Blackbeard the Pirate by Robert E. Lee

Author:Robert E. Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History/Coastal
ISBN: 9780895874092
Publisher: Blair
Published: 1974-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Virginia Trial of the Captured Pirates

THE FIFTEEN PRISONERS brought to Virginia by Lieutenant Maynard were lodged in the public gaol in Williamsburg and charged with piracy. As was then customary, they probably wore leg irons and handcuffs attached to chains, and spent the long, bitterly cold nights of the winter months in unheated cells on floor matting of fusty straw. Most likely, they fed on a diet of “salt beef damaged, and Indian meal.” Sanitary arrangements, though crude, were superior to those of most other gaols; in case of illness, a “physick” was provided.1

According to the minutes of the meeting, Governor Spotswood informed his Council on March 11, 1718/1719, that five of the prisoners captured on Blackbeard’s sloop were Negroes, and “he desired the opinion of this Board whether there be anything in the Circumstances of these Negroes to exempt them from undergoing the same Tryal as other pirates.” The Council was of the opinion that the Negroes ought to be tried in the same manner as the others “and if any diversity appears in their circumstances the same may be considered on their tryal.”2

The trial was held on March 12, in a Court of Vice-Admiralty constituted by a commission under the Great Seal of England.3 It was undoubtedly held in the General Courtroom on the first floor of the Capitol, which today stands reconstructed as it was in 1719. There are in Virginia no existing records of the court proceedings of the trial. These were either destroyed by fire or lost. A diligent search has failed to discover any sign of them.4

Spotswood, feeling it his duty to advise Eden and his Council of a state of affairs in their government which was brought to light in a Virginia court, sent to Governor Eden copies of several depositions used in the Williamsburg proceeding which accused Tobias Knight of being an accessory to acts of piracy.5 These depositions were entered in the North Carolina Journal for May 27, 1719.

From the Journal we know that Israel Hands and four of the Negro prisoners, along with Captain Ellis Brand and William Bell, owner of a trading vessel from Currituck Precinct, were among those testifying to acts of piracy. Hands and the four Negroes undoubtedly gave incriminating evidence in hope of mercy.

No jurors were used in the trial of the pirates, as this was not required under admiralty law. Since the commissioners for this special occasion had been appointed by Spotswood, who was probably the presiding officer,6 the results were as expected. Fourteen of the fifteen prisoners, including the five Negroes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged.7

Samuel Odell was the only prisoner acquitted. He was able to prove conclusively that he was not a pirate, explaining that he had come aboard Blackbeard’s Adventure for a drinking party the night before. Having participated in the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet out of circumstantial necessity, he had received thereby some seventy wounds.8 It seemed punishment enough.

Israel Hands, Blackbeard’s first mate who was in command of

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