Joseph Thompson (died 1719) was a pirate from Trinidad, Cuba, and was active in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. He is primarily known for a single incident involving grenades.

History

Thompson was among 209 pirates on

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

who declared to Captain

Vincent Pearse HMS ''Phoenix'' was built as a fireship as part of the 1693-94 programme of Fireships. After her commissioning she spent time in the English Channel then joined the Fleet for the Battle of Vigo Bay followed by the Battle of Velez-Malaga. She went ...

their intention to accept a 1718 offer of amnesty and pardon. Along with Charles Vane and a few others, he soon returned to piracy. After picking up additional crew for his sloop ''Eagle'' (some of whom had served with William Moody), he captured and looted several ships in the vicinity. In December 1718 in full view of

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

Thompson captured a ship called ''Kingston'' whose cargo was worth over £20,000. The ship's owners complained to Jamaican Governor

Nicholas Lawes Sir Nicholas Lawes (1652 – 18 June 1731) (sometimes "'Laws'" in contemporary documents) was Governor of Jamaica from 1718 to 1722. Early life Nicholas Lawes was born in 1652 to Nicholas and Amy Lawes. Knighthood He was a British kni ...

, but there were no Royal Navy warships available. Instead Lawson issued commissions to two

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

s in the harbor, promising them a share of the pirates' treasure in addition to the rewards guaranteed by

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's September 1717 proclamation to combat piracy. The two sloops sailed before year's end, encountering the pirate ship and another captured vessel. The pirate vessel under Captain Thompson raised a black flag and moved to attack. Thompson's ship came alongside one of the pirate-hunters and "threw vast numbers of powder flasks, granado shells, and stinkpots into her which killed and wounded several, and made others jump overboard." The other pirate-hunter picked up the survivors, whose stories of the fight "." Thompson's 150-man crew, "banditti of all nations,"

marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning, the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area Film and television * ''Marooned'' (1933 film), a British drama film * ''Marooned'' (1969 film), an American science-fiction film * ''Marooned ...

the remaining sailors on the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

. Jamaica's merchants pleaded again with Lawes to do something about Thompson. Lawes commissioned four more 10-gun, 80-man sloops with help from the merchants, and after refitting another in Port Royal plus the arrival of the fifth-rate

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

''HMS Ludlow Castle'', divided his forces to protect incoming merchants and hunt down Thompson. Four of the sloops soon cornered Thompson's ship, killing him and recovering the ''Kingston''. Some of his surviving crew were captured to await trial in Bermuda, where they were found guilty and hanged in 1720.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Joseph Year of birth missing 18th-century pirates People executed for piracy 1719 deaths Caribbean pirates

History

See also

References