re Galley_, the ship selected for the cruise, was of 287
tons and thirty-four guns, a powerful privateer for her day, which Kidd
fitted out at Plymouth, England. Finding difficulty in recruiting a
full crew of mettlesome lads, he sailed from that port for New York in
April of 1696, with only seventy hands. While anchored in the Hudson,
he increased his company to 155 men, many of them the riff-raff of the
water-front, deserters, wastrels, brawlers, and broken seamen who may
have sailed under the black flag aforetime. It was a desperate
venture, the pay was to be in shares of the booty taken, "no prizes, no
money," and sober, respectable sailors looked askance at it. Kidd was
impatient to make an offing. Livingston and Bellomont were chafing at
the delay, and he had to ship what men he could find at short notice.

The _Adventure Galley_ cruised first among the West Indies, honestly in
quest of "pirates, freebooters and sea rovers," and not falling in with
any of these gentry, Kidd took his departure for the Cape of Good Hope
and the Indian Ocean. This was in accordance with his instructions,
for in the preamble of the articles of agreement it was stated that
"certain persons did some time since depart from New England, Rhode
Island, New York, and other parts in America and elsewhere with an
intention to pyrate and to commit spoyles and depredations in the Red
Sea and elsewhere, and to return with such riches and goods as they
should get to certain places by them agreed upon, of which said persons
and places the said Captain Kidd hath notice."

This long voyage was soundly planned. Madagascar was the most
notorious haunt of pirates in the world. Their palm-thatched villages
fringed its beaches and the blue harbors sheltered many sail which
sallied forth to play havoc with the precious argosies of the English,
French, and Dutch East India Companies. Kidd hoped to win both favor
and fortune by ridding these populous trade routes of the perils that
menaced every honest skipper.

When, at length, Madagascar was sighted, the _Adventure Galley_ was
nine months from home, and not a prize had been taken. Kidd was short
of provisions and of money with which to purchase supplies. His crew
was in a grumbling, mutinous temper, as they rammed their tarry fists
into their empty pockets and stared into the empty hold. The captain
quieted them with promises of dazzling spoil, and the _Adventure
Galley_ vainly skirted the co