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76
  7. At St Mary's in 1698 about 97 of Kidd's men deserted to Robert Culliford's Mocha frigate, carrying off the galley's guns and stores. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. State paper and examination: Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76; Examination of Edward Buckmaster before Lieutenant-Governor John Nanfan, 6 June 1699, TNA CO 5/1042 no. 40 XI, printed in Jameson as document 73
  8. The Adventure Galley is rated at 287 tons burthen in the letter-of-marque declaration of 11 December 1695 (HCA 26/3/58) and in Jameson's edition, and her armament is given as 34 guns in that declaration, in Jameson's summary and in later accounts, and as 30 guns in the 1701 trial account, the two counts being carried side by side; no contemporary survey, builder's certificate or fitting account of the ship has been found. Disputed The sources disagree, and we say how. Trial pamphlet and edition of state papers: Declaration for letters of marque, The National Archives, HCA 26/3/58; editorial headnote to the Case of William Kidd in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923); The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (London, 1701). The tonnage is Probable; the gun count is Disputed between the declaration and the trial print
  9. The Adventure Galley left England with about 70 to 80 men, 70 in the letter-of-marque declaration and Jameson and about 80 in the 1701 trial account, and increased her company at New York to about 150 to 155, given as 152 in the fullest account located and as about 155 on a colonial crew list. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Trial pamphlet and edition of state papers: Editorial headnote to the Case of William Kidd in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), giving 70 men and citing the crew list in the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1700, p. 199; The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (London, 1701), giving about 80
  10. The crew examinations of William Jenkins of Bow and Hugh Parrott of Plymouth state that the company ran the leaky galley ashore at St Mary's, stripped her and set her on fire to recover the ironwork. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Crew examinations printed in a secondary monograph: C. N. Dalton, The Real Captain Kidd (1911), appendix printing the examinations of William Jenkins of Bow and Hugh Parrott of Plymouth
  11. The Adventure Galley was lost at St Mary's in 1698 after the Mocha frigate left and Kidd was reduced to about thirteen men; Kidd's Narrative and Edward Buckmaster's examination say she sank in the harbour, the manner of her loss is told differently by other crew examinations, and Kidd continued in the Adventure Prize. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. State paper and examination: Kidd's Narrative of the Voyage, 7 July 1699, TNA CO 5/860 no. 64, printed in Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period (1923), document 76; Examination of Edward Buckmaster before Lieutenant-Governor John Nanfan, 6 June 1699, TNA CO 5/1042 no. 40 XI, printed in Jameson as document 73; C. N. Dalton, The Real Captain Kidd (1911)
  12. No confirmed wreck of the Adventure Galley has been found; the May 2015 announcement by Barry Clifford of the wreck and a fifty-kilogramme silver ingot off Ile Sainte-Marie was rejected by a 2015 UNESCO scientific mission led by Michel L'Hour, which found the ingot to be about 95 per cent lead and the site to be rubble from old port construction. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern reporting: The History Blog, Captain Kidd treasure neither treasure nor Kidd's (2015), and AFP via Phys.org, Dispute deepens over Madagascar's pirate shipwreck (July 2015), both reporting the UNESCO mission; the mission's own report not consulted