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73-528: Adventure Galley , also known as Adventure , was an English merchant ship captained by Scottish sea captain William Kidd . She was a type of hybrid ship that combined square rigged sails with oars to give her manoeuvrability in both windy and calm conditions. The vessel was launched at the end of 1695 and was acquired by Kidd the following year to serve in his privateering venture. Between April 1696 and April 1698, she travelled thousands of miles across

146-726: A Pennsylvania privateer took the Active . Olmsted and the privateer disputed ownership of the prize, and in November 1778 a Philadelphia prize court jury came to a split verdict awarding each a share. Olmsted, with the assistance of then American General Benedict Arnold , appealed to the Continental Congress Prize Committee, which reversed the Philadelphia jury verdict and awarded the whole prize to Olmsted. But Pennsylvania authorities refused to enforce

219-514: A blockade. Prize commissioners took custody of the vessel and its cargo, and gathered the ship's papers, charts, and other documents. They had a special duty to notify the prize court of perishable property, to be sold promptly to prevent spoilage and the proceeds held for whoever prevailed in the prize proceeding. The commissioners took testimony from witnesses on standard form written interrogatories . Admiralty courts rarely heard live testimony. The commissioners' interrogatories sought to establish

292-628: A common means of commercial intermodal freight transport . A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Tankers can range in size from several hundred tons , designed to serve small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including: Different products require different handling and transport, thus special types of tankers have been built, such as chemical tankers , oil tankers , and gas carriers . Among oil tankers, supertankers were designed for carrying oil around

365-539: A compilation called the 1753 Report of the Law Officers , authored by William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705–1793). It was said to be the most important exposition of prize law published in English, along with the subsequent High Court of Admiralty decisions of William Scott, Lord Stowell (1743–1836). American Justice Joseph Story , the leading United States judicial authority on prize law, drew heavily on

438-811: A formal declaration of war, as happened during the American Revolution when the rebelling colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania all granted Letters of Marque months before the Continental Congress's official Declaration of Independence of July 1776, by the turn of the 19th century it was generally accepted that a sovereign government first had to declare war. The "existence of war between nations terminates all legal commercial intercourse between their citizens or subjects," wrote Francis Upton in Maritime Warfare and Prize , since "[t]rade and commerce presuppose

511-562: A law which allowed for taking prizes, as did the Netherlands and Norway, though the German invasion and subsequent capitulation of all three of those countries quickly put this to an end. Britain formally ended the eligibility of naval officers to share in prize money in 1948. Under contemporary international law and treaties, nations may still bring enemy vessels before their prize courts, to be condemned and sold. But no nation now offers

584-560: A lawyer and judge, wrote a letter dated 14 July 1856 to other nations, among which The Netherlands : "The United States have learned with sincere regret that in one or two instances, the four propositions, with all the conditions annexed, have been promptly, and this Government cannot but think, unadvisedly accepted without restriction or qualification." The US didn't want to restrict privateering and did strive for protection of all private property on neutral of enemy ships. Marcy did warn countries with large commercial maritime interests and

657-439: A prize of the recapturing vessel. However, the rescuers were entitled to compensation for salvage , just as if they had rescued a crippled vessel from sinking at sea. The prize that made it back to the capturing vessel's country or that of an ally which had authorized prize proceedings would be sued in admiralty court in rem —meaning "against the thing", against the vessel itself. For this reason. decisions in prize cases bear

730-418: A share to the officers or crew who risked their lives in the capture: Self-interest was the driving force that compelled men of the sea to accept the international law of prize ... [including merchants] because it brought a valuable element of certainty to their dealings. If the rules were clear and universal, they could ship their goods abroad in wartime, after first buying insurance against known risks. ... On

803-440: A small navy, like The Netherlands, to be aware that the end of privateering meant they would be totally dependent on nations with a strong navy. Marcy did end the letter hoping: “(…) that it may be induced to hesitate in acceding to a proposition which is here conceived to be fraught with injurious consequences to all but those Powers which already have or are willing to furnish themselves with powerful navies.” The US did accept

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876-404: A vessel and its cargo to the new owners and settle the matter. According to Upton's treatise, "Even after four years' possession, and the performance of several voyages, the title to the property is not changed without sentence of condemnation". The agent of the privateer or naval officer brought a libel , accusing the captured vessel of belonging to the enemy, or carrying enemy cargo, or running

949-656: Is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft , which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships , which are used for military purposes. They come in myriad sizes and shapes, from six-metre (20 ft) inflatable dive boats in Hawaii, to 5,000-passenger casino vessels on the Mississippi River, to tugboats plying New York Harbor , to 300-metre (1,000 ft) oil tankers and container ships at major ports, to passenger-carrying submarines in

1022-731: Is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo , goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade . Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. A bulk carrier is a ship used to transport bulk cargo items such as iron ore , bauxite, coal, cement, grain and similar cargo. Bulk carriers can be recognized by large box-like hatches on deck, designed to slide outboard or fold fore-and-aft to enable access for loading or discharging cargo. The dimensions of bulk carriers are often determined by

1095-442: Is contradicted by Kidd's own account, which stated that his skeleton crew "could not keep the galley from sinking, and went on board of the prize [i.e. Quedah Merchant ]." No more is currently known about the ship's fate and last position. The Discovery Channel commissioned Barry Clifford , a well-known underwater explorer, to find Adventure Galley as part of its "Quest" series in 1999–2000. He identified what were believed to be

1168-480: Is guilty unless proven innocent. Prize captors need show only "reasonable suspicion" that the property is subject to condemnation; the owner bears the burden of proving the contrary. A prize court normally ordered the vessel and its cargo condemned and sold at auction. But the court's decision became vastly more complicated in the case of neutral vessels, or a neutral nation's cargo carried on an enemy vessel. Different countries treated these situations differently. By

1241-472: The Atlantic and Indian Oceans in search of pirates but failed to find any until nearly the end of her travels. Instead, Kidd himself turned pirate in desperation at not having obtained any prizes. Adventure Galley succeeded in capturing two vessels off India and brought them back to Madagascar , but by the spring of 1698 the ship's hull had become so rotten and leaky that she was no longer seaworthy. She

1314-634: The Bab el-Mandeb strait at the mouth of the Red Sea , where she is said to have unsuccessfully tried to attack a Mughal convoy. In September 1697, Adventure Galley arrived on the Malabar Coast of India, where Kidd finally managed to capture two ships travelling under French passes – a pair of merchantmen, Rouparelle and Quedah Merchant . Unfortunately for Kidd, the latter ship was captained by an Englishman and when news of her capture reached London he

1387-553: The Caribbean . Many merchant ships operate under a " flag of convenience " from a country other than the home of the vessel's owners, such as Liberia and Panama , which have more favorable maritime laws than other countries. The Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world. Today, the Greek fleet accounts for some 16 per cent of the world's tonnage ; this makes it currently the largest single international merchant fleet in

1460-869: The Crimean War , also did agree on the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law renouncing granting letters of marque. Proposal to the Declaration came from the French Foreign Minister and president of the Congress Count Walewski . In the plain wordings of the Declaration: The Declaration did contain a juridical novelty, making it possible for the first time in history that nations not represented at

1533-735: The Horn of Africa from the Middle East ; the FSO Knock Nevis being the largest vessel in the world, a ULCC supertanker formerly known as Jahre Viking (Seawise Giant). It has a deadweight of 565,000 metric tons and length of about 458 meters (1,500 ft). The use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity; hence, the production of supertankers has currently ceased. Today's largest oil tankers in comparison by gross tonnage are TI Europe , TI Asia , TI Oceania , which are

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1606-526: The Indian Ocean . Adventure Galley called at Madeira (reached on 8 October) and Boa Vista, Cape Verde (on 19 October) to pick up supplies en route . The long voyage down the western coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope took the rest of the year and it was not until 27 January 1697 that Adventure Galley made landfall at Tuléar (now Toliara ), Madagascar . By this time Adventure Galley

1679-559: The Spanish–American War , and only abjured the practice by statute during World War I. The U.S. prize courts adjudicated no cases resulting from its own takings in either World War I or World War II (although the Supreme Court did rule on a German prize— SS Appam in the case The Steamship Appam —that was brought to and held at Hampton Roads ). Likewise Russia, Portugal, Germany, Japan, China, Romania, and France followed

1752-601: The 1753 report and Lord Stowell's decisions, as did Francis Upton, who wrote the last major American treatise on prize law, his Maritime Warfare and Prize . While the Anglo-American common law case precedents are the most accessible description of prize law, in prize cases, courts construe and apply international customs and usages, the Law of Nations , and not the laws or precedents of any one country. Fortunes in prize money were to be made at sea as vividly depicted in

1825-545: The 1790s, corrupt French Caribbean prize courts (often sharing in the proceeds) resorted to pretexts and subterfuges to justify condemning neutral American vessels. They condemned one for carrying alleged English contraband because the compass in the binnacle showed an English brand; another because the pots and pans in the galley were of English manufacture. Outraged U.S. shipowners, their descendants, and descendants of their descendants (often serving as fronts for insurers) challenged these decisions in litigation collectively called

1898-619: The French Spoliation Cases. The spoliation cases last over a century, from the 1790s until 1915. Together with Indian tribal claims for treaty breaches, the French Spoliation Cases enjoy the dubious distinction of figuring among the longest-litigated claims in U.S. history. Most privateering came to an end in the late-19th century, when the plenipotentiaries who agreed on the Treaty of Paris in March 1856 that did put an end to

1971-465: The IOUs negotiable instruments. On occasion a seized vessel would be released to ferry home prisoners, a practice which Lord Stowell said "in the consideration of humanity and policy" Admiralty Courts must protect with the utmost attention. While on her mission as a cartel ship she was immune to recapture so long as she proceeded directly on her errand, promptly returned, and did not engage in trading in

2044-661: The United States in World War I, declaring they would no longer pay prize money to naval officers. On November 9, 1914, the British and French governments signed an agreement establishing government jurisdiction over prizes captured by either of them. The Russian government acceded to this agreement on March 5, 1915, and the Italian government followed suit on January 15, 1917. Shortly before World War II France passed

2117-652: The ambitious Robert Livingston the Younger , who later became the mayor of Albany, New York . With Coote's backing, Kidd obtained a commission from King William III to operate as a privateer. The other investors who came aboard the scheme after it met with the king's approval were the Earl of Oxford , the Earl of Romney , the Duke of Shrewsbury , the Lord Chancellor , Sir Edmund Harrison and John Somers. The king himself

2190-459: The battle, once it was over the victors had to collect themselves, put aside anger and exercise forbearance, treating captives with courtesy and civility to the degree prudence allowed. Officers restrained the crew to prevent pillaging defeated adversaries, or pilfering the cargo, known as breaking bulk. Francis Upton's treatise on Maritime Warfare cautioned: Embezzlements of the cargo seized, or acts personally violent, or injuries perpetrated upon

2263-775: The beginning of Western recorded history in Homeric times. Prize law fully developed between the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 and the American Civil War of 1861–1865. This period largely coincides with the last century of fighting sail and includes the Napoleonic Wars , the American and French Revolutions , and America's Quasi-War with France of the late 1790s. Much of Anglo-American prize law derives from 18th Century British precedents – in particular,

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2336-755: The blockade of whatever flag were subject to capture and condemnation. However passengers and crew aboard the blockade runners were not to be treated as prisoners of war, as Upton's Maritime Warfare and Prize enjoins: "the penalty, and the sole penalty ... is the forfeiture of the property employed in [blockade running]." Persons aboard blockade runners could only be temporarily detained as witnesses, and after testifying, immediately released. The legitimacy of an adjudication depended on regular and just proceedings. Departures from internationally accepted standards of fairness risked ongoing litigation by disgruntled shipowners and their insurers, often protracted for decades. For example, during America's Quasi-War with France in

2409-496: The captured crew, or improperly separating them from the prize-vessel, or not producing them for examination before the prize-court, or other torts injurious to the rights and health of the prisoners, may render the arrest of the vessel or cargo, as prize, defeasible, and also subject the tort feasor for damages therefore. Taking the prize before a prize court might be impractical for any number of reasons, such as bad weather, shortage of prize crew, dwindling water and provisions, or

2482-432: The close of the 18th century, Russia, Scandinavia, France, and the United States had taken the position that "free ships make free goods": that is, cargo on a neutral ship could not be condemned as a prize. But Britain asserted the opposite, that an enemy's goods on a neutral vessel, or neutral goods on an enemy vessel, may be taken, a position which prevailed in 19th century practice. The ingenuity of belligerents in evading

2555-476: The crew promptly deserted to another pirate captain, Robert Culliford and sank November . Kidd was left with only thirteen men to crew Adventure Prize and the now-unseaworthy Adventure Galley . According to one of her crew, William Jenkins, after the rest of the crew had deserted Kidd "run Adventure Galley on shoar in Madagascar. They stript her furnishings and set her on fire to get her iron worke." This

2628-520: The decision, asserting the Continental Congress could not intrude on a state prize court jury verdict. Olmsted doggedly pursued the case for decades until he won, in a U.S. Supreme Court case in 1809 which Justice Stanley Matthews later called "the first case in which the supremacy of the Constitution was enforced by judicial tribunals against the assertion of state authority". Although Letters of Marque and Reprisal were sometimes issued before

2701-400: The doctrine of freedom of the seas—was an advocate's brief justifying Dutch seizures of Spanish and Portuguese shipping. Grotius defends the practice of taking prizes as not merely traditional or customary, but just. His Commentary claims that the etymology of the name of the Greek war god Ares was the verb "to seize", and that the law of nations had deemed looting enemy property legal since

2774-494: The earliest U.S. cases for instance, that of the Active , took fully 30 years to resolve jurisdictional disputes between state and federal authorities. A captured American privateer captain, 20-year-old Gideon Olmsted, shipped aboard the British sloop Active in Jamaica as an ordinary hand in an effort to get home. Olmsted organized a mutiny and commandeered the sloop. But as Olmsted's mutineers sailed their prize to America,

2847-456: The establishment and/or the signing of a multilateral treaty, could access as a party afterwards. Again in the plain wordings of the treaty: "The present Declaration is not and shall not be binding, except between those Powers who have acceded, or shall accede, to it." The declaration has been written in French, translated in English and the two versions have been sent to nations worldwide with

2920-401: The existence of civil contracts … and recourse to judicial tribunals; and this is necessarily incompatible with a state of war." Indeed, each citizen of a nation "is at war with every citizen of the enemy," which imposes a "duty, on every citizen, to attack the enemy and seize his property, though by established custom, this right is restricted to such only, as are the commissioned instruments of

2993-599: The formerly ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships which are designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Modern cruiseferries have car decks for lorries as well as

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3066-510: The government." The formal commission bestowed upon a naval vessel, and the Letter of Marque and Reprisal granted to private merchant vessels converting them into naval auxiliaries, qualified them to take enemy property as the armed hands of their sovereign, and to share in the proceeds. When a privateer or naval vessel spotted a tempting vessel—whatever flag she flew or often enough flying none at all—they gave chase. Sailing under false colors

3139-476: The invitation to access, leading to the acceding of altogether 55 nations, a big step towards the globalisation of international law. This broad acceptance wouldn't otherwise have been possible in such a short period. The United States however, were not a signatory and had reasons not to accede the treaty afterwards. After having received the invitation to accede, the US Secretary of State, William L. Marcy

3212-750: The largest sailing vessels today. But even with their deadweight of 441,585 metric tons, sailing as VLCC most of the time, they do not use more than 70% of their total capacity. Apart from pipeline transport , tankers are the only method for transporting large quantities of oil, although such tankers have caused large environmental disasters when sinking close to coastal regions, causing oil spills . See Braer , Erika , Exxon Valdez , Prestige and Torrey Canyon for examples of tankers that have been involved in oil spills. Coastal trading vessels are smaller ships that carry any category of cargo along coastal, rather than trans-oceanic, routes. Coasters are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on

3285-557: The last 150 years it has not done so. An International Prize Court was to be set up by treaty XII of the Hague Convention of 1907 , but this treaty never came into force as only Nicaragua ratified it. Commerce raiding by private vessels ended with the American Civil War, but Navy officers remained eligible for prize money a little while longer. The United States continued paying prizes to naval officers in

3358-451: The law through pretended neutrality, false papers, quick title transfers, and a myriad of other devices, make up the principal business of the prize courts during the last century of fighting sail. Neutral vessels could be subject to capture if they ran a blockade. The blockade had to be effective to be cognizable in a prize court, that is, not merely declared but actually enforced. Neutrals had to be warned of it. If so then any ships running

3431-411: The meantime. Usually, however, the captor put aboard a prize crew to sail a captured vessel to the nearest port of their own or an allied country, where a prize court could adjudicate the prize. If while sailing en route a friendly vessel re-captured the prize, called a rescue, the right of postliminium declared title to the rescued prize restored to its prior owners. That is, the ship did not become

3504-410: The name of the vessel, such as The Rapid (a U.S. Supreme Court case holding goods bought before hostilities commenced nonetheless become contraband after war is declared) or The Elsebe (Lord Stowell holding that prize courts enforce rights under the Law of Nations rather than merely the law of their home country). A proper prize court condemnation was absolutely requisite to convey clear title to

3577-400: The nationality of the prize and her crew, and the origin and destination of the cargo: the vessel was said to be "confiscated out of her own mouth." One considerable difference between prize law and ordinary Anglo-American criminal law is the reversal of the normal onus probandi or burden of proof. While in criminal courts a defendant is innocent until proven guilty, in prize court a vessel

3650-463: The novels of C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian . During the American Revolution the combined American naval and privateering prizes totaled nearly $ 24 million; in the War of 1812, $ 45 million. Such huge revenues were earned when $ 200 were a generous year's wages for a sailor; his share of a single prize could fetch ten or twenty times his yearly pay, and taking five or six prizes in one voyage

3723-603: The oared frigate design for warfare. After leaving Deptford on 6 April 1696, Kidd brought Adventure Galley along the coast to Plymouth in south-western England. He set sail from there on 23 April, bound for New York, and reached the city around 4 July. The ship was accompanied by a French fishing vessel that Kidd captured during the Atlantic crossing. He had the French boat condemned in New York as prize , and recruited more crewmen and set sail again on 6 September, heading for

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3796-511: The other points of the Declaration, being a codification of custom law. During the American Civil War , Confederate privateers cruised against Union merchant shipping. Likewise, the Union (though refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Confederate letters of marque) allowed its navy to take Confederate vessels as prizes. Under US Constitution Article 1 Section 8, it is still theoretically possible for Congress to authorize letters of marque, but in

3869-492: The other side of the table, those purchasing vessels and cargoes from prize courts had the comfort of knowing that what they bought was really theirs. The doctrine and practice of maritime prize was widely adhered to for four centuries, among a multitude of sovereign nations, because adhering to it was in the material interest of their navies, their privateersmen, their merchants and bankers, and their sovereigns. Diplomats and international lawyers who struggle in this world to achieve

3942-482: The outset, prize taking was all smash and grab, like breaking a jeweler's window, but by the fifteenth century a body of guiding rules, the maritime law of nations, had begun to evolve and achieve international recognition." Grotius 's seminal treatise on international law called De Iure Praedae Commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty) , published in 1604—of which Chapter 12, " Mare Liberum " inter alia founded

4015-458: The passengers' cars. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been removed. A ferry is a boat or ship carrying passengers and sometimes their vehicles. Ferries are also used to transport freight (in lorries and sometimes unpowered freight containers ) and even railroad cars (in the case of a train ferry ). Prize (law) In his book The Prize Game , Donald Petrie writes, "at

4088-553: The ports and sea routes that they need to serve, and by the maximum width of the Panama Canal. Most lakes are too small to accommodate bulk carriers, but a large fleet of lake freighters has been plying the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway of North America for over a century. A container ship is a cargo ship that carries its cargo in standardized containers, in a technique called containerization . These ships are

4161-404: The problems that Kidd faced with her seaworthiness during her short career in his service. It was not uncommon for shipyards to cut corners and use sub-standard materials, and to pocket the difference in costs as extra profit. Although no picture has survived of Adventure Galley , HMS Charles Galley , which was recorded in contemporary paintings, provides a good example of how the English adapted

4234-406: The proximity of an overpowering enemy force—in which case a vessel might be ransomed. That is, instead of destroying her on the spot as was their prerogative, the privateer or naval officer would accept a scrip in form of an IOU for an agreed sum as ransom from the ship's master. On land this would be extortion and the promise to pay unenforceable in court, but at sea it was accepted practice and

4307-437: The relative size, speed, and force of the vessels, what signals were exchanged and what fighting ensued, the location of the capture, the state of the weather and "the degree of light or darkness," and what other vessels were in sight. That was because naval prize law gave assisting vessels, defined as those that were "in signal distance" at the time, a share of the proceeds. The written interrogatories and ship's papers established

4380-412: The same island or continent. Their shallow hulls allow them to sail over reefs and other submerged navigation hazards, whereas ships designed for blue-water trade usually have much deeper hulls for better seakeeping . A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as

4453-921: The term "Merchant Navy" without further clarification is used to refer to the British Merchant Navy ; the United States merchant fleet is known as the United States Merchant Marine . Merchant ships' names have a prefix to indicate which kind of vessel they are: The UNCTAD review of maritime transport categorizes ships as: oil tankers, bulk (and combination) carriers, general cargo ships, container ships, and "other ships", which includes "liquefied petroleum gas carriers, liquefied natural gas carriers, parcel (chemical) tankers, specialized tankers, reefers, offshore supply, tugs, dredgers, cruise, ferries, other non-cargo". General cargo ships include "multi-purpose and project vessels and Roll-on/roll-off cargo". A cargo ship or freighter

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4526-488: The world, albeit not the largest in history. During wars, merchant ships may be used as auxiliaries to the navies of their respective countries, and are called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel . The term "commercial vessel" is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel (i.e. boat or ship) engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire. In English,

4599-461: The wrecks of Adventure Galley and Rouparelle/November , as well as Culliford's Mocha Frigate , William Condon 's Flying Dragon and Captain Chivers' New Soldado . Excavations recovered timbers made from English oak and a few scanty artifacts which were identified by Clifford as coming from Adventure Galley . In 2015, Clifford recovered a 50 kilograms (110 lb) metal bar from the site, which

4672-559: Was a common ruse, both for predator and prey. The convention was that a vessel must hoist her true colors before firing the first shot. Firing under a false flag could cost dearly in prize court proceedings, possibly even resulting in restitution to the captured vessel's owner. Often a single cannon shot across the bow was enough to persuade the prey to heave-to , but sometimes brutal hours and even days of cannonading ensued, along with boarding and hand-to-hand fighting with cutlasses, pistols, and boarding pikes. No matter how furious and bloody

4745-588: Was accomplished successfully over the course of a month but up to a third of her crew died in an outbreak of an epidemic disease, possibly malaria or yellow fever . Kidd sailed back to Johanna to find replacement crewmen and this time was able to raise the credit for new sails and rigging. According to Kidd's testimony, he "steered for India" on 25 April 1697. By now he was a year out of London and had no prize money to show for his efforts. He had failed to find any pirates and turned his own hand to piracy. Adventure Galley did not go immediately to India but travelled to

4818-586: Was built, was one of the largest private shipyards in England and was a supplier of vessels to the EIC. Adventure Galley was well-armed with a complement of 32 guns ( saker or light cannon ). It is not clear whether she was in fact a new vessel or had originally been intended for the navy; she may have been a commercial vessel under refit at Castle's yard before she was acquired by Kidd's consortium. She does not appear to have been particularly well-built, to judge from

4891-468: Was common. With so much at stake, prize law attracted some of the greatest legal talent of the age, including John Adams , Joseph Story , Daniel Webster , and Richard Henry Dana Jr. author of Two Years Before the Mast . Prize cases were among the most complex of the time, as the disposition of vast sums turned on the fluid Law of Nations , and difficult questions of jurisdiction and precedent. One of

4964-716: Was in need of fresh sail and rigging. The fact that the ship's existing supplies had barely lasted eight months suggests that the dockyard may have installed substandard equipment. After staying a month in Tuléar, Adventure Galley sailed on to Johanna (now Anjouan ) in the Comoros on 18 March, where East India Company ships often refitted. However, Kidd was unable to obtain credit from local merchants to buy new rigging or sails, and chose instead to take Adventure Galley to another island – either Mayotte or Mohéli – for careening , to clean her hull of encrusted barnacles and weeds. This

5037-510: Was marked with the letters S and T and was claimed to be made of silver. The accuracy of Clifford's conclusions about the wrecks remain debated in the scientific community. A UNESCO expert team subsequently rejected Clifford's conclusions, declaring the apparent shipwreck site to be only a broken part of the port constructions and identifying the metal bar as being 95% lead and probably a piece of ballast. Merchant ship A merchant ship , merchant vessel , trading vessel , or merchantman

5110-745: Was not an investor but was nonetheless entitled to one tenth of the proceeds. The vessel was purchased for £8,000 (£968,571 today) in August 1696. She had been launched on 4 December 1695 from Captain William Castle's dockyard in Deptford on the outskirts of London . Her design combined sails and oars, an unusual combination for warships at that time, that incorporated three ship-rigged masts and two banks of oars. This allowed her to make 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) under full sail and 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) under oar. Although rowing

5183-534: Was publicly condemned as a pirate. Adventure Galley 's next and final stage of her voyage took her to the Île Sainte-Marie , a pirate haven off the north-east coast of Madagascar. By now, according to Kidd's narrative, "his gally [ sic ] was very leaky", probably because of a rotten hull. The ship arrived there about 1 April, accompanied by the Rouparelle (renamed November ) and Quedah Merchant (renamed Adventure Prize ). On arrival, most of

5256-609: Was slow it enabled the ship to manoeuvre against the wind, or in calm conditions where other vessels that relied on sails alone could not make any progress. A number of British warships had been built to similar designs following the lessons learned from the wars against the Barbary pirates of North Africa , whose galleys had proved formidable opponents, and trading companies such as the East India Company (EIC) also built oared frigates. Castle's yard, where Adventure Galley

5329-490: Was stripped of anything movable and sunk off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar. Her remains have not yet been located. The vessel was acquired for Kidd by a consortium of investors who backed a scheme to hunt down pirates, recover their booty and redistribute it among the investors. He had enlisted the support of Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont and governor-general of the British Province of New York and

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