A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold), but gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals.
The practice of hanging in chains or irons was pretty basic. The pirate would be hanged until dead. Then his body would be placed in an iron cage or possibly wrapped in chains. This cage was then hoisted on a rafter and left to rot in a public area.
Typically this public place would be a dock where other potential pirates would be able to view it as a warning/reminder of what comes of those who go on the account. Such places as harbor entrances were a favorite for hanging pirates in irons. Gallows Point was one of the most famous places.
The body would remain on display until there really wasn't anything left to display because of decomposition. At this point the rotting body would most often be dumped in the ocean for fish food or, at best, buried between the tides. It was very rare for a body hanged in irons to be claimed, due to the enormous amount of disgrace attached to such a person and the assumption that whomever claimed the body was a pirate as well.
In Popular Culture
Early in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, remains of three criminals are gibbeted on a rock formation outside Port Royal with a sign reading Pirates, Ye Be Warned. In his first scene, Captain Jack Sparrow sees the remains and offers a gesture of respect to the victims before jumping from the rigging to bail out his lifeboat.
Sad Pirate, Glad Pirate Puzzle
This pirate doesn't yet know his fate. Help the might-be-imprisoned “sad pirate” move through the maze so he becomes a will-be-pardoned “glad pirate” at the end. Make a path that alternates sad and glad. You can move up and down, or side to side, but not diagonally. If you hit a “dead pirate,” you are going in the wrong direction!
Please replace everything exactly as found.
You can ignore the numbers and letters on the log book as it was used for the event only.