The execution occurred at the usual place near the Charlestown ferry about where the North End park is now located, and the gallows was placed on the shore between the ebb and flow of the tides. Thousands of people, coming from miles around, had gathered to witness the spectacle and after the doomed men were on the platform three ministers of the town offered lengthy prayers.
After the execution was over and the crowd of spectators had returned to their homes to recall its details, the bodies of the pirates “were carried in a Boat to a small Island call’d Nicks’s-Mate, about 2 Leagues from the Town, where Fly was hung up in Irons, as a Spectacle for the warning of others, especially Seafaring Men; the other Two were buried there.”—Boston News-Letter, July 7-14, 1726.
And so ended the short reign of a would-be scoundrel who only wanted skill and power to become as infamous as any who had scoured the seas.
FOOTNOTES
[167] Johnson, History of the Pirates, London, 1726.
[168] Rev. Cotton Mather, Vial poured upon the Sea, Boston, 1726.
CHAPTER XIX
Pirate Haunts and Cruising Grounds
The pirates who frequented the New England coast during the first century after the settlement usually remained in the warm waters of the West Indies during the winter months. With the coming of spring they cruised northward along the coast capturing small vessels in the hope of obtaining provisions and looting larger craft bound to and from England or the Leeward Islands. During the seventeenth century there was considerable piratical barter with the settlements along the Carolina coast and when New England was reached, on the northerly voyage, the eastern end of Long Island and the islands off the mouth of Buzzard’s Bay were much frequented for fresh water and trade. The Sound off Martha’s Vineyard was used by coasting vessels bound for New York or Virginia and here the pirates could lie in wait with the certainty of making some capture. But not for long as ill news traveled swiftly even in those days and armed vessels from Boston were usually sent out in pursuit, though seldom making a capture, for the pirate captain skilled in his trade was constantly on the move and thereby eluded successful attack by a stronger force.
The inefficiency of the men-of-war on the various stations in the early days is commented upon by contemporary writers. Because of the difficulty of reckoning longitude it was customary at that time for vessels sailing from Europe bound for the West Indies or the American coast, to steer into the latitude of the port for which they were bound and then sail westward without altering their course. An early example of this practice is the course of Winthrop’s fleet when sailing westward to found the settlement in Massachusetts Bay. After leaving the Scilly Isles they came down to the latitude of Agamenticus, on the Maine coast, and then sailed westward until they reached the Gulf Stream. It was this “west-way” that the pirates frequented and a merchant ship eluding one might be taken by another. This custom was well-known and if the stolid men-of-war captains had taken the same track followed by the pirates, captures must have followed. Of a certainty the pirates would have been driven to other less-frequented hunting grounds or forced to take refuge in some of their lurking holes among the many uninhabited islands in the West Indies, there to be systematically hunted down and destroyed. It seems strange that a few pirates could range the seas for years and be engaged but rarely by men-of-war. Captain Lowther made thirty-three captures in seventeen months; Captain Low took one hundred and forty vessels in twenty months; Francis Farrington Spriggs took forty in twelve months; John Phillips, thirty-four in eight months; and greatest of all, Captain Bartholomew Roberts took four hundred vessels in three years.
To return to the islands off Buzzard’s Bay. From there the pirates either steered southerly or sailed directly for Cape Sable then much frequented by fishing vessels which often were sufferers at the hands of Low, Lowther, Phillips, and others. From there a course was usually made for Newfoundland which had long been good plundering ground. It also was a good place at which to obtain recruits for pirate crews, for the West Country fishing vessels each year brought over a considerable number of poor fellows engaged at low wages, who, by their contracts, must pay for the return passage. Fishing, splitting and drying fish was hard labor and as the nights were chill, “black strap” was in great demand. This was a villainous combination of rum, molasses and chowder beer and before the season was over it usually caused many to “outrun the Constable” and compelled them to agree to articles of servitude that kept them on the Island during the winter. After the fishing vessels returned home the masters in charge of the stations saw to it that food and clothing supplied to the needy men were charged at high prices so that the men would soon find themselves bound for the next season’s labor and so the merry round continued. This made men willing converts to the Articles signed on board pirate vessels or caused them to run away with shallops and boats and begin piratical exploits on their own account.