I won't subject you to all of the many wonders included in works such as: Mutiny and Murder- Confession of Charles Gibbs: a native of Rhode Island- Who, with Thomas J. Wansley, was doomed to be hung in New-York on the 22nd of April last, for the murder of the Captain and Mate of the Brig Vineyard, on her passage from New Orleans to Philadelphia in November 1830. Gibbs confesses that within a few years he participated in the murder of nearly 400 human beings! or A Most Wonderful Providence, In Many Incidents at Sea: An Engagement with a Pirate and a Mutiny at Sea, of Board Ship Ann of Boston, Commanded by Captain Eliah Holcomb: Written By Himself, And to the Truth of which he is willing to qualify at any time. Instead, I will be treating you to a cliffnotes version of my most interesting findings.
Because most of the documents that I read were all published around the same time, the first half of the 19th century, I was able to notice several interesting continuities between the ways in which pirates were portrayed in each of the works. As Erin pointed out in her earlier post, pirates and privateers were viewed as something akin to national heroes in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Well, let me tell you, by the time the 1800s rolled around there were no references to the "Heroick exploits of our own Countrey-men, and Relations". Instead, the forces of Victorian era were in full swing and a pirate was much more likely to be described as, "an active participator in the commission of crimes that are stamped with the most shocking barbarity!" (a particular gem taken from the trial of Charles Gibbs).
The accounts of trials and executions that I read were probably one third actual fact, one third sensationalized fiction, and one third warnings against the complete moral depravity of piracy. The authors seemed to relish reporting the heinous crimes committed by these pirates. For example, during the trial of Charles Gibbs, the pirate was reported to have recounted the following passage relating to the treatment of the crews belonging to ships captured by pirates:
"...as soon as we got a ship's crew in our power, a short consultation was held, and if it was the opinion of a majority that it would be better to take life than to spare it, a single nod or wink from our captain was sufficient-- regardless of age of sex, all entreaties for mercy were then made in vain-- we possessed not the tender feelings to be operated upon by the shrieks and expiring groans of the devoted victims!-- there was rather a strife among us, who, with his own hands, should dispatch the greatest number, and in the shortest period of time."It was also impossible to miss the religious undertone that ran through almost all of these accounts. A plan to mutiny that resulted in the death of the captain and and several officers aboard the Plattsburg in 1816 was described in the following words: "...which, from its diabolical nature, we think ourselves warranted in saying, must have had Lucifer for its projector!", and the judge in the Charles Gibbs case followed his sentence of death with the advice that the convicts should use their time in prison to "seriously think and reflect on their FUTURE STATE!".
The authors of these pamphlets also took every opportunity to issue "Solemn Addresses to Youth" in order to entreat upon the youngsters of America to never turn to piracy as a means of seeking their fortune. All of these addresses cautioned youth to show "filial respect" to their parents and act wisely in "choosing your connexions". Above all though, these addresses stressed the merits of virtue and the necessity of this trait in living a successful, fulfilling life (or in other words, one that doesn't end with a trip to the gallows).
I think that this poem included at the end of The Pirates- A brief account of the HORRID MASSACRE of the Captain, Mate, and Supercargo of the Schooner Plattsburg of Baltimore, on the High Seas in July 1816 By a part of the crew of said vessel really sums up the spirit of my findings quite nicely.
Written on the Condemnation of the Pirates
How my heart with bitter anguish
Sinks in melancholy gloom;
Pensive and sad my muse must languish
As I sing the Murderer's doom.
Lo! In gloomy cells confined,
Shut from light and wholesome air,
Are four Outlaws, in chains entwined,
Who must for speedy death prepare.
All moral ties they burst asunder,
No laws could these vile wretches bind;
For nought but murder, guilt, and plunder,
In their vile hearts could refuge find.
As on Ocean, in soft slumber,
Three devoted victims sleep;
Ah! their hours are few in number,
Soon they're destined for the deep!
Ere the midnight watch is called,
Sudden alarm is quickly spread;
The victims rise- they are enthralled,
Soon to be numbered with the dead.
Cruel ruffians now surround them;
In vain for mercy do they cry;
With heavy blows the fiends astound them;
All hope has fled- alas!-- they die!
But what a final retribution
Soon the murderers will await;
Speedy, for their vial pollution
Will the wretched meet their fate.
Let our youth by them take warning;
Shun the path those murd'rers trod--
Lest, they should be by virtue scorning,
Call'd to the awful bar of God.
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