On March 10th, 1777 John Aitkin, since known as Jack the Painter was hung on a gallows sixty four and a half feet high, being formed of the mizen-mast of the Arethusa at Portsmouth Dockyard. His body was afterwards hung in chains on Block-house Beach for all to see. John Aitkin was tried and found guilty of starting a fire at the Hemp House in Portsmouth Dockyard on the evening of December the 7th, 1776. Aitkin, by birth a Scotchman, conceived the horrid idea of destroying the whole maritime power of this country, unassisted, and apparently with little prospect of reward. Originally the fire was thought to be an accident until, on January 15th, 1777 when one of his incendiary machines was discovered. It consisted of a large piece of wood, hollowed out and filled with combustibles, was covered with tin, full of holes to admit air, with a tube and a match each end, which appeared to have been on fire, but went out. This interesting story was found in The Portsmouth Guide of 1822 downloadable CD-ROM, which can be found in the
Portsmouth Guides section, along with other guides spanning 1775 to 1930.
