In 1704, anti-English hysteria was running rampant in Scotland following the disastrous failure of the Darien Scheme, a pan-Scottish colony effort that went bankrupt under English commercial pressure. When an English merchant ship, the Worcester, docked in the Firth of Forth due to bad weather, Scottish authorities seized it in retaliation for an earlier Scottish vessel impounded in London. Rumors quickly swept Edinburgh that the Worcester's captain, Thomas Green, had previously pirated and destroyed a missing Scottish Darien ship called the Speedy Return.
Despite zero concrete physical evidence and tenuous testimony from disgruntled crewmen, Captain Green and two crew members were convicted of piracy and murder by a Scottish court. English authorities urged the Scottish Privy Council to grant a reprieve, but an enraged, armed mob of thousands took to the streets of Edinburgh, threatening the councilors' lives. Fearing a massive riot, the Privy Council capitulated, and Green was hanged on the sands of Leith in April 1705.
The execution outraged England, pushing both nations to the brink of war before cooler heads negotiated the 1707 Acts of Union.