Very few people today, perhaps those who have stared death in the face and lived to tell the tale, can possibly comprehend what it would have been like to stand on the gallows at high tide as the executioner fashioned a noose around the pirate’s neck; the last significant act before his final voyage, a short drop and a quick stop. The evolution of the English political and legal processes that delivered the defiant Captain Fly and hundreds of others of his generation to their final destination, when those of previous generations went largely unpunished, is the focus of this study.
Their contemporaries described them as “Robbers, Opposers, and Violators of all Laws, Humane and Divine.” Many viewed themselves as a more selfish reincarnation …show more content…
In order to preserve both the English crown during the 1690s began an aggressive three-pronged campaign to rid the seas of these enemies to humankind. English officials combined general pardons, new anti-piracy legislation, and after 1713, an increased Royal Navy presence in the Atlantic, to successfully dismantle the piracy threat in the American colonies. While the eventual success of this imperial campaign lay in these collaborated efforts, the heart of the offensive was Parliamentary legislation and royal proclamations which created a series of vice-Admiralty courts in the colonies, leading to an aggressive prosecutorial policy. These new acts made it cheaper and easier to prosecute suspected pirates, rewarded sailors who defended their ships against pirate attacks, and threatened the charter of any colony who failed to prosecute pirates with the expected level of …show more content…
If we include those eight trials and adjust for the rate of omission, we could reasonably assume a mere ten trials in total. The results of four of those trials are known, eighteen executed and three acquitted, bringing the total to 196. Just to ensure an overtly fair estimate, we will add the six remaining trials with four unsubstantiated reports of captures by HMS ships. Since the average number of executions per trial during this period was twelve, we can logically assume a high estimate of an additional 120 deaths. That places the final range between 250-315 sailors who met there end through the British legal system. This recalculation is not to undermine the very real threat felt by pirates, those they prayed on, and the imperial system they rebelled against. Quite the contrary, the perceived threat of piracy, and the vengeance of those wronged by them was a consistent narrative in contemporary stories. It is simply intended to demonstrate that historians have largely exaggerated the role of the colonial courts as an instrument of death. It should also be apparent that the trials amassed for this study represent the majority of trials occurring in the colonies
Their contemporaries described them as “Robbers, Opposers, and Violators of all Laws, Humane and Divine.” Many viewed themselves as a more selfish reincarnation …show more content…
In order to preserve both the English crown during the 1690s began an aggressive three-pronged campaign to rid the seas of these enemies to humankind. English officials combined general pardons, new anti-piracy legislation, and after 1713, an increased Royal Navy presence in the Atlantic, to successfully dismantle the piracy threat in the American colonies. While the eventual success of this imperial campaign lay in these collaborated efforts, the heart of the offensive was Parliamentary legislation and royal proclamations which created a series of vice-Admiralty courts in the colonies, leading to an aggressive prosecutorial policy. These new acts made it cheaper and easier to prosecute suspected pirates, rewarded sailors who defended their ships against pirate attacks, and threatened the charter of any colony who failed to prosecute pirates with the expected level of …show more content…
If we include those eight trials and adjust for the rate of omission, we could reasonably assume a mere ten trials in total. The results of four of those trials are known, eighteen executed and three acquitted, bringing the total to 196. Just to ensure an overtly fair estimate, we will add the six remaining trials with four unsubstantiated reports of captures by HMS ships. Since the average number of executions per trial during this period was twelve, we can logically assume a high estimate of an additional 120 deaths. That places the final range between 250-315 sailors who met there end through the British legal system. This recalculation is not to undermine the very real threat felt by pirates, those they prayed on, and the imperial system they rebelled against. Quite the contrary, the perceived threat of piracy, and the vengeance of those wronged by them was a consistent narrative in contemporary stories. It is simply intended to demonstrate that historians have largely exaggerated the role of the colonial courts as an instrument of death. It should also be apparent that the trials amassed for this study represent the majority of trials occurring in the colonies