and unto
the Officers, Mariners, and others which shall be under your command,
full power and authority to apprehend, seize, and take into your
custody, as well the said Captain Tew, John Ireland, Capt. Thomas Wake,
and Capt. William Maze, or Mace, and all such pirates, freebooters, and
sea rovers, being either our subjects or of other nations associated
with them, which you shall meet with upon the seas or coasts of
America, or upon any other seas or coasts, with all their ships and
vessels, and all such merchandizes, money, goods, and wares as shall be
found on board, or with them, in case they shall willingly yield
themselves up, but if they will not yield without fighting, then you
are by force to compel to yield.

And we also require you to bring, or cause to be brought, such pirates,
freebooters, or sea rovers as you shall seize, to a legal trial to the
end that they may be proceeded against according to the law in such
cases. And we do hereby command all our Officers, Ministers, and
others our loving subjects whatsoever to be aiding and assisting you in
the premises, and we do hereby enjoin you to keep an exact journal of
your proceedings in execution of the premises, and set down the names
of such pirates and of their officers and company, and the names of
such ships and vessels as you shall by virtue of these presents take
and seize, and the quantity of arms, ammunition, provisions, and lading
of such ships, and the true value of the same, as near as you judge.

And we do hereby strictly charge and command, and you will answer the
contrary to your peril, that you do not, in any manner, offend or
molest our friends and allies, their ships or subjects, by colour or
pretense of these presents, or the authority thereof granted. _In
witness_ whereof, we have caused our Great Seal of England to be
affixed to these presents. Given at our Court in Kensington, the 26th
day of January, 1696, in the seventh Year of our Reign.

It was privately understood that the King was to receive one-tenth of
the proceeds of the voyage, although this stipulation does not appear
in the articles of agreement. By a subsequent grant from the Crown,
this understanding was publicly ratified and all money and property
taken from pirates, except the King's tenth, was to be made over to the
owners of the _Adventure Galley_, to wit, Bellomont and his partners,
and Kidd and Livingston, as they had agreed among themselves.

The _Adventu