Marcus Rediker is a fan of pirates too, but he is also a historian of the18th century Atlantic. As I grew up, though, reading and watching about my childhood heroes became increasingly difficult, as historians insisted on telling me that the pirates themselves were little more than brutes, and their commanders psychopathic blood-soaked loonies, guilty of all and every violent crime and fully deserving of their fate. Not simply on film - Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe were books that first spurred me to enjoy reading. Westerns left me cold (at least until I discovered Sergio Leone far later on). Wet Saturday and Sunday afternoons were saved by the promise of a Basil Rathbone or Errol Flynn swashbuckler.

Instead, the waterside crowd, packed with sailors and ships officers, was treated to a warning, that 'all masters of vessels take warning at the fate of the captain he had murdered and to pay sailors their wages when due and to treat them better, saying that their barbarity turned so many pyrates.' Fly's turn came and he didn't play along: no plea for forgiveness for him, no praise for court, or god, or king. The unwritten agreement was that if the prisoners condemned alcohol and depravity, confessed their crimes, praised the church, and the courts, and the king, then there was always the slight possibility of a last minute reprieve. When the time arrived for the prisoners to address the crowd with their final words, Fly's three colleagues played their part: the condemned were expected to act as morality plays for the education of the unwashed. Then Fly, to the astonishment of the crowd, retied it to his own satisfaction and informed the crowd that he was not afraid to die, as he had wronged no man and was a brave fellow. Luckily for the amateur, Fly was a sailor and knew his knots, and he offered to teach the officer of the court how to tie the noose properly. Fly inspected the rope and the noose that would soon be around his neck, and with distress on his face he turned on the hangman and reproached him for 'not understanding his trade'.

Fly became upset and animated, pointing to the noose and shouting at the executioner. But, as Fly neared the rope, their fears it seemed were unfounded. The great and the good who had gathered to see the pirate die were uncomfortable: he was not playing his agreed part in the moral drama. Unlike his fellow condemned, Fly had shown no fear at his fate. On the afternoon of the 26 July 1726, William Fly walked the steps of the Boston gallows.

Marcus rediker villains of all nations