The Crown proved the capture of the two ships belonging to the Great Mogul, and an East Indian merchant, representing the merchants, testified as to the value of the lading and the regularity of the ship's papers. Kidd challenged this evidence, and once more pleaded with the Court that he be allowed to bring forward the French passes. He asserted that the _Quedah Merchant_ had a French Commission, and that her master was a tavern keeper of Surat. That he told the truth, the accompanying photograph of the said document bears belated witness. The Lord Chief Baron put his finger on the weak point of the case by asking to know why Kidd had not taken the ship to port to be lawfully condemned as a prize, as demanded by the terms of his commission from the King. To this Kidd replied that his crew were mutinous, and the _Adventure Galley_ unseaworthy, for which reasons he made for the nearest harbor of Madagascar. There his men, to the number of ninety odd, mutinied and went over to the pirate Culliford in the _Mocha Frigate_. He was left short-handed, his own ship was unfit to take to sea, so he burned her, and transferred to the _Quedah Merchant_, after which he steered straight for Boston to deliver her prize to Lord Bellomont, which he would have done had he not learned in the West Indies that he had been proclaimed a pirate. Edward Davis, mariner, confirmed the statement regarding the French passes, in these words: "I came home a passenger from Madagascar and from thence to Amboyna, and there he (Kidd) sent his boat ashore, and there was one that said Captain Kidd was published a pirate in England, and Captain Kidd gave those passes to him to read. The Captain said they were French passes." _Kidd_. "You heard that one, Captain Elms, say they were French passes?" _Davis_. "Yes, I heard Captain Elms say they were French passes." _Mr. Baron Hatsell_. "Have you any more to say, Captain Kidd?" _Kidd_. "I have some papers, but my Lord Bellomont keeps them from me, so that I cannot bring them before the Court!" Bradingham and other members of the crew admitted that they understood from Kidd that the captured ships were sailing under French passes. Kidd, having been convicted of murder, was now allowed to fetch in witnesses as to his character as a man and a sailor previous to the fatal voyage. One Captain Humphrey swore that he had known Capt. Kidd in the West Indies twelve years before. "You had a general applause," said he, "for what you had done from time to time." _The Lord Chief Baron_. "That was before he was turned pirate." Captain Bond then declared: "I know you were very useful at the beginning of the war in the West Indies." Colonel Hewson put the matter more forcibly and made no bones of telling the Court: "My Lord, he was a mighty man there. He served under my command there. He was sent to me by the order of Colonel Codrington." _The Solicitor General_. "How long was this ago?"