Bravery- Any sort of refusal on the gallows seems to be witnessed as a form of bravery—like William Fly’s refusal to pray and beg for mercy, Owen’s refusal to name his accomplices or give any information about the money he made seems somewhat brave as well.  When asked for more information about the counterfeited money, he says that people must find that out for themselves, and so, “died obstinate” (149).  His only words about the money or his accomplices is a request that they burn any incriminating evidence so that they don’t end up being hanged—not that they save their souls and change their evil ways.

Mercy-  For all his bravery and humor, Owen Sullivan gives himself away when he cries for mercy from God minutes before he dies, just as William Fly couldn’t hide his shaking knees.  We must wonder, of course, if either of these things really happened or it is merely the author inserting his own religious commentary, proving that even the most “brave” prisoners are fearful of death and the afterlife.  Owen cries out for God to have mercy on his soul, and then says the Lord’s prayer before dying, an odd ending to an account so devoid of any religious undertone.    

Bravery- The captain, William fly, in an attempt to go out heroically, refuses to appear in public on the Lord’s day, or to forgive his executioner or make any sort of repentance: “he seem’d all along ambitious to have it said that he died a brave fellow” (114).  Interestingly, here we see William Fly’s conception of the opposite of piety being not wickedness, but bravery.  Is there perhaps a well-known pressure put on prisoners to become good and repentant, or is the pattern of sudden piety simply a fear of death and damnation?  Either way, William Fly wants nothing to do with it, would rather be brave than religious, and having been condemned by the justice system, “we must leave him for the judgment to come” (215).

Repentance- Here, William Fly’s bravery is contrasted with Cole and Greenville’s repentance.  They prayed and warned the mob to take lessons from their own crimes, and Cole even writes papers confessing his sins and warning other seafaring men not to end up how he did.  Although the text seems obviously more favorable to the repentant Cole and Greenville, Fly’s refusal to do what they want him to do—pray, confess, and warn others against temptation—seems to have a certain virtue of its own

Spirit- The convicted pirates are “cast into a place…where in the destruction on their flesh their spirit might be saved” (114).  The manner of this saving seems to be the repentance displayed by Cole and Greenville, and we are to assume that Fly’s “judgment to come” means his damnation.  It seems here that there are two forms of judging going on: the guilty or not guilty determination made by the courts, and the heaven or hell determination, the spiritual sentence, not made by God, but by public opinion and documents like this one.  This text has essentially sent William Fly to hell in the eyes of the public for something worse than the crimes he committed—refusing to apologize for them.