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assembly as a matter of principle, and received a prison sentence for his pains.
    They review the cases of Alexander Brown and James Tuthill first. Saltonstall makes the point that these men had no executive powers but were just simple sailors. Sewall opposes the suggestion on the grounds that whether you are small or mighty you have the moral responsibility to do right and not wrong. The pirates chose whether to put to sea or not. They chose how to behave when they were bobbing on the ocean. Captain Pease was murdered, as were many of his men. True, it’s impossible now to determine who killed whom. What happened was murder in a general sort of way, with all the men participating. For that reason it’s appropriate, in his opinion, for the men to be considered
as
a crew.
    He looks nervously at the governor as he makes this point, but Bradstreet’s countenance remains benevolent, absorbed in the argument. Also, Sewall concludes, the plain fact is that the men were given a fair trial and were found guilty. There is no ground for appeal.
    He makes no headway against the other judges. They all shuffle into place behind Saltonstall. ‘Well, Mr. Sewall,’ Governor Bradstreet says, ‘you’re in a minority of one. We need to be unanimous to overturn the decision of the court.’
    All the judges look at Sewall, men of affairs, grave men. What he’s being asked to do is err on the side of mercy, if indeed it be to err at all. He raises his head. ‘I concede these two cases,’ he says, ‘but I must stand firm on the rest.’
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    He has not been back at home for long, and is just preparing for his dinner, when there’s a knock at the door. The judges trail in, most of them looking both hostile and uneasy. ‘Gentlemen,’ says Sewall reproachfully, ‘I was about to say my prayers.’
    â€˜There‘s no time for that,’ Winthrop replies, then realising he’s been brusque, even sacrilegious, adds, ‘though we would all, I’m sure, benefit from a prayer in a little while. At the end of our business.’
    Sewall devoutly wishes the pirates in hell, which is just the place the other judges wish to extricate them from, at least for the time being. He points out that Governor Bradstreet is not with them. They explain he has agreed his vote should be cast for him on the grounds that the infirmity of age makes travel difficult. Sewall realises this means he must have signed the relevant reprieve documents in case they were to be enacted. Once again Sewall is left all alone.
    This time of course the other judges argue that the men should be considered as a crew after all. If two have been reprieved, why not three? Why not all of them?
    Eventually Sewall concedes the argument in relation to two more—common sailors, though not as common as the ones already pardoned. He sticks firm with Thomas Johnson’s conviction, however, remembering the man’s stare. When their eyes locked, Sewall felt that he could see through Johnson’s pair to a lurching deck awash with blood, and the havoc the man was wreaking there.
    Winthrop’s servant, waiting in the hall, is sent off with the reprieves for the two less common common sailors. At this very moment, the five condemned will be sitting at the back of the North Meeting House in shackles, listening to Cotton Mather, son of Increase and the most learned (and fervent) man in the colony, delivering them a final sermon.
    Now Thomas Pound becomes the topic. Sewall has always thought him the ringleader of the whole malevolent enterprise. He was an officer in His Majesty’s Navy and surely would therefore have authority over the captain of a tin-pot fishing vessel. Not so, according to Mr. Winthrop. Hawkins was the captain of his boat, and a captain is a captain, no matter what. In other words, the argument goes, Pound should be treated essentially as a common sailor too, albeit an even less common one