History of Cape Lookout Lighthouse

1st Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Artistic Rendering

The Fulford family, some of the first to settle in "Core Sound," played a prominent role in the early days of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. An entry in the records at the Carteret County Courthouse shows the 1804 gift of land by Joseph Fulford and Elijah Pigott for the erection of a lighthouse on Cape Lookout. 

"We, Joseph Fulford and Elijah Pigott of the County of Carteret and State of North Carolina, in consideration of the sum of $1 paid to us by the United States of America, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, do hereby, give, grant, bargain, sell . . . to the said United States of America four acres of land on Cape Lookout so-called in the State aforesaid for the accommodation of a lighthouse to be erected in pursuance of the Act of Congress passed on the 20th day of March 1804." (Deed Book O, page 427) Fulford also specified that he retain the fishing rights around Cape Lookout in perpetuity for his descendants.

Built on a sand dune, at a cost of $20,678.54, the 96-foot
brick tower was encircled by a hexagonal wooden tower covered in cedar shingles and painted with wide, horizontal red and white stripes. It began service in 1812.

There was only one local engagement during the War of 1812. In July 1814, British forces landed at Cape Lookout and partially destroyed the lighthouse. The lighthouse, at the southern end of the Outer Banks, and the entrance from the Atlantic directly to the channel for Beaufort harbor, was of great importance to the harbor and area. When the British attempted another landing on July 16, they were repulsed by troops from Fort Hampton and Beaufort. The first Cape Lookout lighthouse continued to serve until November 1, 1859.

< 1812 Keeper's Cottage

The first known keeper of the light was James M. Fulford (1755-1839), who was appointed by President James Madison on June 2, 1812, with a yearly salary of $300. James, married to Rebecca Harker, served as keeper for 16 years. In 1828, James’ son, William Fulford (1786-1864) became keeper and served until 1854. [In 1848, William's daughter, Julia Ann Fulford, married Dr. James Lente Manney of Beaufort.]

In 1850, keeper William Fulford described the lighthouse as having 13 oil lamps. Oil was stored in a small oil shed. At that time, William had to continually remove sand from the front side of the keeper’s house. “The sand banks are now higher than the tops of the windows, and only a few feet from them, at high water mark. On the sea side, it has washed away about 100 feet last year by abrasion and sea flows.” In serious disrepair, the need for a new lighthouse was apparent not only due to erosion, but also due to the fact that the tower was too low. In 1856 a fresnel lens was installed, but it wasn’t until 1857 that Congress appropriated $45,000 for a new lighthouse.

First lit on November 1, 1859, the 2nd Cape Lookout Lighthouse proved to be a model for the other lighthouses that would be built along the Outer Banks. It was made of red brick, displayed the Fresnel lens from the old tower and could be seen for 19 miles.

Josiah Fisher Bell, Beaufort Collector of Customs, served as an agent in the Confederate Secret Service during the Civil War. Appointed Superintendent of Lights for the Beaufort District of the Confederate Lighthouse Bureau, Bell had the lenses removed, from Cape Lookout Lighthouse and Bogue Banks Lighthouse, and placed in storage in a warehouse in Beaufort. 

 

In the spring of 1862, Bell was responsible for blowing up the lighthouses on Cape Lookout; the old lighthouse destroyed, the new one only damaged. {Josiah Fisher Bell 1820-1890, son of Josiah Bell and Mary Fisher, married Susan Benjamin Leecraft in 1841; Susan was daughter of Benjamin Leecraft who lived across Turner Street from the Josiah Bell House on the Restoration Grounds.} 

After the Civil War, Congress appropriated $20,000 for repairs and updating. Wooden stairs were replaced with cast iron and a new lens was installed. In 1871, an additional $5000 was appropriated for a new keeper’s dwelling, complete with summer kitchen and woodshed.

2nd Keeper's Cottage built in 1873

In 1873, the 2nd keeper's cottage―large enough to house two keepers and families―was completed, and the tower painted. Due to the fact that the four lights on the Outer Banks were so similar, the Lighthouse Board designed striking patterns for each to make them easily distinguishable. Cape Lookout Lighthouse was painted with large checkers that appear as alternating black and white diamonds. Following the traditional day-mark aids to navigation, the black checkers are oriented north and south toward the shallow waters of the shoals and around the headlands, while the white checkers are oriented east and west facing the deeper waters.  

 

This 1893 National Park Service photo shows the 1873 Keeper's Quarters near the lighthouse. The 1812 Keeper's Cottage is on the far right.

 

Left: 1907 Principal Keeper’s Cottage (photo circa 1907)        Right: 1873 Keeper’s Cottage

 

3rd Keeper's Quarters built in 1907

In response to a need for more housing, the 3rd Keeper’s Quarters was built in 1907. It housed the primary keeper and his family from the fall of 1907 until the tower was automated in 1950. Alfred B. Hooper and family were the first to occupy the building. In 1914 Hooper built his home at 117 Marsh Street in Beaufort, North Carolina; he died that year of typhoid fever. 

In 1950, the light was completely automated—a keeper no longer needed. In 1957, the 3rd Keeper's Quarters was sold to Dr. Graham Barden Jr., who moved the house 1.1 miles southwest of the lighthouse. The "Barden House" exists today but is closed to the public.

Today, the grounds are owned by the National Park Service. 

Many ferries operate in the area―from Beaufort and Harker's Island. 

 

In 1972, Cape Lookout Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Head Keepers

FIRST LIGHTHOUSE

James Fulford - June 2, 1812
William Fulford - January 28, 1828
John Ross Royal - January 17, 1854

SECOND LIGHTHOUSE
Gayer Chadwick - February 24, 1863 until May 1864
John R. Royal - May 25, 1864 until May 21, 1869

2nd KEEPER'S COTTAGE built 1873
Manoen Washington Mason - May 21, 1869 until August 19, 1876
Melvin Jennings Davis Jr. - appointed Acting Keeper on August 22, 1876

 (Keeper from March 13, 1877 until July 11, 1878)
William F. Hatsel - July 12, 1878 until November 24, 1880
Denard Rumley - appointed Acting Keeper on December 14, 1880 

(Keeper from February 28, 1881 until February 21, 1893)
Thomas Clifford Davis Jr. - appointed Acting Keeper in 1893 

(Keeper from February 22, 1895 until April 10, 1900)
James Wilson Gillikin - June 1, 1900 until March 11, 1903

3rd KEEPER'S COTTAGE built 1907
Alfred B. Hooper - November 1, 1903 until February 10, 1909
Charles W. Clifton - October 2, 1909 until approximately 1930
Benjamin Lloyd Harris - July 1, 1933 until approximately 1936
James Archie Newton - 1939 until approximately 1945

How We Blew Out the Light

Remembering the Hatsells

Charles Ives Hatsell House circa 1902 - 119 Orange Street

Charles Ives Hatsell (1878-1949) was born at 117 Orange Street in the 1827 Hatsell House, the son of George Andrew Hatsell and Julia Ellen Mace. On December 25, 1902, he married Marie Ella Clawson. 

1902 was a busy year for Charlie Hatsell. He was not only planning a wedding, helping set up the new fisheries lab, but also building this house for his bride and family to come.

During the year, Charles Ives Hatsell was working at the new Federal Biological Laboratory—across Gallants Channel on Piver's Island. Charlie and his siblings were living with their Aunt Julia Read in the Hatsell home place in the first block of Orange Street. Charlie would take a short walk to the water and row to work in a small skiff. If necessary, he would catch a ride with his friend Cap'n Jack Willis who had a small boat on the west end of Front Street. 

Charlie Hatsell went on to serve as the terrapin culturist and foreman at the United States Fisheries Laboratory; he supervised the propagation of thousands of young diamondback terrapins. In 1947, after 45 years at the lab, Charlie retired on his 69th birthday. He later received a bronze plaque from the Department of the Interior for his "long faithful and highly distinguished service." In 1954, Charlie's contributions were included in National Geographic Magazine.

Charlie Hatsell's bride, Marie Ella Clawson (1879-1951) was daughter of  Charles Alfred Clawson and Mary Louise Donovan. Charles Clawson was born in Sweden in 1841; Mary Louise was born in Ireland in 1840. After their December 24, 1868 wedding, Charles and Mary Louise Clawson opened a general store on the south side of Front Street; they lived upstairs and Mary Louise baked bread and pastries for the store. In the early 1880s, the Clawsons built a house and bakery on the north side of Front Street, with a small bake house with oven at rear. In 1908, Charles Jr. built a new brick store, replacing the bakery; about the same time, the bakery operation moved into a new 2-story brick building behind the new general store. Clawson's Grocery and Bakery opened in 1909. 

Charlie Ives Hatsell and Marie Ella Clawson went on to raise three sons in the house Charlie built at 119 Orange Street, just north of the 1827 Hatsell House at 117 Orange. Their three children:

FRANCIS GRAVES HATSELL was born July 29, 1905. Francis is noted on the 1930 census as a boatman for the biological lab. On November 22, 1936, Francis married Helen Charles Proctor in Beaufort. His WWII draft registration, October 16, 1940, noted 119 Orange Street, Beaufort as his address, and D.M. Curtis, Winston-Salem, as his employer. Sometime after 1940, Francis and Helen moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Francis Graves Hatsell died July 22, 1997 in San Antonio, Texas, and was buried Alexandria, Virginia; Mount Comfort Cemetery.

 

Francis and Helen's son, Charles Proctor Hatsell, grandson of 1879 Charlie, was born on September 18, 1944. Doctor Charles Proctor Hatsell specialized in aerospace medicine in San Antonio for 33 years. He was a Colonel in the US Air Force, serving in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. Dr. Hatsell died on March 16, 2006 and was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Charlie was a long-time member of the Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum. 
      Interestingly, a few years before his death, Dr. C.P. Hatsell's friend Yvonne Speer surprised him by researching his Beaufort roots and finding my painting of the 1827 Hatsell House. The painting was purchased and placed in a prominent spot in Dr. Hatsell's house in San Antonio.

CARL ALFRED HATSELL was born August 28, 1907 and died June 27, 1988. Carl married Verna Eugenia Curren on November 14, 1940. They were Elaine Hatsell Glover’s parents and lived in the brick house on the south side of the other two Hatsell houses.

HENRY WILSON HATSELL was born September 6, 1911 and died June 23, 1964. On October 3, 1943, Henry married Helen Elizabeth Heffner. Helen was born on December 17, 1904 and died January 13, 2000 in Montezuma, Avery County, North Carolina.

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In her later years, Marie Ella Hatsell was known by friends and neighbors as “Miss Marie.” In 1947, Charles Hatsell retired on his 69^th birthday after serving 45 years at the U.S. Fisheries Laboratory on Piver's Island. Charlie died July 30, 1949. 

The Charles Ives Hatsell House circa 1902, now named the Hatsell-Clawson House, was restored in 2008.

The Old Apothecary Shop 1859

The Old Apothecary Shop on the Beaufort Restoration Grounds

Dr. Josiah Davis House

1796 Courthouse

Dr. William Cramer, of Portsmouth Island, first came to Beaufort in 1850 to help staff the new US Government Hospital. He purchased the old 1796 courthouse—moved fifteen years earlier from the intersection of Ann and Turner Street to the northeast corner—and made it his home. In 1859 he built the original front portion of the Apothecary Shop adjacent to his dwelling. Dr. Cramer died in 1864, a victim of the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged the area that year.

After Dr. Cramer’s death, Dr. Josiah Davis acquired the Apothecary Shop and moved it across the street next to his Ann Street home. There it served as his office and drugstore and was used until 1936 by his son, Dr. George Davis.

Dr. Josiah Davis was largely self-educated and, after attending a series of medical lectures in 1859-60, Dr. Davis started his practice in 1862. He continued his medical education at the University of New York City in 1865 and graduated a year later. 

His son, Dr. George Davis, later joined the practice in 1902 and eventually added an office to the rear portion of the apothecary building. George went to the University of Chicago Medical School and was well known for his intellect. George was not only a physician but a lawyer as well; having received his law degree in 1931 on a dare that he couldn’t do it. It is said that he would have a circle of friends in the back with chairs around to discuss politics, religion and law. George was also a talented musician and he had a small organ in the office. He was very melancholic and always wore all black with long sleeves, even in the summer. He had very fair skin that burned easily so he avoided the sun and never went out without a long black cape and top hat, his skin supposedly an unhealthy, pasty white. He diagnosed himself as having Hodgkin’s disease in 1931 and practiced until 1932.
 
As in these early times, Drs. Cramer, Davis and Davis were surgeons, eye doctors, dentists, psychologists, and general practitioners. They diagnosed patients, prescribed medicine and then filled their own prescriptions in the front part of the shop. The restored Apothecary looks very much as it did when Dr. George Davis was practicing there, filled with medicinal bottles, instruments and flasks—and even an organ.

Beaufort Historic Site
Paintings by Mary Warshaw

Early Davis Family in Beaufort and Carteret County

Davis Island and its proximity to Beaufort
 

The Davis family has been in Beaufort and Carteret County since William Davis (1692-1756), son of James Davis (1669-1716) and Elizabeth White, came to this area in the early 1700s. Research by Mamré Wilson states, “Their ancestry goes back at least to 1607 when William’s great-great grandfather sailed to Jamestown…According to family history, William himself came to this country in 1700 from Wales and, in 1715, arrived in Carteret County.”

Stories of Davis by Mabel Piner relates that William Davis was “of Welsh descent, whose grandfather William Davis came to Virginia in 1622 on the ship “Margaret and John.”

Other sources claim that William Davis, carpenter, came to the Core Sound area in 1736 after selling his land in Perquimans. According to Maurice Davis' History of the Hammock House, Davis had sued Robert Cox in Perquimans County after Cox had accused him of stealing an axe and hiding it in a potato patch.

In 1723, Joseph Wicker Esq. (1679-1743) came to Carteret County and bought a small island where he and his wife and children made their home. Wicker became Warden of the Anglican Church, member of the first county court, clerk of court, and member of the Legislature in 1733. 

In March 1728, Joseph Wicker was ordered to pay county funds to William Davis for the construction of a courthouse in Beaufort. 

When Wicker died, he left the island to his daughter, Mary, who had married William Davis about 1716. They raised eight sons and a daughter in what is still known today as the Davis Island family home.

One of Mary and William’s sons, Solomon White Davis (1746-1794), moved to Cedar Point at the western end of Carteret County, but eventually came to Beaufort. Even though family trees note other possible wives as the mother of Solomon’s many children, it seems most probable that, in 1768, Solomon married Joanna Wade, granddaughter of John Shackelford of Shackelford Banks. Solomon’s son, Allen Davis (1792-1835) married Mary Chadwick in 1814. They had 11 children. Mary Chadwick was the daughter of James Chadwick and Mary Bell of Carteret County. Family trees show these Davises, as well as James and Mary Chadwick, all died in or near Beaufort.

Though it is not clear who built The Allen Davis House circa 1774 on Queen Street in Beaufort, it is possible that Allen Davis, son of Solomon White Davis, was an early owner. The 1850 census shows Allen Davis, Sr.'s widow living in Beaufort with her children --at that time Allen Jr. was sixteen.

Though not documented, it is said that General Ambrose Burnside used this house as his headquarters during the Civil War - thus the double plaque. If the family did not already own the house, perhaps Allen Jr., a druggist, purchased it after the Civil War and Federal occupation. In 1980, Jean Kell, in The Old Port Town, wrote that the Davis family had owned and lived in the house for over 100 years.

Richard Graves - Surveyor Who Laid Out the Town

Richard Graves was born about 1673 in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia, to Francis Graves and Jane (perhaps Davenport). Somewhere between 1708 and 1714, Richard left Virginia and trekked south to Carolina. He and Francis Shackelford, who had come from Essex County, Virginia, bought a sloop—perhaps speculating on engaging in coastal trade. In September of 1714, the Essex County, Virginia Order Book noted that Richard's brother, Francis Graves, testified that, since leaving Essex County, Richard had sent him a small Indian boy in payment for a debt.

Richard Graves married Hannah Kent Smithwick Green in 1715. Hannah was the widow of Farnifold Green, massacred in 1714 during a Tuscarora Indian raid on his Green’s Creek plantation north of Neuse River.  

Graves family and Essex County, Virginia records show Richard Graves as a person of recognized ability, taking a prominent part in the affairs of Craven Precinct. In the Colonial Records of North Carolina, Richard Graves is noted in 1726 as representing Craven Precinct in the Lower House of the Assembly of North Carolina.

 
Richard Graves made out his will on April 30, 1730. After his death, that same year, his wife Hannah ran the ferry across a tributary of the Neuse River not far from Turkey Quarter on the Old Washington Post Road in what is now Craven County.

According to the North Carolina Historical Review Volume 22, 1945 ...."For a brief time, this ferry was kept by a woman, the doughty Hannah Graves, who had survived the Indian massacres as the wife of the slain Farnifold Green and who outlived three other husbands included besides him!" Hannah’s fourth and last husband was George Linnington; they had no children. Hannah is thought to have died about 1742.

Beaufort Laid Out by Deputy Surveyor Richard Graves 

1713 Map - NC Archives and History

According to historian Charles Paul, in Colonial Beaufort, on October 2, 1713, Robert Turner hired Deputy Surveyor Richard Graves to draw up the plan for the town of Beaufort. 

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In early 1713, about a year before his untimely death, Farnifold Green, frightened and discouraged, assigned his land patent to Robert Turner, a merchant from Craven Precinct.

 

Even though the Tuscarora War had delayed the establishment of the town, within months after the peace treaty was in force the Lords Proprietors gave permission for the town of Beaufort to be laid out on the southwest corner of the peninsula between the North River on the west and the Newport River on the east.

A plat was made of the town by Graves and recorded in the office of the secretary of the colony. Streets were named; allotments were provided for a church, a town-house, and a market place; and lots were offered for sale. Though minor alterations were made throughout the Colonial period, the main characteristics of the plan of the town never changed.

Farnifold Green - Owner of First Land Patent

Part of an 18th century map of eastern North Carolina showing the "Whitehouse" on the outskirts of Beaufort. High on a "hummock," the "Whitehouse" evidently served as a landmark to help guide early sailing vessels. The "Whitehouse" may have been built as an outpost by Farnifold Green, who had the first land patent between North and Core (Newport) Rivers.

Farnifold Green was born on May 30, 1674 in St. Stephen's Parish, Northumberland County, Virginia. Records list Farnifold Green as coming to North Carolina with the Nicholas Tyler family in July of 1697. Farnifold married soon after he arrived. He and his wife Hannah Kent Smithwick, widow of John Smithwick, appear frequently among the early land records of then Bath County (later Beaufort County).

 

Map showing "Green's Land"

Green had a 1700-acre plantation (Green's Neck) on the north side of the Neuse River, but was evidently active in various enterprising pursuits, including raising cattle on the Outer Banks near Ocracoke Inlet. What is interesting is the fact that the above 1676 map shows an area noted as "Greens Land" - some 20 years before Farnifold Green supposedly arrived in North Carolina and had a plantation in this same area. It appears that the Virginia Assembly granted land along the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers to Farnifold's grandfather, Roger Green, in July of 1653. Roger Green has been born in Norfolk, England about 1620. His son Timothy, born about 1650, was Farnifold's father. 

On December 20, 1707, Farnifold Green was the first to be issued a land grant from the Lords Proprietors for land that included 780 acres—part of that land that would eventually become early Beaufort. Even though Green lived north of the Neuse River, he must have been aware that the barrier islands and cape, surrounding this land grant, had been providing a safe haven for ships and realized the possibilities for his land becoming not only a town, but a port.

About the same time, Peter Worden of Pamlico River was granted a patent for 640 acres on the west side of North River, which overlapped Green’s patent. In their settlement, documents referred to a point of land called “Newport Town” which gives evidence that there may have been a few settlers between the rivers and in the Core Sound area. John Shackelford, who witnessed this agreement, had land on a barrier island and was perhaps involved in whaling - on what would be known later as Shackelford Banks.

Living on his plantation near Oriental, Green was named to the Provincial Assembly in 1709. In 1711, he requested help in defending the colonists from the hostile Indians. He was appointed by the Assembly to oversee troops that had been assigned to put down the Tuscarora outbreak.

Obviously aware of the dangers of the times, Farnifold Green made out his will on October 26,1711. The will referred to his home near Piney Point on Lower Broad Creek. 

Farnifold Green was executor of Lewis Johnson's (1677-1711) will; Johnson left his sons William and Richard in Green's care.

On July 18, 1713, Green endorsed, to Robert Turner, all of the 780-acre tract he had patented in Core Sound in 1707. Craven Will Books, A, 10-11. (Charles L. Paul, Colonial Beaufort)

In 1714, Indians attacked Green’s Creek plantation, north of Neuse River, killing 40-year old Farnifold Green, one of his sons, a white servant and two African Americans. The plantation, house, stock of cattle and hogs, were plundered and entirely destroyed by the Indians.

Green’s widow, Hannah, later married her third husband, surveyor Richard Graves, who was hired by Robert Turner to create the town plat of Beaufort.

History of the Beaufort Town Seal and Flag

In the 1960s, the Beaufort Woman's Club, under the guidance of its president and staunch preservationist Miss Emily Loftin, initiated the development of the Beaufort town seal. 

Permission was sought from the College of Arms for adopting the Duke of Beaufort's crest for the design, but it was determined that the Duke's crest could only be used if modified. This modification included changing the lower two quadrants of the crest, replacing the Fleurs de Lis with three red roses of Lancaster - the ruling house at the time Beaufort was chartered - and substituting three fish for the lions. Once the artwork was completed, Rep. N. W. Taylor presented the seal for authorization by the North Carolina General Assembly, with final official approval by Beaufort Mayor William H. Potter and Town Commissioners Osborne Davis, David Farrior, Frank Langdale, Earl Mades and Glenn Willis in 1968. 

The Beaufort town seal was designed by Will Hon who was coordinator for educational programs in the marine sciences for the Carteret County establishment of the Aquarium. The town seal's artwork was done by Richard Thomas. It should be noted that the background color of the original design has been changed to the gold now shown on the seal and flag.

Purchase Beaufort Flag

Stede Bonnet - The Gentleman Pirate

Excerpt from The Age of Pirates

Much has been written locally about Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and his Queen Anne’s Revenge, but less regarding Stede Bonnet—a fellow pirate. All accounts and stories target Beaufort and the protected area of Cape Lookout as one of their favorite places of respite.

Unusual, unlikely and unprepared best describe Stede Bonnet, who was an educated, affluent and respected plantation owner until he decided to become a pirate.

Major Bonnet, as he was known for his affiliation with the island militia, was a wealthy sugar plantation owner from a respected English family. He lived in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he mingled with the island’s elite. In 1717, in his middle age, he abruptly abandoned his comfortable life for a career as a pirate. It was a career in which he had no experience. His decision scandalized the polite society of Barbados and Bonnet’s acquaintances thought him emotionally disturbed. Others speculated he turned to piracy to escape his nagging wife. 

Rather than stealing or capturing a ship, Bonnet bought one—something unheard of for a pirate. The ship had a single gun deck with 10 pieces of artillery. Bonnet named it Revenge. Bonnet recruited his gang from local taverns and organized a band of about 70 men. Rather than drawing up a contract for the men to sign, as was customary, Bonnet paid his crew a salary from his own pocket. This, too, was unusual for a pirate, but it helped him retain command over his men.

Bonnet kept his ship in the harbor for several days before leaving one night with no word to his family. Though inexperienced, he was moderately successful, taking ships off the coasts of Virginia and Carolina. He merely plundered the first few ships, but after burning one, Turbes, he burned every one he took. By this time his men realized his inexperience and hostility began to brew.

While anchored at the Bay of Honduras or possibly while he cruised the Carolinas, Bonnet met Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Teach invited Bonnet onto his ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and then took Bonnet’s ship. Bonnet was essentially a prisoner on Teach’s ship, although, by some accounts, he contentedly spent his time there reading and walking the decks.

After being pardoned and getting his ship back, Bonnet set sail for St. Thomas—armed with a letter of marque to capture Spanish ships. To disguise himself, he renamed his ship Royal James, and took on the name of Capt. Thomas. While en route to the islands he was rumored to have gone searching for Blackbeard but didn’t find him and returned to piracy—again faring well.  

Bonnet was eventually captured by Col. William Rhett who had been sent after pirates operating near Charleston. Bonnet escaped but was recaptured and brought to trial in a Court of Vice-Admiralty in Charleston. Despite a moving letter he reportedly wrote begging the governor for clemency, Bonnet, along with 29 of his men, was sentenced to death by hanging. During his sentencing, Judge Trot was said to have made a great speech, reporting that Bonnet had killed no less than 18 men sent to capture him, and that was no way for a “man of letters,” to behave.  

Nicknamed “The Gentleman Pirate,” Bonnet’s education hurt him in the end. He was hanged for piracy on December 10, 1718 and his body was left hanging for four days as a warning to other pirates.”