They swung in the wind and made a horrid creaking noise that both terrified and offended wayfarers.
But the gallows at Londons infamous Execution Dock would remain for nearly four hundred years.
This was a time when Britain was expanding its empire.
The crown traded extensively with its colonies.
A replica gallows by the River Thames in London.
But Queen Elizabeths successors did not support the hiring of mercenaries.
Privateering was abolished, and many privateers, used to the life of crime and riches, became pirates.
Piracy on the high seas was ruled a grievous crime, for it became a threat to maritime trade.
The only punishment fitting for such a crime was death.
Public executions were family affair.
The streets would be lined with spectators and the riverbanks would be overflowing with them.
Others would float on the river in packed boats.
A 1795 engraving depicting a pirate being hanged at Execution Dock.
It has also been suggested that the pirate is Captain James Lowry, hanged in 1762.
When this ritual was completed, the pirate would be hung by the neck until dead.
To make the ordeal as painful as possible, pirates were hung by a short rope.
The shortened rope would make the drop insufficient to break the prisoners neck.
Instead, the executed would die a slow death from strangulation.
During the suffocation, the victim would writhe and struggle.
This macabre display was nicknamed the Marshals Dance.
Hangings always took place at low tide.
His body remained hung for two years, some say three.
Its just one of the many fables and lore surrounding the infamous pirate.
The final hangings at the dock occurred on 16 December 1830.
A woodcut showing the execution of two pirates at Wapping in 1583.
The gibbeted body of Captain Kidd who was executed at Wapping in 1701.
A pub in Wapping named after Captain Kidd.
Photo credit: Mischief PR
Photo credit:xpgomes10/Flickr
Sources:Wikipedia/Historic UK/BBC/englishlegalhistory.wordpress.com
