merchant Richard Tookerman. Governor Johnson at once placed a £700 bounty on Bonnet's head and dispatched search teams to track him down. Bonnet and Herriott, accompanied by a slave and a Native American, obtained a boat and made for the north shore of Charles Town Harbour, but foul winds and lack of supplies forced the four of them onto Sullivan's Island. Governor Johnson sent a posse under Rhett to Sullivan's Island to hunt for Bonnet. The posse discovered Bonnet after an extensive search, and opened fire, killing Herriott and wounding the two slaves. Bonnet surrendered and was returned to Charles Town. While awaiting trial, some sort of civil uprising in his support took place within the city, an event authorities would later describe as having nearly resulted in the burning of the town and the overthrow of the government. Bonnet possibly awaited his execution in the Court of Guard, a militia guardhouse in the city where the current Exchange and Provost stands today. On 10 November 1718, Bonnet was brought to trial before Sir Nicholas Trott, sitting in his capacity as Vice-Admiralty judge. Trott had already sat in judgment on Bonnet's crew and sentenced most of them to hang. Bonnet was formally charged with only two acts of piracy, against the Francis and the Fortune, whose commanders were on hand to testify against Bonnet in person. Ignatius Pell had turned King's evidence in the trial of Bonnet's crew and testified, somewhat reluctantly, against Bonnet. Bonnet pleaded not guilty and conducted his own defence without assistance of counsel, cross-examining the witnesses to little avail, and calling a character witness in his favour. Trott rendered a damning summation of the evidence, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Two days later, after treating the convicted man to a stern lecture on his violation of Christian duties, Trott sentenced Bonnet to death. While awaiting his execution, Bonnet wrote to Governor Johnson, begging abjectly for clemency and promising to have his own arms and legs cut off as assurance that he would never again commit piracy. Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet's visibly disintegrating mind moved many Carolinians to pity, particularly the female population, and London papers later reported that the governor delayed his execution seven times. Bonnet was eventually hanged at White Point Garden, in Charles Town, on 10 December 1718. Legacy Bonnet's authority The actual degree of authority any pirate captain exercised over