Will
Punishment and Jail
Williamsburg
Interpreter from public jail and Menzi tour guide
- 15 members of Blackbeard’s crew were in Williamsburg jail
- People accused of pirating were guilty until proved innocent
- With evidence of pirating, you could be hung on the spot
- Stuck Blackbeard’s head on a pike
- Couldn’t bribe jailers to let them go, but could pay for better food and beds and blankets
- Pirates were hung on the spot if there was enough evidence
- Pirates hung on water to scare sailors
Interview with interpreter at Williamsburg Magazine: Friday Colonial Williamsburg
Paraphrased.
Pirates would take anything they could find. Any guns, especially muskets, blunderbusses and pistols, they would take them. They would mainly attack merchant ships because they usually had defenses that they were capable of taking out, and supplies like food, water and money. If they won against a ship that was better than theirs, as long as it was class 4 down, they would take it, frigates, schooners, sloops and brigantines, anything that was small and fast. Pirates mainly went after British ships. The cannons had multiple types of ammo, round shot was an average cannonball, bar shot was for taking out sails, chain shot was used for taking out sails and canister shot is for close quarters and taking out the crew.
Blackbeard would procure things that weren’t his
Most of Blackbeard things weren’t paid for
The navy wasn’t like it was today. They wen on ships looking of others on the ocean. When they found a ship they stole all the cargo so they were kind of called privateers
The navy today would probably be called pirates because they weren’t working fo anyone
One thing why privateers and pirates are different is because privateers were sponsored by the government and pirates weren’t
Interview with Interpreter: Thursday Surely Plantation
Piracy was punishable death, no mercy
Isreal Hands didn’t get punished because he turned evidence to the government on his crew
Israel Hands went from being a pirate to digging on the streets of England
Israel Hands was the only one of his crew who didn’t get hung
Pirates usually ate hard tac and drank. Other than that they had fish and other food from their raids
Arms