Piracy Trial from the U.S. Colonial Era
These court minutes from the English Province at South Carolina are our oldest records and document the proceedings at the court in Charles Town (now Charleston) from 1716 to 1763. This page shows the minutes of November 12, 1718, in which Stede Bonnet, one of the most notable figures during the Golden Age of Piracy, was sentenced to death for his conviction on two charges of piracy for the capture of the sloops Francis and Fortune.
This court had jurisdiction for crimes committed on the high seas and heard numerous cases involving other pirates and their crimes in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Those pirates who received a guilty verdict were ordered to be “hanged by the neck until dead.”
Minutes of the British Vice Admiralty Court, dated November 12, 1718. National Archives Identifier: 334339257
Request more pages from the piracy trials heard at the British Vice Admiralty Court at Charles Town by emailing atlanta.archives@nara.gov. This document is one example of the many records held at the National Archives at Atlanta, GA. You can explore more of our holdings by visiting the National Archives Catalog or by visiting the National Archives at Atlanta. This record is located within Record Group 21: District Courts of the United States, Series: Court Minutes, 1716–1763. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized. We encourage researchers to visit us onsite to explore these records and learn more about the archival collections held in the National Archives at Atlanta.