Charles Vane's Imprisonment

[The Island]

Can anyone tell me why Charles Vane was kept alive for so long almost two years before being executed in Jamaica? I am wondering if there is records supporting this also does anyone know, who Captain Holford was even his first name the man, who is written as an old friend of Vanes, who turned him in?

[captscurvy_nc]

I haven't heard that he was kept alive for that long. Most of the stories talk about after the hurricanr that wrecked his ship he was turned over to the authorities by the locals and hung within the week. I could be wrong though

[Daniel]

Island has it right. Johnson has Vane being shipwrecked in February, 1719, being visited by Captain Holford "some weeks" after that, and shortly later being rescued by another captain, denounced by Holford, and turned over to the Jamaican authorities, who don't hang him until March, 1721. Woodard has confirmed the date of March, 1721 for the execution.

There's all kinds of speculation on the Wikipedia article about why it took so long to try and execute Vane, from the bizarre (the citizens wanted him to rot in prison as long as possible) to the plausible (it took over a year to gather the witnesses). But no hard evidence.

Beyond that, after February, 1719, there are no more firm dates in Johnson about Vane's life, not even for his execution. Perhaps the "some weeks" that he was cast away were closer to a year. One presumes that Vane escaped the island within a month after Holford visited, since Holford said he was coming back in about a month, but he could have been working aboard his deliverer's ship for months or a year before Holford found him and denounced him. Nor do we know how long it took Holford to touch at Jamaica after taking Vane prisoner.

Still another possibility to consider is that Johnson and his sources are just plain wrong. Johnson already has two completely contradictory accounts of how Vane lost his command to Rackham, one stating that he was deposed after refusing to attack a French warship, and the other saying that Rackham forced him out for not sharing the rum evenly. The name of the island on which Vane was supposedly wrecked is not mentioned. Vane may have been wrecked at a later time, or never wrecked at all.

[Fox]

16 December 1718 - last piracy included in Vane's indictment

22 March 1721 - Vane's trial

29 March 1721 - Vane's execution.

There is no indication in the trial account of why Vane was held in custody for so long. Some of the witnesses (probably enough to hang him) were residents of Jamaica, and all of the others were seamen involved in Caribbean trade, so the gathering of witnesses is possible but not particularly likely.