An incident that took place on Goat Island in Newport, Rhode Island in the early 18th century is mostly untold, save for those who are passionate about the sea or local history buffs. Even the history books about Goat Island and Gravelly Point in Newport give it but a scant few sentences. This alone may be the reason 26 restless spirits roam the area and waters around Goat Island.

At one time, Newport was the pirate haven of New England. So many pirates made Newport their base of operations in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, that the London Board of Trade petitioned for help from the English Government to eradicate them from the island. Just about every famous pirate knew the wharves of Newport well and were well welcomed there for a portion of gold and silver.

The people knew the buccaneers and received them with friendly, open arms. They spent freely and often paid a fine token for their anonymity. They were, do not forget, outlaws after all. Because of this constant unlawful activity, Newport became known as the scourge of the colonies. Privateers and pirates alike were sometimes greeted with processions from the whole town. 

That was until the colonial leaders were given no choice by the throne of England but to arrest the corsairs or face charges of piracy themselves. Things changed rather quickly along the docks of degradation and in 1723, 26 pirates were arrested for crimes on the high seas. It all began on June 10 when Captain Solgard, commander of the man-of-war The Greyhound, engaged two Caribbean pirate ships off Block Island. One of the vessels, manned by the notorious Ned Low, managed to evade capture but the sloop, Ranger, manned by young Captain Charles Harris, was captured after an epic day-long sea battle.

Harris, along with 35 crew members, became the largest capture of pirates in the colonies at the time. Admiralty judges, including Rhode Island’s Governor Samuel Cranston, assembled in Newport to be part of the trial. In the end, 26 were found guilty of piracy, two were reprieved and eight were acquitted.  

The guilty were sentenced to death by hanging and later taken to Gravelly Point, an area across from Goat Island and hanged there on July 19, 1723. The whole event took about two hours. From there, the executed buccaneers were taken to Goat Island (named after the fact that the colonists let their goats graze there away from the bustling ports) and buried between the high and low water marks on the north end of the island. This was done as further punishment to make sure they would never be buried on land or at sea. Their eternal souls would never find rest in a consecrated grave.

This may have worked, for on dark misty nights, their ghosts rise from the water and ascend upon the shores of the island, perhaps in search of those who brought an end to their illustrious careers. Their misty forms wander the area where they were hanged as well. Some claim they are in search of their ship in hopes of finally boarding the vessel and sailing from their makeshift graves. There is a claim that a clam digger once saw a ghostly ship sail past him at Bonnet Shores, then float over the land toward Gravelly Point. Maybe the ghost ship was the Ranger, returning for its crew. 

The Basin and Gravelly Point were eventually filled in during the 19th century. Today, Long Wharf leads past the Newport Yacht Club and the Wyndham Inn. Gravelly Point is buried beneath both of them, but the ghosts of the 26 pirates hanged so long ago refuse to remain buried.