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The ArchivesSourcesThe London Gazette and the Newspaper Press

The London Gazette and the Newspaper Press

The London Gazette, published by authority continuously since 1665 and carrying the authoritative text of the piracy proclamations of 1717 and 1718 and of official notices on the surrenders, on Samuel Bellamy and on the death of Blackbeard, read here alongside the commercial and colonial newspaper press of about 1690 to 1725 that reported captures, trials and executions.

From1665Also writtenThe London Gazette; The Gazette; The newspaper press, about 1690 to 1725

The London Gazette has appeared continuously since 1665 under the imprint "Published by Authority".1

The press around it

The commercial press grew up around it. The Daily Courant, generally described as the first English daily newspaper, began in London in 1702, and a trade in tri-weekly and weekly papers, read aloud in coffee houses, developed under Anne and George I. In the colonies, the Boston News-Letter was founded at Boston in 1704 by the postmaster John Campbell; it carried the long account of Blackbeard's death in its issue of 23 February to 2 March 1719, opening from a Rhode Island dateline of 20 February, the foundational contemporary narrative of the fight at Ocracoke. Such papers covered the field the Gazette did not: prizes taken, trials in progress, the theatre of public execution.

The pardon proclamations

The Gazette printed royal proclamations, orders in council, appointments, commissions and formal notices. For piracy its chief content is the pardon machinery of 1717 and 1718. The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates, offering a pardon to pirates who surrendered, appeared in the Gazette in 1717 as issue 5573 and was reissued in 1718 as issue 5706.2

Piracy in the official notices

Four further issues carry the suppression campaign. Issue 5632 notices that pirates had promised to surrender. Issue 5655 reports that Captains Hornigold, Nichols, Burgess and Lesley, with 114 of their company, had surrendered themselves, the official record of the leading men of Nassau taking the pardon. Issue 5575 reports an attack near Cape Cod associated with Samuel Bellamy. Issue 5740 carries the death of Edward Thache, known as Blackbeard. The numbers come from the Gazette's own editorial account of Atlantic piracy.3

How the Archive uses it

Where the Gazette prints a proclamation, a reward or an official notice, it gives the authentic public text of a government act and may be cited as such.4

Survival and access

The Gazette survives as a complete run from 1665 and is fully digitised. The official archive at thegazette.co.uk offers the historical issues, the piracy proclamations among them, as searchable images and text, retrievable by issue number; since 2014 it has been published exclusively online. Printed originals are held in major research libraries, the British Library among them. The wider press is dispersed: English titles at the British Library and in commercial databases, the early colonial papers in American research libraries and in microform and digital collections such as those distributed by Readex. Survival there is partial, so the absence of a report is never proof that an event went unreported.5

What the sources cannot yet give is the proclamation read from its own printed sheet. The issue numbers come from the Gazette's own editorial article on Atlantic piracy rather than from the digitised originals, and neither the date of the proclamation nor its calendar style has been fixed from the original issue, so no date for it is given.

What the evidence does not settle

Date of the 1717 pardon proclamation

  • The pardon proclamation is dated 5 September 1717, pending confirmationLikely

Gazette issue numbers

  • Whether the Gazette issue numbers match the original issuesUnverified

Boston News-Letter scholarship

  • The scholarship on the News-Letter's piracy coverage lacks a formal citation

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. The London Gazette has appeared continuously since 1665 under the standing imprint "Published by Authority". Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Official gazette: The London Gazette (historical issues, 1665 onward), the Crown and His Majesty's Stationery Office and successors, cited by issue number, The Gazette official archive, thegazette.co.uk, for the imprint and the continuous run (Confirmed)
  2. The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates, offering a pardon to pirates who surrendered, appeared in the London Gazette in 1717 as issue 5573 and was reissued in 1718 as issue 5706. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Official gazette: "Atlantic piracy in the 18th century," The Gazette editorial content item 100293, thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100293, for the appearance of the proclamation in issue 5573 of 1717 and its reissue as issue 5706 in 1718 (Confirmed)
  3. Beyond the proclamations the Gazette carried official notices bearing directly on the suppression campaign: issue 5632 noticing that pirates had promised to surrender, issue 5655 reporting that Captains Hornigold, Nichols, Burgess and Lesley with 114 of their company had surrendered themselves, issue 5575 reporting an attack near Cape Cod associated with Samuel Bellamy, and issue 5740 reporting the death of Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Official gazette: "Atlantic piracy in the 18th century," The Gazette editorial content item 100293, thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100293, identifying issues 5632, 5655, 5575 and 5740 and their piracy content (Confirmed on the Gazette's own authority; each issue number would ideally be checked against the digitised original before quotation)
  4. Where the Gazette prints a proclamation, a reward or an official notice it gives the authentic public text of a government act and may be cited as such. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Official gazette: The London Gazette (historical issues) and "Atlantic piracy in the 18th century," The Gazette content item 100293, thegazette.co.uk, for the authority of the printed proclamation, reward and official notice (Confirmed). The claim as a whole is no stronger than Probable
  5. The Gazette survives as a complete continuous run from 1665 and is fully digitised and searchable in the official archive at thegazette.co.uk, which offers the historical issues, including the piracy proclamations of 1717 and 1718, as images and text retrievable by issue number, the Gazette having been published exclusively online since 2014, with printed originals also held in major research libraries including the British Library; the wider newspaper press survives less evenly and is dispersed, English titles of the period being held at the British Library and in commercial databases and the Boston News-Letter and other early colonial papers in American research libraries and in microform and digital collections such as those distributed by Readex, so that the absence of a report is never proof that an event went unreported. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Official gazette and repository holdings: The Gazette official archive, thegazette.co.uk, for the complete run from 1665, the full digitisation and searchability, retrieval by issue number and exclusive online publication since 2014 (Confirmed); "Atlantic piracy in the 18th century," The Gazette content item 100293, for the availability of the 1717 and 1718 piracy issues by number (Confirmed); Readex Early American Newspapers, readex.com, together with British Library newspaper holdings, for the dispersed and partial survival of the English and colonial commercial press (Probable). The claim as a whole is no stronger than Probable