The Protestant Duke Goes East 2.0

I very much fear Kidd will have to change sides yet again to make it out of this one. Of course, he appears to understand that fully.

He lives by the maxim "You cannot change the wind, but you can adjust your sails." From Kidd's perspective, he has just made the most out of a series of very poor situations.

He did betray Argyle, but he never freely joined his side. And his service to General Tam was hardly voluntary either. Kidd can be expected to maintain a similar track record until he finds a master he considers worth serving.

Good to see this is back

I am very glad to hear that. I greatly appreciate the support and encouragement I have received from readers here.
 
November 25, 1685
The King’s Wark, Leith
Kingdom of Scotland

William Kidd sipped carefully at his tankard. He enjoyed good Scottish ale as well as the next man, but he needed his wits about him more than he required the pleasant sensation of inebriation.

He sat alone at his table. The establishment that he was patronizing was more refined than he was used to, it was well lit, the floor was visible, there was no gaming or dicing visible, and it and even lacked the odor of spilled ale and vomit. Men sat around in small groups drinking or smoking from pipes, and by the frequency of handshakes and money carefully changing hands, they were discussing business. Kidd also had business discuss, had a very particular type of character in mind. For the past two weeks he had been making careful inquiries about the ships entering the harbor, their captains and their cargos. None of the leads that he had pursued so far had proven successful, but today, he hoped would be different.

While he waited for this character to appear, Kidd’s thoughts drifted towards his late adventure with the forces of the Earl of Argyle, and it took every bit of his willpower to avoid draining his tankard. Everything about that disastrous enterprise was behind him, Kid reminded himself, it no longer mattered, except for the eight half-crowns and twenty-two shillings that had been put in his pocket a week ago. But try as he might to remind himself of that fact, his urge to drink remained almost overpowering.

Kidd’s thoughts were interrupted when a man fitting the profile that he was seeking entered the tavern. Small, squinty, eyes, a short stride that showed the man more comfortable walking on a deck than dry land, and of course a pair of fine Cordovan boots. It was his man. He had no sooner sat down at a table than Kidd got up and approached him.

“Niall Oliphant,” said Kidd boisterously, “Barkeep, a round for my friend and I.”

Niall looked rather less happy to see Kidd, but he nodded his assent before the other man took a seat from him across his table.

“William Kidd, verily, I am surprised to meet ye at this location. The Charlotte Elizabeth sailed from New York, and for Dundee, not Leith. How has it come to pass ye are at this tavern and not at sea?”

“Ill fortune. The rebel earl’s men seized the ship, and Captain Forbes when he protested. I’ve spent the better part of three months avoiding press gangs and making my way south. How fares the Dunedin?”

“Poorly. If I’d had an inkling of the trouble that followed the Good King’s death I would have never sailed for Scotland. There is little demand for fur when half the nobility is campaigning. But my principals are all in Edinburgh, and they are strapped for coin. I was forced to sell my cargo to some English projectors for less than half what I would have fetched in Amsterdam.”

“A bloody crime! But what do rich burghers know of trade?”

“Aye.”

His mood lightened a bit, Captain Oliphant drank with Kidd for the next hour, swapping stories of their adventures in the Caribbean, and their mutual friends, including the corruptible, but ever-friendly Lieutenant Governor of New York.

“So tell me, friend, when do ye intend to sail,” asked Kidd between rounds.

“As soon as I can find a cargo worth taking on, and on the cheap. If I cannot find something worth selling in the New World, it will take me years to recoup my losses for this voyage,” said Oliphant, banging his tankard into the table.

“Well, as it happens, my fortunes are also at a rather low ebb.”

“I would not have guessed it. Ye’re clad in new clothes, new boots, even a new hat.”

“Tis true. But I sit three thousand miles removed from my home, friends and fortune, bereft of proper employment. I have thought out scheme that can reverse both of our fortunes.”

“I am willing to hear it,” replied Oliphant, already wary. “But do not waste my time with speculations and projections. Do ye propose that I fill my hold with fine linens? For I can assure you the demand for such frippery is not half of what it was even five seasons ago.”

“Actually, I had in mind a rather more movable cargo. Men.”

“Indentured servants? Do you take me for a fool? No one cares to take them on any more, not when Negro Slaves can be had for but a few more pounds. The price would barely cover their passage.”

“I was speaking of slaves, to be had on the cheap. It is a bit more money upfront, but they’ll fetch twenty pounds on the dock in New York, and thirty in the Caribbean.”

“I am listening.”

“The King’s Lord President of Council has decided that it in the good King’s interest that that the Lord Advocate’s vigorous application of the death penalty to the many rebels and dissenters who have risen up of late be tempered. Accordingly, he has generously announced that the death sentences of all but the most notorious rebels be commuted. Above fifteen thousand prisoners have been distributed amongst a dozen of his Majesty’s staunchest supporters, and more distributions are being made every week. These prisoners are to be transported to His Majesty’s southern plantations, where they will be kept for a period of not less than ten year’s servitude before going free. I happen to have made the acquaintance of perhaps the King’s most fervent supporter, and I happened to know that he is willing to dispose of his lot for the trifling sum of five pounds a head.”

“I was not planning on voyaging to the Caribbean, but if what ye have told me is true, then such a trip might be too profitable to turn down. What is your price for your service?”

“Tis not great. Second mate on your ship, a two percent share of the profits.”

An hour later Kidd was the second mate on the Dunedin, with the promise of half a percent of the voyage’s profit. And the Dunedin would also be taking on an Ordinary Seaman by the name of Edward. Now all he had to do was make a trip to Linithgowshire to seal the deal. Though some part of Kidd would have preferred to venture beyond the Gates of Hell than again make the acquaintance of his business contact.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
 
Huh, I did not expect Kidd to be set free.

But selling the rebels into slavery? That can't bode well for the future.

King Henry

Well its what James and his followers did to a lot of men who rallied to Monmouth's cause OTL so probably they did likewise with northern rebels OTL and TTL. A lot of people were sent out as slaves or bonded labourers and it was only the fact that Negroes survived better than Caucasians in the climate of the Caribbean that meant they were preferred for the labour force there. Think there is at least one island in the Bahamas's that has an overwhelmingly white population that descends from such 'exports'.

Steve
 
Huh, I did not expect Kidd to be set free.

But selling the rebels into slavery? That can't bode well for the future.

I was wavering on that question for a bit. I decided that overall, since Kidd did deliver the castle to Dalyell, it is likely the General would have let him live. While Tam had a well-deserved reputation for merciless, there is nothing in his biography to suggest that he would fail to honor an agreement once struck. Executing Kidd along with Argyle or selling him into slavery would only tarnish Dalyell's reputation, and make it less likely that enemy forces would surrender to him.




King Henry

Well its what James and his followers did to a lot of men who rallied to Monmouth's cause OTL so probably they did likewise with northern rebels OTL and TTL. A lot of people were sent out as slaves or bonded labourers and it was only the fact that Negroes survived better than Caucasians in the climate of the Caribbean that meant they were preferred for the labour force there. Think there is at least one island in the Bahamas's that has an overwhelmingly white population that descends from such 'exports'.

Steve

James II did in fact authorize the sale of thousands of rebels from the West in the aftermath of the Monmouth rebellion IOTL. The idea was actually Lord Sunderland's. Like the later sentence of Transportation, selling captured rebels ensured that they would be as effectively removed from society as if they had been executed, while at the same time not being quite as distasteful.

Also unlike Transportation, giving away prisoners was an cheap way to reward his supporter, who would typically sell them to a merchant, who would assume all the risk of sailing them across the Caribbean and finding a willing buyer. Technically the rebels were bonded labor, not slaves, since their term of servitude was limited, but on the ground there was not a great deal of difference.

IOTL many of the rebels fetched a worse price than expected, mostly on account of the fact that black slaves were becoming more common, and plantation owners had realized they tended to survive a bit longer than white indentured servants, while also being less prone to escape. The ten year sentence for rebels amounted to a death penalty for at least 3 out of 5 of rebels, assuming they actually serve their sentence.
 
Does the sentence apply to wives and minor children as well, or only to men who took up arms?

Interesting, and yes, still accepted practice in this period, though I seem to recall Monmouth's rebels being the last persons so treated in OTL.

Thank you and carry on.
 
Does the sentence apply to wives and minor children as well, or only to men who took up arms?

Interesting, and yes, still accepted practice in this period, though I seem to recall Monmouth's rebels being the last persons so treated in OTL.

Thank you and carry on.

Nothing that I have read suggests that women were among those whose sentences were commuted and were transported. While numerous women were found guilty by Jeffries and burned as traitors (women could not be hanged), they were relatively few in number.

Neither English nor Scottish law had strong idea of family guilt as was in the case in say, Japan, where a man's immediate family were punished with the same severity as a husband. That is not to say the family of the accused would not suffer deprivation due to the forfeiture of the assets and estates of the the husband. Many wives and children would be condemned to lifetimes of poverty, and possible starvation.

The interesting thing was that, at least in the case of the Monmouth rebellion, thousands of women in the West were amongst his strongest supporters. They did not fight for him, but they participated in public gatherings supporting his claim to the throne, they sewed uniforms and banners for his cause, etc. I would not be surprised if many actually encouraged their sons and husbands to fight for him. Yet it was their husbands and sons who suffered at the hands of the law exclusively, in the vast majority of cases.
 
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