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William Fly

Boatswain of the Bristol snow Elizabeth who led the mutiny of 27 May 1726, commanded her for seven weeks as the Fames-Revenge, and was hanged at Boston.

BornNot establishedDiedhanged 12 July 1726, BostonAlso writtenJohn Fly (reported chapter heading in Johnson's General History, second volume, 1728; that volume not read)

Seven weeks is the whole of it. William Fly's career as a pirate opened on 27 May 1726 and ended with his execution on 12 July.1

The name, and nothing before it

He was William Fly in the courtroom and William Fly in the minister's book. Of what came before the snow sailed nothing is known: no birth, no parents, no nationality, no trade. He was "a Young man, about Seven and twenty years of old", and a Boston dispatch reprinted in London that autumn said all three of the condemned were born in the West of England.2,3,4

Seven weeks

He was boatswain of the snow Elizabeth of Bristol, John Green master, out of Jamaica for Guinea in April 1726. On 27 May, about one in the morning, he went aft with Alexander Mitchell and others and into the master's cabin. Green was put over the side, and Thomas Jenkins the mate after him, and both drowned. The articles name Mitchell, Henry Hill, Samuel Cole and Thomas Winthrop with him. Green pleaded for his life; Fly told him to say "Lord, Have Mercy on my Soul!"; a broad-axe took his hand off when he caught at the mainsheets. The reason they gave was bad usage: Green and his mate had been cruel to the men.5,6,7,8,9

The first thing they stole was the deck under them. The articles put the snow at about seventy tuns and her cargo at two thousand pounds sterling. Fly took command, the company renamed her, and the indictment calls her "the Snow then called the Fames-Revenge (formerly called the Elizabeth)" in count after count. Fly's own word for himself and his company was Gentlemen of Fortune.10,11

Three more vessels followed: the sloop John and Hannah, bilged and sunk on the Hatteras bar, her master John Fulker brought to the geers and whipped; the ship John and Betty on 6 and 7 June, robbed of sails, clothes and small arms under the black flag; and off Delaware Bay on 11 June the sloop Rachel, let go inside a day, James Benbrooke forced out of her. Several of the positions in the articles read "in the Latitude of" and then a blank the clerk never filled.12,13

It came apart on Browns Bank on 23 June. Fly took a fishing schooner and sent her after other sail with seven hands aboard, which left three pirates with him and fifteen prisoners. William Atkinson, forced out of the John and Betty to pilot him, drew him forward from his loaded guns and sword. Benbrooke and Walker took him at the windlass and put him in irons. The snow came into Boston on 28 June.14,15

The court, and the men who walked out

Sixteen men were arraigned at Boston on Monday 4 July 1726. Four of them were found guilty, and the rest acquitted. Robert Auchmuty, the Advocate-General, opened against the plea he knew was coming, "That he was a forced Man". The rest went free anyway. The first was Atkinson, who had piloted for Fly under threat and then taken the ship off him: not guilty, discharged without fees.16,17,18

Fly denied the killing to the last. The piracy he never disputed. Pressed on the murders in the prison, he answered Mather: "I can't charge my self with Murder. I did not strike and wound the Master or Mate! It was Mitchel did it!" The court voted him guilty on every article and sentenced him to be hanged by the neck until dead. Cole and Greenvill went down with him, denying any hand in the deaths; consenting to the rising was enough in law. Condick was acquitted of the murder and recommended for a twelve-month reprieve. Mather dates the sentence 3 July; the court's own record opens on Monday the fourth.19,20,21,22

The gallows and the gibbet

The court fixed Tuesday 12 July, at the usual place for the execution of pirates near the Charles River. For Fly it added a line it added for nobody else. Being "the Chief Leader of them", his body was to be carried to an island called Nicks-Mate near the entrance of Boston harbour and hung there in chains. Three of them died that day: Fly, Cole the quartermaster, and Greenvil. Condick got his year and a day.23,24

Mather thought him "ambitious to have it said, That he died a brave fellow". He carried a nosegay to the stage and reproached the hangman "for not understanding his Trade". He would not forgive the man who took him. In the Boston dispatch printed at London he said he was not afraid to die because "he had wrong no Man", and that the barbarity of masters to their men "made so many turn Pyrates". His hands and knees were seen to shake all the same.25,26,27

The minister's book

Cotton Mather made a book of him that same year, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea, printed at Boston by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, and it is a minister's book before it is a report: Fly opens it as a "Cockatrice crush'd in the Egg" and ends it as an instance of impenitency. Later writers hang the end of the golden age of piracy on this one hanging; neither the court nor Mather says any such thing.28,29,30

News moved slower than the man. On 20 July an express reached New York with word of the pirate snow off Cape May, and two of the King's ships put to sea after her. Fly had been hanged at Boston on the twelfth and was hanging in chains at the mouth of the harbour.31

Charles Johnson's second volume of 1728 is reported to give him a different forename. Neither it nor any Boston newspaper of that June and July has been read for this record. Until they are, the variance stays a report and everything before 27 May 1726 stays blank.32

What the evidence does not settle

Origins

  • Fly's birth, parentage, nationality and earlier service
  • Mather gives his age at death as about twenty-seven

Forename

  • The reported alternative forename in the 1728 volume

Sentence date

  • 3 or 4 July 1726

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. William Fly's documented career as a pirate runs from the mutiny of 27 May 1726 to his execution on 12 July 1726, a span of about seven weeks. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  2. Both the sworn Boston trial record and Cotton Mather's near-contemporary account name the pirate leader William Fly throughout, and the two are independent of one another. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  3. Neither the Boston trial record nor Mather gives any birth, parentage, nationality or account of William Fly's life before the 1726 voyage. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  4. Mather gives Fly's age at his death as about twenty-seven, and a Boston dispatch printed at London in September 1726 states that all three of the condemned men were born in the West of England. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Execution sermon with appended narrative, and period newspaper report: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), page 11; and The Political State of Great Britain, vol. XXXII (London, September 1726), Boston dispatch of 16 July 1726
  5. William Fly was boatswain of the snow Elizabeth of Bristol under Captain John Green, which sailed from Jamaica for Guinea in April 1726; only the month of sailing is attested. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  6. At about one in the morning of 27 May 1726 Fly and others seized Captain John Green and mate Thomas Jenkins aboard the snow Elizabeth and threw them overboard, and both were drowned. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, articles exhibited by Robert Auchmuty against William Fly
  7. The articles against William Fly name Alexander Mitchell, Henry Hill, Samuel Cole and Thomas Winthrop as acting with him in the rising of 27 May 1726. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, first article against William Fly
  8. Mather reports that Fly bade Green say "Lord, Have Mercy on my Soul!" and that Green's hand was cut off with a cooper's broad-axe when he seized the mainsheets to prolong his time. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Execution sermon with appended narrative: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), A Remarkable Relation, page 2
  9. The reason the mutineers themselves gave for destroying the master and mate was bad usage, Mather recording that it was done "in a way of Revenge, they said, for Bad Usage" and the prisoners telling the court that Green and his mate had been cruel to the men. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Execution sermon and trial pamphlet: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726); and The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726
  10. The articles charge the seizure of the snow Elizabeth herself, about seventy tuns with a cargo valued at two thousand pounds sterling, and describe her throughout as "the Snow then called the Fames-Revenge (formerly called the Elizabeth) and then under the Command of William Fly". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, articles of piracy against the several prisoners
  11. After the mutiny Fly acted as captain of the snow, and Capt. William Atkinson deposed that Fly said he and his company "were Gentlemen of Fortune", a phrase Mather also records. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, declaration of Capt. William Atkinson; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  12. Between 3 and 11 June 1726 Fly's company took the sloop John and Hannah off Cape Hatteras bar, where she bilged and sank and her master John Fulker was whipped at the geers; the ship John and Betty, robbed of sails, clothes and small arms under the black flag and released after about two days; and the sloop Rachel off Delaware Bay, from which James Benbrooke was forced before she was let go. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, third, fourth and fifth articles; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  13. The articles leave the latitude of several of the captures blank, reading "in the Latitude of--", so the positions are not recoverable from the record. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, articles of piracy against the several prisoners
  14. On 23 June 1726 near Brown's Banks Fly took the fishing schooner James and sent her in chase with seven hands aboard, leaving himself, three other pirates and fifteen men taken out of his prizes on the snow. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, sixth article; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), A Remarkable Relation, page 6
  15. On 23 June 1726 the forced men aboard the snow, led by Capt. William Atkinson, retook her, Benbrooke and Walker seizing Fly at the windlass and putting him in irons, and she was brought into Boston on 28 June. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, declaration of Capt. William Atkinson; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  16. Sixteen persons were tried for piracy at the Special Court of Admiralty held at Boston on Monday 4 July 1726, of whom four were found guilty and the rest acquitted. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, title page
  17. Opening the case against Fly, Advocate-General Robert Auchmuty attacked in advance "that Hackney Defence made by every Pirate upon Trial, namely, That he was a forced Man". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, speech of the King's Advocate on the trial of William Fly
  18. William Atkinson, who had piloted for Fly under threat and then organised the retaking of the snow, was voted not guilty with no dissenting voice and discharged without paying fees or costs. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, verdict on William Atkinson
  19. Fly admitted the piracy but denied the murder, telling Mather "I can't charge my self with Murder. I did not strike and wound the Master or Mate! It was Mitchel did it!" Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Execution sermon with appended narrative: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), the first conference in the prison, 6 July 1726
  20. The court voted William Fly guilty of every article exhibited against him, and the President sentenced him to be carried to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until dead. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, verdict and sentence on William Fly
  21. Samuel Cole and Henry Greenvill were convicted of the murder as consenting parties although they denied any hand in the killing, while George Condick was acquitted of the murder, convicted on the other five articles, and recommended by the court for a twelve-month reprieve. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, verdicts on Samuel Cole, George Condick and Henry Greenvill, and the vote of the court after sentence
  22. Mather's relation dates the sentence of death on the four pirates to 3 July 1726, where the court's own printed record has the Special Court of Admiralty sitting on 4 July. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Execution sermon and trial pamphlet: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), page 11; and The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, title page
  23. The court voted that Fly, Cole and Greenvill be executed on Tuesday 12 July 1726 at the usual place for the execution of pirates in or near Charles River, and that Fly, being the chief leader, should afterwards have his body carried to an island called Nicks-Mate near the entrance of Boston harbour and there hung up in chains. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726, votes of the court on the execution and the disposal of the body
  24. A Boston dispatch printed at London reports that three of the pirates were executed at Charles Town, William Fly captain, Samuel Cole quartermaster and Henry Greenvil, and that George Condick was reprieved for a year and a day. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period newspaper report: The Political State of Great Britain, vol. XXXII (London, September 1726), Boston dispatch of 16 July 1726
  25. Mather thought Fly "ambitious to have it said, That he died a brave fellow", and records that he kept away from the public assemblies with the other prisoners because he would not have the mob gaze upon him. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Execution sermon with appended narrative: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), The Execution, page 48
  26. Mather records that Fly went to the gallows with a nosegay in his hand, reproached the hangman "for not understanding his Trade", refused to forgive the man who had brought him to justice, and was seen by spectators to tremble in his hands and knees. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Execution sermon with appended narrative: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726), The Execution, pages 48 to 49
  27. The Boston dispatch printed at London has Fly say he was not afraid to die because "he had wrong no Man", and desire that masters of vessels take warning, pay sailors their wages when due and treat them better, since "their Barbarity to them made so many turn Pyrates". Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period newspaper report: The Political State of Great Britain, vol. XXXII (London, September 1726), Boston dispatch of 16 July 1726
  28. The two sources for the case are the printed proceedings of the Special Court of Admiralty of 4 July 1726, printed at Boston for Joseph Edwards, and Cotton Mather's The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea, printed at Boston by T. Fleet for N. Belknap in the same year. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  29. Mather frames his account in his own theology, opening on Fly as a "Cockatrice crush'd in the Egg" and closing on him as an instance of impenitency, which is the minister's reading and not a finding of the court. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Execution sermon with appended narrative: Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  30. The framing of Fly's 1726 mutiny and execution as the symbolic end of the golden age of piracy is the interpretation of later writers; neither the trial record nor Mather makes any such claim. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)
  31. A New York report of 20 July 1726, printed at London, has Captain Norris in HMS Lowestoff and Captain Pearce in HMS Tartar putting to sea in quest of the pirate snow reported off Cape May. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period newspaper report: The Political State of Great Britain, vol. XXXII (London, September 1726), New York dispatch of 20 July 1726
  32. Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates, second volume (1728), is reported to head its Fly chapter with a differing forename, but it has not been read for this record, and no issue of the Boston News-Letter or the New-England Courant for June and July 1726 has been read either. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Trial pamphlet and execution sermon: The Tryals of sixteen persons for piracy, &c. (Boston, printed for Joseph Edwards, 1726), Special Court of Admiralty at Boston, 4 and 5 July 1726; and Cotton Mather, The Vial Poured Out upon the Sea (Boston, printed by T. Fleet for N. Belknap, 1726)