The belated suggestion made by the Englishman Wright that he was the master of the ship, coupled with an offer on the part of the Armenians to redeem the prize for twenty thousand rupees, a wholly inadequate sum,[5] seems to have raised some doubt in Kidd’s cautious Scotch mind as to the expediency of carrying off the ship to America in accordance with his sailing orders. He called his crew on deck and consulted them as to the course they should take. They voted not to accept the proffered ransom but to take her to Madagascar, which he decided to do, Madagascar lying in the direct route for America. His sailing orders[6] from Bellamont as to the course he should take with any prizes were explicit. They were: “You are to sail directly to Boston or New England, there to deliver to me the whole of the prizes, treasure, merchandise, and other things you shall have taken by virtue of the powers and authorities granted you.” The only contingency in which he might depart from them was, “if you shall fall in with any English ship bound for England having good convoy, you are in such case to keep them company and bring all your prizes to London.” It is difficult to see how, in the face of these orders, he could have done otherwise than take his two prizes to Madagascar. As a matter of fact, he set sail at once with both; and according to his narrative “sailing thither the _Galley_ was so leaky that they feared she would have sunk every hour; and it required eight men every two glasses to keep her free; and” (he) “was forced to woold her round with cables to keep her together, and with much ado carried her into the port of St. Marie’s, where they arrived the first day of April, 1698.”