Hamilton tells us that "for _some valuable reasons_ he let them go again; and because they found a difficulty in cleaning the bottoms of their large ships, he generously assisted them with large blocks and tackle falls for careening them." Possibly Hamilton's remark was due to the conduct of Captain White of the _Hastings_, whose behaviour excited such suspicion that Littleton placed him under arrest, fearing he would make his ship over to the pirates.
Littleton remained on the Madagascar coast for eight months without firing a shot.

When he first reached St.Mary's, the pirates greeted him with a salute of nine guns, to which he responded with five, and he was in close and daily communication with them.

Whether any pirates made their submission to him does not appear; but it is probable that his presence strengthened the resolution to obtain pardon of those who had previously engaged themselves to Warren; among them Culliford and Chivers.

The fact is that piracy was looked upon then more leniently than we should now regard it.

Plundering and ill-treating Asiatics was a venial offence, and many a seaman after a cruise with the pirates returned to his calling on board an honest merchantman, without being thought much the worse for it.
Among all the naval officers sent to the Indian seas at that time, Warren appears to have been the only one who really tried to protect the Company's interests.