DISGUISE AND DECEPTION Pirates used various tricks to catch a potential prize off guard. One of the most obvious was to fly the flag of a friendly nation.Other ploys were to hide the guns on a pirate ship and drag ropes behind it to slow it down both helping to create the impression of a merchantman weighed down by cargo. It was even rumoured that some crews dressed up as women. Since women were rarely carried on pirate vessels.
THE SCAFFOLD The penalty for a sailor convicted of piracy was death. In Muslim lands the sentence was carried out by beheading. In Britain and her colonies hanging was preferred.
Executions generally took place in Wapping, London and huge crowds stood along the river banks and on boats to get a good view of the scaffold. Here the pirate heard his last sermon, addressed the crowd and was executed. To show how the world had been cleansed of evil, his body was left swinging until washed by three tides. The head might be stuck on a pole as a warning to others.
Until the 18th century, it was rare for the whole crew to be hanged, as there was a shortage of good crews. Many claimed that they had been forced into piracy.
Executions generally took place in Wapping, London and huge crowds stood along the river banks and on boats to get a good view of the scaffold. Here the pirate heard his last sermon, addressed the crowd and was executed. To show how the world had been cleansed of evil, his body was left swinging until washed by three tides. The head might be stuck on a pole as a warning to others.
Until the 18th century, it was rare for the whole crew to be hanged, as there was a shortage of good crews. Many claimed that they had been forced into piracy.
