Pirate Trials: Hung by the Neck Until Dead by Ken RossignolMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
The author merely reprints here primary sources: maudlin final testimony of a condemned pirate, trial transcripts, and stuffy legal documents. Little introduction, comment, or context is provided. The first of three parts is the mawkish, religious testament of a pirate at the gallows. This pirate served under Benito de Soto. Yet, no account of that 19th Century pirate's career is related here, let alone how this crew member's activities fitted in. The middle, longest part is the trial transcripts of the Chesapeake Affair. It is a real slog getting through this legal minutiae and barely any of the thrill of Confederacy takeover of a vessel surfaces while this mostly dwells on the international law of piracy defined and how Lieutenant Nickels of the Ella and Annie violated British sovereignty and international laws when he arrested one New Brunswicker and two Nova Scotians in Canadian waters.
A final small portion covers piracy and murder committed on board is Majesty's ship Hermione. (Courts meeting on Christmas day!) An event covered in more detail in Captain Mends's narrative of the mutiny, murder and piracy committed on board His Majesty's ship Hermione .
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