Pirate Pardons

[oualiesteve]

Researching circumstances under which British North American-Caribbean colonial governors could/would grant pardons, circa 1725, and the texts of any such pardons. Was approval required from London? Were pardons conditional? Any info or leads helpful.

[JoshuaRed]

Pardons were rare and often riddled with complexities of conditions. Usually they required that any pirate who wished to surrender had to do so between Date X and Date Y, at city/port X. I've read of pirates who showed up a few days or weeks late to take the pardon, having sailed from the other side of world for it, only to be hung for not meeting the rule requirements. :angry:

It also seems that earlier pardons were more encouraging, often offering land or real estate to any pirates who would settle ashore, under the strict condition that they never again go to sea.

[Captain Jim-sib]

and the texts of any such pardons

Try this one...though 10 years earlier than your focus

Source: Blackbeard the Pirate, by Robert E. Lee, 1974,

ISBN 0-910244-77-4, John Blair, Publisher, Winston-Salem,NC

Appendix D: "Proclamation under which Blackbeard, Bonnet, Hornigold, and Hundreds of Other Pirates Surrendered". pages 243-244

Proclamation dated: "24th Day of June, in the Year of our Lord, 1715"

valid thru: "6th day of September, 1718"

This Proclamation is also found in:

Woodbury, George. The Great Days of Piracy in the West Indies. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1951, pages 144-46

[DurtyLillie]

Pyrates be pardoned? Well sir, I gots me a pardon on the wall dated 1346 from Robert Morley...aquired it, I mean bought it customized from a chap out Florida way... looks real authentic....What ye know 'bout Robert Morley, King William and Pyrates Pardoned?

Signed,

a stinkin' inquirin' sort-of-a-mind, D.L. XX