The new ship, the Adventure Galley, was well suited to the task of catching pirates; weighing over 284 tons, it was equipped with 34 cannons, oars, and 150 men. The oars were a key advantage as they would enable the Adventure Galley to maneuver in a battle when the winds had calmed and other ships were dead in the water. Kidd took pride in personally selecting the crew, choosing only those he deemed to be the best and most loyal officers.As the Adventure Galley slid down the Thames, Kidd unaccountably failed to salute a Navy yacht at Greenwich as custom dictated. The Navy yacht then fired a shot to make him show respect, and Kidd’s crew... responded with an astounding display of impudence - but turning and slapping their backsides in [disdain]. (Botting 106)
Because of his crew's refusal to salute, the Adventure Galley was stopped by the HMS Duchess, whose captain was offended by Kidd's failure to fire the customary salute to his vessel, and retaliated by pressing much of Kidd's crew into naval service, despite rampant protests. Thus short-handed, Kidd sailed for New York City, capturing a French vessel en route (which was legal under the terms of his commission). To make up for the lack of officers, Kidd picked up replacement crew in New York, the vast majority of whom were known and hardened criminals, some undoubtedly former pirates.
Was William a hardened criminal?
Some of my early ancestors have been variously described as, backwoodsmen, a rough sort, pioneers, that type of thing. One historian mentioned that he didn’t want to demean the quality of the settlers, but he wanted to mention that they were mostly uneducated and unchurched, and that swear words were not uncommon among there conversations. One was a backwoodsman, signed on to Sullivan’s expedition against the Iroquois during the Revolution.
There were also Puritans, those who studied at Harvard, ministers, school teachers, etc. They were the little people of America, fought in every war, worked on the Panama Canal, crossed the country by wagon train, settling in WA and Oregon in the 18th century.
The first ancestor came here in 1632, and they had huge families, often as many as fourteen children and they lived very long lives, (96 years seems to have been a common life span).