red
to pay all due Obedience to these my Commands and to be Aiding and
Assisting what in them lyes to their officers both millitary and
Civill, and I do further hereby command all officers both millitary
and Civill, and all other his Maj'tes Loveing Subjects, Strictly to
observe and put in Execution an Act Passed last Session of Assembly
against Pyrates and privateers.[5] And I doe hereby promise to any
person or persons who shall take or kill any Pyrate that shall belong
to Either of these 3 or 4 ships or vessells now in Lyn haven bay, a
reward of twenty pound sterling for Each pyrate that they shall either
take or kill, And lastly I do in his Maj'tes Name Command all officers
both Military and Civill and all his Maj'tes Loveing Subjects of this
his Maj'tes most ancient and great Colony and Dominion of virginia,
that they will give all Due Obedience and follow all these my Commands
as they will answer the Contrary at their utmost perills. Given under
my hand and lesser Seal at Arms the Day and year above written, in the
twelfth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord William the third, by
the grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland King,
Defender of the faith, etc.

[Footnote 3: A guardship of the royal navy was in these days kept in
Virginian waters. At the moment, it happened, there were two, the
_Essex Prize_, 16 guns, which had been there since the spring of 1698
and was now about to return to England, and the _Shoreham_, Capt.
William Passenger, a larger vessel which was to take her place, and
which had arrived Apr. 10, 1700. The _Essex Prize_ was careened at the
moment, and not available; Beverley, _History of Virginia_, p. 94.]

[Footnote 4: A roadstead on the south side of the Chesapeake, between
Cape Henry and Willoughby Spit.]

[Footnote 5: The act is in Hening, _Statutes at Large of Virginia_,
III. 176-179, passed in May, 1699. It had been superseded by the act
11 and 12 Will. III. c. 7, passed in the session of Parliament just
ended, that of Nov. 16, 1699-Apr. 11, 1700, but that fact would not
yet be known in Virginia. On Apr. 28, 1699, the Virginia council had
issued a proclamation against pirates, which is printed in the
_Virginia Magazine of History_, VIII. 191.]

To Lieut Collo. Thomas Ballard
or Majr. William Buckner at York Town

who are to take a Copy hereof, and Dispatch it as Directed and Each
Colonel or Chief officer is also to take a Copy hereof and dispatch it
as Directed.