Quedagh Merchant

The capture of Quedagh Merchant, as well as Rouparelle, caused a scandal throughout the British Empire, hurting Britain's safe trading status along the African and Indian coasts.

[2] There, the Armenian merchants sold their cotton for 1,200 muslins and other cloths, 1,400 bags of brown sugar, 84 bales of raw silk, 80 chests of opium, and other items such as iron and saltpetre.

[2][4] After approximately four hours, Adventure Galley caught up with Quedagh and hoisted a French flag for its colours, and Kidd commanded the other captain to board his ship.

[4] When Kidd and his crew began the inspection of Quedagh Merchant, while inventorying the loot, the Frenchman mentioned that he was not actually the captain of the vessel, but that Mr. Wright was indeed the man in that role.

[6][7] The crews of Adventure Galley, Quedagh Merchant, and Rouparelle, another ship captured by Kidd and renamed November, set sail for Cochin and Kalliguilon harbour to sell some of the goods to finance his trip back to England.

[9] When Kidd arrived at St. Mary's Island aboard Adventure Galley, he spotted a ship that belonged to noted pirate, Robert Culliford, Mocha Frigate.

[10] Since Kidd's mission was to capture pirate treasure, he immediately began a battle plan, but he felt undermanned, so he decided to wait for his other two ships, November and Quedagh Merchant, to arrive before attacking.

[18][19] Kidd decided that there were enough sail parts, rigging, and metalwork available left on Adventure Galley, and moved everything to Quedagh Merchant, the ship he chose to be his vessel to travel back to New York.

[21] He arrived in the Caribbean a full ten months after his crew had mutinied, and anchored his vessel along the coast of Anguilla, the northernmost Leeward Island.

[26][27][28] Kidd decided his best plan was to sail to New York, in his new ship, and convince one of his backers, Governor Bellomont, that he served honourably, and that the stories of his piracy were not true.

[31] As the planning stage for this voyage was nearly completed, a sloop arrived in New York, claiming that the merchants aboard Adventure Prize had sold off most of the goods, set fire to the ship, and left the Caribbean to sail to Holland.

[31] After hearing this news, Bellomont approved Captain Nathaniel Cary, aboard St. Antonio, to return to the Caribbean to verify that the ship was indeed burned off the coast of Hispaniola, and attempt to reclaim the cargo from the local governments, including Curaçao.

[1][31] According to local records, the men Kidd entrusted with his ship reportedly looted it, and then set it ablaze and adrift down the Rio Dulce.

[32] In December 2007, 70 feet (21 m) off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic, the remains of a shipwreck were discovered by a local resident and then investigated by archaeologists from Indiana University.