On This Day.. Pirate John Quelch is Executed

[Thagarr]

On This Day, June 30'th, 1704 pirate John Quelch is hanged in Boston after being “tried“ and convicted under England's Admiralty Law. This was the first time such a court was held outside of England, it also had the advantage of not needing to have the inconvenience of a jury. Quelch's case stirred up a lot of anti-British sentiment in the American colonies and helped lay the foundations of what would later lead to the American Revolutionary War. It would also help set a president for not returning pirates to England to stand trial, instead they would receive a similar kind of justice, and that would help to put an end the Golden Age.

I know a lot of you are probably familiar with this story; and the Wiki article does give some good background, but as with most things on Wikipedia, it doesn't come close to telling the whole story. For instance, although this indecent has been portrayed as nothing but a mutiny by pirates, Quelch and his crew returned to the same port, in the same ship that he originally sailed in, after commuting mutiny. Not exactly the smartest thing to do. So either him and his entire crew were complete morons, or there was something else at work here. I find it also interesting that they set out to plunder Portuguese ships, as Portugal had recently become Queen Anne's newest ally. This has the stench of aristocratic political maneuvering all over it.

Pirate career

In July, 1703, Governor Joseph Dudley of Boston sent out Captain Daniel Plowman of the Charles with a privateering license to attack French and Spanish ships off the coast of Newfoundland and Arcadia. John Quelch was Plowman's lieutenant. Before leaving Marblehead, Massachusetts, the Charles's crew under Quartermaster Anthony Holding mutinied and locked the ailing Plowman in his cabin.[1]

The crew elected Quelch the captain, who turned the Charles south. Plowman was thrown overboard, although it was never established whether he was dead or alive at that moment. The crew plundered nine Portuguese ships off the coast of Brazil and gained a large sum of money,[2] even though England and Portugal were at peace at the time.[3] The Charles contained large amounts of Brazilian sugar, hides, cloth, guns, gold dust and coins.

The loot's total value is estimated at over £10,000 sterling (some £1 million in today's money).[4] Before their capture, legend says the crew buried some of the gold on Star Island off the coast of New Hampshire. In the 1800s some gold coins were found hidden in a stone wall there.[4]

Death

When the Charles returned to Marblehead 10 months later, the crewmen scattered with their plunder. Within a week, Quelch was in jail, because the Portuguese were not in his letter of marque and more importantly, Queen Anne and the King of Portugal had just became allies. He and others of his crew were taken to Boston to be tried. This was the first admiralty trial outside of England. It was called by one historian "the first case of judicial murder in America."[4]

On Friday, June 30, 1704, the pirates were marched on foot through Boston to Scarlet's Wharf accompanied by a guard of musketeers, various officials, and two ministers, while in front was carried a silver oar, the emblem of the Lord High Admiral.[2] Upon reaching the gallows, the minister gave the pirates a long and fervent sermon. All of the pirates showed repentance on their faces except Captain Quelch. Before he was hanged, Quelch stepped up while holding his hat and bowed to the spectators. He also gave a short address and warned them, "They should take care how they brought Money into New England to be Hanged for it."[2] Their bodies were buried in between the tide marks.[3]

While I was looking into this story a bit, I ran across a book, Quelch's Gold, written a few years ago by Clifford Beal that goes much more in depth into the story. This one is now on my list of books I need to read and maybe review. There is also a Youtube video promoting the book that provides some of the more interesting details.