History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s8.39

v5.c83.s8.39

Kidd's success drew many restless English seamen into his party, including the mutinous crews of the E. I. Co.'s frigate *Mocho* and a smaller ship the *Josiah*. "Distributing his forces with the skill of a sea-strategist," Captain Kidd dominated the Indian Ocean, with his munitions and stores drawn from a base in Madagascar. "All told the pirate fleet mounted 120 guns, and was manned by not less than 300 Europeans, of whom the great majority were Englishmen. . . A more formidable menace to peaceful shipping in the East could hardly have been created in that day." [Wright, 200-1.]