Joseph Faro ( fl. 1694–1696, last name occasionally Farrell, Firra, or Faroe) was a pirate from Newport active during the

Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa ...

, primarily in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

. He is best known for sailing alongside

Thomas Tew Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English privateer-turned-pirate. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became kn ...

to join Henry Every’s pirate fleet which captured and looted the fabulously rich Mughal ship '' Gunsway''.

History

In 1694 a number of Newport pirate vessels prepared to set sail with Tew, among them Joseph Bankes’

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

''Portsmouth Adventure''. Bankes (or Banks) transferred his commission to Joseph Faro, who captained the 90-ton 6-gun ''Portsmouth Adventure'' with a crew of 60. Among his crew was future pirate captain Dirk Chivers. After nearly a year on voyage, in 1695 Tew, Faro, and three other captains ( William Mayes,

Richard Want Richard Want (fl. 1692–1696) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for sailing alongside Thomas Tew and Henry Avery. History Thomas Tew's first voyage from Rhode Island, around the Cape of Good Hope, and into the Indian Ocea ...

, and Thomas Wake) joined up with Every and his ship ''Fancy'' and waited for the Mughal's treasure-laden convoy. Most of the convoy escaped, but the ''Gunsway'' and her escort ''Fateh Mohammed'' were straggling behind and after a protracted fight was overtaken and brutally looted by Every and his crew. Tew had been killed during the battle while Want and Wake's slower ships were left behind. Only Faro and Mayes arrived in time to help Every, but Every denied Faro and his crew a full share of the vast riches, claiming they had never joined in the fighting. Afterward, Faro took the ''Portsmouth Adventure'' into the Persian Gulf, and then back to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, where Faro's ship was wrecked on

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

. Every rescued Faro and some of his crew en route to the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

; some of Faro's crew joined Every, and a few even made it back to Newport, while Chivers and others remained behind to be later rescued by Robert Glover in the ''Resolution''. Faro later captained the sloop ''Sea Flower'' which transported Every back to Ireland when the latter chose to retire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faro, Joseph American pirates 17th-century pirates People of colonial Rhode Island Piracy in the Indian Ocean 1696 deaths Year of birth missing People from Newport, Rhode Island

History

See also

References