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| For other uses, see Cryer (disambiguation) |
- "In order to affect a timely halt to deteriorating conditions and to ensure the common good, a state of emergency is declared for these territories by decree of Lord Cutler Beckett, duly appointed representative of His Majesty the King. By decree, according to martial law, the following statutes are temporarily amended: Right to assembly, suspended. Right to habeas corpus, suspended. Right to legal counsel, suspended. Right to verdict by a jury of peers, suspended. By decree, all persons found guilty of piracy, or aiding a person convicted of piracy, or associating with a person convicted of piracy shall be sentenced to hang by the neck until dead."
- ―The Cryer
This man was an officer in service of the East India Trading Company during the Age of Piracy. During Lord Cutler Beckett's ruthless campaign against piracy, the officer most notably served as a cryer for the mass executions at a fort, where a long line of prisoners awaited the gallows. The cryer was tasked with reading out a declaration which detailed the decrees set forth by Beckett, stating that all rights and grants in legal nature would be suspended, and that all persons found guilty of piracy, as well as aiding or associating with a person convicted of piracy, were sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. Shortly after the cryer finished the statement, a cabin boy began to sing Hoist the Colours, leading the other prisoners standing on the gallows or waiting in line join in, focused only on the song. Unbeknownst to the cryer and many other EITC officials who bore witness, the song was used to summon a meeting of the Brethren Court.[1] His further fate is unknown.
Behind the scenes[]
The Cryer was portrayed by Mark Hildreth in the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.[1]
In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for At World's End, while focusing on the singing pirates awaiting the gallows at the beginning of the film, the Cryer and Lord Cutler Beckett's statement is omitted.[2]