myth busters?
1 SAMUEL PEPYS WAS THE VICTIM OF A VENDETTA
In 1679, Pepys was arrested and sent to the Tower of London on charges that included piracy and treason. It was alleged that, as an official in charge of navy stores, he plundered goods from ships captured from the Dutch. As bizarre a notion ‘Pepys the pirate’ might seem, his diary reveals the first charge to be true.
By law, captured enemy goods belonged to the Crown. However, Pepys wrote of how a few goods had indeed found their way into his own coffers - as perks of the job. Luckily for him, there was not enough evidence to convict.
A more damaging rumour was that Pepys had sold state secrets to the French. In order to defend himself against the charge of treason, which was punishable by being hanged, drawn and quartered, he sought to trace the source of the rumour. The search led him back to his time as a Justice of the Peace the
