Portugal, Italy, Turkey and France, with Italian glassware and sixteenth
century bronze coins from Mexico, a cannon ball, and parts of a bear and a
tortoise. The pottery was not export ware, and it is thought that it represents
artefacts seized by pirates who made port in London and dwelt in the area. At
least four privateers are known to have lived within yards of the site in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The area had held timberframed houses
which were demolished in the first half of the seventeenth century and
replaced with brick houses, possibly built with the wealth brought back by the
privateer captains. The excavations also found remains of the food being eaten
in the houses–lots of beef and fish, small amounts of pork and mutton, and
some poultry, including turkey.
Marine archaeologists have found the remains of possible pirate ships
around the coasts of the British Isles (Figure 24). One off West Cork held
coconuts and Spanish pottery. While off the coast of Cornwall, a large armed
vessel of the right period has been found that may have been theJohn,which
belonged to Captain John Mucknell, the‘pirate king of Scilly’, and which was
run aground in 1645. As part of a fleet of around eleven ships based in the
Scilly Isles, Mucknell preyed on ships in the Western Approaches, possibly
supported by Charles I. However, after the king’s execution, the Parliamentary
forces tracked him down with warships. He ran the ship aground and escaped
Figure 24. A seventeenth century pirate shipEARLY MODERN CRIME