Abstract:
In 1793, the first sentence of death imposed by a federal court in the United States was passed at New Bern. Sentenced to death for mutiny on the high seas off Ocracoke Island, four sailors were ordered to be hung until dead. Shortly after passing Tybee Bar, two Frenchmen, two Englishmen, an Irishman, and an American conspired to murder the master and mate and take the ship to a northern European port.