Gravelly Point (Newport, Rhode Island)

USA / Rhode Island / Newport / Newport, Rhode Island
 park, interesting place
In 1723 Gravelly Point (off of Long Wharf) was the site of the largest public mass execution in American history, when 26 pirates were executed. Their bodies were carried to Goat Island and buried between the high and low water mark.

On Friday, 19 July 1723, twenty-six pirates (Charles Harris, Thomas Linicar, Daniel Hyde, Stephen Mundon, Abraham Lacy, Edward Lawson, John Tomkins, Francis Laughton, John Fisgerald, William Studfield, Owen Rice, William Read, John Bright, Thomas Hazel, William Blades (Rhode Island), Thomas Hagget, Peter Cues, William Jones, Edward Eaton, John Brown, James Sprinkly, Joseph Sound, Charles Church, John Waters, Thomas Powell (Connecticut), and Joseph Libbey) who had been hanged at nearby Bull's Point (Gravelly Point) after being tried in Newport between the 10th and 12th of July, and were buried on the north end of Goat Island, on the shore, between high and low water mark.[1] "The pirates were all young men, most of them natives of England" (Olden Times Series 5). The following is taken from The Salem Observer, November 11, 1843: "...this was the most extensive execution of pirates that ever took place at one time in the Colonies, it was attended by a vast multitude from every part of New England." (also reference Gutenberg Library, The Olden Times Series, Volume 5, by Henry M. Brooks.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_Island_%28Rhode_Island%29
see also archive.org/stream/historyofnewport00bayl#page/n553/mod... [Baynes]
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easton's_Point
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°29'21"N   71°19'13"W

Comments

  • Has anyone ever written an extensive history of the trial and the hanging ? Wasn't Newport a pirate and party town, which is why the pirates hung out here? They were the bling before the Bellevue Bling. So many names. Who were they and what were their stories. Pirates hanging pirates? The rogue history of the island, and the entire colony, was still blossoming in 1723. The Newport economy was built on privateering one day and pirating the next. What would a comprehensive history of this hanging day reveal?
  • I would love to hear the full story also! Maybe the King making an example? Ill do some research and post my findings. do the same!
  • You can read about the trial in a book called The Pirates of The New England Coast 1630-1730, written by George Francis Dow and John Henry Edmonds
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