Thomas Pound (also spelled Thomas Pounds and Thomas Ponnd; died 1703) was an English
Royal Navy officer who turned pirate and was briefly active in the coastal waters of New England during 1689. Caught and convicted of piracy, his crimes were forgiven and he later rejoined the Royal Navy.
Early life
Born in England, Pound joined the Royal Navy and rose to become a junior officer and naval cartographer stationed in the colonial port of
Boston, Massachusetts. One of Pound's maps has been preserved in the
Library of Congress, depicting the New England coastline between
Cape Cod and "Cape Sables" on modern-day
Sable Island.
Pirate
On August 8, 1689, Pound was aboard a small vessel owned by
Thomas Hawkins, in the company with six other passengers when it anchored off
Lovell's Island
Lovells Island, or Lovell's Island, is a island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, in Massachusetts. The island is across The Narrows from Georges Island and some offshore of downtown Boston. It is named after Captain Wil ...
and was boarded by five additional men. By pre-arrangement, Pound and the newly arrived men from Lovell's Island then seized the ship as their own. Hawkins willingly joined the pirates;
he was occasionally named in Pound's place in subsequent events.
Pound's first encounter as a pirate was unspectacular. Sailing along the Massachusetts Coast, he encountered a fishing vessel but failed to engage. Instead, Pound had his vessel hauled alongside and purchased a supply of mackerel for eight pennies. Turning north, Pound made port in
Falmouth, Maine and supplemented his small crew with soldiers who had deserted from the local garrison. Returning to sea, Pound and his men then attacked the sloop ''Good Speed'' off
Cape Cod and the brigantine ''Merrimack'' among other ships in the New England area.
An armed sloop, ''Mary'', was soon sent out by the Massachusetts governor against Pound and his crew.
[Ellis et al., 1886, p. 479.] On 4 October, ''Mary'' discovered and engaged Pound's vessel anchored off
Naushon Island.
In heavy fighting Pound suffered gunshot wounds and ''Mary''s captain, Samuel Pease, was killed.
Outnumbered and outgunned, Pound and his crew surrendered and were taken back to Boston for trial. On January 13, 1690, Pound and Hawkins were found guilty of acts of piracy and sentenced to death.
[Peterson 2002, p.19]
Redemption
Pound was placed aboard the HMS Rose the replacement by the English Navy of Pounds old frigate the Salé Rose bound for England, where his sentence would be carried out. However, the ship was mid-voyage when it was attacked by a French privateer. Pound was released to assist with the defence after the death of the captain, and fought bravely on behalf of his captors, Pound received a
commutation of sentence on arrival in England and was released from prison after a short incarceration.
Hawkins had been sent back to England on the same ship but was killed in the action against the French privateer.
Pound's naval rank was restored and he was later given command of his own vessel, his brief piratical career apparently forgotten. He died in 1703.
See also
Woods Hole Museum, "Pursuit and Capture of a Privateer off Woods Hole, 1689"- Two paintings by Franklin Gifford depicting Pound's capture by the ''Mary''.
*
William Coward - seized a ketch in the same area at the same time as Hawkins and Pound, and was jailed and tried alongside them.
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
Colonial Society of Massachusetts. ''Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts''. 1932.
*Edmonds, John Henry and George Francis Dow. ''The Pirates of the New England Coast 1630-1730''. Toronto: Courier Dover Publications, 1996.
*Peffer, Randall S. ''Logs of the Dead Pirates Society: A Schooner Adventure Around Buzzards Bay''. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Sheridan House Inc., 2000.
* Pounds, Wayne. ''Thomas Pound: Pilot, Privateer, Cartographers, and Captain in the Royal Navy". Independently published on Amazon.com, 2019.
*Seitz, Don Carlos, Howard F. Gospel and Stephen Wood. ''Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates''. Mineola, New York: Courier Dover Publications, 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pound, Thomas
Year of birth missing
1703 deaths
English pirates
17th-century pirates
17th-century English people
Pardoned pirates