Thomas Wake (died 1697) 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 ...

, 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 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

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 th ...

, hunting the Moghul treasure fleet.

History

In 1694 a number of Rhode Island pirate vessels prepared to take to sea, ostensibly for privateering. Among them were Tew (preparing for his second voyage),

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 ...

, William Mays,

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 in his 100-ton, 10-gun, 70-man

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

''Susanna'' (sometimes ''Susannah'' or ''Susana''), which had been fitted out in Boston. Wake had already accepted King James's general amnesty for pirates and had been granted a privateering commission from the governor. Wake may have set sail from Rhode Island alongside pirate trader

Tempest Rogers Tempest Rogers (1672 or 1675–1704) was a pirate trader active in the Caribbean and off Madagascar. He is best known for his association with William Kidd. History Tempest Rogers was born in 1672 or 1675, and by 1693 had married Johanna Little ...

, who would later be accused of trading in

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 ...

's looted East India goods. After a time at sea Wake, Tew, and the other three captains met with Henry Every's ship ''Fancy'' and awaited the treasure fleet. Most of the fleet slipped past in the night but two were straggling (including the massive and heavily laden Gunsway) and the pirates gave chase. Except for Faro's ''Portsmouth Adventure'', the smaller ships couldn't keep pace with Every's 46-gun Man-Of-War and were unable to join the fight. As a consequence Wake and his crew received no shares of the enormous treasure haul. Wake and the ''Susanna'' visited

Adam Baldridge Adam Baldridge ( fl. 1690 – 1697) was an English pirate and one of the early founders of the pirate settlements in Madagascar. History After fleeing from Jamaica to escape murder charges, Baldridge sailed to Madagascar and, by 1690, had establ ...

's pirate trading post 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 ...

in 1695 (Baldridge called him "Thomas Weak"). They careened the ship there and did some trading, but most of the crew took sick, and in April 1696 Wake, the ship's master, and many of the crew died of illness.

had been granted a commission in 1695 to hunt a number of named pirates, Thomas Wake among them; Kidd instead turned to piracy himself, but Wake died before they met. The remaining crew took the ''Susanna'' to

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

and joined with Captain Hore (

John Hoar John Hoar (1622 – April 2, 1704) was a militia leader & Indian liaison in colonial Massachusetts during King Philip's War. He is best known for securing the release of Mary Rowlandson from Indian captivity at Redemption Rock. The event was de ...

) on the pirate ship ''John and Rebecca''. The ''Susannas ill luck followed them: when Hoar and his crew called at Baldridge's settlement in 1697 to consider retiring, the Malagasay natives began an uprising, and a number of pirates with their captains - including Hoar and many of his crew (some formerly Wake's) - were killed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wake, Thomas Year of birth missing American pirates 17th-century pirates People from Newport, Rhode Island 1697 deaths Piracy in the Indian Ocean People of colonial Rhode Island Pardoned pirates

History

See also

References