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Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
-turned-
pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became known as the
Pirate Round The Pirate Round was a sailing route followed by certain, mainly English, pirates, during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The course led from the western Atlantic, parallel to the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa, stoppi ...
. Other infamous pirates in his path included Henry Every and
William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...
.


Life and career

It is frequently written that Tew had family in
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
dating back to 1640, but it is not known where he was born. He may have been born in New England; another hypothesis suggests that he was born in
Maidford Maidford is a civil and ecclesiastical parish in West Northamptonshire and the diocese of Peterborough situated about north-west of Towcester. The population at the 2011 census was 168. It was a centre of local Northamptonshire lace-making unti ...
,
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, England before emigrating to the American colonies as a child with his family, although there is only a little circumstantial evidence for this. He lived at one time in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. He is reported as being married with two daughters. According to one source, his wife and children all greatly enjoyed the New York City social scene after Tew became rich, but there is no supporting evidence for this. In 1691, Tew moved to
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...
. There is evidence that he was already reputed as a pirate at that time, but no modern historian has determined whether or not this reputation was earned. He may simply have engaged in privateering against French and Spanish ships. He was in close relations with fellow pirate Captain
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 ...
, who was his closest ally. Want became Tew's first mate on his first pirate cruise, and sailed his own ship ''Dolphin'' alongside Tew's ''Amity'' on the second.


First pirate cruise

In 1692, Thomas Tew obtained a letter of marque from the Governor of Bermuda. Various Bermudian backers provided him with the 70-ton sloop ''Amity,'' armed with eight guns and crewed by 46 officers and men. He and another captain obtained a privateer's commission from the lieutenant governor of Bermuda to destroy a French factory off the coast of
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
. Tew set sail in December, ostensibly to serve as a privateer against French holdings in
the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
. He set out alongside buccaneer, privateer, and pirate
George Dew George Dew, George Hout or George d'Hout (1666–1703) was a pirate, privateer, and buccaneer. He once sailed alongside William Kidd and Thomas Tew, and his career took him from Newfoundland to the Caribbean and the coast of Africa. Biograph ...
aboard the sloop ''Amy''; shortly out of port, they were separated in a storm. Dew's dismasted ship limped alone to
Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Mu ...
in South Africa, where he was arrested by the Dutch. Not long out of Bermuda, Tew announced his intention of turning to piracy, asking the crew for their support since he could not enforce the illegal scheme without their consent. Tew's crew reportedly answered with the shout, "A gold chain or a wooden leg, we'll stand with you!" The pirates proceeded to elect a
quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...
, a common pirate practice to balance the captain's power. Tew reached the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
and ran down a large
Ghanjah A ghanjah or ganja ( ar, غنجه), also known as kotiya in India, is a large wooden trading dhow, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel. Description The ghanjah dhows had a curved prow with a characteristic trefoil ornament carved on top of the st ...
dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...
en route from India to the Ottoman Empire late in 1693. The dhow surrendered without serious resistance, inflicting no casualties on the assailants. Tew's pirates helped themselves to the ship's treasure, worth £100,000 () in gold and silver alone, not counting the value of the ivory, spices, gemstones, and silk taken. Tew's 45 men afterward shared out between £1,200 () and £3,000 () per man, and Tew himself claimed about £8,000 (). Tew urged his crew to hunt down and rob the other ships in the Indian convoy, but he yielded to the opposition of the quartermaster. He set course back to the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
, stopping at Adam Baldridge's pirate settlement at St. Mary's on
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 ...
to careen. Tew reached Newport in April 1694.
Benjamin Fletcher Benjamin Fletcher (14 May 1640 – 28 May 1703) was colonial governor of New York from 1692 to 1697. Fletcher was known for the ''Ministry Act'' of 1693, which secured the place of Anglicans as the official religion in New York. He also built ...
, royal governor of
Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
, became good friends with him and his family.


Second pirate cruise

In November 1694, Tew bought a new letter of marque from Fletcher and set out for another pirate cruise. His crew numbered 30 to 40 men at departure this time.
John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
served as navigator on Tew's ''Amity'' during their second cruise, although he claimed after his own capture that both he and Tew had been forced to serve by the sloop's mutinous crew. According to his deposition, the crew threatened the pair during what would have been a trip from New York to Boston to prepare for privateering against the French. However, by the time that he reached Madagascar, Tew apparently increased his force to 50 or 60 men. They arrived at the Mandab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea in August 1695, where Tew found several other pirates hoping to duplicate his prior success, including
Henry Avery Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659after 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases ...
in the powerfully armed warship ''Fancy'', fellow Rhode Island pirate captains
Joseph Faro Joseph Faro ( fl. 1694–1696, last name occasionally Farrell, Firra, or Faroe) was a pirate from Newport active during the Golden Age of Piracy, primarily in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for sailing alongside Thomas Tew to join Henry Every ...
and Thomas Wake, William May, and
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 ...
. Tew and the other pirate captains decided to sail in concert. In September 1695, a 25-ship Mughal convoy approached the Mandab Strait, slipping past the pirates during the night. Tew and his fellow pirates pursued. The ''Amity'' attacked one of the Mughal ships, believed to be the ''Fateh Muhammed''. Tew was killed in this battle, reportedly disemboweled by a cannon shot. Demoralized, his crew surrendered immediately, though they were freed later when Avery's ''Fancy'' captured the ''Fateh Muhammed''. The ''Amity'' returned to Baldridge's settlement under John Ireland's command to refit; they later swapped the ''Amity'' for Richard Glover's ''Charming Mary'' and plundered ships in the Indian Ocean under captain
Richard Bobbington Richard Bobbington (died 1697?, name occasionally Philip or Babbington) was a pirate active in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf in the late 1690s. History Adam Baldridge ran a trading post for pirates off Madagascar, and was willing t ...
.


Legacy

Tew's burial site is unknown, but he is said to be the father of
Ratsimilaho Ratsimilaho (c.1694 – 1750) was a ruler of an east coastal region of Madagascar. He is said to be the son of an English pirate Thomas Tew and a Malagasy queen regnant, Antavaratra Rahena. The region, known as the Betsimisaraka confederatio ...
, a man who created a kingdom on the east coast of
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 ...
. In addition, it has been claimed that Tew was one of the founders of the mysterious (and some believe fictional) pirate colony of
Libertatia Libertatia (also known as Libertalia) was a purported pirate colony founded in the late 17th century in Madagascar under the leadership of Captain James Misson (last name occasionally spelled "Mission", first name occasionally "Olivier"). The ma ...
.
King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...
commissioned Captain
William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...
to hunt down several pirates, Thomas Tew and John Ireland among them, but Tew was already dead by the time Kidd set sail.Douglas Botting, ''The Pirates'', Time-Life Books, 1978, p. 106.


Jolly Roger Flag

Tew's personal standard is often depicted as a flag with a white arm holding a short
sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
on a black field. Buccaneer Edmund Cooke used a similar design, except on a red-and-yellow striped field instead of black. However, there is no evidence from period sources that Tew ever flew this flag, which is a 20th-century attribution.


Notes


References

* Botting, Douglas. ''The Pirates.'' Time-Life Books, 1978. * Johnson, Charles. ''The History of the Pirates: containing the lives of Captain Mission….'' London: Printed for, and sold by, T. Woodward, 1728. * Merchant, Gloria. ''Pirates of Colonial Newport.'' The History Press, 2014. * Zacks, Richard. ''The Pirate Hunter'', 2003. * Uncharted 4: A Theifs End, 2016


External links


RedFlag

Of Captain Thomas Tew


* Taverns of New York:Chapter 2/ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44240/44240-h/44240-h.htm#IV * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tew, Thomas 1695 deaths American pirates British pirates English pirates 1649 births 17th-century pirates People from Newport, Rhode Island People of colonial Rhode Island