The Phantom Pirate of Execution Dock | TMR The Phantom Pirate of Execution Dock On the trail of Captain Kidd... May 31, 2011 By James Clark , Columnist With Captain Jack Sparrow entertaining cinema audiences in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides , I thought I'd take a trip to east London on the trail of another pirate - this one of the supernatural variety. The waterfront neighbourhood of Wapping, to the east of the City of London, has changed enormously over the last few centuries. Once, this place teemed with dockers and sailors scratching out a hard but honest living, and with pirates and smugglers squeezing out a hard and dishonest living, the law-abiding and the criminal crammed together amid the noise and bustle of these winding streets. Now the area is relaxed and fashionable, the old wharves and warehouses having been converted to luxury apartments during the last two decades of the 20th century. The past floated up from the depths as I slipped down a narrow alley beside the Town of Ramsgate pub in Wapping High Street. There I found myself at the top of some steep, time-worn stone stairs leading down to the murky waters of the River Thames.

Despite the bright spring sunshine this place was silent and deserted and, after carefully picking my way down the seaweed-slimed steps, I reached the rocky foreshore of the river. There I was alone with the gently lapping tide, breathing in air that smelled faintly of the sea: of salt and ancient decay. This is the foot of Wapping Old Stairs and it is around here that the ghost of pirate Captain William Kidd is said to linger. Descriptions of where Kidd's ghost has been seen are a little vague on details but he is supposed to haunt the site where he was put to death in 1701 - the wonderfully named Execution Dock. Although the dock no longer exists it stood just a short distance to the east of these steps. As the name suggests, Execution Dock was where pirates, smugglers and mutineers were hanged after they had been sentenced to death by Admiralty (maritime) courts. Because the Admiralty had jurisdiction only over crimes committed at sea, the scaffold from which the condemned were hanged was positioned in the River Thames itself, just beyond the low-tide mark.

After death, the bodies were left to hang until three tides had washed over them and only then would the bloated and blackened corpses be cut down. (The fact that this happened at Wapping may be the source of the expression "What a whopper", referring to something enormous.) Execution Dock was in use for 400 years and it stood until around 1830. Reminding visitors of the area's brutal past, a mocked-up gallows (see picture below) stands at the rear of the Prospect of Whitby pub a few minutes' walk further east from the site of the old dock. So who was the pirate whose ghost bobs about here? William Kidd was born in Scotland in around 1645. Little is known of his early life but after around 1689 Kidd was working as a privateer in the Caribbean, authorised by the British Crown to attack enemy (which meant French) ships. He was later sent out by the authorities in New York and Massachusetts, charged to fight against enemy privateers operating off the North American coast.

Then in 1695 Kidd was given letters of marque from King William III, commissioning him to hunt and capture pirates in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean who were attacking ships of the East India Company. In February 1696, Kidd set sail from Deptford in southeast London aboard a newly built ship, the Adventure Galley. This voyage would go disastrously wrong. As the months passed it became increasingly apparent that Kidd's ship was not fully seaworthy and was developing leaks. A third of his crew died from a cholera outbreak on the Comoro Islands off the southeast coast of Africa. Worst of all, the captain was unable to find any pirates to attack. He desperately needed to capture ships because this was an expensive expedition and most of the funding had been put up by powerful English nobles who expected a return on their investment. He also had his own crew to worry about for they were growing ever more restless. Some simply deserted when the opportunity arose but the greater problem lay with those who remained, who were muttering more and more about mutiny. In October 1697 Kidd refused to listen to his crew's calls for him to attack a passing Dutch ship.

Doing so would have been an act of piracy but Kidd's inaction provoked a furious argument with his gunner, a man named William Moore. A fight ensued, during which Kidd smashed an ironbound bucket against Moore's head. The impact cracked the gunner's skull and he dropped to the deck, later to die of his injuries. Kidd had committed murder. If the accusations later made against him are to be believed, the pressures mounting on Kidd eventually drove him to turn pirate, attacking innocent vessels and plundering their cargoes. In January 1698 he captured the most valuable prize he had ever taken, an Armenian ship named the Quedagh Merchant but although that ship was travelling under French passes its captain turned out to be an Englishman. Kidd later claimed that he wanted to return the vessel but his crew refused, insisting that the French passes made this ship fair game. Whatever the truth of this, the Quedagh Merchant was in far better condition than his own failing vessel and so Kidd scuttled the Adventure Galley and installed himself aboard the seized merchantman, renaming it the Adventure Prize.

When he reached Anguilla in the West Indies in April 1699 Kidd learned he had been denounced as a pirate and that searching for him somewhere out there on the high seas were several English men-of-war. He abandoned the Adventure Prize and bought a new ship, the Antonio, on which he sailed to New York City, hoping he could clear his name. But New York's colonial governor, the Earl of Bellomont, chose instead to send Kidd to England to stand trial. In May 1701 Kidd was found guilty on five charges of piracy and for the murder of William Moore. He was taken to Execution Dock and hanged on 23 May - twice. On the first attempt the rope snapped, dropping him into the thick Thames mud. The second attempt was more successful and after the customary three tides had risen over him his corpse was taken away, covered in tar to preserve it, and gibbetted in an iron cage over the Thames at Tilbury Point in Essex. There it hung for years as a gruesome reminder to passing sailors of the fate awaiting pirates. According to legend, Kidd buried much of his pirate treasure in locations that have yet to be discovered.

That may be true but at least some of his loot was recovered, being dug up on Gardiners Island off Long Island, New York and used as evidence against him. It is said that Kidd's ghost haunts Gardiners Island as well as the area around Execution Dock, but that was a bit far for me to travel for this article. The tide was beginning to come in now and so I carefully made my way back up the slippery old steps and into the Wapping of the 21st century. For all its recent gentrification, this can still be an eerie place if you know about its past; it's enough to shiver anyone's timbers. (The Museum of London is currently hosting an exhibition about Captain Kidd: visit their website for details.) Share this story Pirates & Privateers: the History of Maritime Piracy - Punishing the Pirates The History of Maritime Piracy Cindy Vallar, Editor & Reviewer Punishing the Pirates By Cindy Vallar If captured, pirates often faced two charges: piracy and murder (the more serious charge). The vast majority of trials lasted no longer than two days, and although tried before a jury - at least in English courts - their fate was usually a foregone conclusion.

Ye and each of ye are adjudged and sentenced to be carried back to the place from whence you came, thence to the place of execution, and there within the flood marks to be hanged by the neck till you are dead, dead, dead, and the Lord, in His infinite wisdom have mercy upon your soulsï¿½After this ye, and each of ye shall be taken down and your bodies hung in chainsï¿½. (from the sentencing of fifty-two pirates in April 1722) South Carolinians came to see the dashing Stede Bonnetï¿½s execution in 1718. He begged for a reprieve, but the governor refused. After death, piratesï¿½ corpses were displayed to discourage others from considering a similar life of crime. Blackbeardï¿½s head hung from a sloopï¿½s bowsprit. The tide washed Captain Kiddï¿½s chained corpse three times, before it was taken down, covered with tar, and displayed in an iron gibbet at Tilbury Point on the Thames. British Admiralty courts tried maritime cases, including those involving pirates. Most pirate trials were held at Old Baileyï¿½s.

Before and after their trials, pirates in London were imprisoned in Marshalsea Prison, but a few, including Kidd, spent their final days in Newgate Prison. A mile downstream from the Tower of London at Wapping on the north bank of the Thames stood Englandï¿½s Execution Dock . Makeshift gallows on the shore identified the low-tide mark. Here Kidd and other pirates were hanged, and afterwards a cycle of three tides flowed over their corpses before being removed. This stressed that the crimes they committed fell under the Admiraltyï¿½s jurisdiction. Later, the bodies were either buried in unmarked graves or dissected. The more notorious, however, were tarred and hung in a custom-made gibbet to warn other seafarers of the fate that awaited them if they chose to turn pirate. When the Admiralty changed its laws to allow for the prosecution of pirates in any British port, hangings occurred at Port Royal, Charleston, Williamsburg, Newport, and Boston, among other places. Between 1716 and 1726, over four hundred pirates were hanged. In 1723, at the height of the war against piracy, eighty-two died.

In the 1600s, some believed the only pirates executed were captains and other ringleaders of the crew. During the first twenty-eight years of the Eighteenth Century, however, that changed. Masses of people came to a hanging, which was a festive time for folks. The condemned and shackled pirates arrived at the gallows in a cart attended by a clergyman, who offered them a final chance to repent. Before his hanging, a pirate had the opportunity to say a few final words. Many of these appeared in newspapers and broadsheets the next day. Some pirates escaped death because someone filed a petition for a pardon. The process might last several months before a decision was reached. The courts granted about 60% of the requested pardons and freed the pirates. The less fortunate escaped death, but were transported to the colonies to serve sentences of penal servitude. Prior to 1740, hangings used what was known as a short-drop, which meant the pirate died by slow strangulation. It took anywhere from five to forty-five minutes for him to die, but on average he succumbed in eight. During this period, piratesï¿½ hands were tied in front of them rather than behind.

The Lord High Executioner stood them on a ladder, stool or barrel, put a noose around their necks, and then pulled the support out from under them. The victim would be unable to breathe, and their skin would begin to turn a ghoulish shade of bluish-purpleï¿½. Within minutes the tongue would protrude from the mouth, the eyes would bulge from the sockets...in many cases the prisoner lost complete control of their bladder and bowelsï¿½. (Tamara J. Eastman, ï¿½Hanging Around in the 18th Centuryï¿½,ï¿½ No Quarter Given, March 2000) A friend or relative pulled on a pirateï¿½s legs to hasten his death. A few unfortunates werenï¿½t so lucky. They were hanged twice because the first rope broke, as happened at Captain Kiddï¿½s execution . Hanging wasnï¿½t the only way governments executed pirates. China often beheaded them, as did medieval Hamburg, Germany.

In 1573, Klein Henszlein and his crew were decapitated en masse, then their heads were placed on a row of pikes as a warning to others. Execution of Captain Kidd | History Today Execution of Captain Kidd Early Modern (16th-18thC) London , England Maritime Richard Cavendish recalls the death of the pirate William Kidd, executed on May 23rd, 1701. The body of William Kidd hangs in a gibbet at Tilbury Point, on the River Thames. Drawing from 'The Pirates Own Book', Charles Ellms, 1837 William Kidd spent his last days on earth in Newgate Gaol, where on Sunday May 18th, 1701, he heard his final sermon, preached by the prison chaplain on the cheerful text, ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.’ Kidd still hoped for a reprieve, and the others who had been condemned with him for piracy received it – all except one, an Irishman named Darby Mullins.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, they were taken, with two Frenchmen who were also to die, from Newgate in two horse-drawn carts, guarded by marshals and led by the Admiralty Marshal and the silver oar which was the Admiralty’s symbol. To the chaplain’s shocked disapproval, Kidd was the worse for drink. At five o’clock, low tide, they reached Execution Dock at Wapping, a few yards below Wapping Old Stairs, in the presence of a large and lively crowd. There was a permanent gallows for pirates there and after the hanging the corpses were customarily chained to a post on the foreshore, where they were left until three tides had flowed over them, as an example. Kidd spoke to the crowd, warning all ship-masters to learn from his fate. Then the four men were turned off, but Kidd’s rope snapped and he fell to the ground with the noose round his neck, still alive and dazed. The pestering chaplain prayed over him once more and he was hoisted up again, and that was that. His body was taken to be hanged in chains at Tilbury Point.

Kidd was in his mid-fifties when he died. The line between piracy and government-sponsored privateering was narrow and he does not seem to have been the typical swashbuckling pirate of popular fiction. He did not maroon anyone or make people walk the plank, but legends clustered round him which turned him into a name to conjure with. A Scot by birth, from Greenock on the Clyde and according to tradition the son of a Presbyterian minister, he emerges into history in 1689 as a buccaneer in the Caribbean. A doughty fighter, a fine seaman and evidently a man of some presence, he turned into a privateer captain in British service, sent to pillage French settlements in the West Indies. He acquired a well-to-do wife and property in New York City. Kidd was in London in 1696, when he set off on the voyage that was to be his undoing. He left Deptford in February in his ship Adventure Galley of 287 tons and 34 guns – probably a cross between a sailing ship and an oared galley – with a government commission to suppress pirates in the Indian Ocean.

It took him almost a year to reach Madagascar and the East African coast and he then thought it more profitable to turn pirate himself. Hoisting the blood-red flag, or French colours when it suited him, he captured several merchant ships and in a furious rage when his crew were on the verge of mutiny, he struck his ship’s gunner, William Moore, with an iron-bound bucket, ‘laying him in his gore’ as the popular ballad had it. Moore’s skull was fractured and he died within twenty-four hours. In January 1698 Kidd seized a valuable ship of 400 tons, the Quedah Merchant, on her way from Bengal round the southern tip of India, carrying silk, muslin, calico, sugar and opium. A substantial part of the cargo belonged to one of the Mughal Emperor’s courtiers and there were Armenian merchants on board. With what was now his own little flotilla, Kidd presently sailed for the West Indies, arriving in April 1699 to discover that the government had proclaimed him a pirate.

He left the Quedah at the island of Hispaniola, where she was unloaded and subsequently burned, bought a small ship called the Antonio and sailed to Boston, where he tried to convince the British governor, the Earl of Bellomont, that he was innocent of the accusations against him. Bellomont had him arrested and sent back to England, where on April 16th, 1700, it was recorded that ‘the notorious pyratt’ was examined before the Lords of Admiralty and committed to Newgate. Later in the month rumour had it that jewels found on Kidd’s ship had been valued at £30,000 (perhaps equivalent to some £10 million today). After further lengthy enquiries by the Admiralty, on May 8th and 9th, 1701, at the Old Bailey Kidd was tried for the murder of Moore and on multiple counts of piracy, and found guilty. Nine members of his crew were in the dock with him on the piracy charges. Whether the evidence was convincing and the trial fair has been debated ever since.

Kidd became a legendary figure largely because no one ever discovered what had happened to the rest of his treasure – if there really was any more to be found. Its value multiplied as time went by and treasure-hunters have searched for his loot from the Americas to the South China Sea, but so far in vain. Wapping : Captain Kidd's Riverside London London Tavern Trails Wapping : Captain Kidd's Riverside London Visit four historic taverns in London's East End, as we wander along this famous stretch of Thames riverside Where and what is Wapping ? Wapping is a well-known district in East London, a short walk away from Tower Bridge and The Tower of London. Wapping's proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its historic riverside public houses. Wapping was first settled by Saxons, from whom it takes its name, although it was predominantly marshland until it was drained in the 16th century. Many of the sailors of Charles II's navy lived in Wapping and by the 18th century it was described as "a poor waterfront district inhabited chiefly by dock hands, casual labourers, sailors of all nationalities and petty criminals".

Dr Johnson recommended exploring Wapping "to see such modes of life as very few could even imagine". In the 19th century the lively maritime character of Wapping began to disappear as the chandlers, mastmakers and lodging houses gave way to the London docks and the giant warehouses which towered above the narrow streets. Wapping was devastated by German bombing in World War II, and then the post-war closure of the docks and many of the riverside wharves and warehouses led to the area becoming run-down and derelict. This all changed from the 1980s, when Wapping was redeveloped into luxury warehouse apartments. More recently in 1986, Wapping is famous for Rupert Murdoch's "moonlight flip", when he surreptitiously moved News International's printing operations from Fleet Street to Wapping overnight. "The Battle of Wapping" ensued. Who was Captain Kidd ? William "Captain" Kidd (1645-1701) was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean.

Kidd was a privateer captain in British service in the late 17th century, sent to capture pirates and their booty for the British Crown and to pillage French settlements in the West Indies. However, during a voyage which left London in 1696 he was deemed to have turned pirate himself. Whether he actually did so is still debated amongst historians, but nevertheless he was sent to Newgate prison and later tried and hanged at Wapping. About this Trail. It wasn't that long ago that more than 30 taverns stood on this one mile stretch of Wapping riverside, frequented by sailors, boat-builders, stevedores and victuallers. Today, only 3 taverns remain, of unimaginable charm, nestled between the luxury converted warehouse apartments of modern Wapping. We visit each of these 3 taverns, plus another beauty hidden away in the back streets, waiting to be discovered. This is the land of Execution Dock, where pirates were condemned to the gallows in the 15th-19th centuries. The most famous hanging of them all was that of Captain Kidd, executed in 1701. We visit the tavern named in his "honour".

We visit the ancient public house where Hanging Judge Jeffreys of the 17th century "Bloody Assizes" was captured whilst trying to flee the country dressed as a sailor. We also visit an East End boozer named after Joseph Mallord William Turner, the famous English landscape artist, who drew inspiration amid the dockside taverns of Wapping. And we visit one of the most famous pubs in London, previously known as the Devil's Tavern because of its associations with river theives and smugglers. Where to meet ? Meet just outside the entrance to Wapping Railway station , which is on the East London Line of the London Overground (which runs from Highbury & Islington in north London to New Cross in south-east London). The East London Line can be accessed on the London Underground via Whitechapel (on the Hammersmith & City Line and District Line) or Canada Water (on the Jubilee Line). Note : if travelling via Canada Water, when changing from the Jubilee Line at Canada Water to the East London Line, follow signs to "Overground Northbound".

© 2011-2016 LONDON TAVERN TRAILS™ In Search Of London's Execution Sites | Londonist In Search Of London's Execution Sites By M@ Last edited 60 months ago M@ In Search Of London's Execution Sites The Southbank Centre's Festival of Death starts later this month. Not to be outdone in the morbid department, we thought we'd put together a guide to London's many execution sites. The Tower and Tower Hill Little known fact: very few people have lost their heads inside the Tower complex. Public executions took place on nearby Tower Hill, until the final beheading in 1747. Here were dispatched various dukes, earls, knights and nobles, including Sir Thomas More and his nemesis Thomas Cromwell. 125 unfortunates are recorded on a plaque in the nearby memorial garden . The adjacent Hung, Drawn and Quartered pub recalls the grisly history. The Tower itself was historically reserved for the super-celebs. Only seven executions are recorded on Tower Green, within the complex. These include the termination of three queens: Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey.

The historic palace was last used as a place of execution within living memory, when German spy Josef Jakobs was killed by firing squad on 15 August 1941. Tyburn Probably London's most overworked place of execution, Tyburn gallows operated between 1196 and 1783. The site, close to Marble Arch, is of ancient significance: the junction where Edgware Road meets Bayswater Road dates to Roman times. The notorious Tyburn Tree – a three-sided gallows that once accommodated 24 felons simultaneously – was erected in 1571. It became a landmark of such notoriety that it even appeared on maps . Famous stretch-necks include pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck, Georgian n'er-do-wells Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild, and the exhumed corpse of Oliver Cromwell. A simple plaque now marks the site. Lincoln’s Inn Fields Today, this haunt of lawyers, surgeons and cancer researchers is as tranquil a space as you'll find in central London. If you could step back to Tudor times, however, you might witness some of the most gruesome executions the city has ever seen .

Would-be regicide Anthony Babington met his protracted end here. Brutally. "...There to be hanged and cut down alive, and your body shall be opened, your heart and bowels plucked out, and your privy members cut off and thrown into the fire before your eyes. Then your head to be stricken off from your body, and your body shall be divided into 4 quarters, to be disposed of at (the Queen's) pleasure." Rumour has it that the unenviable Babington was still conscious as his 'privy members' hit the flames. 100 years later, the condemned Lord William Russell received little better under the axe of Jack Ketch, whose first blow missed the neck and cleaved off much of the vexed peer's shoulder. There's no monument, but some say the site of the executions is now marked by the bandstand. Newgate Prison Following the closure of the Tyburn gallows in 1783, the area outside Newgate Prison became the main site of capital punishment, eliminating at a stroke the raucous parades that often accompanied the condemned person on his or her final journey. The sight of a dangling corpse became rarer , but was still a popular spectacle.

The final public execution took place in 1868, after which hangings were carried out within the prison and away from the populace. The prison was demolished in 1902 and the site is now covered by the Old Bailey. View London Execution Sites in a larger map Execution Dock Malefactors of a more nautical persuasion were sentenced to hang at Wapping's Execution Dock . Pirates, smugglers, mutineers and their ilk were hanged over the water from a shortened noose, ensuring a slow death from asphyxiation. By tradition, their bodies were then left until at least three tides had washed over them. Captain Kidd is the most famous example. His body was later displayed at Tilbury for over 20 years. The location of Execution Dock is a matter of debate, but what is now Wapping station is one leading contender. A commemorative noose dangles from the rear of the Prospect of Whitby pub. Smithfield The age-old meat market on the north-western fringes of the City is a site of butchery in more ways than one.

Revolting peasant Wat Tyler was famously put to the sword by the Lord Mayor hereabouts, although that was more of a politically motivated murder than a planned execution. The area came to be known as something of a health hazard for anyone who disagreed with the monarch. William Wallace met his end here in 1305, via the now-familiar hanged-drawn-quartered technique. A memorial to the shouty Scot is still visited by flower-laying patriots to this day. A couple of centuries later, Smithfield was also the scene of religious executions, when Bloody Mary I condemned at least 50 Protestants to death by burning (also commemorated with a plaque ). Swindlers and confidence tricksters were occasionally boiled to death in oil. Nice place, Smithfield. Stratford-le-Bow More Marian burnings took place in Stratford, or nearby Bow...accounts differ, although a leading theory cites Fairfield Road north of Bow church.

In any case, "Eleven men and two women, later known as the Stratford Martyrs, were brought from Newgate and burnt at the stake on a single fire for their 'protestant beliefs'." A memorial outside St John's church lists 18 people killed in Stratford (plus two more at Smithfield and one at Ware). Foxe's Book of Martyrs includes a related burning out in Uxbridge, for which another memorial exists. St Paul's Churchyard Perhaps the most unlikely site in our list, St Paul's Cathedral has nevertheless been the site of several executions. Following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, four conspirators were dispatched in the churchyard by hanging and disembowelment. A Jesuit priest, Henry Garnet , was also implicated in the plot and executed at the cathedral at a later date. The exact site is uncertain. Old Palace Yard Four of the remaining Gunpowder Plotters, including Guy Fawkes himself, were executed the day after the St Paul's hangings. The chosen site was Old Palace Yard , just outside Westminster Hall. The malefactors were again hanged, drawn and quartered.

Sir Walter Raleigh also met his end here in 1618. Banqueting Hall balcony One of the most famous executions in London's history took place a few hundred metres from the Gunpowder hangings. Testy monarch Charles I — son of James I, the target of the Gunpowder plotters — was beheaded on a specially prepared scaffold outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The building exists to this day, and a small memorial bust of the king can be found outside. The eagle-eyed will spy a more subtle memorial to Charles across the road. The clock of the Horseguards building carries a black mark next to the number 2, the hour of the royal execution. You'll also find an equestrian statue of the king at the northern end of Whitehall, looking towards Banqueting House. Charing Cross With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the newly instated Charles II showed little leniency to those who'd eliminated his father Charles I. In October of that year, eight regicides were hanged, drawn and quartered at a specially erected gibbet in Charing Cross.

Kennington Common A popular choice for executions south of the river until 1800, Kennington Common (now Kennington Park) most famously saw the deaths of 17 Jacobite rebels following the 1745 uprising. A grisly account of their hanging and disembowelment can be found here . Pentonville prison Capitalpunishment.co.uk notes that 120 men were executed at the north London prison between 1902 and 1961, all by hanging, and mostly for murder, although two were for treason and six for spying. Pentonville carried out more 20th Century executions than any other prison in England and Wales. Notable customers include Dr Crippen and John Reginald Christie. Holloway prison Following the closure of Newgate in 1902, Holloway took on responsibility for imprisonment and execution of female felons. Five women were executed here between 1903 and 1955, a third of all executions in England and Wales during that period, concluding with the death of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

Horsemonger Lane Gaol South London's principal execution site was the Horsemonger Lane Gaol , near what is now Newington Causeway. Between 1800 and 1877, 135 people were put to death here. Wandsworth prison The other major execution prison was at Wandsworth . Between 1878 and 1961, 134 men and women were executed on the gallows, including 10 spies and 2 traitors. The most high-profile was perhaps William Joyce , the WWII Nazi propagandist known as Lord Haw-Haw. Fetter Lane A little-known execution site existed on the corner of Fetter Lane and Fleet Street. Catholic priest and accused traitor Christopher Bales was hanged here in 1590, while alleged colluder Alexander Blake met his end in Gray's Inn Lane. With many thanks to London Remembers for the initial idea and plenty of information. Please let us know below if you think we've missed anywhere.

Last Updated 11 January 2012 Click for Comments (16 so far) Johnboyy There is a popular rumour in this part of South East London that highway men (when caught) were hung at the crossroads on Shooters Hill, by the old Police Station. Martin There were executions during the 18th Century outside the Salmon and Ball pub (which still stands) in Bethnal Green outside where the tube now sits (corner of Cambridge Heath Rd and Bethnal Green Road). Apparently those hung were trialled for 'cutting' which was related to the weaving industry which grew up in the area prior to Bethnal Green becoming a slum in the 19th Century.. Chris There is also an execution site at St Thomas a Waterings, now the junction of the Old Kent Road and Albany Road. A number of protestant martyrs were executed here in Mary's reign. LoveLondonMuseums I believe there is also a place in Narrow Street behind the pubs on the river Thames. David Brown Three priests on Clerkenwell Green. And as it was quite common to execute people near the scene of the crime, many other places around the City were used for executions.

One other place was the standard in the middle of Cheapside - often used for less severe punishments like cutting off ears and hands, but I believe some executions as well. LovesLondon Londonpeculiar ....what about St Giles and Hounslow Heath. Roques map shows a gibbet in Shepherds bush , Cricklewood and on Hampstead Heath Tim Hitchcock It was a relative commonplace in the eighteenth-century and before, to condem criminals to be executed at the site of the crime. As a result many streets in London were 'execution' sites. I would particularly recommend Matthew White's new article on the executions following the Gordon Riots, which deals with this issue in some detail. It should be out in the next month or so, in a volume edited by John Seed and Ian Hayward and published by CUP - Molly H Shame they couldn't use the right sort of rope at 'Execution Dock'. We've not used a western knot for judicial executions in this country since the middle ages. Wendy Anyone who has studied ancient mythology will know that regicide and human sacrifice - often the virginal maiden (Lady Jane Gray) - including cutting the body to pieces, was a barbaric practice supposedly to ensure the fertility of the land.

This purpose seems to have got obscured into finding criminals or non-favourite royals to fill the post. Gradually, it became the favoured means to keep society 'civilised' as part of the judicial system. It is quite amazing that we have only been free of the death sentence for 57 years, although we still tolerate a degree of torture, it seems. Very interesting article. London Remembers Great article, Matt. Now with the Tower of London added we have researched over 60 executees so we have created a special London Remembers category for them. Without these poor sods London history would be a duller topic. Incidentally there are some memorials to martyrs, not at their place of execution, such as the Carthusian Martyrs at Charterhouse Square, . Another highwayman's gallows is reported on WP at Winchmore Hill, outside the Green Dragon pub. Rahere And anther one nearby, Church Hill Southgate was originally named Gallows Hill, the gallows being near Grovelands Park Glossary – PirateDocuments.com Contact Us if you’d like us to add a definition to the glossary. Admiralty Report. An official entry typically from Naval or Government records. Articles.

A code of conduct drawn up by pirate crews usually without the captain’s participation and signed at the beginning of the cruise in which they agreed that all prizes taken on the cruise would be divided among the captain and crew in the proportions set forth in the articles. Balinger. Small seagoing sailing vessel without a forecastle used mainly for trade or as a kind of warship. Barge. Officers’ harbor boat, about thirty feet, equipped to be rowed or sailed. Bark or Barge or Barque. General name given to small sailing ships. (After the 17th century, a square rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast “fore-and-aft” rigged.) Brig. A two-masted sailing vessel, both masts carrying square sails. Barbary Coast. Coast of North Africa from Atlantic Ocean to the western coast of Egypt. (Area inhabited by the Berbers). Bilged. A ship is bilged when a hole is torn in her underwater hull and she floods after going aground. Bloody Flux. Now known as amoebic dysentery, this was one of the most lethal diseases that could break out aboard a ship. Booty. Something that is seized by violence. Buccaneer.

Pirates who sailed the Caribbean and the Eastern coast of North America in 17th Century. The name is derived from their practice of raiding Hispaniola and taking cattle from the Spanish plantations; they dried the meat on grills, known in French as boucan (hence the name buccaneer), and sold it to vessels that put in for provisions. Bulwark. A solid rail along the sides of the upper deck to stop waves from washing aboard and to prevent seamen from being washed overboard. Capstan. An upright cylinder-shaped mechanical device which can be rotated for hoisting anchors and other heavy lifting or hauling tasks. In the days of sail, the capstan, with a line wrapped around it, was rotated by men walking around it and pushing on poles inserted in slots at the top of the capstan. Careen. To heave a ship over on its side in order to scrape the underwater hull clean. Often done on a beach by attaching tackles (a system of ropes and pulleys) to the masts and heaving them down. Carronades. Short, lightweight carriage guns that are effective at close range and carronades could be fired more rapidly. Carried away.

A mast or other structure on a ship is said to have carried away when it has broken and fallen or been displaced from its normal position. Cartouche. A box for cartridges. Case-Shot. A collection of small projectiles put in cases to fire from a cannon; canister-shot. Chalupas. Shallops or small, undecked sailing craft. Cinque Ports. The federation was created to provide ships and defense of the coastline for the King before the creation of the Royal Navy by Henry VII in 1496.A group of five ports situated on the S.E. coast of England and having jurisdiction along the coast in order of importance: Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Rommey and Hithe. The Cinque Ports furnished the chief part of the English Navy, in return they had many important franchises an privileges. Clewed up. A square sail is clewed up (raised to the yard) by hoisting on clew lines which are fastened to the lower corners of the sail. This is done in order to spill the wind or to prepare for furling a sail. Close aboard. Two ships are close aboard when they are very near to each other. Cobb.

A Spanish coin made in the New World. Other name are Piece of Eight or Reale. Cog. Small ship of war. Corsair. A pirate working the Barbary coast (N. Africa). Corsair. A fast ship used for piracy. Crosstrees. Wood or metal poles attached part way up a mast to engage and spread the shrouds. Cubit. An ancient measure of length, approximately equal to the length of a forearm. It was typically about 18 inches or 44 cm, though there was a long cubit of about 21 inches or 52 cm. Davits. A pair of upright cranes mounted on the side of a ship, fitted with hoisting and lowering gear to raise and lower boats. Execution Dock. Located on the shore at Wapping, this was the place of execution for those pirates, smugglers, and mutineers condemned to die by the Admiralty Courts. It was last used in 1830. Felucca-rigged. A small, narrow-beamed sailing vessel with lateen sails (also propelled by oars) of Mediterranean origin. Fathom. Six feet. Foremast.

The mast furthest forward on a ship when there is more than one mast. “Fire in the Hole.” The warning cry issued before the gunner set his match to the powder hole on a cannon to fire it. Forecastle. A superstructure at or immediately aft of the bow. Freeboard. The distance from the waterline to the gunwale of a boat or the main deck of a ship Furling. Gathering sail up and lashing it to the yard. Frigate. A “rated” ship that carried all its guns on a single upper deck. Forestays. Fore and aft lines supporting the most forward mast. Freshened. Said of the wind when it increases in strength. A fresh wind is one whose speed is 19 to 24 miles per hour. Gabion. A cylinder of wickerwork filled with earth, used as a military defense. Galley. A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by rowing. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft and low clearance between sea and railing. Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used in favorable winds, but human strength was always the primary method of propulsion.

Galley. Kitchen Galleon. A large sailing vessel of the 15th-17th centuries, used as a fighting or merchant ship. Square rigged on the foremast and mainmasts and generally lateen-rigged on one or two after masts. Goal. Jail. Gunwale. The upper edge of the sides of a boat. Heel. The tilting to one side of a sailing vessel as a result of wind pressure on the sails. Helm. The tiller or wheel used to steer a ship. Helmsman. The seaman who mans the helm to steer a ship. Jettison. To throw equipment, supplies, etc., overboard to lighten a ship. Jib. A triangular sail set on the forestays. Jury rig. A temporary, makeshift arrangement of masts and sails to bring a disabled vessel back to port. Kedge anchor. A lightweight anchor used to move a ship by planting the anchor some distance away in the desired direction of movement and hauling on a line attached to the anchor Ketch.

A sailing vessel rigged fore and aft on two masts, the larger, forward one being the mainmast and the after one, stepped forward of the rudderpost, being the mizzen or jigger. Declaration of Paris. Abolished Privateering in 1856 All countries signed except the USA, Spain, Mexico and Venezuela. Fathom. The length of the outstretched arms of an average-sized man, to the tip of his longest finger. about six feet. Hail-shot. Small shot that scatters like hail when fired from a cannon. Hardtack. Dried bread made from flour and water baked into a moisture-free rock to prevent spoilage. hardtack had to be broken into small pieces or soaked in water before eaten. Hoy. Small sloop-rigged coastal vessel. Knot. a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile (1.852 km) per hour, approximately 1.151 mph. The ISO Standard symbol for the knot is kn. The same symbol is preferred by the IEEE; kt is also common. Langrange. Case-shot loaded with pieces of iron of irregular shape, used to damage the rigging and sails of the enemy. Lead line.

A line with a lead weight on the end used to measure water depth. Leadsman. A seaman who takes soundings by heaving a lead line and noting the depth by markers on the line. Lanthorn. A Lantern with reflectors made of translucent sheets of horn. Lateen-rigged. Having a lateen sail or sails. Lateen sail. A triangular fore-and-aft sail, set on a long yard attached to a short mast near the top of the mast. The forward end of the yard is held close to the deck so that the other end is raised high above the top of the mast. League. A measure of distance about 3 miles. Leeward. In the direction toward which the wind is blowing. Legal Quays. The area known as Billingsgate on the south side of the City of London was where all imported cargoes had to be delivered for inspection and assessment by Customs Officers. Letters of Marque or Marquee. License, warrant or commission granted by a belligerent state to a private citizen to arm a private worship to capture and confiscate ships of another country. Letter of Reprisal.

Similar to Letters of Marque except they are usually issued for only one vessel, usually a particular named vessel. Usually issued to redress a complaint against the named vessel. Log. Daily record of a vessel. The ship’s diary. Log line. A knotted length of line with a piece of wood at the end used to measure a vessel’s speed, thrown into the water to determine how many “knots” ran out in a set period of time. Longboat. Heavy-duty sea boat, about thirty feet equipped to be rowed or sailed. Luffed up. Turning a sailing vessel into the wind so that fore-and-aft sails are luffing (fluttering) in the wind and the vessel loses headway. Lugsail. A quadrilateral sail bent upon a yard that crosses the mast obliquely. Mainmast. The principal mast of a sailing vessel. In a three-masted vessel, the middle mast is the mainmast. Manifest. An itemized list of the ship’s cargo. Marque or Marquee. A Warrant or Commission. Mizzen. After mast in a vessel with three or more. Moses’ Law. Punishment consisting of 40 stripes lacking one.

A stripe was the cut left by the lash. Mtumbi is nothing but the trunk of a tree hollowed out, is supposed to hold but one, and is propelled by a double paddle instead of oars. Nar- row, short, and pointed at the bow, it therefore differs from what is known in Germany as the “Greenland canoe.” Muffled oars. Oars wrapped with canvas or leather in the way of the rowlocks to suppress noise when approaching an enemy. Oakum. Hemp fiber from old ropes, treated with tar, used to caulk seams in ships. Passed midshipman. In the early 1800s, the next highest non-commissioned rank above midshipman. Parrel. A sliding ring, wood or metal that confines a yard or the jaws of a gaff to the mast in such a manner as that they may be easily hoisted and lowered thereon, as occasion requires. Partridge-Shot. A kind of charge for cannon consisting of a number of missiles fired together, similar to langrange or case-shot. Pillage. To strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence, to take as booty. Pink.

A vessel with a sharp, narrow stern and an overhanging stern. Pinnace. A light sailing ship used in attendance on a larger ship. Pirate. A person who robs or commits illegal violence at sea not in possession of Letters of Marque or Reprisal. Pope Alexander IV: Split the world in two in 1494. Spain got territory West of Cape Verde Islands, Portugal got all territory East of Cape Verde Islands. Privateer. An armed ship that is privately owned and manned, commissioned by a government to fight or harass enemy ships. Prize Master. A prize master was a mariner qualified to serve as master and navigator of captured vessels for the purpose of bringing them back to an American port. Provost. Responsible for discipline on board. Quarterdeck. In sailing ships, the part of the upper deck abaft the mainmast from which the ship is commanded. Ratlines. Rope steps on shrouds used to climb rigging. Riding bitts. Strong deck posts at the bow used to secure anchor and mooring lines. Rowlocks. Semi-circular cutouts in gunwale to take oars. Rutters.

Detailed instructions, before maps, listing all that was known about a place or route. St. Fiacre. Patron Saint of Hemorrhoids. Schooner. A two-masted vessel, fore-and-aft rigged on both masts. Scrimshaw. A carving (or engraving) on whalebone, whale ivory, walrus tusk, etc., usually by American whalers. the etchings were usually darkened with lamp black or ink. Send down. To lower yards or masts to stowed positions, usually done in preparation for heavy weather. Sheering off. Moving away from. Ship. In the age of sail, a three-masted vessel with square sails on each mast. Ship-of-the-line. A ship powerful enough to take its place in the line of battle. A third rate or larger which carried guns on two or more decks. Shrouds. Lines that support masts laterally. Sloop. A single-masted sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails. Soundings. Measures the depth of the water. Spanish Main. Area from Caribbean to Orinoco River in Eastern Venezuela. Spanish snow. Similar to a brig. Spar.

A pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fibre used in the rigging of a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail. These include booms and masts, which serve both to deploy sail and resist compressive and bending forces, as well as the bowsprit and spinnaker pole. Stays. Ropes, wires, or rods on sailing vessels that run fore-and-aft along the centerline from the masts to the hull, deck, bowsprit, or to other masts which serve to stabilize the masts. Steerageway. The minimum speed through the water necessary for the rudder to be effective in steering the ship. Stripe. A stripe was the cut left by the lash. Swan-shot. Big hale-shot for large fowl like the swan. Sweats. Smallpox or malaria. Tack. To turn a ship by swinging the bow through the wind so as to bring wind from one side of the sails to the other. Sailing vessels must tack in order to make headway in the direction from which the wind is blowing. Taffrail. A rail around the stern of a ship. Tattoo.

A tattoo is a design in ink or some other pigment, usually decorative or symbolic, placed permanently under the skin Tattooing is technically referred to as “micro-pigment implantation”. Tattoos are a type of body modification. Tenths. The share the Lord Admiral would receive of the plunder captured by ships he issued Letters of Marque and Reprisal to. Tide Waiter. An official who checked boats coming into the Thames River to ensure goods were not sold on the way to the Legal Quays for a tax-free profit. Tiller. A wood or metal bar attached to the top of the rudder and used to turn it. Topgallant mast. The mast above the topmast. Topmast. The next mast above the lowest mast. Topping lift. A line attached to the unsupported end of a boom or other spar to raise or lower it or hold it up when the sail is not raised. Triatic stay. A line running between the head of the foremast and the head of the mainmast to which hoisting tackles can be attached. Unmanifested. Not listed on the manifest. Veer. To allow the anchor line to run out. Wear.

To change the direction in which the ship is headed by swinging the stern through the wind. Opposite of tack. Weigh. To pull up the anchor. Wherry. A light rowboat or skiff. Any of various barges, fishing vessels, etc used locally in England. Worms. Shipworms (Teredo navalis) eat the hulls in warm water. they have two small shells, each about a third of an inch long, with toothed ridges, with which they tunnel into wood. The worm’s body is supported by the tunnel as it bores and feeds. Yards. Wood or metal poles (spars), tapered at one or both the ends, crossing the masts of a ship horizontally or diagonally, from which sails are set. Yawl. Smaller sea boat, about twenty-three feet, equipped to be rowed or sailed. Contact Us if you’d like us to add a definition to the glossary Pirates Execution Dock Pirates Execution Dock The Pirates Execution Dock where Captain Kidd was drowned. Location: Off Wapping High Street, Wapping, London Description: From the 15 to the 19 centuries this site was used for the execution of pirates.

Those convicted of piracy were brought from Marshalsea Prison in Southwark, across London Bridge, and past the Tower to Execution Dock. The procession was led on horseback by the Admiralty Marshal or his deputy carrying a silver oar representing the authority of the Admiralty which had jurisdiction over crimes on the sea (offenses on land were the responsibility of the civil courts). With the church of St. Mary in the background and a crowd assembled on land or on boats moored in the river, he was given the same opportunity of a last dying speech. After being turned off, the tide would rise and submerge the body. The custom held that three tides would wash over it before it was taken away. After the hanging, the more notorious pirates were covered with tar and suspended on a gibbet or in irons along the Thames at Graves Point to warn sailors on ingoing and outgoing ships the price of mutiny and piracy. The most famous pirate to be executed here was Captain William Kidd on 23rd May 1701. Execution Dock's last victims were executed for murder and mutiny in 1830.

From the river Execution Dock is marked with a large letter 'E' on the building at the site of Swan Wharf. Execution Dock is located near Wapping Old Stairs which can be reached by following the cobbled alleyway alongside the Town of Ramsgate pub. Tagged in this Tour: The [Real] Pirates of the Caribbean Home KENNEDY, Captain. Began life as a pickpocket and housebreaker in London. He was Captain Roberts's lieutenant, and was afterwards given command of a prize, the Rover. Kennedy could never, even when a captain, forget his old trade. It is recorded that he stole a black suit of clothes from the captain of the Bird at Sierra Leone in 1718. These he put on with the captain's best wig and sword. He then swaggered about on board in these till his fellow-pirates drenched him with buckets of claret, so that he had to disrobe and throw the garments overboard. Owing to a quarrel with Captain Roberts, Kennedy went off in his ship, the Rover, and sailed to Barbadoes.

His first prize, a Boston ship, was a distinct novelty, being commanded by one Captain Knot, a Quaker, who lived up to the principles of his sect by allowing no pistol, sword, or cutlass, or other weapon aboard his vessel. The crew, finding Kennedy had no knowledge whatever of navigation, threatened to throw him overboard, but because he was a man of great personal courage they did not in the end carry out their threat. The crew next decided to give over piracy and to set sail for Ireland. This island they altogether missed through bad navigation, and they ran the ship ashore on the north of Scotland. The crew landed and passed themselves off as shipwrecked mariners, but owing to their drinking and rioting in each village they came to, the whole countryside was soon roused. Kennedy slipped away and reached Ireland. Having soon spent all his ill-gotten gains in Dublin, he came to Deptford and set up a house of ill-fame, adding occasionally to his income from this source by a little highwaymanry.

One of the ladies of his house at Deptford, to be revenged for some slight or other, gave information to the watch, and Kennedy was imprisoned at Marshalsea and afterwards tried for robbery and piracy. Kennedy turned King's evidence against some of his old associates, but this did not save his neck, for he was condemned and hanged at Execution Dock. KIDD, Captain William, sometimes Robert Kidd or Kid. In the whole history of piracy there is no name that has so taken the world's fancy than has that of William Kidd. And yet, if he be judged by his actions as a pirate, he must be placed amongst the second- or even third-rate masters of that craft. He took but two or three ships, and these have been, after two hundred years, proved to be lawful prizes taken in his legal capacity as a privateer. Kidd was born at Greenock in Scotland about the year 1655, and was the son of the Rev. John Kidd. Of his early life little record is left, but we know that in August, 1689, he arrived at St. Nevis in the West Indies, in command of a privateer of sixteen guns.

In 1691, while Kidd was on shore, his crew ran away with his ship, which was not surprising, as most of his crew were old pirates. But that Kidd was an efficient seaman and a capable captain is shown by the number of times he was given the command of different privateer vessels, both by the Government of New York and by privateer owners. In 1695 Kidd was in London, and on October 10th signed the articles which were to prove so fatal for him. In January, 1696, King William III.

issued to his "beloved friend William Kidd" a commission to apprehend certain pirates, particularly Thomas Tew, of Rhode Island, Thomas Wake, and William Maze, of New York, John Ireland, and "all other Pirates, Free-booters, and Sea Rovers of what Nature soever." This privateer enterprise was financed chiefly by Lord Bellomont, but the other adventurers (on shore and in safety) were the Lord Chancellor; the Earl of Orford, the First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Romney and the Duke of Shrewsbury, Secretaries of State; Robert Livingston, Esq., of New York; and lastly, Captain Kidd himself. The ship the Adventure galley was bought and fitted up, and Kidd sailed away in her to suppress piracy, particularly on the coast of America. Nothing was heard of him till August, 1698, when ugly rumours began to get about of piracies committed by Kidd in the Indian Ocean. In December of the same year a general pardon was offered to all pirates who should surrender themselves, with two exceptions—namely, Captain Avery and Captain Kidd.

In May, 1699, Kidd suddenly appeared in a small vessel at New York, with rich booty. His chief patron, Lord Bellomont, was now Governor, and was placed in the most awkward position of having to carry out his orders and arrest Kidd for piracy and send him in chains to England in H.M.S. Advice, which ship had been sent specially to New York to carry back Kidd, Bradish, and other pirates to England. The trial of Kidd proved a scandal, for someone had to suffer as scapegoat for the aristocratic company privateers, and the lot fell to the luckless Kidd. Kidd was charged with piracy and with murder. The first charge of seizing two ships of the Great Mogul could have been met by the production of two documents which Kidd had taken out of these ships, and which, he claimed, proved that the ships were sailing under commissions issued by the French East India Company, and made them perfectly lawful prizes. These commissions Kidd had most foolishly handed over to Lord Bellomont, and they could not be produced at the trial, although they had been exhibited before the House of Commons a little while previously.

It is an extraordinary and tragic fact that these two documents, so vital to Kidd, were discovered only lately in the Public Records Office—too late, by some 200 years, to save an innocent man's life. As it happened, the charge of which Kidd was hanged for was murder, and ran thus: "Being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil he did make an assault in and upon William Moore upon the high seas with a certain wooden bucket, bound with iron hoops, of the value of eight pence, giving the said William Moore one mortal bruise of which the aforesaid William Moore did languish and die." This aforesaid William Moore was gunner in the Adventure galley, and was mutinous, and Kidd, as captain, was perfectly justified in knocking him down and even of killing him; but as the court meant Kidd to "swing," this was quite good enough for finding him guilty. The unfortunate prisoner was executed at Wapping on May 23rd, 1701, and his body afterwards hanged in chains at Tilbury. A PIRATE BEING HANGED AT EXECUTION DOCK, WAPPING.

A PIRATE BEING HANGED AT EXECUTION DOCK, WAPPING. A popular ballad was sung to commemorate the life and death of Kidd, who, for some reason, was always called Robert Kidd by the populace. It consists of no less than twenty-four verses, and we here give fifteen of them: THE BALLAD OF CAPTAIN KIDD My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, when I sailed, My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, My name was Robert Kidd, God's laws I did forbid, And so wickedly I did, when I sailed. My parents taught me well, when I sailed, when I sailed, My parents taught me well, when I sailed, My parents taught me well, To shun the gates of hell, But 'gainst them I rebelled, when I sailed. I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, when I sailed, I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, I'd a Bible in my hand, By my father's great command, And sunk it in the sand, when I sailed. I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, as I sailed, I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, I murdered William Moore,

Question: What name was given to the Dock in Wapping where pirates and smugglers were hanged?
Answer: EXECUTION DOCK